Ez's 2014 summer kit build challenge
#1
I bought a Santa Fe depot kit a few months ago. it was a great deal and I have an attraction to that style depot. There are a few of them left here in the southwest, and I'd like to see them all preserved. The one up in Winslow, Arizona is going to pot. Two church benches in the middle of the waiting room, the ticket counters have been removed and the wall boarded up and not even a working restroom to use. But, it has the same footprint as the one in the picture, just that it's all been stuccoed, probably because the adjacent Harvey House is also stucco. Two trains a day stop there, one heading east, the other west.

Anyway, the depot is too big and I don't have a place to put it on my layout. It measures about 12" by 3 1/2", so what I've decided to do is to put it on a diorama. I have idea what it's going to look like, but here's a picture of the depot that's on the box. I want to leave it true to what the structure represents, so any original ideas will go to the surrounding areas.

   
Don (ezdays) Day
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#2
Well, I took the parts out of the kit and wow, it's a lot more complicated that I thought. :o There must be a few thousand tiny parts to glue together. :? Building it just may keep me out of trouble for the whole summer. Wink

Anyway, here is a photo of the kit parts and basically what I intend to do with them. I will not make any changes to the basic structure, I've got too much respect for this style of depot to do that. The plans say, "molded in authentic colors", but I'm not sure that there were any of these depots build that had a shiny plastic look to them, Nope so I will paint everything, even if the colors are close to what Wathers used. There is an option to make the freight house separate, but from my memory of the ones I've seen, I'm going to keep it attached to the depot.

   
Don (ezdays) Day
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#3
Don, that's such a cool structure. I've eyeballed that station in the Walthers catalog for years, just had no real use for it.
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#4
nachoman Wrote:Don, that's such a cool structure. I've eyeballed that station in the Walthers catalog for years, just had no real use for it.

I don't either, but I couldn't pass up the deal. I paid less than $20 for a $65 kit, and I really like those old SF depots. Using it in a diorama is a good compromise. I've got some pics I took of the station in Flagstaff so I'm going to try to use the colors from there, even though the structures are different, they are still from the Santa Fe era.
Don (ezdays) Day
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#5
ezdays Wrote:Well, I took the parts out of the kit and wow, it's a lot more complicated that I thought. :o There must be a few thousand tiny parts to glue together. :? Building it just may keep me out of trouble for the whole summer. Wink

What was it Bill Cosby used to say, speaking as "Noah" ?? :?: :o Oh Yeah...... " Riiiiight " 357 357 357 Icon_twisted Wink

This should be an interesting build. Thumbsup Thumbsup
We always learn far more from our own mistakes, than we will ever learn from another's advice.
The greatest place to live life, is on the sharp leading edge of a learning curve.
Lead me not into temptation.....I can find it myself!
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#6
It is an interesting and nice structure. But it won't fit my New England theme.

The thing with Cornerstone kits is they give you more parts and pieces that you will actually use. It is a great idea and saves money for Walthers in that common parts can be used in three or four different kits. It's great for use modelers in that we have some spare parts for other projects.

I have at least eight Cornerstone kit boxes filled with sprues of un used parts. That eventually end on some scratchbuild, or an entire different kit all together.
Torrington, Ct.
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#7
This kit has a few extra parts if you build the Freight house with the depot. What's left goes into my spare parts boxes. Sometimes I wind up with extra parts because I didn't know where they went, :oops: sometimes I don't use them on purpose. Wink
Don (ezdays) Day
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founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#8
Well, I did a bit of research and found that there are very few depots like this that have red roofs, plus I didn't really like the thought of all that red, so I found a few shots I took of the Santa Fe station up in Flagstaff, and although it different in style, I thought I'd use the color scheme from there. That means that:
  • Roof will be gray slate
  • Walls will be dark red brick
  • Windows and doors will be dark green
  • Trim will be white stone
  • Brick platform and walkways will be brick red (or maybe not) :? .

Two problems I encountered, first I was going to do the platform in a bluish-gray stone look, but the grout lines are so fine, that when I paint the stone, the grout lines all fill and and I can't color them different. So I left it red brick and just added the white grout. This could change if I can find a way to match the one around the Flagstaff station and still see the grout lines.

The second problem was trying to match the color of the brick used on the walls. I had stripped off the paint three time because I couldn't match it, then I realized, the grout they used there was black, not while :oops: .... It made all the difference in the world.

He are shots from the Flagstaff Station that I'm using to color match to:
   

And here are the before and after shots of the parts. The next step is to take about 2000 tiny little parts and make them look like the picture... Worship
   
Don (ezdays) Day
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#9
ezdays Wrote:The next step is to take about 2000 tiny little parts and make them look like the picture... Worship

2000, - - - - - Icon_twisted I could have sworn there were 2001 tiny little parts, in that kit :o Icon_twisted 357
We always learn far more from our own mistakes, than we will ever learn from another's advice.
The greatest place to live life, is on the sharp leading edge of a learning curve.
Lead me not into temptation.....I can find it myself!
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#10
Sumpter250 Wrote:
ezdays Wrote:The next step is to take about 2000 tiny little parts and make them look like the picture... Worship

2000, - - - - - Icon_twisted I could have sworn there were 2001 tiny little parts, in that kit :o Icon_twisted 357

There probably was and I've lost one of them already... :cry: :cry:
Don (ezdays) Day
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#11
The next step was to assemble the depot walls. So far so good, a few crooked windows and a smudge of paint or some glue leaks, but these are all fixable.

   

The base trim and the trim set about 3' off the ground are suppose to be white. Painting either one is a chore, and nearly impossible to keep straight lines, so my solution is to leave the middle trim brick (I think it looks better this way anyway), and I took some "I" beam and cut off the outside flanges, painted it concrete and glued it over the base trim (as shown in this photo). I got nice straight lines and it is a lot easier to touch up when the time comes.

   
Don (ezdays) Day
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#12
nice work Thumbsup
 My other car is a locomotive, ARHS restoration crew  
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#13
e-paw Wrote:nice work Thumbsup

Thanks, so far, I've counted over 60 pieces, just to get to where it is now, yet this is the easy part. This is N scale and the pieces get much small from this point on. :o :o
Don (ezdays) Day
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#14
That is why I like S and O scale................Big parts mostly, although I have some G trains they are a bit too big. I do want to try live steam someday in G or O gauge outside.
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#15
Don don't forget to leave room in the landscaping around the depot for a prune tree with a humming bird nest in it. Misngth Thumbsup
Mike

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