Abandoned shack - completed

The abandoned shack is now complete - I think.

It has been shingled and weathered.  I added a window frame with broken glass on this side.  The frame is partly out of the window opening.  I also added a porch with one broken board and a door hanging by one hinge.

The front view

This side will be towards the inside of the layout while the other side will face the aisle about 3 inches from the edge of the layout.  That way visitors can peer down into the shack and see the interior details.   I got tired a long time ago creating invisible details.   

The next step is to install it on the layout and add lots of litter and weeds around it.  I may even build a junker automobile to put outside the shack.

Abandoned shack with siding and interior details

This project is moving slowly due to the holidays.

The siding is now installed and the undamaged side of the roof is installed.  The is a window on each side, the near one is broken out (I will probably add a damaged window frame) and the other window has "glass" with a crack in it.

This view from above shows the interior details I have added.  The cast iron stove was scratch built using part of the end of an old mechanical pencil, paper and wood scraps.  The stack is a plastic tube.  I also added a scratch built chair, a barrel and an open card board box made from paper.  The are also some wood and paper scraps laying around.  When I install this side of the roof - mostly on the left side - you will still be able to see the interior by looking down into it.  I plan to locate the shack near the edge of my layout so it can be seen.  More work to do.

GLUE

One of the Christmas gifts I got from my wife was a set of 3 types of Aleene's tacky glue - the original, a fast grab version and a quick dry version. I have used the original Aleene's tacky white glue for years but never saw the other versions.  The pack is still sealed so I have not had a chance to try them but I always like tying new modeling tools and materials.  

Abandoned shack - the framing

I like doing shacks, especially deteriorated shacks.  This shack has been abandoned and the roof is falling in. There is a hole in the floor boards and one wall is falling away. The only inhabitants are critters and an occasional squatter.  I started with a rough sketch, some basic dimensions and a few statements of what I planned to include.  Some of that has already changed.  The shack footprint is 12 foot by 20 foot. I am building this board by board to achieve the look I want.  I drew a framing template on the paper I always have taped to my workbench and built the side and end framing with scale 2x4s with 4x4 posts at the corners.  Here is an early progress photo.

As you can see I have the framing done for two walls.  There is a serious hole in the floor boards.  The boards have been stained with my trusty alcohol and india ink solution - no paint here.

This photo is from earlier this evening.  I have installed framing for all walls with part of the wall on the left breaking away from the structure.  I have also installed the roof frames at the back.  The roof frames on this end will be partially collapsing causing the roof to begin to fall in.  The door frame can be seen at this end.  I am making this up as I go so I am not totally sure how he collapsing part will be done.  There will be a simple porch and steps in front of the doorway.  I intend to have the door hanging by one hinge ready to fall off.

Since this photo I have begun installing the vertical siding boards.  There will be a lot of missing siding boards toward this end to ensure that the interior is visible.

More to come though the holidays will slow this down.

Merry Christmas!

Revamping a city building

One of my quick and dirty city buildings was a very pain structure that had been on my father's layout.  As with many of my city buildings I was in a hurry to get the city in place and installed it with no changes.  I did a refurb that included a bunch of signs and an awning over the lower front.

Here is a frontal view.  I added shades in each window and some details on the sidewalk.

This structure will be located at the back of the city next to the burlesque house.

Burlesque house for my city

This structure took extra long because I did a lot of research - on the Internet.  This burlesque house will replace the structure I showed earlier.  It was an interesting build.

The front is mostly styrene with the upper part having a brick overlay.  The marquee over the front doors was made from clear acrylic with white paper having the signs pasted on the acrylic.  I made holes in the back underside of the Marquee for inserting small lights which will hopefully illuminate the marquee (I have not tried it yet).

As you can see, the structure is a short depth building front that fits against the wall.  The lower interior has no interior details but the upper windows have curtains and awnings.  Inside the right window you can see one of the girls changing clothes.  I doubt this will be visible when installed on the layout as the building is about 3 feet from the edge of the layout.

