Inverness Joinery - 1:87 scale paper model

Another large structure for Scots' Landing on my HO-scale shelf layout, Inverness Joinery is a scratch built paper model based on FOS Scale Models' "Pendleton Marine. The siding, roofing, chimneys, and platforms are texture sheets from Clever Models. Windows and doors are from my digital parts box. Details are from FSM, Preiser, and Durango Press. I'll add figures as soon as I get around to painting them. Like Scots' Landing itself, "Inverness Joinery" and its owner, John MacKinnon are fictional nods to my Scottish heritage.

 Willy's Tavern -- HO Scale

This is one of my early kit bashes, done about 40 years ago. The stone wall sections are from an old Thomas Yorke kit. The rest is Northeastern basswood and Grandt Line windows. Scale is 1/87. It's amazing what one can find while sorting through old neglected boxes. I thought this little gem was long gone.

 W.I. Shaw & Co.

"Girdles, Trusses, Corsets, & Fan Belts"

Scratch built HO Scale, Northeastern scribed siding and stripwood, Grandt Line windows & door, Floquil paints, and home-made tar paper, probably built from a plan in Model Railroader, but I don't recall. This was one of my first attempts a scratch building. I think it holds up pretty well after 50+ years.

Track Plan for Ceresco on the Ceresco & Wolf River RR -- HO Scale

 After much thinking, studying, experimenting (on paper), and head-scratching, I have finally come up with a plan for the second terminal on my point-to-point shelf layout. My HO-scale Ceresco & Wolf River RR occupies a space about 8 ft x 16 ft. The northern terminal, Scots' Landing, now under construction, is described here. 

Pictured below is my plan for Ceresco ("Seh-RESS-koh"), the southern terminal where the C&WR meets the C&NW in Sept 1943. My plan is based on an On30 design by Travis Handschug. I flipped it lengthwise, and made a few other changes. The layout ends on the right at Ceresco. The interchange track will be served by cassettes. A single hidden staging track and the line to Scots' Landing depart at upper left. Most structures will be scratch-built with a few craftsman kits and kitbashes to fill out the town.

I welcome any comments, suggestions, advice, or tasteless puns.

"Ceresco" was the name of a Fourierite Commune, also known as the Wisconsin Phalanx, the first permanent settlement in what later became my hometown, Ripon, Wisconsin. Founded in 1844, Ceresco was named for Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture.

Caledonia Hotel - 1/87 scale drawings

I need a large hotel/boarding house for Scots' Landing. The design began as a drawing of the "Woodruff Iron Works and Machine Shop" from the March 1983 Model Railroader magazine.

     I scanned it into Photoshop®, recolored and applied clapboard siding from Clever Models, and then added windows and doors from my "digital parts box." Inspiration came from Vilius Bilelsis's build of Micro-Scale Models' McGee Hotel. I am in awe of Vilius's scale modeling, and I've used his photos more than once as the basis for my scratch-built cardmodels.

     Only three sides of the building will be visible on the layout. A hotel includes a lot of windows. Each one requires three parts: frame and two sashes. That can get tedious but I can sit in front of the boob tube and do them in a bunch. The name of the hotel and the tavern ("The Wee Dram") on the first floor are nods to my Scottish ancestors.

Weathered Barn Wood texture sheet 

I photographed a barn near my home and created this texture sheet for making card models. You are welcome to download it.

Another Small Factory Buiilding

Designed from a photo of a Petit Properties kit, using my own brick texture, this little workshop will fill a hole in the middle distance at Scots' Landing on my Ceresco & Wolf River HO short line. The scale of the building is 1/87. (I see the chimney is leaning a bit -- I'll have to fix that.)

The shingles and chimney are from Clever Models. The brick texture sheet is my own creation; feel free to download it.

The Old Brick texture sheet is my own creation. You are welcome to download it.