Outhouse maintenance shop complete

The outhouse maintenance shop is now complete.  I added a bit of scenery base around the outside of the shop to allow for added details.  There is a big sign on the front that identifies the work they do.  The roof is covered with corrugated metal.

The base was made using file card stock.

At the back is an outhouse being repaired.  Against the building is a pallet of bags of lime that are used to sanitize the outhouse holes.

Above is a view of the rear of the building with a worker holding a shovel.

This side view shows a stack of boards that will be used for repairs,  an old outhouse seat, and a work bench at the rear.  

This has been a fun model to build.  Now again I need to come up with an idea for another model.

Outhouse models

Previously I posted about the Order of the Biffy, a humorous model railroad group that had fun modeling outhouses and doing articles for the NMRA Bulletin about them. My father was a member of this group.  Below is a photo of an outhouse (or biffy) on a flat car in front of my father's Troll station.  The U & I was the Unlikely & Improbable MRR of Phead Henderson of Phoenix AZ.

One year there was a convention in Phoenix and some of the group gathered around a mocked up outhouse in Phread's back yard.

Phread is on the right and my father is standing next to him.

Above is another biffy on a flat car.

Above is my collection of outhouse models (other than those on my layout).  About half of them are cast metal.  The one on the right is a plaster casting.  The variety of designs for actual outhouses was apparently endless.  They were simple in design - a small structure with a seat inside with a hole in the seat and a hole in the ground under the structure.  People dumped all kinds of things in those holes.  Apparently the old Sears catalog (which was distributed free) was often used as a wipe medium.

I am making good progress on my structure model.

Out house maintenance shop model start

My next model is an  out house maintenance shop.  They construct, install, and maintain outhouses.  My idea for this came from the fact I have a small collection of out house models, many of which came from my fathers layout.  I have several of these installed on my layout.

I have constructed the four walls and chimney. The walls are made using a thin wood base with 2x10 wood strips for siding.  The windows and doors are by a variety of manufacturers,  The chimney was made from a thick strip of balsa carved to shape with dots of thick glue which were then painted to simulate stones.

The rear door is a cast metal wood type door with lots of details on both sides.

The view above shows the other side of the rear door,

Back in the 1970's when what is now the NMRA magazine was called the NMRA Bulletin there was an ongoing series of articles and photos of what were called "biffys", another name for an out house. There was a group of modelers that made various models of biffys  including on a flat car and many other situations.  The group was called the "Order of the Biffy".  The even had pins like that below.

The pin above is held up on a dark colored metal block - not part of the pin.  

Needless to say these articles were controversial. 

I will next add the roof and a front roof extension plus a rear roof extension.  Under the rear roof extension will be the maintenance area with details.