Stand-ins

The drug store project has led me down a path I hadn't intended to take just yet.  Well, two, actually, but one (LED lighting) is the subject of another post.  I put the under-construction drug store in place on the layout only to find its presence altering the way I perceived the rest of the scene.  That is, I'm really happy with how it looks, where it looks; a tall, ornate gem on a prominent corner where the detail can be appreciated.  But Strickland's Service Station suddenly didn't look right across the street.  The Purina building adjacent to the drug store didn't fit right either.  Hmm.  

Two things were at play.  I had grown accustomed to seeing the Purina building and Strickland's on their diorama.  That setting was more rural and both structures were in different orientations to their respective streets as well as having a bit more room to spread out, so to speak.  On the Pine Branch Park layout the orientation was different and the setting more urban.  Strickland's sat on a corner on the diorama and that suited its odd porch/drive-through design.  The Purina building was on a dirt lot, set back far from the road.  

The white demitasse cup stands-in for the bandstand. Note the trolley on the street.

It was an easy decision to replace Strickland's with a bandstand.  I had already found great photos of Winter Haven, Florida in which a city park, complete with bandstand, is bisected by the Atlantic Coast Line main, complete with station.  A block of storefront businesses stands nearby.  I can put the (Campbell) bandstand at one end and the old horse-car at the other.  Voila, a trolley park located along the Orange Avenue line.

On the left, pool hall, lunch counter, ice factory.  On the right?

But the Purina building...that's harder for me to imagine a replacement.  Both structures could easily find homes on future versions of the Ocali Creek.  But the problem remains; what to do about the current situation?  In order to help me parse out a solution I decided to bring in some old structures I've been storing from previous layouts and, well, lay them out as stand-ins.  That's what's shown in these pictures.  

The tan paper behind the Purina building is the instruction plan for a pipe yard.

Each structure has its own story and some will get dedicated blog posts, no doubt.  But even this hurried-together approach has shown me I want to push the scene into a more urban direction.  Sure, in many towns there was a feed mill right near downtown, so there's good precedent for keeping the Purina building as is.  But even pushed back from the street it just doesn't fit.  What this location needs is a rail served business with a storefront that faces the street(s), right on the sidewalk, preferably two stories tall.

I haven't forgotten my previous post on fitting in the Chero Cola bottling plant somewhere, so maybe this is the spot.  That was back in April of 2021.  My, how things have changed since then.  Things are likely to change again a few times before structures get mounted in place.  Stay tuned.

Decommissioning a Diorama

My National Model Railroad Build Off 2022 diorama has served its purpose and now, for the greater cause of reorganizing my garage, has been decommissioned.  All the structures, trees, people and details have been saved.  One of the structures will find a new home in Ocala Springs on the current railroad, but another that was headed that way will find a different home.  More on that in a future post.

I tried to save the brick street with its track but was unable and that's okay.  While the brickwork was sufficient for the diorama, I'd not have been entirely happy with it on its own.  That is one reason to build a diorama - the chance to try new techniques without any pressure.  I salvaged the rail but naught else.  I did manage to save the spur next to the Purina building and will be incorporating it into a display stand...someday.

 

 

A Better Purina Building

... or, simple upgrades to make a classic kit into a stand-out structure.  This post is yet another in the series about how I built my diorama for the Walthers National Model Railroad Build Off 2022.

I've always admired the Suydam Purina Building with its bold checkerboard graphics.  During the course of building mine, I discovered that the checkerboard pattern dates back as far as 1903-4, and the further back you go, the more elaborate the pattern becomes.  Back then the checkerboard was painted on just about any surface from wagons to walls, and whatever wasn't red and white check was a deep blue.  As time passed the amount of surface area covered in the ubiquitous checkered pattern diminished so if you're modeling a more recent structure, less is best.  However, for my 1914 diorama, the building as printed fits right in.  Even the typeface is a great match for that era and beyond.

