Industry hat examples

I have been working on my hat factory model which is progressing slowly.  The starting point is a DPM kit which I am modifying extensively and the modifications are difficult.  I think it would have probably been easier to just scratch build the whole thing.  In any event, I am not ready to post the model itself.  Instead I am posting more examples of period industrial workers wearing hats.  But the first photo is an event in 1987 held at the Cass West Virginia railroad sponsored by the Mountain States Logging Association back in 1987 where they requested attendees to dress in period dress.  Some did including me.

In the photo above I am the third parson from the left.  That was an interesting event.

In the early to mid 1900's workers in many professions wore hats.  It was the the style of the day.

Above are workers on the Rio Grande Railroad preparing the right of way.

And here is a logging operation.

And lastly is a photo of a mining operation in South Dakota.

Wearing hats was the standard in those days thus the success of the hat industry.

Hat factory planning

When I decided to build a hat factory I had no idea of what one might look like.  It turns out some hat factories were major facilities.  As usual, my model will be a modest representation.  I am in the process of planning the model.  I did some research to help me in my planning.  Below is a business ad for Lee Hats.  As you can see the factory is quite large.

In my 1939 modeling era and many years preceding men of almost all status wore hats.  Below is an example of a working environment where the workers were wearing hats.

One of the major hat manufacturers was Stetson founded in 1865.  In the 1960's the company was absorbed by a conglomerate.  The hat making processes were interesting.  They used a variety of machinery and materials such as animal hair for felting.  The forming and coloring processes were quite involved.  There were many types of hats.  They used rows of racks and shelves for the hats as they were created.  They usually made their own hat boxes.  They used a variety of fur pelts (frequently Beaver and Nutria).   They had dye vats and stiffening processes.  The many steps were quire complex.

My initial plan for building my model is to use a modified Design Preservations Models kit for the start.  I will see how this works out.  There will be additions to the kit.  More later when I have made some progress.

SS Ltd concrete mixer completed.

I have completed this kit.

I built it as a very used machine.

The chute is in the up position since it will be sitting in the building supply company yard.

Another Aurora Snap-aroo auto kit model.

I also assembled another cheap Auroa auto kit.  Too bad this company went out of business.  As usual  I made many modifications.  The photo shows an original kit beside the finished auto.   I removed the roof and created an interior.

It is all fun!

Building supply company complete

I have completed the building supply company and it is installed on the layout.  For the last week I have been mostly building and painting details for the yard area.  That takes a long time.  The fence around the yard is an old Alloy Forms chain link fence kit with modifications.

I have distributed a variety of building supplies around the inside of the fence and around and inside the shed area.  Some are commercial parts and some are scratch built.  I will describe a few of them.

On the right is an outhouse next to the building and to the right of the outhouse is a sand bin with a loader in front of it.  To the right of the sand bin is a stack of "concrete" water pipes.  I made the water pipes from paper straws with a strip of paper around one end for the connector to string the pipes together.  I liberally coated the pipes with tan acrylic paint.  At the near right, inside the fence, is a pile of stone blocks made from Hydrocal pieces.  In between the concrete pipe and the stones are a pile of steel beams and several stacks of bricks. On the right side of the main building there are ladders stacked.

Next to the center of the main building are stacks of concrete blocks - commercial products.  Also several commercial cable reels.

In the shed area are stacked sacks of cement,  compressed gas bottles, and some wheel barrows.

I added a number of figures, some doing work and others loafing.  If anyone has questions either, send me a Gmail or post a comment and I will answer.

Now I need to decide what my next project will be.  In the mean time I will be building an SS Ltd concrete mixer to add to the yard area.  As always,  the SS Ltd kits have great detail but are a pain to build.

Building supply workshop shed

I have added a shed to the building supply company workshop.  The photos were taken on the layout. There are still many details to be added as well as the supplies in the yard area.  As you can see this is the last business along the back of this layout section as you can see the end of layout hill on the right side.

With the shed attached, the workshop building does not look as strangely high.

The area between this scene and the front of the layout is unfinished.

After I complete this industry I will add the next layout extension making the layout in this room a "C" shape instead of the current "L" shape.  Then I will be running out of space in this second layout room.