Happy Birthday John Allen

I don't usually remember John Allen's birthday - July 2 - until after the day has passed.  This year I happened to notice the announcement in the G&D group (former Yahoo group) and decided I'd celebrate with a special train.  I assembled a short consist of cars from John's friends who had contributed rolling stock from their railroads to run on the Gorre & Daphetid.  These cars are actual equipment from those roads, not reproductions or tribute cars, though they may not match the car types seen on the G&D.

I shot a short video of a run-by, but here are photos of each car as they appear in the train:

Bud Sima's PURR, from the Milt Moore collection.

Frank Murray's Seaford & Oyster Bay.

Malcolm Vordenbaum's Caruth and Central

Bill McClanahan's T&RGW

Ken Vere's Caribou Southern

Hey, how'd that get in there?!?

And here's the video:

Happy Birthday, John.

Station Walls

Windows blanked, end wall cornice added, gaps puttied, corner bevels adjusted.  Ready for stucco.  The arcade is coming along, but that'll get its own post.

Stepping Back to the Station

I realized I'd need to take a few steps back before I could go forward with the sidewalks.  I determined I'd need to put in the grade crossings first, and before that I really should have the streetcar track laid, and for that I'd want solid dimensions on the terminal building with its arcade over the track.  First steps on that structure are tests, in a way.  I'm breaking new ground with this building, trying new techniques.

Firstly, I used my scroll saw to cut away the interiors of the arcade arches.  The starting point for this is the classic Revell Engine House.  This worked very well.  My old saw doesn't have a variable speed control so I was concerned it might melt the plastic but thankfully that wasn't an issue.

Up next was modifying the station building walls and plastering them to resemble stucco.  I hacked out a section of wall and discovered just how brittle this plastic is.  Nothing a file can't fix, but worth noting.  The good news is that Tamiya Extra Thin cement bonds it together.  I used the cutoff bit as a test section for the plastering.  For the stucco I used joint compound mixed with white glue, applied with a metal dental spatula.

I tried using a silicone tipped tool to apply the mix but it seemed to want to remove it more easily than the metal tool.  Funny, I had expected just the opposite to be the case.  While the putty dried I poked at it to see how it would react and it broke away in chunks but not in such a way that it completely fell away from the wall.  It was fixed easily with more compound.  The next morning I could sand it and found it to be well bonded to the brick.  I'm really pleased with how this is going to look, and excited because it will enable me to "blank" several windows and plaster over them.

With these tests completed I can proceed with the next step, building the basic shell of the structure.

Orange Avenue Mock-ups Round Two

Today I placed the Ensminger Building on the layout to get a better feel for how it will look at the end of the block, so to speak.  Seeing it there made me realize what had been bothering me about the previous arrangement of structures; in short, some didn't quite fit as I'd hoped.  So, my attention turned from the Ensminger Building to its neighbors, and I found two alternatives to the problematic structures.

Let's start at the other end of the block.  The Drug store on the corner was slated for that site long ago and despite its current unfinished status still serves to show its mass and silhouette.  Moving down the street is a new addition, DPM's First National Bank aka the Grand Hotel if you've got the kit in the structure pack for Woodland Scenics' Grand Valley layout.  I'll be using the structure as a hotel, built as it comes.

I've written before about other mock-ups I've made from paper and foam core board but these "new" mock-ups are made using the structure parts held together with hot glue.  The Rosenbaum building however is a paper and cardstock mock-up representing DPM modular wall panels which will be combined with parts from Rail Scale Models to make a large 5 and 10 cent store.  This structure will have a deep awning (not shown) across the entire facade positioned beneath the transom windows but above the large display windows, a common arrangement in the '20s and into the decades beyond.

Lastly, the tan building is a structure I had planned to kitbash and use on this street but in a different form.  "Granny's Cafe'", as it is called in the Grand Valley structure box, aka "The Other Corner Cafe'" normally, was always going to be a smoke shop with a residence above.  It will continue as such, but in a wider two-story form instead of three.  I'll be borrowing the side walls from another DPM kit but using the wide back wall from the original; a true two-kit-mingle.  Those arched windows will have awnings using the vacuum-molded parts provided in the Grand Valley box, a thoughtful inclusion.

Right away I feel MUCH better about this line-up of mock-ups.  The trolley station across the street also seems more at home opposite these facades.  Oh, and I didn't forget the back alley; I like how it looks as well.  There are several good surfaces for painted-on signs and a visually interesting variety of windows and wall depths.

The Ensminger Building still needs signs and some weathering.  I will add some interior details to the photo studio and front display windows, but likely not for some time.  I'm itching to get this structure done enough to move on to other projects.  I've also got one more mock-up to make while the Grand Valley kit collection is out, but that's a topic for another post.  Thanks for reading.