Narrowing the Ends of the Building

In this plant, tracks angled past two opposite corners of the building.  By cutting a corner at each end, I was able to move the building south by about ¾ of an inch, and the trackwork leading to the building south by about 1½ inches, adding that length to the lead track.

Architect's Rendering of North Elevation

After making the above drawing, I decided I could remove about ⁵/32 of an inch (the width of two panes of glass) from one window without making the building look lopsided.  As seen on the floor plan, this also meant angling in the adjoining section of side wall.  I bricked in the narrow opening, thus gaining a place for an employee door.

I started by narrowing the windows, then the walls.  The roof and floor also needed modifications.

I modified two of the internal "steel" columns by removing the crane rail support bracket with a razor saw, and relocating it 90° away, on the side of the column, next to the wall.  Actually, this isn't far enough if the crane is to be made functional, but it's close.  I haven't added an overhead crane yet, but when I do, I'll probably add pieces to the tops of the crane rail support brackets to allow the rails to be closer together.

The bricked in areas are not quite as shown in the drawing above; the door is located a little farther from the edge of the panel.  In brick construction, the door would be recessed into the wall.  I used brick sheet, cut a t-shaped slit for the doorway, and folded in the sides to give the wall the illusion of thickness.  I covered the top of the doorway with scrap styrene so the gap could not be seen through the windows.

Since all tracks enter the building from the north, the whole west bay was left available for other uses.  I added a locker room, machine shop, and receiving dock in this area.  Above the locker room, overlooking the work area, I built an office area for the supervisor and his engineers.  (None of this is super-detailed, for except when the roof is off, it only has to look good seen through the windows and skylight, and they're dirty.)  I bricked in the opening at the south end of the west bay, leaving a truck dock door for deliveries of small parts and supplies.

A few things to remember during final assembly:  If no changes have been made to that corner, the narrow column of brick at the corners of the side wall should be cemented to the side wall, but on the corners that were cut back, cement that piece at right angles to the end of the building. Then, when installing the walls, make sure the movable panel is inside the corner piece, and after the walls are in place you can swing the panel out to meet the corner, and cement it in place.  You may want to add a scrap of styrene at the bottom of the wall, to keep it in position.