This will be a quick little review of a couple of small filler projects. I had seen these kits in the Micro-Mark catalog. They are from their Scientific Models brand. The line was reintroduced back in 2018 and they have been adding a new kit roughly once a week. They have some great kits in both O scale and HO.
The two kits I got hold of were the corn crib for the farm scene and a bleacher set for the ball field.
I started with the corn crib. The kit itself is a pretty straight forward laser cut kit. The parts remove easily from the sheet they are cut from and the fit is very good. I did run into a problem with the wood for some pieces being pretty brittle. This happened in the frames for the structure, but they have extra frames so it worked out.
Scientific corn crib kit.Handle with care, the wood is very brittle.Base frame work together.Sides and ends on.
As i said it went together rather well and needed very little sanding to even up corners. I hit it with a light coat of flat white, without primer, as i wanted it to show some age.
Painted and ready for corn.
Before gluing on the roof I plan on painting or dying with possibly food color some rice. It should stand in for corn cobs rather nicely i think. Once I figure out exactly where it place is, I’ll add a bit of weathering to age it a bit more.
The bleacher set is for the ballpark, or rather along the right field line of the ballpark.
Basic scenery in along with the town’s new ball field.
The kit went together quickly with no problems. I still need to figure out how I want to paint it. Probably paint the railings and the supports and leave the benches a weathered wood.
Scientific bleachers for the ball field.
Again, they were great little builds. Micro-marks line has become rather extensive, from little scenic adds to some nice small structures. And granted, they were only sitting around for months and not years (decades), it was nice to get them built and off the workbench.
Next time will be something more substantial. Till then…
I am starting a weekly update, Freight Car Friday. Nothing profound, just thought I would highlight the kits that I am putting together while I wait for other things to dry / set / orders from suppliers to arrive.
All the kits are from forever ago – late 80’s through the early 2000’s. Much like the well car kits. Most are basic assembly type kits, think Athearn Blue Box. I didn’t think I had anywhere near as many unbuilt kits as I am finding. Who am I kidding, I’m a model railroader and we’re natural born kit hoarders. In fact I was recently in the LHS and thought about picking up another bulk pack of Kadee couplers and figured there would be no way I would need that many.
The other thing you may have noticed or will is that everything is newer than the current era on the layout. That is because until Bachmann came out with their Spectrum line, steam was just too expensive. Athearn followed as did Broadway Limited and Life Like. When this happened I rather quickly made the change over to the transition era.
I find building freight car kits to be a nice diversion from other things. They generally go together quick and upgrades can be made if so desired. The basic “adds” are adding Kadee couplers to the cars. I have just recently added to that list metal wheel sets from Intermountain.
All cars are now getting metal wheels. They are from Intermountain.
And the first car is…
First up are a couple more Walthers 72′ centerbeam cars I dug out. They are Walthers #932-24129 from 2003. The loads are Walthers SceneMaster as they are made to snap into the cars. I added Kadee couplers and metal wheelsets. I also added the tie down cables by drilling holes along the top of the center beam at the indicated locations. Then I ran thread though the holes and then added the loads.
Close up of the added tie downs.Adding the tie downs to the center beams for the lumber loads.
Once the loads were in place I stretched the thread down to the corresponding ratchet and super glued it into place. Then moved on to the next one.Once I finished a side I carefully cut each thread off as close to the ratchet as possible.
Loads added and the tie downs in place. New wheels and Kadee couplers added.Alternate view of the centerbeams.
And then (will weather later) they were ready for the layout. That is when the railroad shifts back to a more modern time.
I will have another quick project for next Friday. Another post on general projects on the layout is in the works, although I’m not sure what. I have pretty much been bouncing around on things. The thought process on what to work on has been a lot like a squirrel in traffic.
The one project that has been hauled out and put away the most have been the intermodal cars. These kits are from Proto Power West, now Proto Power West/A-line/Arrow Hobby. I have two sets of Gunderson Twin Stacks and two sets of Thrall well cars. A set would be a five car set( although somewhere over the years I have “misplaced” one of the intermediate cars for the one of the Gunderson sets ).
I bought these sets somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 years ago. They are no longer available new but can be picked up on the secondary markets. You can also pick up parts for them new on the PPW-Aline website.
When building the kits you can build as basic cars or if you want highly detailed cars, complete instructions for super detailed cars are provided. The basic assembly on the Thrall cars are merely adding the walkways and the brake equipment to the well bodies. The Gundersons need to be fully assembled ( sides, ends, car bottoms, walkways and brake equipment ) for basic assembly. I had done a basic assembly on one of the Thrall sets and had painted them with rattle cans. The paint is a bit heavy, but I decided not to try and fix it. I had also done a basic assembly on a Gunderson set but did not paint it.
The Gunderson well cars…
I started by doing the basic assembly of the other Gunderson set. Once together I started the extra detailing, doing the two like cars at the same time.
The Gunderson well cars awaiting detailing.
