A Word to the Wise...

Bonus points if you can finish the phrase in the title of this post.  My old band director used to say it all the time before he scolded someone, usually the drummers.  Observe below the image showing little bits of stripwood, neatly arranged and assembled on a template:

Looks nice, right?  Sure.  But here's the word to the wise - plan your cuts first to ensure you'll have enough material to make all the bits the kit calls for.  I gathered all the 2x8 strips, decided which ones were for what parts, then set up the chopper to begin cutting all the angled braces, starting with the small ones.  Those of you who have either made the same mistake or avoided this mistake will by now know exactly what happened next.

While it is possible this kit didn't come with all its material, it is more likely the kit designer wanted you to make the long cuts first, then use the cutoffs to make the smaller bits.  There is ample evidence in the instructions for clear forethought in how the builder is to use the pieces supplied, though no indication of any sequence for cutting.  Still, it is good advice I've read elsewhere...perhaps in a Campbell kit?  I've even followed this advice before - not sure why I didn't here.

Thankfully I had a pack of 2x8 lumber with plenty material to cut all the longer braces (not shown in the photo above).  They have since been stained, and I've reached the point of assembling the long icing platform where they will be used.  In-laws came for a visit recently since we've all been vaccinated, but even then I managed to move ahead on this kit.  I'm thoroughly enjoying it despite the mistakes, and I hope you are as well.  Thanks for following along!

My Latest Crush

I doubt I'll ever make it to Japan, but thanks to the magic of the internet, I can fall head over heels for this beautiful little railway:

 

 

And, if you want to see the trains at night from a railfan perspective, watch this:

 

I particularly like to see how the train winds its way down back alleys, between houses and gardens, and of course that curvaceous street running! (make your own wolf whistle).   I find these cab-view excursions to be wonderfully relaxing escapes, especially during lockdown.  Credit for these videos goes to their creators, along with my heartfelt thanks for transporting me to another place for a little while...

Bracing and Staining

I've reached a point in the construction process where I can no longer proceed with the main structure assembly until I address the wood structures like the front loading dock and main icing platform.  I must also paint the interior bits so I can install them when the time comes.  I have used additional bracing beyond what came with the kit in order to reduce the wall warping.  Before I apply the stucco I will seal the entire structure inside and out with a spray varnish, also to minimize warping caused by applying a water-based finish to cardstock.

The wood bits I've stained with a 50/50 wash of Mudstone and water.  I will likely paint the front loading dock as it is on the public-facing side of the structure, but the icing platform will be sun-bleached and weathered wood.  Though this is a newer building in my railroad's timeframe, the Florida sun and sub-tropical rain showers will gray exposed wood relatively quickly.

Not shooting for it, but I may just get this thing built by Easter.  We'll see how long the platforms take.  I have also received the styrene channel and angle for the cooling tower bracing.  I will be cutting, priming and painting that bracing before installing it.  Thanks for following along.

Office Detail...AGAIN!

The last structure I completed was the Seqouia Fallburgh Station, built as my Ocala Springs station for the Pine Branch of the Ocali Creek Railway.  I chose to go all in and really detail the structure's interior, including the entryway, waiting room and office.  So when I selected the next structure to build I wasn't expecting to once again be detailing an office, but here we are.  

The Suydam Union Ice kit comes with little wooden shapes which are supposed to represent chairs, desks, a sofa, file cabinets and a counter.  These would be suitable if the building were in the background.  However, it occupies a site on my railroad where it will be quite easy to look through the big windows into all that office space.  Good thing I bought those desk chairs!

I'm also testing out shades of blue for the structure, along with types of stucco material.  I've settled on the light blue shade but the darker is still not quite right.  I've also found that Durham's Water Putty mixed 1:1:1 with paint and water makes a terrific HO scale stucco.  I didn't invent this ratio - others have stumbled upon it and shared it just as I am doing here.  

I really don't need to be or want to be that guy remembered for detailing every interior of every building.  I'm content to focus on those that will be easily seen and maybe do a few that won't be seen as easily just because I want to.  I am inspired by a certain generation of Disney Imagineers who included many details in the attractions they designed even though the casual guest wouldn't see them. However, those viewers who looked more closely at a scene would be delighted to discover them.

Because You Asked

...or maybe you didn't, but if you ended up here looking for prototype information on the Cooling Tower that comes with the Suydam (or Ayres or Alpine or California Models) Union Ice Company, you're kinda sorta in luck.  After spending too much time scouring the inter-webs for that elusive image, this is the best I could come up with:

State Refrigeration Terminal, Embarcadero front and cooling tower. 1935.

Courtesy of UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library

http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/tf0v19n9mx/?order=1

 

Not bad.  1935 is only a few years off my late 20's era.  Wrong coast, but that's okay.  Not an exact match when it comes to the corners - that angled corner sure is neat but at this point there's no way I'm going to redo 8 baffle assemblies.  Still, it looks pretty good.

