Platform scales were used extensively in my model railroad era of 1939. They came in many forms and sizes. As usual I do research using my fairly good sized vintage industry book and catalog collection. The first book I turned to was an early 1900s (no date - common with those old hard cover catalogs since they did not want to constantly publish new versions they were expensive) Standard Scale and Supply Company catalog. Much to my surprise there were no photos of platform scales in this catalog. They did have lots of information and photos of other products they made, so my company will also make other products. I did find lots of platform scale photos in some of my other old industry catalogs. Here are a few:
The first scale is the common platform scale. The second one is called a built-in, suspended platform scale. I will have a few platform scales sitting on the shipping dock. They will be scratch built.
This model will look nothing like the WhiteGround kit. I came up with a rough sketch of what I wanted to do, then built a rough card stock mock-up, mostly for size purposes. I usually do a mock-up if the structure is complicated. In this case the initial mock-up was too big so I cut it down until it suited me. Below is a photo of the mock-up.
As you can see it is crude but it is for size and general layout purposes. During actual construction I frequently revise the model, sometimes a lot, which is why I don't spend time drawing detailed plans. This model will have a footprint of approximately 8" by 10".
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