When I put in Buchanan Tool & Die, I had hoped to just move Miracle Chair Company to a new location.  However, on further inspection, Miracle Chair had rotted from the inside.  It was clearly a time to start a new building.  Mike Oates lives quite close and  has been a frequent attendee at my operating sessions, so I decided it was time to name a building in his honor.  I disassembled Miracle Chair and found that I was able to salvage most of the windows as well as the loading dock and some other pieces.

I used some foam board I had on hand and created a mock up of the building using the old windows and doors.

Even though I salvaged a bunch of windows from the old building, it became clear that I would need many more.

I started to build some  using my jigs.  These are made from strip styrene.   The wooden jig on the left is used to made the part of the window that would normally slide up and down.  

The white jig (upper left) is used to glue all the strips together to form the assembly.

The brown window is a Grandt Line window salvaged from Miracle Chair. It was  originally maroon. The white ones are the ones I made from styrene strips.

I'm using 1/4" Sintra (Kemotex PVC Board) for the walls.

I use a pencil to outline the window locations and then use a sharp knife to cut the openings.   It takes a lot of passes to get through 1/4” of Sintra.  After I get a nice groove with the knife, I found it easier to finish using a razor saw.

After the windows are cut, it's time to glue the walls together.

I use Acrylic cement (Weld-On 16)  and lots of clamps to hold the walls together.

A large building like this needs some real ventilation.   It helps to keep moisture from building up inside from condensation, and it also lets hot air out in the summer.

I built two vents out of styrene.  It’s open on the bottom, and also on the side with the vents.   A piece of screen is installed behind the vents to keep out the little critters.

The vent section is framed with some 5/32” angle.

I glued clapboard siding in place on each side.

The roof is painted with Rustoleum Texture paint and I build a small shed to place on the roof.

The vents were sprayed with a metallic from Krylon. 

I salvaged the chimney from Miracle Chair and repainted it.

Brass tube was cut into small sections and used to provide some drainage for the roof.  The roof is installed with a small slope towards the rear of the building.

I bought some sample exterior paint from Home Depot and brush painted the entire building.

The windows were sprayed with Krylon Almond and glued in place, using the Weld On 16. Thin acrylic was cut to shape for the window glazing.

I printed a picture of Mike in 1:20 scale, and glued it to a piece of clear acrylic placed behind an upper window.

Mike also helped design the signs and I printed these on my inkjet printer on adhesive backed vinyl.

This is the back side of the building and will face the track.

The loading dock from Miracle Chair was used.  I just had to do a few repairs and repaint it.

The loading dock roof was made from some sheeting from Plastruct and painted using Sophisticated Finishes.

This is the front side of the building.

The cornice was built from some composite molding I got at Home Depot. I used my table saw to cut thin slices and then glued these in place on some styrene sheets cut to size.

The windows and door on this side are all scratch built.

The steps were formed using many sheets of thin Sintra and painted with a textured spray from Rustoleum.

Originally, this side was not going to be seen, as I had planed to place this building up against my Holly bushes.  However, I was so pleased with the way it looks that I decided to create a new spot for this building. 

I am going to be adding a siding that will go through town.  This will give me a great spot to put this building and also allow for some new factory locations in the future.