In early November 1971, I discovered the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad in Chama, New Mexico. My parents, wife and I roamed the yard and facilities unchallenged, expect by a dog. I used all the film in my camera (35mm color slides) and wished I had more film. I was captivated by the ex-D&RGW structures, locomotives and rolling stock. Since then I have planned on how I would model Chama and portions of the old D&RGW narrow gauge. To that end, I have collected photographs, plans and drawings. I have been building, in 1:48 scale, for several years in anticipation of having a layout. Now I have a layout room (basement, with a home above it).
My current project is a scratch-built model of the Chama depot. The shingle pattern on the east and north facing gables fascinated me, so I decide to start with them. The photo shows the front (east facing) track-side of the depot. Note that the shingles alternate between 6 inches wide and 2 inches wide - I measured them.
I used over 300 pieces of strip wood to build the north gable.
Uncle Russ thought I had lost my mind. (He was delighted with the weathered deck railing it the gable was on when I photographed it!)
If I were to do it over again, I might use cardstock.
What are your thoughts?
Young Brent
Now that's dedication! I can tell this will be very impressive when done. It is interesting how performing a mindless, repetitive task such as cutting 300 pieces of stripwood can be a nice break from the stresses of real life, well unless your day job is as an assembly worker.
David
Brent,
that looks great. You captured the character very very well.
I agree with the cardstock as the thickness will be less pronounced. Do you intend to reproduce a certain period or as it is now ?
Jacq
Jacq,
The depot is intended to be representative of 1938-39. I have been unable to find color photographs of the pre-World War II era but the Friends of the Cumbres and Toltec have found some black and white photos for me. The 1919 valuation records confirmed the dimensions in the blueprints I got years ago from the late John Maxwell.
David,
You are correct in how relaxing the mindless, repetitive task of cutting all those shingles was after the stress of the office all day.
Brent
The hand made shingles have a very nice, slightly random appearance, so they look hand applied, without looking sloppy. Perfect for your application. That said, you could make short work of those shingles by having them laser cut in cardstock. A really good graphic would even mimic the slight randomization you achieved by hand. They wouldn't look any better than what you can do by hand, they'd only save you time.
Dave
Laser cut cardstock would have been wonderful. I will talk more about that when I get to the widows for the depot...
Wow...what persitence and patience. Though I think the result is very nice, I do agree with Jaqc, about the thickness of the material, and that cardstock, or even styrene, might be a better solution (esp. since grain/surface texture is not readily apparent in the origainal anyway)
I find it's always a bit of a struggle and balancing act between using actual scale thickness material or something slightly thicker so that it will be more apparent or visually interesting to the viewer.
MR
That is very nicely done. Scale thickness texture might disappear more in 1:48 so your end vision is important. Maybe even think of how you want the entire layout to look- subtle, quiet and soothingly realistic or full of texture and shadows that may not be fully to scale but interesting to photograph and view.
I hired a laser cutting guy to precisely cut out bridge master parts including the hundreds of lacing bars that are found on old bridges. Putting the rivets on was enough to make me go mad. You may find that model making laser operators will do custom work. Dave/DaKra??
Can't wait to see more,
John
I encouraged Brent to get shingles, doors, windows, and other such parts laser cuts early last year. Some guys may think that's "cheating" but if the modeler designs the parts, it's really as though he's borrowing somebody else's tool to create them.
The advantage of designing your own parts is that you are not at the mercy of a "mass production" mentality that would create doors, windows, and trim in single pieces with wood grain running the wrong way. You can draw each individual board and arrange it on the wood to take advantage of the direction of the grain. Or request the part be cut from Strathmore or styrene or even Plexiglas. If you like peel and stick film, you can include it to speed assembly.
Lasers are tools more scratchbuilders should consider. And there are plenty of competent people with lasers who would like to keep their machines running profitably more days of the week.
Russ
Agreed, Russ.
Add to the list of laserable, grainless materials, "laserboard" which is a cardstock that has been treated with a resin so that it is much stronger than ordinary cardstock and does not delaminate. I think of designing laser cut parts in terms of photo etching, but quicker, easier to make changes, less expensive and generally using thicker materials.
Dave
I would love to try having some things laser cut, but I don't know CAD. Can any vector drawing program be used?
A laser works a lot like a printer so any vector based graphics that works on your printer should, in theory, work on a laser. I design all my laser graphics in Adobe Illustrator, but most laser operators use Corel.
