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Build/ Bash The Korber No. 568 2 Stall Engine House Kit


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This is a project that I've been wanting to do for years...like 12+ years!

 

First a little history about the Korber building kits. Ernie Korber made a bunch of building kits mainly in O Gauge. Those in the O Gauge world know all about his kits. My first Korber kit was the O Gauge 3 Stall roundhouse and I added something like 9 more stalls and some of the stall extenders so big articulated steamers would fit. The finished structure was huge and so was the 32" Bowser turntable that I bought & built. That was back in the late 90's. I sold all the O Gauge stuff in the early 2000's in anticipation of MTH entering the large scale line!

 

After experiencing the Korber kits I've been hooked as they have the absolute best 3D brick detail of any kit I've ever seen. Every brick is different which makes the finished kits display real nice.

 

Around in 2005 I somewhere seen advertising for the Korber large scale building kits including the 568 2 stall engine house and the 568A wall extender kit being on the market...but could never actually find them for sale...so the hunt was on!

 

That's about when JusTrains of Delaware bought the Korber lineup. I'd call those folks up and inquire about a 568 & 568A kit and I'd get the run around. Yeah we have some parts, need to cast other parts so maybe in 6 months. Calls like that went on for years.

 

Then in 2012 the Korber lineup was sold again to a guy in Ohio. Now this guy posted on MLS about how he's bringing the whole Korber lineup back to the market. I emailed him and all he did was complain about what a mess he inherited from the previous owner JusTrains...Now that's what I didn't want to hear.

 

So years went by and every once in awhile I'd email the Ohio guy and hear the same old story...we're looking into it. :angry:

 

Again the Korber line was sold to another outfit in late 2016 located in Indiana with the same promise of bringing the entire G Gauge building lineup back to market. Ok fine so I emailed the new owner and inquired about the 568 & 568A kits. He sounded optimistic and to give him a few months to inventory what all he had but he was sure that he owned all the molds.

 

Well in early 2017 a post on the O Gaugee RR forums made by the Ohio owner changed everything. He stated that the Korber large scale kits have all been sold to Entertainment Junction in Ohio??!!

 

How the new owner in Indiana claimed to have all the largescale kits & molds while in reality it all went to Entertrainment is beyond me...:blink:

 

Visit the Entertrainment Junction website store and see what all is available...hmmm...just some overpriced track and the old Korber Centerville Trolley Stop & Station...That tells me that all they did was buy any stock that was left over.

 

 https://toys.entertrainmentjunction.com/

 

As far as I'm concerned the actual Korber line of large scale buildings is dead. At one time there was a nice assortment of kits available such as 2 stall engine house and extender, sand house, coaling tower, station, diner, church, farm house, barn etc.

 

Luckily in the meantime many years ago I did find one partial no. 568 engine house kit....but it's missing windows. truss wood and the all important wooden truss template that performs 2 very important operations. That is it helps keep the whole building structurally solid and supports the roof. I could cast more wall panels but without the full sized truss template I would be a bit lost....years of waiting for a dang piece of paper. I emailed all the Korber owners over the years and nobody knew what I was talking about. 

 

Last year on eBay a complete kit showed up...still sealed in plastic....that's the first one I've seen listed in over 10 years and yes I won it.

 

So now I can begin...and figure I may be done by Memorial Day?? :o

 

Here's the only original box I own and inside it was a dated receipt from 1988. 

 

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Next to the above is a picture of the actual finished structure without the wall extender kit...and look! A Lionel Atlantic sitting there!! :)

 

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Since I have 1 complete kit and 1 partial I'm going to kitbash the 2 and build a structure that'll measure something like 50" long x 17" wide x 16" tall....not quite long enough to fit all my USA Big Boy into but that's okay :)

 

I need to build it strong enough so that I can move it when I relocate which means keep it so I can carry it thru doorways etc. I also plan on making the roof removable because plan on internal & external lighting with some interior detail.

 

Here's the inventory of the 2 kits...

 

Instructions...

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Wall schedule...

 

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Door hinge detail...

 

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And the ever all important full size wood truss template....

 

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Plastic resin panels and this is the end walls...

 

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Man I love that 3D brickwork.....

 

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Roof pieces....

 

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Sidewall & skylight pieces....

 

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Just exquisite...

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Windows....

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End doors...

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More roof & sidewall panels...also skylight panels & doors...

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Roof/ wall truss template with wood pieces....

 

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Today I figured I'd build a mockup to see if I'd be happy with size etc.

 

In this configuration the structure is right at 50" long x 17" wide x 16" tall...and I'm quite happy with it!

 

I could make it longer as I have 2 extra wall panels that measure 16" long each but I want to save those and the extra endwalls for patterns for making molds & casting...I plan on using this same design for making a roundhouse in the near future.

 

With USA Big Boy "inside" :)IMAG0001.thumb.JPG.fc42da1e6a0bd09f132538562a2f4e3d.JPG 

 

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Love these videos.  That is going to be one BIG engine house and the Big Boy is still sticking out one end :)  That may actually be an easy way to keep them under cover from dust when not using them.  It works out great that the kit was big enough to even house that USA BB :)

 

The firebox light pulsing with the chuffs on the Atlantic is just incredible!

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  • 1 month later...

Okay as finally got back to work on this project. Bad thing about large scale is the projects eat up all available work space real fast :angry: 

 

First off had to wash all side & end panels to remove dirt & and residue left from the manufacturing process years ago...so out on picnic table.

 

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After washing I had to heat every panel with a large hot air gun until the panels got kinda rubbery...then weight down until cool. Now they lay pretty flat.

