The Stutsman Elevator, Part 1

For some reason, this rather unassuming elevator building at the south end of the Stutsman, Inc. complex has taken an inordinate amount of time to get to this point. I would like to say that since it’s part of the front door to The Hills Line, I’ve intentionally taken a significant amount of time on this project.

But that’s a lie.

The structure itself isn’t anything overly complex. I again used primed pine boards as the core and skinned them with styrene sheets. My Cricut plotter got a workout cutting the numerous roof supports at different pitches and angles.

For the headhouse, I used City Classics’ Corner Braces for the first time. I know numerous methods for squaring up a structure, some more straightforward and less expensive than this approach. However, the braces are robust and support thinner styrene significantly. I’ll be using them again. The elevator top and distributor are a stock Rix Products kit, shortened to match the prototype.

Cutouts for the windows and doors were done in both the plotter and by hand. The styrene skin and supports were then glued to the core with construction adhesive. Once dry the roof pieces and headhouse were attached, making adjustments to fit it all together.