Dave
The depot is 120 feet long, so I started with a sheet of half inch plywood long enough for the depot (30") and enough more for the platform that surrounds it. I built floor joists and beams that support them from scale basswood per the D&RGW blueprints. I made the freight room/agents living quarters seperate from the depot/waiting room end of the depot since the freight room is two feet higher that the waiting room end of the structure.
This is the depot/waiting room end.
This shows both sections with the sub-floor installed on the waiting room end.
There is no sub-floor on the freight room end -- scale lumber was placed directly on the floor joists as shown in this photograph.
The completed freight room floor before it was stained and weathered...
Brent, you young rascal, the depot is coming along rather nicely. The floor joists would seem unnecessary since you covered them with planks but it's cool to know they are there. -- Russ
Brent, with your experience making the model with all the structural elements in place, next you could make a 1:1 version in the back yard for your shop and layout.
John
John, A 1:1 version in my back yard would be wonderful if funds and space were not as issue.
With the floors in place, framing up the structure is next. It is too bad most of those 2x6s will be covered by siding, but I am building the structure foloowing the blueprints the beast I can.
There are exposed rafters above the freight room, so they too need to be built to scale...
The framing is almost done and the rafters will be delivered soon...
The rafters going up on 2-foot centers. It looks like the crew putting them up has gone off to lunch.
THe roof trusses over the freight room are exposed. Here they all are on the underside of the roof.
With the building framed and roof trusses in place, 1 by 12 siding was installed.
The interior walls were lined with unpaineted lumber, which was weathered in advance with the ususal India Ink and alcohol soultion.
The interior of the freight room and agents quarters are finished. Windows, doors and furnishings are yet to be installed.
This is the express freight, office and passanger waiting room end.
The passenger end before the roof was added.
As Russ later suggested, laser cut cardstock windows would have been ideal, but I didn't know about that option so I tried scratch building windows in styrene. I built one to my satisfaction, then resorted to modifying Grandt Line window. Here are the results. The one on the bottom row, fifth from the left is scratch built. The rest were modified with additional styrene for wider trim and more paynes.
THe unpainted passenger end with the roof on but not sitting quite right...
I glued up a blank and carved a chimney from wood. Then I made a mold from it and cast a duplicate in Hydrocal.
The unpainted front turned out to resemble the prototype nicely.
The bright green roof was a shock. Over 300 strips of green construction paper cut with a diamond shaped rotary craft cuttter went into it.
I think this color roof matches the 1938 prototype more closely. What do you think?
Here is the depot before the signs and window glazing were added.
This is the depot from the north east.
This is how the depot currently looks (with signs, a baggage cart, a figure, three dogs and a cat). Interior furnishing have yet to be installed.
I hope I successfully captured the front detail. I think some light weathering might be in order. What do you think?
The roof still sits a little high and leaves a gap, which I need to fix...
Does anyone know a source for 1:48 telegraphers' keys, sounders, etc?
The front window looks bear without them.
This is the prototype in June 2006. It was re-roofed last summer.
Cool, this turned out very wel done.
Jacq
Nice to see someone capture something like that in miniature.
Very well done!
I agree some "slight" weathering would really bring it to life.
Have never seen any telegraph items but making some should not be that hard (firmly insert tongue in cheek)
-Marty
To make a miniature telegraph assembly you would need a full size prototype, some brass and/or styrene, and a pantograph. Anyone could do it.
Yeah, right ....
Russ
Looking good, Brent! That has to be one big model.
Brent -
C'mon if you can build that station, a telegraph key and sounder should be duck soup!
Mark
Nicely done Brent. I agree with Marty, a little light weathering would bring it to life.
I have a vintage prototype telegraph key and sounder if you need any dimensional information. My grandfather was a telegraph operator on the Grand Trunk Railroad early in the 20th century.
Paul
Thanks for the encouragement on the telegraph equipment. Going from a 36 inch long depot to a 1/4th inch long telegraph key will be an interesting transition.
I will keep ypu posted on my progress.
Brent
I wonder if a sounder in a triangular box might be appropriate. Any suggestions?
Nice work on that depot!
Speaking of telegraphy, I read a RR book recently which mentioned that a lot of telegraphers added empty tobacco tins to their sounders. That might be an interesting touch to include on a model.
I'm sure with a bit of Nitrinol shape memory wire you could have the key on the telegraph move as well.
Actually I opened the proto photo and model photo of the same angle in two tabs and clicked back and forth. That is a wonderful model, the general feeling of it is spot on. A little weathering will help give it life. Very nice.
John