Choo Choo Charlie, thanks for the idea to automate the manual log loader I have. I've still got the loading floor mechanism so maybe I can figure how to make it work just by adding a solenoid.
CBS072, great way to disguise an access hatch. Nice load out structure also.
Rattler, nice work on both.
Fred M, "This is my attempt at a Howe truss bridge. I am pleased with the final results.", and well you should be, that's an excellent rendition of a Howe truss.
@rattler21 posted:
REA Transfer Building. Foam core, separate docks, wood pilasters. Pecos River large windows.
DPM modules, corregated paper for the roof.
Plywood with trim. Roof top tall hut is a painted Spam can. Grandson Sam makes furniture by hand. John
We have Sam's Furniture in Northwest Arkansas that uses the same type of sign,
My wife has help Sam's to pay for they new building over the last few years.
Thanks for the recent posts. Great additions to the long list of great Homemade buildings and accessories.
Charlie
Homemade Operating Ice skating pond on New Addition
I built a small operating Ice Skating Pond and it was located near the new Addition outside loop. This location gave the opportunity to install a Rail Road Bridge. The ice skating pond is on the farm. The ice skating pond was made from a pane of glass painted white on the bottom. It was attached to a pond shaped cutout in the train board. An old Barb B Q rotisserie motor (all I had at the time) was used to power a 7 inch diameter, ½ inch thick ply wood disk with 6 round, 1 inch disk magnets that were recessed and glued into the plywood (I would now use a microwave table rotating motor with a 4"dia lazy susan bearing to support the disk as the motor would be quieter). It was installed very close to the bottom of the glass pane. Radio Shack small ½ inch dia. magnets were glued to the feet of the skaters with epoxy glue making sure all had the same magnetic polarity pointing up the same. The skaters were from Plasticville people sets and other sources of toy figures of roller or ice skaters, ballerinas or dancers. The magnets all had the opposite polarity of the rotating disc to make sure they attracted each other.
The mini Christmas tree lights on the bridge provide lighting for the Pond at night.
Videos of Ice Skaters in Action (note Ice Resurface Zamboni Machine)
Bar B Q rotisserie motor that drives the plywood disc with the magnets.
There are several commercial made ice skating rinks or ponds available for much less trouble but they would not be as much fun to build as this one. They are too big for my location. I now have one but have not installed it because mine is recessed under my bridge and most of them are above grade. It Is also too large for my available space. I use it at Christmas as a holiday display.
Charlie
A little action video would be nice.
Here are some photos of my scratch built/kit bashed Saratoga (New York) Coal Company loosely based on plans and description in the February 1991 Railmodel Journal magazine. The towers are made from wall-to wall carpet tubes screwed together and wrapped in heavy craft paper similar to a paper grocery bag and then spray painted. The Reading Anthracite sign is a decal I made from an image on the internet. The ladders and platform are MTH fire escapes. The office is a Mount Blue 1850 New England farmhouse. I will build a structure over the car dump area soon. Jack Smith
Here’s a couple I built a while back.
obx
I do not remember seeing this thread before - popped up due to someone I follow. Nice work everyone.
I did this as a building flat, completely scratch. Background story is on TPRR. The diorama was finished just prior to its tear down. Oak Tree is scratch built.
The Inn was named for my dad who owned a resort named Twin Pines Resort in northwestern Wisconsin (Spooner area on Fish Lake) and was a fan of supper clubs. Good times, great memories.
A few years ago, my adult son thought he would give me a structure for our layout, a roundhouse. He came up with an idea he thought would work. On Xmas day, I opened my package and there were two engine house kits. His plan that he had thought out was to kitbash them into a 3 stall roundhouse. He had thought it out pretty well, and he planned to start the building of it, which he did, and then he and his family would return home (out of state). My task was to finish the building and scratch build the roof sections. This was the result.
@WP posted:
A few years ago, my adult son thought he would give me a structure for our layout, a roundhouse. He came up with an idea he thought would work. On Xmas day, I opened my package and there were two engine house kits. His plan that he had thought out was to kitbash them into a 3 stall roundhouse. He had thought it out pretty well, and he planned to start the building of it, which he did, and then he and his family would return home (out of state). My task was to finish the building and scratch build the roof sections. This was the result.
Very clever! Clearly your son is the proverbial "chip off the ol' block!"
Could you post a couple more views of the building to show how you formed the footprint...IOW, accommodated the radial tracks...an 'aerial' or 'drone' view? Also the structure at the rear of the building? Thanks for consideration!
You should write an article for OGR on how you both conceived and built this! Those engine houses...new, used, or in pieces...are plentiful having been produced by several makers.