The kit reflects the standard of the time (mid 50s? - HO Seeker shows it in the 1956 Suydam catalog), with window frames printed on acetate, die-cut walls and overly large-section stripwood.  The few metal castings for the roof details are nice, but you're set up to fail with the heavy copper wire that must be bent carefully to become piping and soft flat metal strips for struts.  I tried, and failed to achieve a result I was pleased with, eventually using bits from my scrap box to cobble together the support.  Your mileage may vary.  The platforms and steps were simple wood shapes meant to be painted to look like concrete and the kit included "skylights", more akin to clerestory roofs, made of similar wood shapes to be covered in paper.  I chose not to use this detail, but a skylight from Campbell would make a better substitute.

To begin the upgrade, I substituted Tichy windows for the printed acetate.  All that was necessary was to widen the die-cut openings ever so slightly and paint the window frames brown to match the lower wall sections.  Next I made new freight doors from old plastic Ertl box-car floors since they were scribed with wide board detail.  Some cross braces completed the transformation.  For the main door and office door I found two metal castings from my collection, probably from Sequoia and Dyna Models, respectively.  Since one freight door would be posed open I created a simple floor and walls for the warehouse area that might be seen through the opening 

The card roof in the kit was simply coated with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper which was painted and heavily weathered to resemble tar and gravel roofing.  The corner trim and wall cornice was made with the stripwood from the kit augmented with some finer sizes from my supply.  The printed walls were left unmodified but the corrugated walls were marked with a pencil and scibed to created the illusion of individual panels.  After the building was assembled these were lightly weathered to further that effect.  A note here - brace, brace, BRACE!  No, we're not crashing, but even with the bracing I added to the roof it still managed to warp a little.  This isn't noticeable unless you look for it and the problem would go away if I were gluing the roof to the walls but I wanted to leave it removable for future interior detailing.

The front porch was made by layering scribed paneling to the sides and individual boards to the top of the wood block provided in the kit.  The metal roof is the kit roof, again marked and scribed to simulate individual panels, over a stripwood frame.  For the side loading dock I scratchbuilt a simple structure from scale lumber and stained it to look like treated wood that had begun to bleach in the sun.  This structure, like the others on the diorama, is not intended to look that old so the weathering was restrained.  One interesting detail on the dock ramp is the cleats running up one half of the ramp.  This is a detail I observed in old photos but have never seen modeled before.  Another oft-forgotten detail is the downspout.  I created two from square styrene stock and painted them brown, applying them to the sides near the front porch.

As for additional details and figures I added a few carefully selected details rather than a buckshot smattering of junk.  Near the loading dock I placed two old pallets, a trash can and a dolly loaded with sacks.  At the base of the ramp are four large barrels.  A horse is tied to a hitching post - a lovely cast metal part whose origins are unknown.  On the front porch is a scale, but the main area of interest is the loading dock where three figures are posed.  One man sits on the dock listening to another tell a tale while a third has just emerged from the loading doorway to see what's going on outside.  Perhaps he is wondering why the work has stopped.

Is this kit overused?  Maybe in a previous era.  Peruse any year of Model Railroader from the 60s or 70s and you'll likely spot one in the Photos section or on a layout.  John Allen had one, so there's that.  It is colorful and stands out in a scene.  But today's prototype modelers are more interested in modeling "the ordinary", or what George Sellios called "boring".  I tend to agree with him and yet, there was a time in our history when such structures as this were the prototype and there was nothing ordinary about them.  Give this kit some love and it can be a stand-out structure on your railroad too.

Japan + Wales =

...successful duplication of a detail part!  Oyumaru + Milliput = part

Since deciding to rebuild the trio of Purina cars, I've been on the lookout for Laconia end sills for what seems like ages.  I had given up ever finding them on their own, or if I did, for a decent price.  Seems like 'nostalgia pricing' for vintage parts is over-the-top high.  My next resort would be to either scratchbuild a pair or find a donor kit to sacrifice.  It would probably be cheaper and faster to buy another Purina kit of the correct number.

But then along came PLASMO, and his video of using Blue Stuff (a Green Stuff World branded oyumaru) to cast parts using epoxy putty.  After hemming and hawing a while I decided to pull the trigger and buy some.  Last night I warmed up the kettle and softened the oyumaru.  I glued the part to a scrap of plastic packaging and pressed on the softened thermoplastic...voila!  A mold! 

