In-ko-pah RR: Dos Manos depot

[Lawton Maner]

Why not just use a metal rod along the side of the door, which has to be a bi-fold one, to act as the attachment and hinge?

[Ray Dunakin]

I had made such a mess of the dial, that I decided to try to fix it even though the phone is already glued into the booth. I carefully reached in with a tiny piece of emery board, and sanded off the existing dial. The I scaled down a photo of a real dial, printed it onto self-adhesive vinyl, cut it out, and mounted it on the phone. I touched up the edges with bit of black paint. I also added some small ads and posters to the interior of the booth:




Another casting I got from Bob Santos was a pot-bellied stove -- just what I needed for the interior of the depot. I used a piece of brass tubing for the smokestack, and also glued a block of Sintra PVC to the bottom. This allows me to secure it with a screw from under the floor. That part of the stove won't be visible through the windows of the depot:

[finescalerr]

You vastly have improved the phone. -- Russ

[NORCALLOGGER]

Ray,
That phone booth is perfect except for one little thing. 
Where is the chain and binder that holds the always missing phone book?
Rick

[Barney]

Lovely stuff -excellent detail and thought has gone into it
Barney

[Ray Dunakin]

Lately I've been busy installing and wiring the depot's lights, both interior and exterior, as well as making some more interior details, installing doors and windows, etc.

I made ceiling lamps out of clear plastic beads and brass-plated plastic buttons, with 3mm LEDs:




Here are a couple of the simple background details for the interior -- a wall clock and a safe:




The safe is tucked into a corner and will only be partially visible through the bay window, which is why I didn't put too much effort into it:




This next photo is a bit out of focus, but it does show some of the ceiling lamps:




I also made a vintage typewriter for the station master's desk, just inside the bay window. I'm not very happy with the keys but it'll have to do. I couldn't think of any better way to represent them:




That's all for now, more later.

[Dave Fischer]

Hey, Ray-- Why not try using the same method on the typewriter keys that you used fixing the phone dial? A friend of mine discovered that when you can only see some interior detail with one eye at a time, your 3-D vision no longer works and a simple photo looks as good as the real thing. He was doing the cockpit interior of a large scale airliner and found that correctly-sized photos of the instrument panel and side consoles looked fully dimensional (and perfectly scaled) when viewed through the cockpit windows. There must be an old typewriter SOMEWHERE that you can shoot down on...   DF

[fspg2]

I love such interior :-)

For pictures of typewriter keys have s look here

[Ray Dunakin]

Thanks for the kind comments! Here are a couple more details... First is a desk fan, which I made from the engine fan and jack stand out of a model car kit, plus part of an old Gundam kit and a few other bits:




Next is a telegraph receiver. Kind of crude in closeup but actually turned out much better than I expected for something so tiny:




And then here's a shot of the desk top, with the items temporarily in position to see how it all fits. I may end up moving the fan to the ticket counter, and replace it with a lamp. This desk will fit into the bay window:



.

[finescalerr]

... And all this will be outdoors. You are a very talented lunatic. -- Russ

[Ray Dunakin]

The window shades were made from strips cut from a Tyvek envelope, painted "antique white", and sprayed with Krylon UV resistant matte clear:





These were glued to thin styrene strips mounted on both sides of each window. Lace was then added where needed, to represent curtains:








Here's a door with the window shade and doorknob installed. The doorknob was made from a tiny, genuine crystal bead:







The balcony railings were made from brass etching, sold by Scale Link in the UK. To make them long enough, I had to butt two pieces together and solder them. Then I added a thin brass rod over the joint, both to reinforce the joint and to strengthen the post. I also add rods to the corner posts:






Strips of 1/32" square brass rod was soldered along the top edge, on the inside, to stiffen the railings. A pair of machinist's "1-2-3" blocks were handy for keeping the etchings flat and holding everything in place during soldering. Excess posts were cut off:










The railings were sprayed with self-etching primer, followed by gloss black, and then UV resistant matte clear. Then I used Sophisticated Finishes' "iron" and "rust" solutions to weather it:



.

[Ray Dunakin]

At long last, the Dos Manos depot is finished!











The signs were printed on self-adhesive vinyl, then touched up and weathered using craft acrylics:





Details of the north side:









The south side:










I ended up making the door closed on the phone booth. Doing so solved several potential issues. I may add a bench or two inside this waiting area:








I'll shoot some night shots this evening.

Although the depot structure is finished, I still need to a bit of work on the foundation and sidewalk. I also have to connect wiring to the depot site.

.

[5thwheel]

Outstanding Ray,
I feel like I might have been at that station one time when I was a kid.

Bill

[Bill Gill]

Really terrific, Ray, inside & out, top to bottom, construction and colors, details and photos (and anything inadvertently left out.

[Allan G]

Beyond awesome. Love the shades.....great!!!  Allan