Empire Coal Corp. - Kitbash

[2-8-2]

Originally, I wanted to avoid using the Walthers New River Mining Co. for the coal tipple on my layout. Coal is going to be an operational focus, and I wanted either a very large tipple or two smaller ones in addition to a company town nearby. For awhile, I entertained the idea of purchasing the N Scale Architect Lackawanna Coal structure, but it's a $100+ craftsman kit. In the end, I decided to go with the Walthers kit because it is more versatile and there are many kitbash options available.

I've never made major modifications to a kit before. My supply of scratch building tools is somewhat limited, and there's always that hesitation before tackling something new. I remember reading about the Turtle Creek Coal kitbash posted on the MRR site. So I printed out the build instructions, took a deep breath, and got my feet wet with this kitbash. With a much smaller footprint, I will have enough room to add a second tipple later if I want.

Here I have already removed a serious amount of material from the walls. My pile of scrap is almost as large as what I'll end up using to build the structure!



This is how I have joined wall sections. After careful measuring, trimming, and sanding with my NWSL True-Sander, I marked lines near the windows in pencil (highlighted here in [COLOR="Red"]red[/COLOR]) so that everything will line up nicely. With a simple butt joint, I used CA to join the sections together. Next, I cut a piece of scrap to size and glued it down with CA to strengthen the joint.

I also clearly labeled all my parts with permanent marker so that I wouldn't get confused on where things go. Once I get all the new wall sections trimmed to size and joined, I will take another pic of the completed shell before paint. Wish me luck!