You can "barely" see her removing her dress over her head (she does however have her bra and panties on) - this is a family friendly layout.  That is if you do not consider the bordello with full interior detailing in the small town of Elder near the entrance to my layout.  The roof is removable on that but most people need to stand on a short step stool to see inside.

Replacing a nondescript building in my city

I am replacing a building in my city that was a quickly modified cheap foam structure.  When I put the city in I wanted to get it done quickly for an upcoming open house.  Now I am going back and doing some upgrades and replacements.  The new structure is going to be a scratch built burlesque house.  This is the seedy part of the city so that will fit right in.  Here is the existing building that will be replaced.  The burlesque house will not be as tall but will have a large sign on top.

I will sell this building, or if nobody is interested, it will be tossed.  It is only a building front as the new one will be.

As usual when I scratch build, one of the most time consuming parts is the research and planning.  While I do not draw any detailed plan, I do make a sketch and ensure it fits and has a reasonably realistic appearance.  For this structure I am doing an Internet search for appropriate signs and posters.  I contemplated some fancy lighting but will likely not do that - at least not for now.  Most of my buildings are not glued down but merely set in place, so making later modifications is not difficult.  Where I do glue the structures down they are merely edge glued with white glue so are easy to remove with a little water around the edges.

My layout is almost totally sceniced and I am running out of room to installed new structures.  I have been thinking about tearing the layout down next year and building something new.  I like to build structures and scenery so it would be interesting to do something new.  If I do decide to build a new layout I will spend a good amount of time on the new design.

More steel hot metal car models

I added to my (now two) hot metal car fleet by building the Walthers plastic kit that has been sitting on my shelf for some years.  The Walthers car was very easy to build.  I did spend some time painting and weathering it.

The Walthers car is the one in the front while the one in the rear is the brass model I previously painted and weathered - though I made some modifications to the brass car since my previous posting.  I sprayed the Walthers car a dark gray then added a thin wash of acrylic red oxide.  The skull was made using fine brownish black cinder augmented by real fine rust.  I finished up with some reddish brown chalk dust.

Since the steel mill on my layout is really small I don't need many hot metal cars but they are fun to paint and weather.

Critters:
- I previously mentioned the Stealth Cam that I have installed at the back of my yard.  I am getting a little smarter at using it and getting better photos.  Since my property backs up to park land we get lots of critters.  I have a dog bowl back there in front of the camera where we put bones and table scraps  (better than throwing them in the trash).  One frequent visitor is a fox shown here in a rare daytime appearance.

The night time photos are essentially black and white with lighting by an infrared LED array.  This is a just for fun camera.

Texas oil field 1918

I thought this was a neat photo - it has a wide variety of the elements associated with an early 1980's oil field.  In addition to dozens of oil derricks it shows the railroad connection with an interesting variety of rail cars.  There is a stock car, a ventilated boxcar, a standard boxcar, and a reefer car.  Also several buildings - perhaps the long one by the boxcar is a freight station.  There also seems to be a lot of buildings among the derricks.

There are also a number of vintage automobiles, but no trucks - just lots of wagons.  I do not see any indication of what they used to transport the oil.  Early tank cars were often just short vertical tanks on flat cars.

Scratchbuilt vintage truck

This truck model is mostly scratch built.  The only commercial parts are the wheels and part of the cab, the hood and the grill.  For the cab hood and grill I used left-over parts from a military truck model - I removed the roof and the back of the cab, then  I built a new roof and back from styrene.  I added cab steps from styrene and fenders from card stock.  The headlights were made from the rounded ends of plastic sprue and the front bumper from a thin strip of aluminum sheet.  The wheels are Sheepscot cast metal parts.

The truck body was made with a frame of wood (top, ends and base) and the sides are card stock with a cover of computer paper on which I printed the color and lettering using the Apple presentation software.  The sides were sprayed with a clear coat to protect the finish.  I added a scribed wood layer on the body front and a metal freight car door for the rear.

