Scratchbuilding a North American Loading Ramp

Today I decided to tackle a loading ramp for the JSRR (Juwair and Sajour Rail Road). A diagram was posted up on a facebook page (Micro/Small Model RR Layouts) by Dave Pye, which had all the required measurements to complete a model.

So, after I drew it out on a piece of scrap, I raided my scratch building supplies where I realised I needed a sheet of 0.7mm balsa. I picked up a few sheets whilst away down in Nowra last week. So the work began...

Using my balsa stripper (this would be useful to the likes of Pete to make sleepers !), I trimmed up the 0.7mm thick sheet into 3.5mm (12") strips.



Once these strips were cut, they needed sizing into length. That's where the chopper is handy... The planks were cut to 20' lengths (70mm).



What I needed next were some joists to support the planks. These were trimmed down from some 2.5mm thick balsa sheet at 3.5mm wide using the balsa stripper.



The planks were laid out (first 20) and the use of sticky tape (Cello tape) to hold the planks true, square and as close to each other. A small amount of PVA was applied to the joists and these were first glued to the outer edges. The centre strip was followed afterwards.



Bearers were then trimmed down to aprox. 1.5mm thick from the 2.5mm thick sheet. These were then cut to 20' lengths (70mm). Whilst I had the chopper out I cut up the posts or piles. These were cut from 3.0mm diameter skewers at 15mm long. Centres for the posts were then marked out at 5' (17.5mm). I started with gluing the posts in first followed by the bearers.

This was left to cure for about an hour before moving onto the next stage



After the curing process, the diagonal braces were then glued in. These being a tad narrower in size that the bearers, approx. 1.2mm... I done both sides of the first set of piles, then proceeded to do just one side of the other piles. I allowed some time for curing before turning the structure over and completing the other braces.



Dummy joists were glued into place and only the end and second row of of piles had the full 5 piles. The PVA still looks wet in this image and you can see the tape, which will be removed later.



After allowing this to sit for some time, I measured up the length of the front side diagonal braces. Some of the bearers needed light trimming to allow each short diagonal brace to fit snug.



The ramp was completed the same way as the main deck, but the piles had to be glued on a different angle. This was accomplished by trimming/sanding the appropriate angle to the tops and the lengths trimmed to suit each situation.

Below is the completed loading dock.



Tomorrow I will give the whole model a paint or wash and then weather.

I have asked the Dave Pye if I could post up the diagram on here. If he agrees, I'll get the diagram posted up for anyone else who requires a loading dock. This model would be ideal for On30 or narrow gauge by just changing the dimensions slightly.

Cheers, Gary.