Mr. Ed's 1:18th Scale Hot Rod Garage

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My Hot Rod Garage Project ~

With all the model cars that I have built over these many decades, I have always wanted to build a garage to display along with my cars. I always put it off because other things came up such as marriage, kids, the Army, jobs, etc. Well, I findly got into the workshop over the past week, November 2008, and got to work on building the garage.

I cut the whole thing out of sheets of 1/8" plywood that is finished on both sides. The measurements are below. This blogs shows the progress of building the garage. It took me one week to build it.

I started by building a plywood shell from 1/8" stock that is finished on both sides

To create the "lap" siding from the 1950s and '60s era, I used the standard Popsickle sticks

After cutting off the rounded ends with the band saw, the Popsickle sticks do a fine job. They are glued on using a 1/16th" overlap

The main exterior paint is Evening Blue

The interior color is Buttercream. The interior took 3 coats to cover properly on the bare wood surface

The exterior blue paint covered nicely in one coat

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Hello, I'm Mr. Ed

Last Updated: 9-9-2023

In this project, as all projects that I'm involved in working with wood, I used only Titebond brand wood glue. Titebond is, by far, the finest wood glue that I've ever used. It's made in Stanford, Ky. For information you can call 1-800-347-4583 or, go to their website at the following link.

Click logo to go to the Titebond website

For painting wood projects, I use only DecoArt craft and hobby paints. They come in hundreds of colors and types and in several differant size containers to meet the job. They are easy to apply and create a nice finish. Click on the logo below to see their website.

Click the Americana link to go to the DecoArt website

Paint colors that I used ~

Evening Blue, stock # DSA16

Royal Burgundy, stock # DSA14

Buttercream, stock # DSA03

Silver, stock # DA70

White Satin, stock # DSA01

For the garage floor, I used "Stone Touch" spray paint by Plasti-Kote. It comes in a wide range of colors and creates the effect of stone or concrete. It's very easy to use and drys to a nice finish. It even feels like stone. The color I chose is Pebble Creek, stock # 11467. Click on the logo below to go to their website.

Click Logo to go to the Plasti-Kote website

The Floor ~

The floor is cut from the same 1/8" plywood. To create the effect of cement, I sprayed it with Stone Touch project paint by Plasti-Kote

It even feels like cement to the touch

Garage floor is then installed to check the fit only. It is not glued in yet

The remainder of the exterior shell is painted

Garage Doors ~

Each garage door is created from thin balsa wood sheets with balsa wood trim and frame. Each door measures 5 1/4" tall by 5 1/4" wide. Also the side man's passage door is created from balsa wood with balsa wood frame

The doors are fitted to check the fit

Door trim is installed and painted white. The doors are painted Royal Burgundy

Floor is Installed ~

The "cement" floor is installed and glued into place. A furniture clamp is placed and left overnight

Interior Trim ~

The baseboards and trim in the interior is made from Balsa wood and painted brown

Doors Installed ~

The garage doors are installed

Side Door ~

The exterior trim is painted white. The side door trim is installed

Finished Project ~

After placing the items into the garage, it all comes together

The side door is installed. A flag and pole is placed on the front corner of the building

The interior is filled with all the stuff needed to keep that hot rod goin'

As you can see, the car guy is laying under his rod, working on it

Tools and manuals lay in the saw horses

A couple of repair manuals lay on the workbench

Our car guy dosen't like loaning out his tools as the sign states over the window. Also, he has an Autolite clock on the wall beside the window

Two diecast cars sit on the shelf

Pegboard on the wall hold his tools

The car ramps are also made from balsa wood. The hot rod is a 1:18th scale 1930 Ford roadster

The overhead lights plus the light outside over the garage doors are miniature flower pots that are used in doll houses. I simply turned them up-side-down, painted them silver and glued them to the rafters

The outside light is a flower pot also hung from mini dowl rods glued in place

All of the signs and the repair manuals were created by getting the images from online sign websites, printed them out and gluing them to thin cardstock. Then simply cut them out and glue them in place. The manuals are glued to thin balsa wood to create the thickness of a book

To keep the dust out, I cut sheets of clear heavy plastic and used it in place of the roof

The only thing I didn't build or create is the sink beside the workbench. It is a diecast metal sink that I got somewhere many years ago. Probably from a doll house shop

So, that's it! I think it turned out fairly well. I plan to build another garage soon. The next one will be a single car, 1:24th scale garage.

Also, I plan to put more tools and items in this garage as I find all my model car stuff. I'll put more pictures on this blog as I find stuff to add to it.