1/25-Scale Garage Diorama Paper Model

I finally finished the 1/25-scale garage I was building for my friend Bob Kremer who builds amazing 1/24-scale cars and trucks. He detailed and painted for me a 1/25-scale 1934 Ford 4-door sedan, a kitbash that I had started long ago from an AMT '34 2-door kit. As quid pro quo, I built this garage diorama for him to display and photograph his exquisite 1/25 and 1/24 scale models.

The garage and its contents are almost entirely paper. Texture papers came mostly from Clever Models or my own photos. I used basswood for the beams and framing inside the building, and I gathered, signs, junk, tools, a beer fridge, and bits & pieces from the Internet, printed them on 65# cardstock and laminated them heavier stock as needed. The building (about 13"x8") sits on a Masonite base with Sculptamold® and Woodland Scenics® terrain.

It was a fun project and a learning process working in an unfamiliar scale. All of my other paper model buildings are 1/87. Thanks to Bob for the pictures.

And this is the model that started it all -- a 1/25-scale 1934 Ford Four-Door Sedan, kitbashed (partly by me, beautifully completed by Bob Kremer) from an AMT '34 Ford Two-Door kit.

I haven't done much modeling work since January. I've been too busy with teaching a marketing course at Ripon College. That ends in one week and I can't wait to get back to the railroad. I have been working on a couple of small projects, and I tore up and rebuilt Scots' Landing. I based the new track plan on a published S-scale shelf layout from Model Railroader called "Wharf Street." I have compressed it a bit and added a hidden double-track siding on the left that will serve as staging and will connect to the continuous loop.

The track is laid, wired, and painted, and it works. With the end of the semester and my very last class at the college, I'll start on scenery. Most of the structures that I'll need for this section are already built and shown elsewhere on this blog. I also acquired three Fine Scale Miniatures kits this spring, and I look forward to building them this year. One of them, Bailey's Produce, will end up in Scots' Landing. The others will go somewhere else on the layout.

More Progress on Armstrong Mill

 I have made progress on my HO scale scratchbuilt paper model of FOS Scale Models' "Rust Rock Falls" main structure. The walls, roofs, doors, and windows (except cupolas) are paper. Stairs and platforms are stripwood and brass screen. I made mine a mirror image of the Fos design to fit the space on my layout. I will put the building on a base of rigid foam with a small dam and mill stream. I have a few details to add, then in goes on the base. I have not modeled the back walls since they won't be visible on the layout.

Progress on Armstrong Mill

 I still have a lot of work to do, but it is coming along. Stairs, loading dock, canopies, cupola, chimneys, vents, and scenery base are all ahead of me. The model is still all paper and card except the heavy frame of the elevator, and lots of inside bracing.

Working on a model this size -- about 15" end to end -- small dimensional errors add up. I have had a couple of head scratching moments trying to figure why two corners didn't meet the way I intended. But so far, I'm pleased with the results. My mistakes aren't too conspicuous. 

The model is a mirror-image copy in HO scale of the large building from FOS Scale Models' "Rust Rock Falls." I've named it for a friend, Amy Armstrong, who is an accomplished spinner, knitter, and weaver, and who shares my Scottish heritage.

Armstrong Woolen Mill

 I am scratchbuilding a copy of the large structure from "Rust Rock Falls," a limited edition kit by FOS Scale Models. Working from photographs of the FOS model, I am building mine in paper and as a mirror image of the FOS kit. I made a few changes in the design and I will probably make a few more as I go along, to fit the space I have or to simplify construction. I am only modeling three sides, since the back side won't be visible on the layout. This is a photo of the FOS model from FOS Scale Models' Web site:

Below is the first wall I have completed (mostly) I will add corner trim and eaves trim when the walls are assembled. On the wall shown here, the heavy frame for the elevator is basswood, stained and sponge-painted. Everything else is paper. The walls are a texture sheet from Clever Models that I modified in Photoshop. I print the walls on 65# cardstock, laminate them to 0.5mm card (cereal boxes), and add lots of interior bracing. Windows and doors are from photos of the FOS model or from my "digital parts bin." (I collect digital images of doors and windows the way some people collect stamps.) 

Eventually, the model will be mounted on a hillside with a small dam beside it and a rocky ravine below it. For terrain, I will use chunks of foam, plaster rock castings, and lots of Sculptamold. It will be located about halfway between the two terminals on my U-shaped shelf layout.

The mill is named after Amy Armstrong, a long-time friend and spinner, knitter, and weaver. This mill replaces an earlier design (below) that I never built. I still like this design, and I might build it someday as a diorama. There won't be room for it on the layout.

I will post more photos as I make progress on the model.

Sky Backdrop for My Shelf Layout

 I want a particular kind of backdrop for my shelf layout, and I created this one in Photoshop. Each panel is 150" x 11", and the ends blend according to code (A/B/C). What I have posted here is a small version @ 300ppi & 250kb. You could download this and expand it to full size. At 72ppi, the full-size panels don't look pixelated.

Or you could send me an email address, and I will send you the full-size file -- about 2mb. The height of the file is 36" because that's the size my local print shop uses for banners.

Ceresco & Wolf River Railroad 2.0

My solution to the wiring debacle (see next post below) was to tear everything down and start over. As of today, 14 Nov 21, the new benchwork is mostly up and I have laid, wired, and tested about one third of the track, testing every section as I go. I should have much of the track laid and wired by Thanksgiving.

I'm using Peco Electrofrog switches everywhere, and I'm isolating each switch electrically to ensure that there are no more shorts. The two turnouts I had to discard were both bought used on eBay. I've since spent the money to buy only new turnouts, and so far all of them have been flawless.

The new 9'x17' U-shaped shelf layout is based two published layouts from Model Railroader:  David Leider's "Soo Line on a Shelf" from the June 2008 issue, and Art Fahie's "Wharf Street" S-scale plan that appeared in Great Model Railroads 2014. I condensed the long shelf on the Soo Line layout to 9 feet. I scaled Wharf Street to HO and added a hidden track that will allow continuous running and serve as a small fiddle yard. 

Between the two is about 20 feet of single-track main line running though mostly scenery. I'll put my scratchbuilt version of South River Model Works Martin Machine in a corner, and I'll put my FSM Cartwright's Machine Shop somewhere in the woods. Most of the structures on the layout will be scratchbuilt in paper or FOS Scale Models kits. My scratchbuilt covered railroad bridge has been waiting many years for a favored spot on the line. It will have one now.

I will run short trains to serve the few industries on the line and to interchange with C&NW and Milwaukee Road.

This afternoon, the layout space looks like bomb damage as I clean out the rubble from layout demolition and reconstruction. I will post some photos when I get it cleaned up.