There is an underbody frame made from styrene strips and a a vestige of an engine under the cab.  A styrene rod connects the engine to the rear axle which has a sort of universal joint made from the split end of a plastic mechanical pencil part, along with some card stock finish.  I finished up with some chalk weathering.

This was an enjoyable project despite several in-process revisions I had to make.  A normal result of the fact I never draw plans.

HO standard gauge goose of a different color

Some years ago I purchased a Con-Cor "Galloping Goose" with HO standard trucks.  The model was undecorated and since I do not model western narrow gauge (I do have some eastern style narrow gauge) I decided to paint it in colors of my choosing - much to the consternation of my western narrow gauge buddies.

I decided that since the front of the goose looks like a school bus I would paint mine yellow.  The rail bus (I don't call mine a goose) is sitting on a siding behind my city station.  As with all of the locos I use it is DCC equipped with sound.  I chose to make it standard gauge because it did not seem right for my narrow gauge which is freight only (timber and coal).

As a totally unrelated subject, I recently bought a "Stealth Cam" - a camera for unattended photographing of wild animals (or anything else that moves across it's path).  I have it mounted on a tree in my back yard and it is really interesting to see the photos it takes.  It is full color during the day and effectively black & white at night.  The night photos are taken by an infrared LED array.  I have gotten photos of deer, foxes, raccoons, and a neighborhood cat.  Our yard backs up to parkland so anything is possible. We also get photos of ourselves when we walk by.  It is just for fun but fascinating.  The photos are recorded on an SD card which we insert in our computers and download.

Rustic bridge to my log pond dump

I finally added some sides to the bare bridge base spanning the HO mainline and carrying the narrow gauge logging road to the dump site for the log pond.  Many years ago I acquired a partially started SS Ltd Dinky Creek Bridge kit from an estate.  The bridge per the kit was too long for the span I needed to  fill so I redesigned the bridge leaving off two vertical post sections while maintaining the general look of the bridge.  The kit was based on an actual bridge in the Sierra National Forest of California.

The kit consisted of strip wood and a variety of white metal nut & bolt castings.  I did not have room to place the cross beams under the bridge due to low clearance with the mainline below so they project out from the longitudinal bridge beams that have been in place for several years.  I drilled lots of holes to insert the bolt castings.  I am generally pleased with the result and I finally have a completed bridge.

The above view shows the log pond and sawmill in the background.  The sawmill is scratch built and has a Fantasonics company steam sawmill sound CD installed below the mill to provide mill sounds.  The CDs from Fantasonics are scratchbuilt sounds  (not recorded) and provide an hour of various non-repetitive sounds.  The pond was made using Envirotex 2-part epoxy with the logs and a log boat pre-glued to the pond base.  The color of the "water" was made by coloring the pond base before pouring the epoxy.  The sawmill complex and adjoining lumber drying and storage area are the largest industry on my layout.  The log storage area is a lift-out for access to that area.

Views of my city

A few years ago I built a city for one corner of my layout.  I did it quickly using mostly kits on hand as I was trying to fill the corner for an upcoming open house.  I named the city "Uniontown".  There is such a city/town in Western Pennsylvania but mine bears no resemblance to it.  I have since made a few modifications but it is essentially what I put in place then.  The main street going from the station to the backdrop ends in a small mirror between the buildings to give the impression the street continues.

The station is to the right foregound on the other side of the tracks out of view.  Two of the rooftop signs at the back - White Fuel and H&C Coffee are lighted with motion simulated by the lights.  These signs are by Miller Engineering who has a wide variety of lighted signs.

There is a construction crane in the empty lot to the left of the bus.  The crane has been demolishing the structure that stood there and the lot had dirt piles and detritus.  I will eventually show additional photos of the city.

Wood products yard and equipment

In the 1800s and early 1900s trees were heavily harvested for wood to be used for a variety of products such as rosin, charcoal, turpentine, etc.  While this industry was mostly earlier than the era of my layout, these processes were still being used  to some extent in 1939.  Wood yards were extensive and required some form of transportation for the wood and wood products - frequently an in-plant railroad.  Below is  a photo of a typical wood yard with rail cars for moving the wood and products.

