After installing the final section of the dock I cut out and assembled the railings on the cork board.  Once these had dried I glued them onto the edge of the dock using Elmer’s wood glue.  I then assembled the ramp leading down from the opening in the wall by using the provided scale lumber.

The next step was to fabricate the rest of the ice skid along the length of the dock.  Using more scale lumber I cut the pieces to length and glued directly on to the deck.  I created stops at either end using scrap pieces.  I set the blocks of “ice” on the skid to see how the final look will be.  If you look next to the opening in the wall under the cooling tower you will see where I added a ladder for roof access.

About the only thing left on this model is to glue the gravel on to the roof panels, and then weather the entire model, which I most likely won’t do until I place it on a layout or diorama.

In previous posts I have talked about using a cork board when building certain model parts, especially docks and things of that nature.  I decided that I should share some of the things that I have learned in using this.

The chief advantage of using a cork board is that you can place the templates included in the model (or drawn by you as the case might be) onto the cork and cover it with a sheet of wax paper.  The section of the model can then be built right over the template without damaging it, at the same time the cork allows pins to be used to hold parts into place.

Here is a picture showing the first step in building an extension to my ice dock for the Union Ice Co. kit:

As you can see in the picture I use the pins to keep the parts in alignment until the glue has dried.  This allows me to use a slower drying glue, such as the Elmer’s Wood Glue – which gives me plenty of time to make sure that the parts are aligned to match the template.

The next step was to lay out the stringers, on which the frames will be glued.  I also added the cross bracing to one side at the same time, after allowing them time to dry I can use a hobby knife or razor blade to remove the frames from the wax paper after I have removed the pins.  The wax paper makes this relatively easy.  I then glue the cross bracing on the opposite side.

The next step is to glue the frames into place on the stringers, using pins as needed for support.

Once the part has dried I can remove the completed assembly from the cork board by removing all of the pins and then using the hobby knife as needed.  The final cross bracing and deck can then be put on.

After adding the long expanse of the ice dock on the Union Ice Company kit, I decided that I was going to extend the dock in a “T” shape to meet the building instead of just installing a ramp for the ice.  I used the template for the original ice dock to create the needed parts, though I ended up using slightly smaller material (what the hobby shop had available).

Here is a picture showing the end of the existing dock, which I added a Plastruct stairway and railings as the wood looked too “cluncky”.

I then assembled the filler piece for the dock on the cork board and inserted the completed piece into the gap, using a bottle of paint as a weight to assist in gluing the piece into place:

Here is the completed addition to the dock, waiting for the ice ramp and railings to be installed.  My logic behind making the change in the ice dock was to make it so that if a block was stuck, the workers would be able to walk over and fix the problem without needing a ladder.  Also I added a small ladder going up from that level to the shorter section of the roof, which I will show in a later post.

For the ice loading dock for the Union Ice Company kit I followed the directions for the most part.  The only change that I made was to make the bracing the same for middle uprights as the ends.  I did not like how the small supports recommended in the kit looked after building the first upright.  I used additional scale lumber from Northwest Short Line to provide the needed material.

The second picture shows how I used a cork board and pins to build the ice loading platform right on top of the instructions, which are covered by wax paper.  This technique allowed me to use the pins to secure each piece into the correct place while I was waiting for the glue to dry.

This picture shows how used bottles of paint as weight to glue the completed platform into place.

I have continued the construction of the Union Ice Company, learning many things along the way.  This kit has been especially interesting due to the fact that it is built using cardstock for the major components.  One of the most important things that I have learned through building this kit is the importance of making sure that each component is glued to others while being as square as possible.

Here is a view showing the interior walls of the kit for the office area:

And here is the back view of the building after I completed construction of the walls, notice the right side of the picture shows the cooling tower:

In the next post I will cover the construction of the loading platform for the reefer cars.

I recently bought the Union Ice House kit from a yard sale at the local model railroad club.  The kit I have was made by California Model Co. but I have seen it under a couple of other names as it is a very old kit.  I chose the kit because it was a cardboard type kit and I had no experience with building these.  The chief thing I have learned so far in the construction of this kit was that you can never have enough clamps.  At the suggestion of several people I used Elmer’s Wood Glue to build this.