doctorwayne's 2021 Do Something Challenge - Part 1

[doctorwayne]

Well, as is evident, I've made pretty-well no progress at all on the other baggage cars that were on my to-do list.  

I decided instead, to take a break and do some layout work on the partial upper level.  Most of the area near the roundhouse and coaling tower is done, and only some fencing to complete that area is needed.

I opted to start building downtown Mount Forest, which is quickly depleting my stock of DPM structures, and a few odds and ends, along with some stuff from Walthers.

I did manage to get some ground cover installed, and the beginnings of a service road for a couple of industries, along with the start of the main drag through the modelled portion of my version of Mount Forest.

Here are a few photos...

   

   

   

This view shows Walthers "Argosy Book Store", but I've decided that it's going to be a somewhat upscale hotel, including a restaurant...

   

...but it still needs some weathering.

As you can see, there's room for more structures and the need for streets and sidewalks, too.  Right now, the whole layout room is in chaos, so not much more to show. 

I have a few more things to do in this area, before I return to finishing off those baggage cars.

Wayne

[Charlie B]

WoW !!!!!
Looks great. 
Charlie

[ezdays]

Bee-ut-tee-ful-ly done

[FiatFan]

Beautiful work as always. Thanks for showing us.

Tom

[doctorwayne]

Thanks for lookin' folks.

Wayne

[cn nutbar]

Beautiful Doc---if I recall there's a lead to the Leetown Division connecting to this scene---hope to see some CNR activity in the near future.

[UP SD40-2]

ABSOLUTLY STUNNING, Wayne!!!  

[doctorwayne]

Thanks to all for the kind words. 

I will soon go back to building those baggage and express cars, but I though it might be a good idea to show what I've lately been doing to fritter-away my time, working on mostly non-industrial structure kits.  The majority of them are simple kits from DPM, with a few poorly-built secondhand ones, and a few kits that I'd forgotten I had.

The DPM kits are very easy to assemble, but require a little more work to paint them properly, and they also offer opportunities to add a few details, too.

These three are mostly assembled, but have not yet been painted at all...

   

...while these at least have the brick portions painted, using Floquil's "Depot Buff"...

   

...and likewise for these two...

   

These three have the bricks painted with the same colour, but also have "mortar" (pre-mixed drywall mud) applied to the bricks, the excess wiped off with a dry rag...

   

I didn't want the buildings to all look too similar, so I painted some of them orange, then added mortar effects...

   

...here are some more orange ones, also with mortar added.  The one in the centre is the backside of that structure, as its front has no brickwork at all...

   

The next three photos are of Walthers' "ARGOSY BOOKSTORE", but I'll be re-branding it as a relatively upscale hotel, with a main floor restaurant...

   

   

   

...the fourth wall isn't shown, as it's nothing but bricks, with no windows or other details.

This one will be a bar & grill, named for a longtime friend and co-worker...

   

...same structure, rear view...

   

Because this structure is literally at the edge of the upper level of the layout, I'll have to add some interior details, as anybody will be able to look through the windows...so they'll expect to see something.

[doctorwayne]

Since I'm not sure of the limit on photos, I'll continue with here with round-two of these small structures.

I picked up these three at a nearby hobbyshop, (unfortunately,  no longer in business).  They were already built, but not very well:  some parts were falling off or missing completely, and the blue one was in pieces...

   

I believe that the one on the left may have been from Pola, while the one in the middle is from Kibri, the blue one, unknown.  The one on the left was missing much of the porch railings and posts, was rather dirty, and most of the taped-in-place paper window treatments were a mess.  In addition to that, it was lined with black paper, as the original builder had added a couple of grain-of-wheat lights.  I don't ever do night operations on the layout, so the lights and black paper, along with the messed-up paper drapes and window shades were tossed.  After re-cementing the poorly done joints, I made new blinds and drapes from thin sheet styrene, painted in appropriate colours.

The middle house was in the best condition of the three, but again glued together with a cement not intended for plastic.  It was easy to clean-up and put together properly.

