A roundhouse for Shumala, Part 2

In the previous part, I described the rationale for the kind of roundhouse I was building, and showed the framing stages of assembling the fine Banta Modelworks kit for the SP roundhouse at Port Costa. You can read it at: http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-roundhouse-for-shumala.html .
     The next family of steps in the kit is the attachment of sheathing to the frames. But before doing so, I prepainted all window sashes white, and all window and door frames black. Based on photos I have seen of SP shops and roundhouses, I made my doors completely black, although the kit directions show them black with boxcar red trim. These parts are all backed with adhesive paper, so that they assemble in a peel-and-stick fashion, very quick and easy to do.

Here the far wall is being attached. The near side pieces above the boiler house have already been attached, as has the interior wall of the boiler house.
     One change I am making to this structure is the addition of a small machine shop behind the boiler house. This means that I need two side doors, one at ground level, via which coal is taken inside to feed the boiler, and one at platform height, so that parts and materials can be conveniently unloaded from freight cars and taken into the shop. To create this arrangement, I added a new ground-level door, and raised the double door at the kit location, by the simple expedient of cutting out the siding above the kit door opening, and moving it below the door. The joint there will be invisible when the loading platform is added.
     The new door is simply a piece of Evergreen car siding, their material no. 2037, framed with scale 1 x 6-inch styrene strip. Dimensions simply duplicate those of the kit double doors. When painted black, it will be indistinguishable from the kit door.

     Here are two views of the structure with almost all sheathing applied. The one sheathing piece not yet placed is the area where the machine shop addition will connect to the building. In the upper view, you can see the new door at ground level on the boiler house wall. Corner trim strips remain to be placed.

The gap between the clerestory siding and the building below is for the roofing pieces to fit. Several windows on the right side are partly open.
     Once the sheathing is all attached, the remaining step for the kit is the roofing. The kit is designed so that much or all of the roof can be removable, a good idea with rolling stock inside. My other remaining task is the design and building of the machine shop addition, which I will cover in a separate post.
Tony Thompson