Durango & Silverton RR Shots |About Me
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| Construction shots: | Benchwork | Scenery | Finished Scenes |
| Layout: | Trackplan & Specs |
| Misc: | The
Road to MMR | Articles
I've written Durango & Silverton RR Shots |About Me |
Ok, they're not really on the layout, but they are part of my model railroad, in a sense...
I needed to build a non-industry structure as one of the six scratchbuilt structures for my "Master Builder - Structures" certificate (part of the National Model Railroad Association's "Master Model Railroader" Achievement Program), so I decided to make a depot. The Bona Vista Railroad's trackplan isn't really set up to have passenger service and there's no real room for depots, so I decided that this one would reside permanently on a diorama. But... just in case I found room for it in the as-yet planned town of Westcott, I put that name on it.
The depot was built from plans published in the February, 1970 issue of Model Railroader magazine, in an article by Ben King entitled "Depot for Timber City." Although I used his plans, I varied the construction technique somewhat. But I, like Ben, added interior details to it. I hope to have it judged for a Merit Award in early 2004.
Following that, I scratchbuilt a water tank, using plans from the July, 1976 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. The article was written by a modeler whose work I truly admire, Dr. Wayne Wesolowski. Turns out Wayne and I both went to the same college, and he later spent 30 years teaching there. He asked me to send him some shots of the tank, for possible inclusion in his updated "Scratchbuilding Structures" book.
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Most of the depot is scratchbuilt. Both of the outside "people doors" actually work. And both sash in each of the four non-bay windows operates (that is, they all slide up and down). Pretty nuts right there. I'm proud to say that this model earned 117 points out of 125 in a Merit Award judging, and took "First Place/Online Structures" at the 2004 Thousand Lakes Region model contest. |
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I have no immediate plans to incorporate the depot on the Bona Vista layout, but if I do, it'll go in the city of Westcott. |
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Here's the rear of the depot,
showing the coal bin. The roof was made from typing paper, cut
with scalloping scissors. I then used two x-acto blades
side-by-side to cut out the slits between each scallop.
To answer your question, yes, I am nuts. |
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The roof is removable and the interior is fully detailed, including a scratchbuilt file cabinet, safe, chalkboard and wall clock. The tube in the foreground is the stack from the potbellied stove in the passenger waiting room. The far door leads to the freight room. |
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The stationmaster's area
includes a typewriter and chair (both from S.S. Ltd.), as well as a
scratchbuilt desk and shelf. The passenger benches are BTS kits.
I thought I was finished at that point. But friend Les Breuer mentioned the fact that I didn't have a classic "stationmaster's candlestick telephone on an extender." I thought about that one for a while... |
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... then, like a dumbsh*t, I scratchbuilt one out of 0.025" styrene rods. This took an entire evening. In reality, this phone about 3/32" tall and is shown here before I painted it. Those are tweezers holding the base. The extender is made from bridal veil. (December 2003) |
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Here's the phone installed in
the stationmaster's office, hanging off the right wall.
After I did this, even I started wondering if I was nuts... |
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Here's the scratchbuilt water tank. It's entirely built with board-by-board construction. The shingled roof is made from tiny squares of individually stained paper, which were placed one-at-a-time with tweezers. This model earned 115.5 points out of 125 in a Merit Award judging. |
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This is a closeup of the spout and counterweights. I scratchbuilt the spout by turning a piece of wood dowel in an electric drill and sanding it down. In fact, the only commercial products on the whole tank are the pulleys, the chain, the hoop fasteners, and the nut/bolt/washer castings. (February 2004) |