In my previous E. L. Moore rebuilding projects I had used his old technique for making simulated metal panels from paper. It was rather tedious, and maybe not as high fidelity as one would hope for these days, so I decided to use Campbell Scale Models HO-scale corrugated metal siding instead. I had bought a packet of their scale 12’ wide stock back last summer at George’s Trains although I didn’t have a use for it at the time. This was both a good and bad thing to do.
I cut the aluminum strip stock into 4’x8’ panels and began gluing them to the substructure much as I did with Mr. Moore’s technique, but in this case I used thick superglue. A little misalignment and oddness to the paneling adds a bit to the look of the building, so I didn’t get to hung-up on achieving perfectly ordered paneling.
Ideally, I should have paneled the styrene substructure prior to gluing up the plastic pieces into a building. This would make the whole job easier, especially when it came to cutting and trimming around the window and door openings. It’s not that hard to do with the building built, just make sure you always use a sharp knife. Cutting the aluminum dulls the blade quickly, and I’m finding I’m using a lot of #11 blades on this project.
Now, here’s the problem. I’ve almost run out of aluminum panel stock and I’ve still got about 2/3 of the building to panel. Yikes! I knew I didn’t have enough when I started, but I casually assumed it would be easy to get more. No such luck. It’s been tough to find any in stock at various on and off line places. I’ve got some on order from George’s Trains and I’ll continue paneling when it arrives.
I can imagine some tisk-tisking from Mr. Moore. If I’d stuck with his method, I’d just make some more and it wouldn’t cost too much either.
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