Walking beam oil pump model

I finished up a Diamond Scale walking beam oil pump I started years ago but left unfinished.  It is a fairly simple kit that has a motorized option, though I have no interest in that.  The kit is mostly cast metal parts.

I added a metal barrel and a wrench lying on the platform.  At one time, Pennsylvania had many of these pumping away in fields.

Rustic grocery store model

My inspiration for this model was this photo on Shorpy, a site I really like and look at every day

http://www.shorpy.com/node/15529?size=_original#caption

I did not attempt to model the grocery store exactly as the locale and design does not fit my modeled area of western Pennsylvania, so I just went for something similar.

I started with a plain basswood interior shell and applied 1x10 boards.  After doing one side that way I realized I was consuming my supply of 1x10 wood so I switched to 1x10 strips of card stock.  In each case the boards had a gray base and blotchy white finish in an attempt to simulate peeling paint.  By doing individual boards I was able to get some color variation between the boards.  The roofing is painted and distressed paper strips.  There are no windows on the sides as small businesses such as this needed blank wall space for shelves of goods.  I added plaster stones under the structure rather than the wood on the prototype as in my area the wood would be prone to rotting.

The windows and doors are all commercial products from my scrap drawers.  I added a screen door on the front partially open as it appear the prototype has a screen door.  For the screen I used a fine screen produced some time ago by The Building & Structure company.  The frame of the screen door is paper.

I think this turned out well and will be placed at the edge of the layout in the small town of Elder.

I added a lot of signs on the walls similar to what the prototype had.  I am also adding an outhouse behind the store.  This was an enjoyable project.

There is an upcoming NMRA regional convention near me and my layout will be open for this in a month or so and thus I need to concentrate on touching up scenery in preparation.  That will limit my model building time but perhaps I will just add a few layout photos to this blog.

Loading automobiles on the train 1919

Most of you have probably seen the automobile rail cars on modern trains - big double rack cars that now have metal screen sides with the cars (and trucks) covered with plastic sheeting to keep the moronic taggers from spray painting the cars.  Well, they were not as sophisticated in 1919 - the early days of the automobile.  The photo below shows a car load of automobiles being unloaded from the end of what looks like a modified baggage car.

That ramp seems to have fairly narrow beams so I guess they had to be careful to move the cars straight up and down the ramp.  Based on the size of the rail car and the size of the autos I am guessing they could get three to four on a single rail car.

Dock crane model

While considering what I might build next, I pulled an old, cheap plastic kit out of a drawer.  It is a dock crane.  I have no idea of the manufacturer as I had long ago emptied the parts out of the original packaging ( and apparently lost a few).  I debated either tossing it or building it, and decided to build it as it was quick and I had no other project yet in mind.  I had no instructions but this was a really simple and kind of crude kit.  I made a few modifications.

I added a stack on the roof, replaced the crude right side window, added a wood boxcar door turned on it's side on the back to cover some very ugly and crude windows, and added some weight to the crane hook.  Above the hook was a plastic cylinder.  I wrapped a few turns of thin metal lead sheet around the cylinder and just left the lead unpainted.  I acquired the lead sheet many years ago - there was a time when toothpaste came in a flexible lead tube with the outside painted with the manufacturers logo, advertising and other information and the inside was bare lead.  At some point in time the manufacturers became aware that having something you put in your mouth contained in lead might not be a great idea (or maybe plastic just became cheaper??).  In any event I was into modeling then so I kept the empty lead tubes, cut them open and flattened them.  It is useful material for modeling.  It made the hook mechanism heavy enough to hang reasonably well.

The crane cab turns 360 degrees for positioning, and if I had not glued the crane boom cables (thread) in place, the boom would go up and down.  The roof is glued on with white glue so if I should ever want the boom to operate I could remove the roof and make some kind of operating mechanism - probably not worth the effort.

I now have no idea what to do with this crane as there is no place for it on my layout.

I have, however, decided what model I will build next.  It will be an old, ramshackle grocery store inspired by a Shorpy photo.