The blue one was the worst of the three, as is pretty-well fell apart when I tried to put the roof on it...it didn't fit, as the builder had glued-on some small portions of the roof improperly, preventing the roof from seating properly.  After pretty-well taking it completely apart, I rebuilt it, fabricating new parts where needed, and adding strip styrene to brace and strengthen the structure.  It also got some homemade styrene blinds and curtains.

When my two youngest grandkids, (eight and five) first saw those three delapidated houses, they immediately assigned their favourite Spongebob characters to them, and were even more pleased when they saw the restored versions of those homes.  Whenever they come to visit, first stop is usually the layout room.

This one is from Pola, although I had the same kit on my first HO layout in the '50s, when it was a Revell kit...

   

I hadn't painted my original version of this structure, but decided to add a little colour to this one.  I plan to also re-paint the roof, as those "wooden" shingles wouldn't be that colour.  This was originally a snap-together-kit, but I opted to cement some of it together this time.  I'll likely add some weathering before it finds a suitable building lot on the layout, and some scenery should make it look better, too.

These two are from LifeLike, and I was on the verge of simply tossing them due to the clunkiness of the parts, especially the window frames.  The porch railings and posts are a little too sturdy-looking, too, but I think they'll fit in better when they're mixed in with the others.

   

I put aside the kits' windows, then selected some better detailed replacements from my supply of Tichy windows.  They were larger than the kit-supplied ones, which allowed me to enlarge the opening in the kits' walls - this eliminated the unusual plain & flat areas around each window opening (no 3-D board detail around the openings, as it looks like the kits' clunky windows were meant to cover those plain window surrounds).

It looks like I'll have to add blinds and curtains to them, too.

The two "company houses" shown below, only partially assembled, are from a three-pack by City Classics.  They're meant to represent simple dwellings built by an industry as rental units for their employees.   Mines and various types of mills and factories  often built such structures, which later often became available for the tenants to purchase.  Here's the fronts, one with a side addition...

   

 ...and the rear, with an addition...

   

Once the structures were sold, the owners could alter them as they saw fit, painting them in different colours, and sometimes making add-on additions or other improvements, like indoor plumbing.

I decided that perhaps a few improvements might make the structures better-fit my layout, as the houses won't likely be anywhere near a major industry.  Here's the third one from the kit, with a few "upgrades"...

Front and left-side view...

   

...left side and rear view...

   

...rear and right-side view...

   

...and the right side and front...

   

This last one was almost missed, as it was on the layout, even though it's not finished....

   

It will become Robertson Manufacturing, the Canadian company which patented socket-head screws.  Henry Ford wanted license to produce them, but Robertson wouldn't concede, hence the reason for the use of the less-efficient Philips screws.

All of the DPM structures shown will need a lot of painting of window sills and headers, and especially of the "iron front" facades on most of those kits.  They might take a while, as I need to get back to work on those baggage cars.

Wayne

[Schraddel]

Wayne,

 
your building programme; it is acting like an ketchup bottle.
At first nothing is emerging, but then the whole content all at once.

But proceed, i will watch attentively your posts


Lutz

[UP SD40-2]

Very Impressive Wayne, I NEVER tire of seeing your work, ALWAYS inspirational

[cnrglen]

Great work Wayne. I especially like your tribute to the Robertson Screw company. To think that the whole world could have been given a much better piece of hardware, if not for Mr. Ford's interference.

I've thought about making a styrene masking plug to cover the windows so you could airbrush or spray paint the windows on a DPM building first, then work on the brickwork.

[cn nutbar]

Keeping busy my friend---hopefully I'll get a chance to see your newest additions in person one of these days.

[ezdays]

OMG, what a sight to behold.   Worth going though these posts more than just once. Lutz is right, first nothing, than WOW, all sorts of good things. I have a couple of DPM kits, I shall use this as a tutorial if I ever decide to build them. Your work is impeccable, thanks for posting all this....

[doctorwayne]

Thanks to all for the kind words and for taking the time to look.

Wayne