The finished yellow car is from a factory assembled/detailed set from A-Line/Intermountian. I had forgotten that I had the set, but it was nice to have for reference.
The extra detailing added to the Gunderson cars are:
External brake piping along the outer side.
Brake piping protectors over the lines.
External brake rods and chains on the sides of the B and C units.
Control rods for the container flippers.
Stirrups.
Grab irons.
A “B” end car with detailing done.Close up of the detailing on the “B” end.
The Thrall well cars…
On the Thrall well cars there was more detailing to scratch build then on the Gunderson cars.
First I decided to make this set a generator set. The generator was there to provide power to refrigerated containers. This means the walkways between cars had to be reworked.
Then there was the basic brake piping added. Additionally there was a lot of styrene scratch building added. These included side sill reinforcement, reinforcement to the bottom of the cars, gussets added to the lift rings and the electrical connections between cars.
Labeling the ends of the well cars. At this point it makes no difference, but eventually it will.Details added: Angle braces to the hoist plates, piping for the braking, well reinforcement along the top of the car, electrical connection on the end of car and reinforcement along the bottom of well.Adding the super detailing to the well cars.close up of piping and end of car. The added blocking over the coupler pocket was angled.The kit details with the added scratch built details. The box would be for the electrical connection for refrigerated containers.Alternate end of well car. The electrical connections evidently come in different shapes and sizes. Also added the angle brace to the hoist plate.
Also, stirrups were added and I would have added grab irons but I ran out and have to order more for the Thrall cars.
I didn’t realize it when I started this project that Plano Models has etched brass walkways and supports for both types of cars. If I knew they were available I would have ordered them. The fine detail would have made these cars really stand out.
Finished (kind of) and waiting for paint…
I ordered the grab irons and decided to line up paint. The problem is, thanks Rust-Oleum, that Testors has discontinued the whole Model Master line. This after they bought and then discontinued the Polly Scale and Scale Coat paint lines. I know that Vallejo has a wide range of colors, but as far as I know not railroad specific. And Micro-Mark now has railroad specific colors in their acrylic paint line but not much depth.
I shall wait for the grab irons to arrive and while waiting figure out my paint problem.
Before I move on with other projects done or in progress, I should give you a little history of what started it all. And no, I’m not talking about what got me going in model railroading, but rather what led to the slew of unfinished projects getting done.
A couple of things came into play that acted as a catalyst for the change that led to the projects. First was that the kids had tons of Lego sets as they grew up. Those sets ended up in pieces in a couple of large totes. One of my projects over the years has been to sort the pieces out by color and type. And with the help of various Lego based websites I have been reassembling the sets. I was looking for a place to display them.
Second was that the layout that I am working on now is not the layout that I would build if starting today. After the previous layout failed so miserably, I was determined to build a successful multi deck layout. Kind of a “failure is not an option thing”. Thanks dad. Also, ops sessions are becoming not a thing as it has become harder to get people together for whatever reason. If starting today I would probably go the Pelle Soeburg route. Staging yard, a town to switch and a couple of signature scenes for photography / railfanning.
The Change…
To solve the problem of wanting wall space for shelves and a little less railroad, I decided to do away with some of it. Looking at what was there I decide to do away with New Brighton yard and the area of Duluth that was above it. I would then slide the staging yard into the New Brighton space and move the wharf scene of Duluth into the Duluth “Docks” space on the upper level.
The sections going away.The sections that are moving.
That meant that New Brighton and the Duluth Docks area were completely disassembled. The sections being moved were moved as 8′ sections.
Disassembly continues.Removing New Brighton yard.
Once all the old bench work was out of the way I prepped the end wall. I used a sheet of 1/8″ hardboard to act as a backdrop for the end of the staging yard / Duluth wharf scene. The rest of the framing on the wall was removed.
Prepping the end wall .
And The Reason Why…
With the space ready it was time to move the base cabinets. Some of the stuff, mainly engines and cars, had to be removed to get to the mounting screws. That and lighten them up some. I’m sure you can see where this is headed, the last cabinet was the “project” cabinet. Things not scene in a long time.
Most of these are somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 to 30 years old. I have hauled all of them out many times, thought that today is the day. And then put them back. First, back to the project at hand.
Like I said the base cabinets were moved first.
Base cabinets going into the area of the former New Brighton yard.
Once in the framing went back in.
Reinstalling the frame work.
Then the plywood sections with the yard was reinstalled.
reinstalling the staging yard.The staging yard going back in.
Then added the upper deck.
The upper level and upper valance frame work.
In addition I also added the upper valance over the upper deck with lights. Below are views of the finished scene and with the room lights on and the layout lights off.
Upper valance installed.Room lights off.
With That Done…
With the layout sections moved (I still don’t have everything completely hooked up) I finished putting things back into there respected cabinets. But as I was reloading the project cabinet, I started to look at the different kits thinking someday I have to finish this or that. I mean everyone always talks about all the kits they have collected. Kind of a rite of passage. And at some point I decided today was the day. I’m not getting any younger.
