Not Exactly Knolling

 

Peak Peeve

Okay, this may sound like a criticism, because it is.  However, I offer it in the most constructive and encouraging spirit so please take it as such.  I have a pet peeve when it comes to how modelers treat the roof ridges of their structures.  Too often have I seen what is clearly outstanding work and thoughtful effort put into a model building only to cap it off, literally, with an unprototypical folded strip of paper or some such shortcut, which is then weathered to match the shingles.  No.

If you're going to shingle a roof, the cap shingles along the ridge need to be just that - individual cap shingles laid according to prototype practice.  Modern homes sometimes have a metal ridge cap over composite shingles, but that's not what I'm talking about.  If you are modeling a metal roof, then a folded strip of paper or styrene painted to match the rest of the roofing material is perfectly acceptable.  But, if you're modeling an earlier era of shingled roofing then there might be another option - the decorative ridge trim.

Here again however is another tempting trap - to just stand the trim along the ridge by itself.  WRONG.  These ornate trim features found on Victorian structures were made to not only add character to the structure but also protect the ridge.  The trim was flanked by flashing that supported the ornate vertical piece and rested on the top row of shingles on each side of the ridge.  Typically it was cast as one piece or built up to make one unit which was attached to the ridge.

This is easily modeled as I have done by painting paper strips to match the trim and gluing them in place.  Simple.  After all have been applied I will go over the trim and strips with a second coat of paint to cover any imperfections.  In this photo you can hopefully see the strips applied beneath the ridges in the front while the others in the back do not yet have it.  The strip in this case is 1/16" wide (high) and trimmed to fit, in order to give the right "reveal" to the shingles below.  The paper material is basic brown paper bag, the same as the shingles.

Admittedly we all pick and choose.  We all decide for which details we will pursue prototype fidelity and on which details we will compromise.  Track is perhaps the most common example.  How many layouts have you visited where the rail was either left unpainted or painted a garish rusty red?  And joint bars or turnout details?  I suspect most folks don't add them, but running trains draws the eye to the track and really well done track detail looks terrific. 

I suspect we've become accustomed to seeing less-detailed track in the same way we accept a strip of folded paper as a ridge cap on a shingled roof.  A quick image search for "decorative ridge trim" will bring many prototype examples and the solution to the problem is, in this case, pretty simple.  I think it looks pretty good, too.

Just One Tub

Here's a potentially troublesome thought.  If you had to evacuate your home in the event of a fire and could only take just one plastic storage tub of trains, models or railroad memorabilia, what would you put in it?  What would you deem irreplaceable enough to put in the car as you drive away from the house knowing you may return to a smoldering husk?  Let's say you had warning and the time given for selecting these items was 24 hours.  What would make the cut, and what would be left behind?

I faced this choice last year.  Thankfully we didn't have to load the kids and pets and precious few personal belongings into our cars and drive away, not knowing if we'd have a house to return to.  But this year's (early) fire season has once again raised the specter of this issue in my mind.  A few weeks ago a fire bug made a line across the south end of town, setting small fires as he went, only a couple miles away.  Thankfully our local crews were able to extinguish those before they grew. 

Then last week the wind shifted and the "August Complex" turned the sky orange.  This fire in the Mendocino National Forest north of our town has been burning since, well, early August.  The new reality in a world altered by climate change is a hotter, drier, more flammable California (with more intense but fewer rainstorms in the winter).  Times like these make a person reevaluate priorities, and a hobby gets moved down the list.

However, I'm not willing to abandon everything, particularly not the models I've customized.  I take seriously my role as steward of the rare finds I've acquired, lovingly crafted by modelers long gone.  Then there are models that speak to me which I prize more highly than their monetary value.  So when I began packing a tub last year I chose the contents based on their rarity, the emotions they conjure when I hold them, or the unbuilt kits and their potential to bring me joy as I build them in the future, possibly in a new home.

I won't itemize here the things in my tub, but merely submit this post as a way to raise the question for you, dear reader.  What would you put in just one tub?

Covered Wagon

With apologies to Luke Blackbeard; it's not that kind of wagon, but the resemblance is there if you squint.

This was my attempt at creating a dust cover for the railroad.  Yes, there's a 4'x6' HO scale railroad under that sheet.  I say 'was' because I have scrapped this idea altogether.  Getting the sheet up and over the hoops then off again would have wreaked havoc on the poor occupants of the town below, knocking down trees and sending people and autos and maybe even locomotives to the floor below.  That will never do.

Here are the wire hoops, minus the sheet.  Had the sheet been easier to put in place I could have shortened the hoops to cover the ends fully.  But that wasn't the only problem.  The end hoops were being pulled inward by the weight of the sheet.  Reinforcing the hoops somehow would run counter to the simplicity and ease of operation I was shooting for.  This idea, in theory held up but in practice, wasn't sound.

Finally, here is an image of the brass tubing I used as a hoop guide to keep the wire from enlarging the hole over time.  Removing and installing the stiff wire hoops was not difficult.  However, with four hoops evenly spaced, two of the tubes ended up in streets and one in a future parking area.  Sure, I could place an auto over the hole, but I'd have to move them each time I wanted to install the wires.  Not ideal. 



So what to do?  I called in my wife and we put our heads together.  After a brief brainstorm we arrived at the same conclusion.  I will build a lid.  The lid will contain lighting.  LED lighting.  I will install pulleys and a winch to raise the lid and it will become a valance.  Yes, I know, I detest valences.  This one will be different.  Hopefully.

Back on Station II

I say I'm back on station again because I had neglected this project again.  But now I'm re-engaged and hopefully this time I'll carry it across the finish line.  In addition to some roof work, I'm finalizing the interior details.  The only major custom work left is the ticket window bars...that's something I'm looking forward to seeing, but not necessarily doing.  It will be a challenge, to be sure.

This post however is about the stove.  Even in Florida a stove in the waiting room or even a fireplace was common.  Winters were cold and coffee was enjoyed year 'round so my Ocala Springs station had to have one.  I'd primed and painted the casting itself a while back but hadn't installed it for lack of a good stove pipe.  I was all set to bend one from heavy wire when I remembered I had saved a few sprues in my bits box.

The nice thing about sprues is they come with elbows and angles built-in, for replicating all sorts of piping.  This sprue segment in particular came from a Jordan kit, already black, so no need to paint.  I drilled into the casting as well as the sprue and CA'd a little bit of wire between as an alignment pin.  Then when that was dry I carefully glued the stove in place...though not carefully enough as I still managed to get glue on the chimney.  Hopefully the mistake won't be that visible through the windows.