Below is a photo of a different style of wood buggies.

This would make a neat industry to model but I am running out of room for industries on my layout.

I had a layout tour for the NMRA MER convention yesterday.  The visitors apparently liked what they saw.  

Partially closed tunnel portal

I have been away at a funeral for the last week so finally here is a new post.  This is a tunnel on my layout that used to be a two track tunnel with the right track leading to a small staging yard under the layout.  It was too difficult to use and the lead was a tight curve so I removed the staging yard and lead track through the tunnel.  Since there was only one track remaining through a double track tunnel portal I decided to close off the side with no track.

The bridge above at the right is on my narrow gauge and leads to a coal dock.  Although the track I removed was flex track, I replaced it partially with distressed and aged wood ties.  Then I added grass and weeds.   It is different but I suspect some prototypes probably did this.

The MER convention is bearing down on me so I need to do more scenery work in preparation for the open house.  My layout is already about 95% sceniced but there is always more to do.

Steel mill hot metal car model

I have had this 80-ton brass hot metal car model sitting on my layout for many years.  Non model railroad visitors often commented on the "gold" model car.  I finally decided to paint and weather it.

I spray painted it dark gray then added a light overspray of rail brown.  I glued some gray-brown cinders around the opening at the top to simulate leftover skull from pours.  After that  I added some selective rust wash and a dusting of chalk.  Looks good to me, and much better than an unpainted brass model.  The only components to this model are the body, the two ends, and the trucks.

Steam engine terminal overhead steam line

I have had several Diamond Scale Construction company steam engine terminal overhead steam line pole kits for a long time and decided to construct them and install them in my small engine facility, which consists of a turntable and three tracks - no roundhouse or engine house. The prototype used these overhead steam lines for engines with their fires out to keep them warm and save time when placing the engines in service.  The kit parts are nicely done and consist of two "poles" per kit.  They are mostly cast white metal parts but no steam line is supplied.  They recommend using #14 insulated electrical wire which is what I used.  The instructions are sketchy but adequate.

Below is a photo of the four posts I constructed before they were painted.

I built the first one using ACC cement which was a pain, so I used small amounts of contact cement as well as ACC on the other three. There were a lot of small pipe fittings that needed to be drilled out to fit on the brass wire pipes - that was ever so much fun.

The steam line (insulated wire) runs from a boiler house in the background across each of the poles with a fitting on the line over each track that has a tee fitting that hold a Z shaped extensible line to connect to each boiler.  Installing those was the biggest pain of all.  Fortunately my layout is only 3 feet deep at that point so the reach to install was only about 2 feet.  I may go back later and add some more details but I have had enough of this for now.

You can see a bit of the turntable on the left.  Above the boiler house is an elevated track.  The small rail car this side of the engine is an old Kemtron railcar with added detail.  While it will run, it has two speeds - really fast and stop, thus it is for scenery only.

I am polishing up my layout for the MER convention next month so will pretty much only be doing scenery during that time.

Rustic grocery installed on my layout

The grocery store previously presented has been installed at the edge of the layout next to the railroad station of the small town of Elder.  It fills a bare area between the station and the tannery, and is right next to the railroad tracks.

I included three figures - the one holding the screen door is a modified cheap plastic figure that had been a street vendor holding a vending box - I removed the box which consequently removed his left arm so I had to create a new left arm.  I also created a hat for his head giving me a decent figure that looks very different from the original.  I placed a bench near where one could be seen in the photo of the prototype and placed a small jug and a seated figure.  The seated figure is holding a small can in his hand.  I made a hat for his head also.  The standing figure with the cane is mostly unmodified and represents an older bearded man.  The truck in front of the grocery is one I just made.

Above is a rear view of the installed grocery store.  I placed an outhouse behind the store and an old discarded wagon.

I got a question about the figure that I modified and which is holding open the screen door.  A duplicate of the original figure can be seen below.