 

What really excites me about this image, however, beyond the 'squint analysis'* are the braces.  So much so that I ordered some Evergreen styrene channel and angle to get this feel on my tower.  Right click and open in a new tab to get a better close-up look.  At least I think they're channel iron braces.  That's what I'm going with. 

And it seems I was right to use wood for the baffles, although the texture I had may have too much contrast.  Weathering could tone that down or perhaps a dusting of gray through an airbrush to unify the colors of the wood.  At least the darker, wetter wood near the base of each baffle was a good call.

Here's where things stood this morning:

As of now, all eight baffles have been assembled.  That includes adding corner bracing to stiffen each assembly, applying wood image paper inside and out, and touching up the upper and lower edges with paint.  By the way, if you are building this kit, the gummed paper they provide to assemble the baffles works really well.  At least mine did - your mileage may vary depending on the age of your kit.

And that brings us to the first hitch in the git-a-long, the aforementioned channel irons.  As of this posting my styrene letters have arrived, the LEDs are somewhere between San Leandro and Ukiah, but now I'll have to wait on the styrene channel and angle before I can take this cooling tower any further.  That means I can start on the actual icing deck next, or wait until the LEDs arrive.

*Squint analysis was a technique I picked up long ago in a Bible Study workshop, then again in music analysis class, then again in Seminary!  No doubt it works in other fields as well.  To get the gist of a text's (or composition's) major structure, squint enough to blur the words (or notes) but still see the major groupings of things.  Some useful insights can be found using this technique.

And So It Begins...

 

These vintage cardstock kits have one thing in common with today's modern laser cut kits - the parts must often be separated from a carrier sheet by slicing, then the little nubs must be filed away.  Here you see the basic parts for the cooling tower being cut away and filed.

These segments would have been wood planks, likely held together by iron or steel straps.  I will simulate this by overlaying the card with a printed wood plank texture from Clever Models, and straps from strips of paper or maybe styrene.

Trail Drive 2020 Complete!

HeeYAH! (make your own whip cracking noise here.  Humming the theme from "Rawhide" quietly to yourself while you read this is entirely up to you).  The Trail Drive which began in 2020 has now reached the end. 

Engine #145, an IHC Mehano 2-6-0, has been customized, rebuilt, detailed, painted, lettered and weathered.  Two Comet refrigerator cars were built; one from a complete kit, another from a basket case.  Each was upgraded with additional weight and better parts selected to be in keeping with the age of the cars (nearly 80 years old).  Finally, two toy-train quality Model Power cabooses were rebuilt with new cupolas, end details and trucks plus assorted other details to become the Ocali Creek Railway's first official crummies.

This engine gave me fits at times.  I would not recommend this as a first-time rebuilding project.  The IHC mechanism is fine but on this particular model the frame is ever so slightly warped and has a couple minor design flaws acceptable for a toy train but not for a more refined model expected to operate.  Pulling power is low, as others have reported, but adequate for this engine's duties.  For now on this railroad it will be serving the industries at Ocala Spings on extras or replacing 158 when it is in the shops.  Eventually when the rest of the branch is built it will haul the daily passenger train...once the passenger cars are built, that is.

This is the former basket case.  Now I believe it is one of the most unique and characterful models I own.  Accurate for the 1920s (to the best of my knowledge), it is emblematic of the reasons I chose to model this era.  Matching the color was nearly impossible but rebuilding the car and adding details was all fun.  I'm especially pleased with the open ice hatches.

Oh how I hated to weather this car, but boy howdy am I happy with how it turned out.  Thanks to Eric Hansmann for posting a great prototype photo on his blog.  From that image I learned that for my era the ends of the car should be white, the number of roof panels (and other details) varied from car to car, and just how filthy these cars would get in service.  There were many of these cars in service so having one is just about essential.  Comet kits can build up into nice cars IF you substitute better parts for the underbody, roof, ice hatches, well, just about everything except the core and the sides.

Finally the cabooses.  Cabeese.  Cabeeses?  Two of 'em.  I didn't set out to build two but early on acquired a second kit and from that point began collecting the parts for the upgrades.  I chose #3 and #4 to contribute to the story of the railroad's history.  Purchased second hand (like engine 145) they were rebuilt in the Ocali Creek's shops as the railroad grew.  At some point I'll model #1, probably a 4-wheel bobber, and maybe #2...or maybe #2 got wrecked...we'll see.  Anyway, this car and its twin will work the "Park Shifter", based out of East Ocala yard and serving the industries at Ocala Springs.

While I started this personal challenge back around Christmas, each of these projects had begun much earlier, with the caboose project reaching back over four years ago before we moved back to California.  It feels great to have hit this milestone and I really like the idea of completing a set of trains - an engine, rolling stock and caboose.  I'm not sure when the next Trail Drive will happen, but I already have some ideas for what I'll work on; the Pan Handle Rusty Route equipment I purchased a couple years ago and my own Shifter project I started back in the early 2000s.   Or perhaps a passenger train?  Who knows.  For now the focus shifts to structures and scenery for the railroad.