Since I'm combining 2 of the original kits I had to make the wall panels fit together by cutting & sanding. 

Here's the overall sides...not glued yet as plenty of work to do first.

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Since I'm "bashing" 2 kits together of course the brick red color doesn't match...so now have to paint all wall and end panels the same color ;)

 

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Yep...Big Boys need big buildings :)

 

Well finally had some "good" weather to paint the sides and ends outdoors. For the last week it's either been rainy or 35 mph winds blowing.

 

This evening is 89 deg. with 30% humidity and no wind. The heavy rains from last night and this morning cleaned the air so there's no "stuff" floating around other than the occasional bug. So I covered the picnic table with craft paper and painted. 

 

At least now all panels are the same color. Oh I waited until evening so I could paint in the shade. When the sun hits those panels they warm up and warp.

 

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That's just plain old Krylon red primer.

 

And I caught momma bunny snoozing outback...she's pretty tame.

 

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Thanks!

 

I started painting/ weathering these panels. First with grey to "fill" the mortar lines and foundation blocks...also the widow top arch blocks and cap blocks grey. 

 

Then after that paint was dry I gave it a wash with a mix of black India ink & alcohol. After that I sprayed with a matte clearcoat.

 

With grey paint only....

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After black ink wash...

I'm trying for that old building look...a building that has seen lots of steam locomotive servicing with that dark sooty look from years of coal smoke.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Wow...Been about a month since any real progress :mellow:

 

I ran into a bit of a snag with the side windows...as in I don't have enough of them so that put the whole project on hold. That and I didn't really like those old vacuform windows anyways as can't really see thru them and if you look inside the building there's a big sheet of plastic holding the windows in. That would be okay if building was located on the ground but for me it'll be on a indoor layout.

 

So I had to figure out something else for windows.

 

I emailed he present owner of Korber  (Mr. Muffins Trains) as he updated the o gauge buildings with laser cut window frames then glues clear plastic on the inside of them...nice neat look. Since he did that I thought maybe he'd help with my windows. I offered to send a wall panel and a window so he could make a frame for a price but he wasn't interested. He replied something like "Why should I worry about a kit I no longer sell?"...Basically told me to f*ck off :angry:

 

He did offer this bit of wisdom...Cut clear acrylic and draw lines on it with a Black Sharpie to represent window frames....well Mr Asshat if that's such a great idea why did you spend time & money creating laser cut plastic frames for the o gauge kits??

 

I guess the Muffin Man doesn't need the large scale business??

 

He'd rather play with his muffin :lol:

 

So anyways I came up with the idea of 3D printing my own window frames. So I purchased a cheap entry level 3D printer and have been learning a CAD program to design some window frames. Also been learning 3D printer software and a 3D slice program.

 

CAD program designs the pattern and then you save the design in a .stl file. Slicer program takes that file and basically slices the 3D design so can be printed in like .4mm hot plastic layers...and also turns the file into G code. I haven't even begun to learn G code...that stuff runs machine tools such as CNC mills and lathes etc.

 

Here's the original Korber widows  :(

 

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Here's my solution for replacement...I'm just trying to get the window frame sized for good fit before I add the frames for the panes.

 

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Red filament is all that I have for now...but grey will be here sometime this week.

 

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Been quite the learning experience getting this far...reminds me of when I started using a PC back in the early 90's with Windows 3.1??

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Great solution to those windows.  I've got the same Korber kit (with the extension, as well.  Found the extension at the ECLSTS this past March).  Mine's been in the box waiting to be assembled for five years, now.  Some day I'll find time to assemble it.  It's good to know that there will be a better set of windows possible when I do.

 

 

-Kevin.

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Kevin, I think you're mighty lucky to have found the extension kit! I've never seen one listed on eBay.

 

I'm also going to change the skylight windows to the same design....they'll be much easier than these arch windows to make.

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Okay so the grey filament arrived and I printed out a rough copy of window.

 

I was thinking that maybe should have ordered black instead but this will be fine...:)

 

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Recessed fit is great...

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But now the irregularities in the wall panel hole is showing...it's always something :mellow:

Being how this structure will be used indoors, I'll attempt to correct it...or at least make it a bit better..

At least work is progressing and can see over the hump with regards to the windows :)

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Well I wasn't happy with the end results. I glued .010" thick clear styrene/ PVC onto the back of frames then glued frames into wall panel and ended up a mess. Gorilla Super Glue residue all over the windows...but I didn't get on the clear...it's like the fumes glazed them.

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So I re-designed the frame to have a flange on the back for 2 reasons. 1 so can glue the frames in more solid and block any interior lighting from leaking thru cracks and 2 so can glue the clear on the backside more easily.

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Flange also gives the appearance of finish trim on inside :)

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They'll work just fine.

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Downside is longer to print...1 hour 17 minutes per frame on the fine setting. There's 1 more setting called ultra fine but forget that!

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Here's another just about finished.

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Getting ready to print another..

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1st layer..

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Thanks!

 

This is turning out to be quite a project! It's more like a "craftsman" kit really as here's the pieces and a page of crude directions...now build it!

 

I did get all the wall panels and ends glued together almost square...I'm off on the diagonal by 1/16" :huh:

Sorry as the lighting isn't the best for pictures...but it's great for building.

Oh I have paper taped over windows so I don't scratch them up or get hot glue all over them when I start that operation.

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I'm adding lots of extra interior bracing to help reinforce it...and so I can move it by myself.

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Roof will be removable which makes things a bit more difficult but I'll get it :)

I had to mockup the roof..because I wanted to see what the end results will look like...this thing is huge!

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