Full Version: Sanford and Son. An HO scale scratchbuild
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Hi folks! I was itching for something to do on the layout yesterday and didn't feel like slinging plaster, or painting, or making trees. So, I decided to sit down and peruse through my collection of mags and books for some inspiration. I came across the February 1983 issue of Model Railroader and this neat little article on making "Sanford and Son's Junkyard". (geez; I received this issue in the mail when I was a sophomore in high school!) I had forgotten all about this project, but 27 years ago I had dog eared the page for some reason or another! I decided to have a go at it. Better late than never I suppose! It has been quite a while since I scratchbuilt any structures and it was high time. Most of the Model Railroader articles in those days seemed to have the dimensions and/or the scale drawings of their project articles much more frequently than they do today but this particular article had none. So I decided I would use the WASSG method to come up with the size of the walls and such. This stands for Wild And Somewhat Scientific Guesstimate. WASSG. I rummaged around in my scratch building supply box to come up with the materials. I originally thought to make the structure with styrene but I didn't have much to work with in the box. In fact I didn't have much building material at all left except for a sheet of bass wood. So, by default, that became the product to use. After all wood is easiest to model if you use wood to do it with!

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Next, I marked off the measurements for the walls, the false front and the floor and cut them out with an exacto blade. I dug into the scrap box for some suitable doors and windows and came up with some leftovers from other kits. I the marked and cut out the openings for them. I then took a straight edge and the backside of the blade to scribe the individual boards. The blade wandered a couple of times but that was ok as I was going to be turning this into a ramshackle slapped together building anyhow. I then glued the windows and doors into place and glued clear acetate "glass" onto the backside. After the glue dried for a half hour or so I used white tacky glue to assemble the walls to each other and the floor. Using the tacky glue enable me to do all the walls at once and the tackiness allowed me to square everything up. At least as square as an old decrepit building should be after all. I let this sit over night and here's where we are so far. These photos show an overview as well as views of each side of the structure. Until next time...

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Matt
great start. Thumbsup are you going to get a beat up old ford pickup to match? Icon_lol
Cool project! From the 27 year old dog-eared magazine to the project itself to the execution. Very very cool! Thumbsup
Thanks guys....I'm having fun with this one!

This morning I added some chunks of styrene to the corners and floor to serve as additional bracing. Warping and swelling from sprays of water I use for scenery construction could compromise the structure in the future so making sure everything is braced well is a priority.

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I then brush painted the interior a flat black to eliminate the potential of the walls glowing when interior light is added. While I had the brushes out I painted on some window shades with an olive green onto the backside of the acetate.

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And lastly for today I added the main roof support beam.

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Matt
It warms my heart to see folks finding articles in older Model Railroader issues, and building them these days, when there isn't much of that in MR any longer.
Great project, off to a great start! Thumbsup Thumbsup
I remember that article! I thought it would be great fun to make that! I'm glad you're doing it Matt..and its coming out so well already. I can hear the theme music..."Bum bum BADA!, Bum bum Bada bada bum...." Thumbsup
Ralph
Thanks Guys! Didja notice the windows are in upside down? LOL!....I'll be fixin them this morning.... :oops:
Just some "over coffee" ramblings over the relation of this structure to the actual sitcom....I'm not sure why the author of the MR article chose this name for the business other than maybe he was a big fan of the show! I myself always liked it as well. There was times when the exasperated Big Dummy Lamont and Fred had me in absolute stitches! ("It's the big one "Lizbeth! I'm coming home to ya!") But, I won't be naming the structure "Sanford & Son". 1st of all, the building doesn't even remotely look like the one in the show. Secondly, the show was set in L.A. (I think) and my layout is set in New England. Also I haven't seen any little plastic people that resemble Redd Fox! But I think I have a pickup truck that I can beat up pretty good!
Thought I'de go slightly off topic here and share with you a couple of other structures. The first one is a bank that my father built out of balsa for my first birthday in 1968. He had a layout he built for me until he abandoned the hobby a few years later for other things such as motorcycles, bicycles, fly fishing, grouse hunting, and shorebird decoy carving. This building will always have a home on my railroad.

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This tower was built by me when I was 16. My 1st scratchbuild and also will never not be on my layout.

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Back to the project at hand! This morning I filled in the cracks where sections didn't match up exactly flush with Elmers wood filler, installed a little trim work, painted the blue door a charcoal gray to better match the windows, added an interior light, and flowed on a raw wood treatment stain from Micromark.

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Well, a couple days away from the project as work interfered 2 days and an absolute terrible stomach virus wrecked me for a day and a half. But I was back at it again this morning to catch up where I left off.

I did some rather heavy handed drybrushing of an acrylic yellow as the buildin's base color and lighter drybrushing of some browns to dirty it up a bit.

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I then decided an electric meter was in order. Used a snip of scrap styrene and a small piece of clear styrene from an old kit sprue. Then attached the conduit simulated with some wire.

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Then I painted the trim grey and added the sign as well as the front door overhang made with nothing more than a piece of black construction paper.


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Now I'll get back to it and start to think about roof construction, additional signage and weathering and send Fred to scope a suitable piece of real estate! Once Fred reports back, I'll be able to determine the foot print for the entire scene and get my dimensions for the fence.

Matt
That building has very nice character. Thumbsup
Thanks Kevin!

Next 4 shots show each side as I've progressed this morning. I added some advertising signs, Made the back room roof with a piece of bass wood and covered with roofing material of construction paper. Made the main building roof out of cardstock and that same paper. Made a chimney from a piece of stripwood and some brick paper and another splinter of wood to represent the vent for Fred's indoor plumbing. Followed it all up with a heavy india ink alcohol wash. So, this part of the project comes to a close and the process will begin for phases 2 and 3. The lot construction and the surrounding fence.

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Matt
Nice! The roof and the advertising signs are great touches! Looks perfect for a junkyard! Say, I'm admiring your switch tower. Great work for 16 years old. I'd keep it too! Thumbsup
Ralph
Thanks much Ralph! That tower 27 years old already. Gee whiz I'm starting to age. LOL 357

Matt
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