Next I cut away a couple bits of Milliput and kneaded them together.  Once I thought I had sufficiently mixed the two components I pressed some into the mold.  And then I waited.  Overnight.  I could see through the clear mold material that I had gotten a good press; it appeared that the Milliput was deep into the recesses of the mold.  But how good?

This morning I got my answer - as Tom Johnson* says - I think it looks pretty good.

*In these uncertain times, I find it very comforting to watch a skilled craftsman rebuild, repair and restore a beautiful piece of furniture to its best condition or former glory.  I hope to do the same with the vintage freight cars I have collected, including the Purina cars mentioned above.

Gathering Purina Parts

Lately I've been painting little people to populate a scene I decided to build for the Railroad-Line forum Spring 2020 challenge.  It won't fit on the current Pine Branch Park railroad, but is still set in 1920s Florida, so it could be used down the road for an expansion.  For now it will be the basis of a larger diorama.  But that's the subject of another post...

As a break from painting I decided to make sure I had all the parts gathered together for a rolling stock rebuild.  As the title suggests, this is for the Purina Ventilated boxcars (former reefers).  Once I learned there were three road numbers produced, I had to collect all three.  While I was waiting for a good deal on the last car I began researching.  Turns out that actual prototype pictures of these cars is elusive.  However, I think at this point I have learned enough to proceed with the project.

Here are the three cars in the state in which I found them:

Note the subtle differences.  While 3 and 5 (the numbers are 4553, 4554 and 4555, so I'm just calling them by their final number) have fishbelly underframes, 4 has truss rods.   5 is the most complete, but has no grabs on the sides.  4 has grabs, but has hatches on top instead of the curved ventilators supplied in the kit.  (I'm being generous here...crude blocks of wood roughly carved to approximate a Posson-patent hatch ventilator and likewise little squares of wood for hatches...)

4 has weathering which isn't that bad so I'll likely keep that as is.  All of them, however, have little dings and nicks exposing the raw metal of the stamped-aluminum-over-card sides.  Matching the paint color will be tricky.

Here are some of the parts I'll need to rebuild these cars into much nicer models:

The metal underframes will add much needed weight (along with metal Kadee arch bar trucks, not pictured) while the Tichy split K brake gear will accurately replicate what I suspect was used beneath these cars.  Again, more research is needed, but I can only go so far before the time comes to quit searching and just build the dang things.  If anyone comes along with evidence to the contrary, great!  The last baggie of bits are 3-d printed parts from Shapeways for the aforementioned hatch covers that served to ventilate these cars.  I have since learned that Westerfield makes them...grrr...after researching them and working with a custom designer to draft and print them.  sigh.

I could, and will, say much more about these cars as the project progresses, but don't look for updates anytime soon.  I have gathered the parts in a nice short file box so that I can keep them all together for that day I decide to begin the rebuild.  I have already begun removing the old parts from the cars.  But for now it is back to painting figures.  Or maybe the Pine Branch station.  Or perhaps finally getting the trim installed on the benchwork.  Who knows.  It is a hobby - my hobby - and I'll work on what sounds good whenever I feel like it.  It feels good to get these cars and parts gathered together.

New Year's Revisions

Make sure you read that right - it says Revisions, not Resolutions.  I do have a few resolutions but they have more to do with growing our savings and losing pounds, standard fare.  We actually did both in the previous year and have a solid plan for doing so again this year.  I like achievable goals!

Rather than go through a what-I-did and what-I-hope to do for last year and this, respectively, I decided to focus on the Pine Branch Park section of the Ocali Creek Railroad (aka "the layout").  Apart from ballast and the occasional paint and glue, I shouldn't need to purchase anything for the railroad this year.  I intend to begin setting aside my monthly stipend for a rainy-day fund, or, heaven forbid, a DCC system replacement fund, though the MRC system I currently use is still chugging along.  Still, I've had to send it back once already and it would be foolish to think it will last forever.  And, should I ever expand the railroad to the point at which multiple operators becomes desirable, I'll want a second throttle.

With that said, here are the focused goals for the railroad, including a revised plan.

I've moved the Gas Station away from the team track.  This is to give more room for each scene and has the bonus of providing an additional industry.  I can spot a tank car between the gas station and the orange grove.  That section of track really is the "continuous run connection" for when I just want to watch a train run.  During an operating session it can be a spot.

