Weekend Photos - March 2021

[healey36]

Finally finished the tunnel project a week or so ago...for those of you that were following along on that death-march, here's a montage of photos of where it ended up:



Might give a bit of weathering and an overall shot of clear matte, or not; haven't decided. Not sure what to freakin' do with it now, but it was fun building it.

Healey

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Finally finished the tunnel project a week or so ago...for those of you that were following along on that death-march, here's a montage of photos of where it ended up

Neat!

Might give a bit of weathering and an overall shot of clear matte, or not; haven't decided. Not sure what to freakin' do with it now, but it was fun building it.

It's all about the fun!

[RBH29]

That came out great! It reminds me of a vintage German Elastolin toy castle with tunnel.

Is the trap door in the middle of the courtyard, as seen in the lower right corner photo, for dangling bad guys in front of oncoming trains?

[healey36]

Good eye, RBH! We used a prewar Elastolin toy as the model, similar to this:



My friend Howard made a nice version, then I used his as the model with a few more changes (primarily to make it a bit taller and scale it up from the original into something a bit closer to O-scale). Built in two bits, the masonite base of the castle-bit bowed slightly, so I needed to screw it onto the tunnel top. The small platform in front of the fortified house and the well (trap-door) were my adds to cover the screw-heads.

[G3750]

Very nice, Healey!!!!

George

[gregj410]

That came out great! Reminds me of something from Harry Potter. Maybe the Hogwarts Express is in order.

[healey36]

Thanks, George and Greg. It was a fun project. I mucked it up in a few places design-wise, but generally it came out okay.

The drawbridge was tough, both in its hinging and getting the chain bit to work. The one I had as a kid, made by Marx, had a small winch on the inside top which could be used to wind the chain and raise the bridge. The problem was that the chain was fairly fine, almost jewelry quality, so it broke frequently when stressed. I recall going to The Old Man for repairs, and him using a needle and a pair of small pliers to put the links back together...onerous, to say the least. The Elastolin version just has a simple loop, i.e. the chain runs end-to-end through the gate-top. One simply pulled the chain back to raise the bridge. Not the best, but functional, and it puts a lot less stress on the chain. While it doesn't look great, that's the model I used on this thing.

The small hinge I used came from a doll-house supply shop that's just down the street from me. I'm not sure how the original was hinged. My mate Howard, who built a version of this before me, used four very small cotter pins interlocked in pairs and inserted into small holes drilled in the base and the bridge. That probably would have worked here as well, but I couldn't find any pins that small. I instead tried running pins out through the sides of the bridge into homemade escutcheons, but then the bridge didn't meet the base properly. Sarge had a number of good suggestions. and this hinge, together with his suggested mitered cuts on the bridge worked the best. Of course, even in its down position, an enemy would likely have to use scaling ladders to ascend, but one gets the idea.

Other than some glue and one small sheet of single-faced corrugated, the only other thing I bought was the hinge (a whopping $ 0.75 for a pair). Everything else was scraps laying around the house. The chain was a left-over from an old Christmas garden project. One thing I discovered is that the cardboard USPS uses for their Priority Shipping boxes is some brilliant stuff. Very thin corrugated, quite strong, good for model-making, and free (to me). Also, the use of single-faced corrugated for roofing was a bit of a revelation. Lots of good uses can be imagined for that stuff, and my local liquor store offers a bountiful supply in their discarded beer displays.

Part of me says I should weather this thing up a bit to get into a more haggard appearance, similar to the original, but I just don't trust myself to make a job of it. Weathering can be a bit of the land-of-no-return. Muck it up and it's tough to recover. For now I'll leave it alone.

Anyway, good stuff. The guy delivering the duke's Sentinel turned up early last evening, which was problematic:



Looking around for a new project. Rufus sent me a pic of his version of Jack Kett's clothing shop...turned out brilliant. Who knows, maybe I'll take a swag at Phil Uptyte's Metropolitan Hotel

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Rufus sent me a pic of his version of Jack Kett's clothing shop...turned out brilliant.

Thanks! Maybe you'll get to see the final version in April in Strasburg?

Phil Uptyte's Metropolitan Hotel

What's that look like?

[healey36]

Rufus sent me a pic of his version of Jack Kett's clothing shop...turned out brilliant.

Thanks! Maybe you'll get to see the final version in April in Strasburg?

Only if I get "The Shot" first.

Phil Uptyte's Metropolitan Hotel

What's that look like?

Stand by...I'll have to look it up. I think it was just a building front as drawn, but it wouldn't be too tough to come up with sides and a back (if required).

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Rufus sent me a pic of his version of Jack Kett's clothing shop...turned out brilliant.

Thanks! Maybe you'll get to see the final version in April in Strasburg?

Only if I get "The Shot" first.

Done and done!

Phil Uptyte's Metropolitan Hotel

What's that look like?

Stand by...I'll have to look it up. I think it was just a building front as drawn, but it wouldn't be too tough to come up with sides and a back (if required).

I'll sit, but inquiring minds want to know!!!!

[healey36]

Thanks! Maybe you'll get to see the final version in April in Strasburg?

Only if I get "The Shot" first.

Done and done!

What's that look like?

Stand by...I'll have to look it up. I think it was just a building front as drawn, but it wouldn't be too tough to come up with sides and a back (if required).

I'll sit, but inquiring minds want to know!!!!

I'll flip you the rather primitive schematic for Phil Duptite's Metropolitan Hotel (apologies to Phil in misspelling his name in the earlier post) in a PM; I don't want to run up someone's copyright tuchus enroute.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Done and done!

Stand by...I'll have to look it up. I think it was just a building front as drawn, but it wouldn't be too tough to come up with sides and a back (if required).

I'll sit, but inquiring minds want to know!!!!

I'll flip you the rather primitive schematic for Phil Duptite's Metropolitan Hotel (apologies to Phil in misspelling his name in the earlier post) in a PM; I don't want to run up someone's copyright tuchus enroute.

Okay; done!

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Rufus sent me a pic of his version of Jack Kett's clothing shop...turned out brilliant.

[rogruth]

Finally finished the tunnel project a week or so ago...for those of you that were following along on that death-march, here's a montage of photos of where it ended up:



Might give a bit of weathering and an overall shot of clear matte, or not; haven't decided. Not sure what to freakin' do with it now, but it was fun building it.

Healey

I can not explain this but when I first saw this it looked to me like a bunch of little people with strange square features,
heads, eyes, noses. mouths, bodies.

[J. S. Bach]