My next project will be building a livery stable and I plan to do it with popsicle sticks and coffee stirrers. Lately my structures have been dusted rather than weathered, meaning the places were rather new. The boom and growth really only started 5 years ago. But the livery stable has been around since the town was still Dilderd’s Junction. It only became Rock Ridge when Rock talked the people of the town how it should be re-named after the lumber mill he was going to build.
All that’s to say is, I’m going to beat it up a little.
So here’s the plan, as I drew it.
I’m thinking I’m going to change the roofline from a 30 degree pitch to a 45 degree pitch. To tell the truth, I was originally going to have it at 45, but when I did the math, it placed the peak off my paper. So rather than start over, I tried it at 30. I think 45 will look better. What do you think?
I haven’t decided whether I’m going to build all the stalls or just the front one on the right, There’s no way anyone will see the rest of them.
First stop, the mini-table saw to size the lumber.
High-pitched rooflines are more typical of snow country, so consider your locale.
I like some interior detail in structures, but scenes you can’t see are just extra work. You might think about whether the building might ever be viewed from another angle.
Either next door or across the street. This will be the front of the layout on the industrial street. The frieght house, the retail lumber outlet, and the cattle pens are across the street on the rails. I’m hopiing to get a Bear Wizz Beer brewery if I can make space.
I think the 30-degree roof is sufficiently impressive, slope-wise.
I couldn’t help but chuckle when you ran into the oldest problem in the architecture bidness: getting the design to fit the paper.
You might want to watch ‘The Music Man’ (old version with Robert Preston, not the modern remake with Matthew Broderick). Marcellus Washburn works in the livery stable right across from the tracks.
I miss my drafting table. One of the things I had to give up when we moved to a smaller house. I’ll see how available the Music Man is.
It’s settled. I’m going with 30 degrees. Couple interesting things happened today. But wait, let’s look at the picture first.
The first thing is I changed the design. Honest John added those three back stalls recently when his business started growing. So, the back isn’t full barn, it’s an add-on.
That’s why the back isn’t framed. I have to put on the siding before I can frame the add-on.
I have sort of a strange problem with the horse. I can’t glue him to the layout and drop the livery over him because his head loops over the fence to look outside. Anyway, I have to figure it out before I put the hayloft floor, or I’ll never get him in. At least that was what I thought as I was wrestling with the problem away from the structure. When I was staining the wood I noticed that even though I built the fence all around where the horse goes, the front and side were wide open because I haven’t put the siding on yet.
Speaking of stain, what you see is an experiment. I wanted to try using a burnt umber wash at various strengths, and since no one is going to see the framing anyway, I figured I’d do some good testing. I think I like
Have you considered staining the wood before assembly? Once the stain is dry it likely won’t affect the glue joints, and you won’t have any spots where the stain can’t soak in because of the glue.
Edit, having thought about it, I have done this in the past with things like trim etc. You can’t see the pencil marks for cutting with dark paint/stain.
How about cutting the lumber before staining? That will cover all of the end cuts too. You will need to keep the parts sorted. I would suggest doing a chart showing all the different sized pieces and where they go. Then you can match the stained pieces to the chart before starting assembly.
You may want to do the staining/assembly in stages, i.e. cut the frame members, stain them and then assemble the frame. Then you can use the assembled frame to measure the siding etc…
It will take a bit longer but the staining will be much more even and the fit will be better.
If you are going to paint the building (as opposed to staining) then I would just build it and let the paint cover any marks. As you mentioned, different coloured trim parts, if any, can be added later.
The only reason I stained the interior of my livery is because I wanted to try out the stain using acrylic paint and water. Normally I just spray it down with Dullcote and call it good. If I want to stain another interior (not paint) I’ll find a way to make adjustments–like use CA instead of Elmers.
I chose this picture to show progress because it has teeth. Not Dracula or Woldfman teeth, more like Howdy Doody or Mortormer Snerd teeth. It’s a Howdiclops. The short right tooth is a horse’s nose. That’s about all you’re going to see of details. You won’t see the ladder or the stable fencing.
I spent the morning yesterday working on inconsquential details. You do get to see the boom for the block and tackle. I was mistaken when I thought I had some yellow static grass. I was going to make a few hay bales and decorate the hay loft before I put the roof on. I ordered some. Won’t be here until sometime next week. Guess I’ll have to do everything through the hay loft door.
By noon, I was done for the day.
Today I framed the roof and put up the siding. If the doors look odd, it’s because I haven’t trimmed them yet.
Tomorrow I’ll frame and side the addition. I’ll also build the workbench area and put on the doors. We’ll see how far I get. I expect it will be done on Thursday.
White glue, Elmer’s, LePages’s, etc are water based, and therefore water soluble. Thats why many of us pur ballast down that way. YELLOW carpenters’ glue is not water soluble, therefore better for what you were doing.
David–I don’t think I’ve ever used white glue on a layout. I use Elmer’s Wood Glue–the yellow stuff. But you make a good point about white glue.
So I built the addition. Before I even started I realized I was going to have to plaint the walls first. Actually, I only needed to paint the wall where the additon was going, but I got really involved in it.
I took a bunch of pictures of it, but the lighting was such that the walls looked like they were painted by Matisse working through dry heaves. Luckily, my wife took the thing outside and put on our wheel barrel–standing up against the wall. And she was able to take a pretty passable picture.
Hey look. You can see the hay loft ladder just below the right-most ceiling joist. No one else will ever see it.
Tomorrow I just have to build the workbench area which will be coming off the beam on the right wall. I also didn’t get around to building the doors for the front opening and for the hayloft. And of course I have to do the roof. Should finish tomorrow as planned.
