Hickey's Diner in HO Scale

[Rail and Tie]

In 1947, Jack Hickey took possession of a brand new lunch wagon which he had designed himself. Custom built, the 8' x 18' cart was manufactured by the Worcester Lunch Car Company at a cost of $12,000. It was placed aboard a 1954 two-ton Chevrolet truck frame.
 
Every day, except Sundays and legal holidays, Hickey's would open at the far end of Court Street in Taunton. When the diner's doors were unlocked at 6 A.M., its regular customers would already be waiting for their morning coffee. About 350 people a day visited the lunch cart, some inside trying to find a place on one of the stools, others outside, mounting the portable steps for take-out.

Then about 3:30 P.M., the diner would be packed up and disconnected from its utility fittings. The old '54 Chevy motor would rumble to life and the diner, top-heavy and teasing the laws of gravity, would crawl down the Street, nudge its way into the inside lane of traffic around the Green and move to its appointed place until closing time between 1 and 2 A.M. Fire the beast up again and back to Court Street and open again in a few hours.

There is still a bunch of weathering to do, along with re-coloring the exterior, but the prototype of our new kit is just about ready to put into production.

[Rail and Tie]

A few more shots of the interior and the prototype.

I need to modify the glazing for the windshield a bit to fit a little tighter.

[finescalerr]

Nice job of engineering the kit. -- Russ

[Bill Gill]

Nice looking kit inside and out.

[lab-dad]

Cool!
I own a 1954 Chevrolet half ton!
MJinTN

[Stuart]

Very nice.  I have this crazy notion that once I am done with my gas station/garage project I would like to build a 1/12th scale version of an old time diner, one that resembles a small railroad passenger coach or perhaps the sleek stainless steel art deco variety.  Time will tell.

Stuart

[Marty J]

Ohhhh - that's nice!
Regards
Marty J

[SandiaPaul]

I saved this picture long ago, what a landscape! I always thought the diner would make a good model. Hickey's reminds me of this a bit.

[Rail and Tie]

Great picture Paul.  I am thinking of doing a diner only version of this as well. More like the "Quick Lunch" sandwich diners of the 1920's and 1930's.

Here are some shots of the prototype model in final colors.

[finescalerr]

A clever and well designed kit that builds into a beautiful little model. I hope you sell a ton of them. -- Russ

[Rail and Tie]

Thanks Russ. It is always a challenge to design with enough layers to get good detail, but not so much to make it impossible to build! The side walls have 4 layers plus glazing. I designed it so it looks good on both the outside and inside. Also, glazing is captured between the layers so that you don't need glue to set them in place. That is always a problem in avoiding glue squeeze out.

Here is the second version of diner for consideration.

[finescalerr]

Nothing wrong with that! -- Russ