In order to move the gas station, I had to eliminate the residences that were going to reside there.  In that space I have planned a small honey stand.  It will be a tourist attraction of sorts, as the stand will be made from an old horse-drawn streetcar.  It will sit on a small stretch of track, complete with a dummy horse attached.  Folks can have their picture made at the "Strickland Street Car" and buy some "Horse-drawn Honey"  The remnants of the old streetcar line will run down the street, truncated by the tracks which cross it and paved over in spots.  Ocala, Florida, actually used to have a horsecar line in the late 1800s.  I've only seen one blurry image:

This should be a neat little scratchbuilding project.  The name Strickland comes from our old neighbors when we first moved to Ocala in 1980.  They were beekeepers and sold honey from their screened porch.  Interestingly enough, my youngest son is learning about beekeeping through 4H, and we each got protective bee suits for Christmas.

The station is nearly complete and I'm itching to build the Purina Feed Mill.  Along with the mill I'll rebuild the three Laconia Ventilated cars I've collected and a Woodland Scenics Diamond T truck with Purina lettering.  My plan for this railroad has always been to complete each scene fully - that means structures, accompanying rolling stock if applicable, vehicles and figures.  And, each scene should in some way contribute to the story of the railroad with either era specific or location specific details, or both.

But before then I must finish the cabeese I began back in the Spring of 2018.  Look for a post on these early this year, hopefully within a month.  The station scene will likely be next, followed by the Purina scene.  Somewhere in there I'll lay out the streets.  The benchwork still needs trim and painting.  Finally, by the end of 2019 I hope to have all the track painted, detailed and ballasted.   "All the trackwork" sounds like a lot, but keep in mind the overall size of the railroad is 4'x6'.  I could paint, detail, and ballast the track all in a week of evenings.  Relatively reduced time spent on any one task is one reason I limited the scope of this project.

I've also renamed the staging connection to "Main East" and "Main West".  Tony Koester advocates this practice of locating your section of railroad on a larger network by calling staging something more bound to geography.  In my case, the main line heading east runs towards Deland, FL, and the main west heads into town (Ocala) where the railroad's main yard and shops are located.  For operators, that means little right now as those physical connections off-the-table don't go anywhere...yet.  But it does add to the sense of story and place and when I do eventually add staging yards, they won't just be tracks on a tabletop, but representations of destinations.

Finally, a word of thanks to all my readers.  Thanks for following along, and Happy New Year!

Vintage Victory!

At the recent Great Train Expo in Santa Rosa I found the sort of dealer who carries the sort of trains I like to buy at the sort of prices I can't refuse.  Most were rare, long out of production cars, priced between 2 and 5 dollars, depending on the condition.  I found these three I couldn't live without:

Yes, I already have one of the Purina Reefers, er, ventilated cars.  I couldn't pass it up.  It will need a new underbody, trucks and couplers, as well as new vents - these were not iced, so no hatches.  Still working on sourcing parts for the vents.

The second car is a Varney car, and as marked is just at the edge of my era.  What makes this a must-have are the paper crates.  This is one way early autos were shipped and I have had my eye out for one of these cars.  The flat is in near-perfect condition, with all the sill steps and even the brake rod and wheel still intact.  The paint is factory fresh and the lettering crisp and legible.  The trucks will pass for PRR trucks in use at the time but the brake gear is AB.  However, I may not change it since it really isn't that visible due to the low side sills.  Naturally it will need new couplers, and if I ever come across some Carmer uncoupling levers I may add them, otherwise it is RTR with a little weathering.

Finally the last car is a custom lettered car for the Shepaug Valley & Western.  If any of my dozen or so readers, okay, the three or four of you, know anything about this road let me know in the comments or send an email.  I think there was an actual Shepaug Valley Railroad that was folded into another Connecticut line early in the 1900s, but beyond that I have to assume this was a private road name applied by a creative individual.  Love the orange and green.  This car will need some TLC as the orange paint chipped away from where the price tag pulled off....<grr>....and one of the doors popped loose.  The trucks are fine but I may trade them out for T-sections or express trucks at some point.