I’ve been posting with much more frequency lately, opting to break projects up into small parts instead of waiting until a project is entirely completed to write about it. I hope you don’t mind reading about projects in pieces instead of all at once.
I figured out how to build the kiosk roof. The roof is essentially the shape of a piece of quarter-round with ends mitered at 45 degrees to form a rounded square or rectangle. The IRT subway entrances varied in size — especially in overall 0width. In my case, the width of the kiosk I’ve built is equal to the length of the first segment, so my roof will need to be square.
To start replicate this is scale, I purchased an assortment of wooden dowel rods. I’m not sure of the exact dowel size, but it has a green end — this should be a universal color coding. I believe it’s approximately 1 centimeter across. I cut the rod down so I’m left with just a quarter of the overall rod. This is done with two cuts at the midpoint of the rod. One vertical and one horizontal. In the drawing below (left), solid red lines are cuts and shaded red are discarded (or set aside for future use).
I cut this using an Xacto miter box and a razor saw. It worked well enough, but I’m going to redo using power tools for more accuracy.
The next step is then to cut the quarter-round rod at 45 degrees. If you’re building a sqaure roof ,your miter cuts will meet as shown. If you’re doing a rectangle, there would be some space between the narrowest points of the cut. This will leave you with 1/4 of the overall roof. If you refer to my kiosk CAD drawings, the piece you’ve cut should look familiar.
Then you just need to repeat the miter cuts to create 3 more roof segments. In total, you’ll need 8 miter cuts. Just be sure your quarter-round is always laying in the same direction when you’re cutting the miters because otherwise you’ll wind up with incorrect angles.
I’ve completed a very rough proof of concept, but once I do with with a table saw and miter saw, I should have a much cleaner version. I’ll likely glue the quarter-round to a larger board so I can more safely cut the miters and the “good” pieces remain on the board until I’m done. Then I can just pry them off.
I have some plans for adding the finial and roof scales too, but I’ll wait until I have the final roof completed.
Filed under: Scratchbuilding, Structures , kiosk, model, model railroad, model railroading, N Scale, scale model, scale modeling, scratchbuild, Scratchbuilding, scratchbuilt, structure, subway, subway entrance
Northeastern Scale Lumber sells quarter round, and many hobby and craft stores sell it as well from other vendors.
Now you tell me. I couldn’t find any in the stores I looked — at least not at this very small size. I’ll have to check Northeastern Scale Lumber.
Hey, If I knew how you were going to do the roof I would have told you.
It is usually made for dollhouse trim. So I would look at stores that sell dollhouse items, also Midwest makes it and places that sell RC models generally have a large fixture from them. Thats what I used for the cove on the top of the Steven’s Hotel.
also check evergreen’s web site.Lee Anne said they carry the quarter round you need.that is if you want styrene.
Evergreen carry’s 0.75-2.0 mm quater round
inches is .030-.100
don’t know if that’s what your looking for but went and checked
Unfortunately, Evergreen quarter round is way too small. I’m looking for about 7mm — about 1/4″. I looks like Northeastern also doesn’t have 1/4″.
Maybe I’ve overlooking home improvement stores. I didn’t realize the measure was that close to 1/4″ so I may be able to find a standard size at the hardware store.
I have searched high and low with no results. I can find 1/8″ and under and 1/2″ and up, no in-between. If you cant find any at home centers then I would make your own. I personally would not rip a dowel on a table saw, it will be hard cut with the curf of the blade being about an 1/8″ and it is very dangerous unless you have some kind of jig, even then the blade is going to want to suck it down.
The easy and safe way to make your own is to use a 1/4″ round over bit in a router on a 3/4″ stock or larger, then take it to the table saw and lop off the side with the rounded corner. Then you are left with a 3/4″ (or thicker) x 1/4″ strip with one corner rounded, then run that strip through the table saw with the round over on the OUTSIDE of the blade, not between the blade and the fence.
It sounds like you have access to a table saw, but if you don’t have a router and a 1/4″ round over bit, then try ripping a good old 2×4 stock, the round over on all four corners is fairly close to 1/4″.
I just spoke with my father-in-law about this and he has every wood working tool imaginable. He agrees on the table saw and says he should have some time to make some trim in this size.
If not, I just found a seller on eBay that has 1/4″ quarter round intended for doll houses for a reasonable $3.00 per 6 linear feet.
By the way…thank you all for taking time out of your day to research things for my projects. It’s great to have a community building here and it’s nice to have discussion going.