Starting a Korber Roundhouse Build

Hi Dave,

First Thanks for the nice order!

Let me know if I can help answer any questions.  Each time I make One I pick up a few more ideas.  Take your time, and you will do great!

Dave, absolutely two great selections!  You will be very satisfied with your decisions, as Rich said "take your time" with his roundhouse.  Keep us posted on your updates and progress.  Enjoy two of the finest choices one can put on to a layout.

Ken. 

Dave,

I added a few extra beams with Tiche bolt plates, incandescent lighting, LEDs pit floor steam hoods and open roof.  I haven't taken any photos since completion but I will after it has been installed.

Dave

Started working on the roundhouse project tonight.  First thing I did was unbox everything and make sure I had all the required parts.  After that it was time to clean up any leftover burrs and take the wall sections down to paint.

First the interiors of all the walls are painted.

Then after drying we flip them over and spray the outside of the wall sections. 

Dave,

Have fun building the kit.

David

You did a great job with that. I love the details.

Alan Graziano

For those interested in the 304 Korber kit.  Here is a link to the online assembly instructions.   

Space consideration is the other major issue when planning a facility this big.   Click on the underlined phrase to link.

An older 304 kit that has one additional stall and the fabricated luan  roof.

Fort Pitt Modular Club 304 house that also has one additional stall and the extender kit.    Initial planning should include all stalls.  Basic kit of 3 stalls plus ???  It is difficult to add stalls later.    

Dave,  make sure you remove all of the paint where you will be gluing sections together or wood posts and beams to the walls,  if you do not you are gluing to paint which does not have any strength.  the method I use is to sand any painted or glossy resin parts so the glue has something to stick to, then glue everything together before painting.    you mentioned using gorilla thick glue.   I use Loctite gel but any thick or gel should work the same.

Stu,

Thanks for the reminder about removing / scratching any of the surfaces that will be joined with glue.  Started experimenting with some washes to make the mortar lines stand out on the brick walls tonight.  Once I'm happy with that on all the exterior walls and ready to start gluing I'll be sure to prep the surfaces for glue.

I made an attempt to back every panel joint with wood.  Then added considerable structural wood before the roof.  This older Korber kit has the color added to the resin and is not painted.  A significant advantage when assembling with CA.
Note the lower vertical post have been moved slightly to fully cover a panel seam.



Additional perimeter wood and bracing.  Adds strength and inhibits warping.

Detail shot.

A little wash of dilluted off-white latex paint and the beginning stages of mortar lines are showing up.   Once I get the mortar lines featured then I will do a dilluted wash of black or brown over that to even everything out. 

Dave, the interior looks great and I really like the inspection pits, but how do you power three rails engines so you can't get them out of the roundhouse. I see where you have a power rail on the very end, but once the engine rolls off the end part, what powers it?

Look closely at the pit on the right. It looks like a thin wire acting as the center rail.

Am I right? Pretty clever.

Dave, What brand and color paint did you use on the walls???

You're right and that's very, very clever! I've been wanting to put in an ashpit and was wondering how to deal with the 3rd rail problem. Now I know. I'm also going to design and build a linear engine house and will use the same idea for the inspection pit. Brilliant! I love this forum.

You're right and that's very, very clever! I've been wanting to put in an ashpit and was wondering how to deal with the 3rd rail problem. Now I know. 

Another easier option is to use MTH scaletrax 40" section where the middle rail is a tin piece of metal and not an actual rail.