I sure wish Walthers would knock it off with all the “Built-Ups”. Sure they’re great for folks who need those exact structures and can just open the box and plop them down where they want them. But what if you want to kitbash them? Certinaly, kitbashing is a lot easier with flat, unbuilt parts so that we can keep the parts we want, modify the parts that need to be changed, and pitch the rest into our scrap box for future use.
In my case, the new Pella depot will make a great stand-in for a certain prototype that I “need” to have on my layout. Most of the details on the Walthers structure are close enough to the real one, so in many ways the prefabricated and finished nature of the structure is no big deal. However, the track this depot will serve is a dummy track that crosses my mainline and bumps right in to the backdrop. The depot needs to fill the space between the mainline and the backdrop - about 8" - and that means the Walthers structure is too long.
So, I need to cut off the far end of the depot somehow. Again, with a flat-part kit, this would simply be a case of cutting the two long walls and the corresponding roof sections to the needed lengths, then I would be good to go. Two possible solutions come to mind - find a way to disassemble the structure enough that I can cut the parts and reassemble as if it were a kit, or somehow make a 90 degree miter cut down through the built-up structure.
The first solution seemed the easiest until I looked and saw how solidly the building joints have been glued. I guess it means Walthers is getting good quality from their supplier that I can’t even find a seam where I could start prying with a hobby knife. So now I’m thinking that cutting the assembled structure intact might be the answer. One problem here is that my mitre box isn’t deep enough to get the saw started and keep the cut vertical. Even if I do figure ou