Icy Inspiration

The next project will be a structure: the Union Ice Company by Suydam.  After all, I've just completed two freezers so why not give 'em a place to go get their bunkers filled.  Of course I can't build it just exactly the way the instructions suggest.  Not that there's anything wrong with the kit, apart from the requisite improvements to the structure due to its vintage materials.  But one of my guiding principles for this railroad was to create each scene in such a way to clearly locate it in central Florida in the 1920s.  For that I can turn to inspiration from old photos.  Here's one that has direct bearing on the kit:

 This is somewhere in Florida in 1927...but I can't find the original image at the Florida Memory project so my apologies for leaving it unattributed.

There are five elements (at least) that I want to replicate from this image and use in the Suydam kit.  

1. The Lighting.  The long gooseneck (for lack of a better term) lamps above the wall and the two sconces on either side of the entrance will be replicated courtesy the LED products available from WEHONEST on eBay.  Seriously.  That's the name.  They're on their way across the Pacific as I write.
2. The Letters on the wall.  On their way from Georgia right now from Trainz.  Thanks to JD Lowe at 30 Squares for the reminder that these little letters exist.  
3. The Decorative Designs on the pilasters...not sure how I'm going to make these.
4. The Tilting Windows.  I think I can make these work using tall roundhouse windows I have in my parts bin.
5. The Plants.  Who doesn't love nice landscaping?
6. The Colors.  I'd say there are at least four represented on the structure - the lamp shades, letters and windows are all a dark color, maybe black.  The recessed wall surface is one shade darker than the pilasters, which is slightly darker than the diamond designs.  I plan to use two shades of blue plus white for the walls.  This is inspired by the color scheme seen here:
   
   Trust me, the Ice Truck in the photo above is actually a beautiful two-tone blue.  The scene is "the world's first traffic jam" from the World of Motion attraction at EPCOT Center.
   
   
   

Here is the obligatory open box shot of the kit:

I sorted the small parts into bags back when I purchased the kit.  Though I am waiting on the lighting to arrive before I begin work on the main structure, I can begin work on the cooling tower and the actual icing platform until then.  Happily, the instructions are already divided accordingly.

Workbench...Monday?

I guess I could wait until Wednesday to make this post's title alliterate, but why wait til Wednesday when Monday works as well?

Here's the state of play as the Trail Drive comes to a close.  I'll do a separate post on those models, but you can see the 2-6-0 on the bench and one of the cabooses inverted in the foam cradle.  Just before I took this picture I had put the first thin coat of paint on the remaining details on this locomotive - the whistle and bell cords.  Bonus points if you can guess what color I used.  The caboose just needs a wheel cleaning.  I realized this after I attached the trucks.

It is a time of transition.  Spring blossoms are appearing - squint out the window in this picture and you might just make out the white pendulous blooms of our Hellebore on the back porch.  Not sure if we'll get any daffodils opening this year but they're all over the neighborhood.  Kristi and I were fortunate enough to get vaccinated; we received our second injection last Wednesday.  Our parents are also being vaccinated and our kids' schools are planning a hybrid reopening.

There is transition on the workbench as well.  As the Trail Drive modeling ends, I have been putting away the bits and pieces from those projects, along with all the other detritus that has accumulated.  I still haven't carefully packed away the last set of figures I painted months ago.  Turning from the former things and looking ahead, I have been preparing for the next project: a structure (which will receive its own post very soon).  

However, that's not entirely accurate.  When the cabeeses came out of their project box, I selected a replacement to fill it.  Or rather, replacements.  I have begun cleaning their flash and gathering their needed parts.  I've also ordered a few supplies for these projects and their shipping time will be a factor in what I work on next.  But in the mean time, I will be taking final photos of the 2-6-0, Comet freezers and cabeese, and perhaps even a video.

A Pane-ful Job Made Easier

Yes, you read that correctly.  Pane-ful instead of painful.  Regular readers of this blog may know my disdain for installing window glass.  I have reached the point in the Trail Drive challenge where I'm installing window glass in the cabeeses.  There are sixteen windows on each caboose.  Fortunately the Tichy windows I used in the cupolas come with pre-cut clear styrene that drops perfectly into the window.  But that's only six windows per car.  The remaining ten in the body will need to be cut from clear styrene sheet.  Thankfully the cuts on these don't need to be precise and they're all the same size.  

However the real challenge isn't the fit of things; rather, getting the little buggers into place without smudging glue all over and having to curse and try again.  Enter blue-tack.

A tiny blob on the end of a dental tool allows me to pick up a pane and set it precisely into place deep inside the caboose body, just where I want it.  Once the glue has grabbed I can gently roll the tool to release it from the pane.  No swearing, weeping, gnashing of teeth or rending garments.  Why didn't I think of this before now?