Layout Photos added 8/13/02
Building Furnace Hill Coal Co.

This is the story of the construction of the coal tipple at Furnace Hill. Here is the empty spot on the layout where it will go. There are 3 tracks with a total capacity of 15 coal hoppers, so the tipple needed to be formidable. I researched some photos and came up with a generic design.
I determined that the base needed to be about 18x18 inches, and the top of the roof needed to be also 18 inches high for the look I wanted. I made a simple cardboard mockup (sorry, no photos of that) and taped on more cardboard or cut some off until I got the size I wanted. Here is a simple wooden support framework that I made.
I made the building from black foam core board (an artist's product available at craft stores). This is very light and cuts with a single-edge razor blade or utility knife. I used some 3/8" square wood blocks in the corners to help hold it square and glued it together using Walther's Goo.
Here is the frame in place to test-fit the track clearances.
Here is the basic tipple in place on the layout. It's nice and big, but really needs siding. Most of the photos I have show corrugated metal siding on these things, so I made some.
Evergreen makes some nice styrene corrugated siding in a variety of spacings for the ribs. The problem is, I needed a LOT of it and it is not that easy to cut. I bought one piece to use as a pattern. I also bought a roll of Reynolds Heavy-Duty Aluminum Foil. The heavy-duty is thicker than regular aluminum foil and will work much better for what follows.
Here is a closeup of Evergreen siding showing the corrugated pattern. The spacing of these ribs is 0.100 inches.
I started by cutting some foil pieces a little bigger than the piece of siding (it is 6x12 inches).
I put some masking tape on the back of the siding piece to tape it to the work table.
Here is the siding taped to the table. I then put masking tape on the two opposite ends of the foil piece and taped it, DULL SIDE UP, over the plastic siding piece. The dull side of the foil will hold paint better than the shiny side.
Next, I took a 1/2 inch wide balsa stick and ran it over the foil, pressing down on the plastic underneath to emboss corrugations in the foil.
Here is a closeup of that process.
Here is a completed piece of foil ready for painting. I taped the foil to some cardboard (using the tape already on it and sprayed it with a gray primer paint from a can.
After the gray was on, I dry-brushed some rust streaks onto the foil, still taped to the cardboard.
After rusting, I applied a black wash to the siding (one tablespoon of India ink in a pint of rubbing alcohol).
I taped the foil to my cutting board (still using the same masking tape) and cut it using a straight edge and Xacto knife into 1x2 inch pieces (scale 4x8 feet). I put some Walther's Goo on the foam core side of the building...
and glued the pieces on, overlapping slightly.
I let the siding cover some of the window openings and go past the roofline, then trimmed it off with my Xacto.
Here is the sided tipple in place on the layout. The sign was printed on the computer and glued to a piece of styrene. The windows need to be added. They will be made of .030" clear styrene with 1/16" black automotive pinstriping tape for the mullions. Most of the windows will be tilted out to provide some ventilation for the tipple workers.