Brewer Plans “David’s Grocery” 

Several years ago, while on a trip to visit family in Denver, I stopped by Caboose Hobbies and found the plans for 3 small buildings including “David’s Grocery”. Since I recently finished a delivery truck and a tow truck, I decided that a small gas station/grocery mart scene would fit in quite nicely on our layout.  

Construction started with ¼ inch plywood for the basic structure of the building. I recycled the wood from some old cabinet doors that were given to me. I laid out the window and door openings and cut those with a coping saw.

I varied from the instructions a bit, in that the openings in the building were cut first and then I added the siding. I did this to add some variation in the siding and not have as many 15 to 20 foot boards being used. After cutting out and making sure that the window and door castings were snug I moved on to the application of siding.

Start by placing the boards on the walls from the center out. That way any uneven boards can be hidden by trim. I learned this little lesson the hard way. An O scale building built a few years ago has an odd board right down the center of the false front. Even though most others wouldn’t even notice it, I certainly do. I really think this is the best part of scratch building. Each new project gives another lesson in refining our craft. I took the time to make a pair of small miter boxes using aluminum channel to match the angle of the roof. They are just deep enough for a small Zona saw and helpful in cutting the angle for the boards on the back side of the front wall. Then entire process moves along quickly and it is helpful to have a large number of 1” clamps to hold the boards in place while the glue sets. 

After finishing the siding, making sure that doors and windows fit their openings, and a little sanding here and there, I started on the front “porch”. This is the part of this project that I have had the most problems with. Mmost of them are my own fault. I built the frame out of poplar, and then planked it with the same wood. I staggered all of the joints and made sure the thinnest board was placed at the back of the porch to be hidden by items like door frames and items sitting under the vegetable bins. 

Then came the problem. To attach the porch to the base of the model (3/8 inch plywood), wood glue and headless pins were used. It was beautiful, and the first time I worked on the building I snapped it right off the front. Of course, the pinned and glued member held fast. This did not make me happy… Ok, so after strengthening and rebuilding I will rethink how I do these from now on. I will be using the headless pinner to strengthen the platform and be more careful as I handle the model.

The frame for the porch roof actually did a lot to help with the stability of the whole arrangement. I probably should have used another cross brace or two to support the underside of the porch roof and the shingles, but whoever works on the roof in the future will just have to be careful… As it stands, the finished roof is quite strong.

And here is the roof, ready for shingles. The shingles were made by cutting 7/8 inch pieces of redwood and then hand-splitting them into the individual shingles. A jig could have been made to help with this job, and if the building were any bigger I certainly would make one. It should be added here that there was another change from the original design a bit. My porch roof is higher than on the plan and both the roof and porch are wider. This was done to utilize a set of figures that my wife purchased. It is a pair of gentlemen playing checkers and an old hound dog. Although I usually don’t like to have any figures on my layout, since they all seem to be frozen in time, this pair seems right at home on the porch.

Once finished with the front of the building it was time to move on to the main roof. I placed lines on the roof pieces (1/8 inch masonite) to help with alignment of the roofing materials. Please take note of the 3/8 inch strip at the bottom of the roof. This helps put the first row of shingles at an angle so the next row doesn’t stick up. The process moves along quickly and the roof was done in a single day. I am very happy with the result. The silver strip is aluminum air conditioning duct tape just to seal the top. I will be coming back with a small aluminum piece of angle. The roof panels themselves are currently not fastened to the building, this to give access to the interior for further detail and, perhaps, lighting.

And finally, the stones in the foundation are cut from tile trim from the local home improvement store. They come in pre-placed sheets and are easily removed from the backing. A tile nipper was used to cut them in half, then in half again, giving me four pieces per tile. They look just like cut stone and worked wonderfully for the foundation. Liquid Nails adhesive was then spread over the back of each brick with a toothpick. Simply by pressing them in place was sufficient to achieve a good hold. The tiles come in several different colors and look amazingly like blocks of stone when cut. It was surprising how well each tile broke so cleanly into nice smaller blocks. I would however stress that safety glasses be worn, as tiny fragments fly from the tile as they break.

Here are a couple of shots showing the final product, less paint and trim. The committee is still out on the final color of the building and if the entire building will be painted or just the front.

Glen Simpson