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Vintage Cottage Style Gas Station

Scratch Building Plans and Details
A little history
In the days when gas was cheap and petroleum companies competed for customers, unique architecture
was as much a part of branding and advertising as were logos and signs.
Skilled architects were hired to produce designs that attracted customers and encouraged brand loyalty.
Many of the resulting buildings were quite beautiful. And the buildings of any company were easily
recognized and distinguished from those of another.
Toward the latter part of the 20th century, a more cookie-cutter approach developed in gas station
design, and the days of such distinctive architecture began to come to an end.
But some of those older gas stations have survived or have been preserved. Some were re-purposed and
now serve other businesses. Some were even converted into residences.
One such company was known for its quaint and eye-catching cottage-style gas stations. The plans in
this file were inspired by that company's designs. The building's dimensions are compressed to capture
and preserve (and even highlight) the distinctive features and overall look, while producing a model
structure with a small footprint suitable for most any model railroad layout, display, or diorama.
Copyright information
This document was produced by O Scale Scratch Builder (http://oscalescratchbuilder.blogspot.com and
YouTube channel "OScaleScratchBuilder") and released under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) copyright. This file may be altered and modified by
the user, but these descriptive pages should be left intact. Commercial use or distribution for profit is
prohibited, and derivative works from this material must also be non-commercial.
The brick textures and printable details used in this document were custom created by O Scale Scratch
Builder specifically for this project.
For more instructions and tips, watch my build videos on YouTube. Search
OscaleScratchBuilder to find it.
To print plans:
Select pages you want to print. No need to print the whole thing.
This file contains embedded notes that provide additional construction information. Your PDF viewer
should give you the option to view and print pages with or without notes as you prefer.
In your Print dialog, select Print actual size for O scale (USA). You may need to select "Ignore
Page Margins". A 1-inch scale (4 feet in O scale) is provided on many pages so you can check
accuracy.

If you use a laser printer, using standard weight paper (20 lb) and setting the printer for heavy paper or
cardstock will fuse the toner more firmly and make it more durable. If you use an inkjet printer, spray
the printed texture pages with a matte varnish to prevent water from causing the ink to run. And use
non-water-based adhesives.
Building notes:
Scratch building is fun, versatile, and very cost effective. You can build models from most anything
wood, paper, card stock, plastic, foam core, mat board, or even corrugated cardboard.
If you choose a thinner material like cardstock, you can butt templates together (for example, the front
and back of the main roof, or sides of the building), cut them out as one piece, and just score and fold
them into shape.
If you choose a thick material as a substrate, be sure to deduct the thickness of your building material
from panel edges where they overlap so dimensions stay the same. You may also need to bevel cut
some of the edges if you use thicker material.
Bevels (if you use a thick substrate and need to cut them) are marked in the embedded notes in these
plans. Bevels on roof panels are described as undercut and overcut. An undercut bevel means your
hobby knife should be tilted away from the panel when the bevel edge is cut. An overcut bevel means
the opposite (and watch your fingers when cutting overcut bevels!). Use a protractor and estimate the
cutting angle with your hobby knife. The bevels are as accurate as I could determine from the original
3D design software model (just rounded off a bit), but I can't guarantee they are accurate. Trial-anderror is really about the only way to get it close. The edges will be covered with trim or other material
so they don't have to be perfect.
Windows and doors are designed to be printed on vellum (translucent) paper so the structure can be
lighted. (You may prefer using a different method to make windows.) Test print windows on plain bond
paper first and check to see if they'll fit. You may need to resize them. Use your printer's settings
(usually found under "Properties" in the Print dialog) to print them slightly smaller or larger by percent
as needed. I found that a setting of 96% worked well on the model I built.
(More on this: Windows and doors in the plans are sized exactly to match the window openings. When
I built my prototype model from these plans, I wrapped the brick paper into the window openings for a
nice finish. This reduced the size of the openings by the thickness of the paper and glue, and the
windows wouldn't fit. Reducing the size of the windows by a small percentage mostly solved that. But
since I only wrapped the sides of the openings, it resulted in a small gap at the top when the windows
were installed. The solution is to cut window openings in the brick paper diagonally at the corners and
wrap all four sides of the windows, or cut additional pieces of brick paper and glue them in the top and
bottom of the window openings so those dimensions are reduced the same as side-to-side.)
Vellum paper warps a lot when water-based glues are applied. Use a glue stick or non-water-based
adhesive when installing vellum pieces. Experiment to find what works best for you.
Build up layers on details like windows and doors to add dimensionality to your structure if you like.
Score and pre-fold corners for neat, straight results.

Color or paint the edges of printed paper after cutting to tone down the white lines.
Because printed results can vary, two different shades of blue colored details are provided.
Printed shingles are not included in this file. You can easily make your own from colored paper. Or you
can find or make a roofing shingles texture, print it out, and apply it to your roof.
Other Tips:
Use a sharp hobby knife. You can stretch your hobby money by learning to resharpen blades yourself.
A box cutter that uses single edge razor blades cuts foam core cleanly, if you use foam core for a
substrate.

Have fun!
O Scale Scratch Builder

4'

Top edges of
front and back
walls may
require beveling.

Slab/base dimensions.

Don't cut these out.

These are just to
show the location of
support posts.

Position building 1' 6"

from front edge, 2'
from other edges.

4'

Roof panels and

tops of chimneys

Undercut 35degree bevel

Undercut 35degree bevel.
Overcut 35-degree
bevel.

Overcut 35-degree
bevel.

Undercut 22degree bevel.

Undercut 22degree bevel.

Undercut 35degree bevel.

35-degree
undercut.

11-degree
overcut.

Undercut 35degree bevel.

45-degree
undercut.

4'
Dormer sides, portico ceiling, and portico end panel.

35-degree
undercut.

11-degree overcut.

11-degree overcut.

4'

Chimneys and portico post supports.

The two blue blocks can be disregarded.

They were supposed to be brick pattern,
but it didn't show. If you want blue trim,
use the brick paper at the end of this file
instead.

Two versions in different shades of blue

are provided because printers vary.
Windows and doors were designed to be printed on vellum paper for
translucence. Doors can be overlaid with cutout copies printed on
standard paper, allowing the vellum windows to show through.

Print this page in grayscale if you prefer a cooler tone/color.

Use this page or the next to add blue

painted brick trim if you like.