As you can see it was a cheap plastic figure of I guess a hotdog vendor.  I removed the hotdog, the box and pole and his box belt.  I had to add a new left arm and I put a brimmed hat on his head.  It is fun and easy to modify these cheap plastic figures and you can get exactly what you need and something a little different than what might be available commercially.  I usually glue their feet to a small piece of glass with white glue for ease of painting.

Some HO vehicle models

I pulled two old HO vehicles out of a drawer of vehicles and parts and did some work on them.  They are from an estate and were built somewhat poorly with garish paint jobs.  I  repaired and repainted them, and added some additional details.  They are better now and will be placed on my layout.

The auto is cast metal and somewhat crude.  I made it into a chauffeur driven car with the lady in the back seat.  I added bumpers and an enclosed spare wheel made from the end of a popcicle stick.

The truck is from a plastic kit.  I repaired, painted and weathered it.  I added some boxes and a barrel in the back of the truck.  I plan to place the truck beside my rustic grocery store.

These were quick projects but something to build.

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.

Caterpillar dozers and logging tractors

I have several kits of Caterpillar cast metal dozers by Cannon Scale Models, and decided to build one according to the directions. I have to say building cast metal kits is not one of my favorite projects.  The cast metal parts are usually quite good, but the instructions in my experience are usually quite poor.  The recommended means of assembling these is to use some form of cyanoacrylate glue (CA).  While it holds well for joints that have little flex, it is a pain for small surface areas and can be tricky to get the parts in the correct orientation during assembly.  That is my rant of the day.  Below is the model that I built and will be installing on my layout.

As usual I added some weathering.  While I have a dozer blade I have not attached it as I am not yet sure how I will employ the dozer.

Now I have two other sets of parts and am pondering how I will use them but it will definitely not be as intended.  Over the years there have been an incredible variety of crawler tread style machines built.  I have numerous books and photos with examples.

Below is a 1939 version of a Caterpiller dozer with a cab and some kind of rack on the front.  The dozer is hauling several Athey trailer wagons carrying supplies to a mining camp far from roads or railroads.

A variety of crawler tread machines were used in logging operations in the early 1900s.  An interesting example is shown in the photos below.

These are just a few of the possibilities for my other kits.

Frigicar mechanical refrigeration car model

Over the past many years I have accumulated a fairly large quantity of card stock wood style billboard reefer car sides.  For the most part I have no intention of using them, but there was one set that intrigued me.  It was a North American Dispatch Frigicar set with the designation "Mechanical Transit Refrigeration".   I did a serious amount of Google searches to find out something about these cars.  I am reasonably competent in these kind of searches but information was hard to find.  What I did find was a gazillion ads for a Missouri Pacific Frigicar poster and mentions of a Train Miniatures kit that is apparently not accurate.  I also found mention that a book I once owned (The Great Yellow Fleet) had a little info.

So - here is what I have come up with.  Apparently the Frigicar company created these mechanical refrigeration cars starting in the late 1920's and were gone by WW II.  The cars used a drive off of a car axle to operate an ammonia based refrigeration system, possibly with an internal brine tank, a condenser on the roof, and no ice bunkers, thus likely had no ice hatches on the roof.  Using this sketchy information I built a model which is my best guess of what the cars looked like.

I used an old style wood block roof, ends and floor.  Since I had no information on the ends I decided to make wood ends as it suited what I was doing.  I put an end access hatch on the refrigeration unit end with a plastic corrugated scrap piece on the roof for the condenser.  I put two roof end walks on since there were no reefer roof hatches.  I added some 3-D door hinges on the sides.  After the model was complete I added some chalk weathering as I cannot stand shiny new cars ( or structures).  Below are a few more views.

Although it is a little dark you can see the access hatch on the lower right of the end.

Wether this is accurate or not, I am pleased with it.  You may note that I clip off the Kadee coupler uncoupling pins as they look awful and I do not use them.

As a side note, apparently one of the Frigicar executives installed one of these mechanical refrigeration systems in the trunk of a Packard automobile.  That was not real successful as the cost was really high.  There was also an issue with the freight cars as ammonia gas is poisonous and leaks were dicey.