Besides, those father/child projects are priceless to the memories.
KD
Everything seems to be store bought today but that does not show an individuals workmanship in this hobby. Everyone's pictures are just fantastic and show a persons craftsmanship. Showing just a few of my scratch built structures in the 50+ years in this hobby.
Open the link below to read the materials I used in scratch building these structures.
You fellows amaze me with your skills and imagination. Thanks for posting and encouraging an old post war toy train modeler to up his game.
Charlie
Wow, I find its not so much actual building and assembly as it is figuring out what to build, the proportions and finish to be used. That's the imagination and creativity and what helps keep the hobby fun.
My last entry in this auspicious list was several years ago. Since then there's been one new addition and another work in progress.
These are always detailed in my contiuously running 11 year thread, but for those that don't follow, here they are.
I'm kind of a big Edward Hopper fan. He's on the top of the list of my favorite fine artists. So besides Nighthawks, I made this rendition of his "House by the Railroad" paiting. Drawing was a huge challenge both in determining scale and filling in the gaps of his, sort of, impressionistic treatment of areas in the shadows.
This was the first big project that had all of my own 3D printed parts. Walls were laser cut by Rail Scale Models from my drawings and it has full 3-story straircase, spiral staircase to the turret and full 1st and 2nd floor furnishings, most which is never to be seen.
The dining Room: Both table and chairs are replicas of those in our own dining room. Wall paper is Victorian scale from Internet images. Doing the crown models was both challenging and insane.
The 2nd floor bedrooms and hallway. Tables, beds and lamps were 3D printed from drawings from the SketchUp 3D Warehouse and then edited for printing. The fireplace hearth was also derived from SketchUp drawings.
This next project is under way. It's a replica of the 1869 built hardware store in our old community of Newtown, Pennsylvania. It was a hardware store when built and still is. The right side was the hardware store and the left a dry goods stores. At some point in time, they were joined and became a larger hardware store, "Newtown Hardware House". Again, the walls are laser cut. This time out of acrylic cut by Twin Whistle Sign & Model Company. The non-store windows were cut by Rail Scale Models. All the architectural goodies were 3D printed by me. All the drawings are mine.
Design was based on Google Earth images plus on site images taken by me and the current owner. I'm still deciding how to handle the complex interior.
I'm currently crafting the hand-built front windows. I chose not to 3D print them due to the thin cross-sections and size. 3D printing can't do everything.
The front upstairs window lintels are cut stone. I had them laser cut and then hand painted them with different shades to give them the natural look. Their cut from adhesive-backed RC Board. They're not fastened down in this image.
Keep up with this project (and all the others) go here.
https://ogrforum.com/...-pandampprr?page=103
And one more thing: My next project will be another Hopper rendition; "Early Sunday Morning". This masterpiece was supposed to be a street in lower Manhattan or Brooklyn. Hopper painted a lot of scene is NYC. The row of stores scales nicely for O'scale at a little over 11" wide. I've set the depth at a little over 5", short for a real store, but hey… It's my RR and my town. All the drawings are done, but I won't get anything cut for a while. This project will probably "break ground" late summer.
Coach Joe
I have added the above videos of my Homemade Operating Ice Skating Pond to my original post above and below for to make it easy to see. Note the Ice Resurface Zamboni Machine in the first video.
Charlie
@dkdkrd posted:Very clever! Clearly your son is the proverbial "chip off the ol' block!"
Could you post a couple more views of the building to show how you formed the footprint...IOW, accommodated the radial tracks...an 'aerial' or 'drone' view? Also the structure at the rear of the building? Thanks for consideration!
You should write an article for OGR on how you both conceived and built this! Those engine houses...new, used, or in pieces...are plentiful having been produced by several makers.
Besides, those father/child projects are priceless to the memories.
KD
Thank you for your kind words. I can’t remember the brand name, but as my son’s wife tells the story, they were in the hobby store, and he had opened the kit box. He was looking at all the pieces and seeing if what was there in two kits could be “bashed” into a roundhouse. He literally planned the structure in his mind right there. And he was right. It worked. The roof’s “pie-shaped” sections had to be scratch made and many strips added to represent the roof covering. The structure at the rear was part of the original kit, but he made it double height with a high ceiling. The photos are from different time periods in the past 5 years or so
@Fred M posted:Thank you, I can post materials and sizes if anyone would like them.
Please do!
Homemade Lionel Style Water Tower
A Lionel 6-12711 Water Tower Building Kit style water tower was made in the 1980s from 1/8 inch Masonite and brick paper covering. The tank was made from an oat meal round box and card board. The roof was covered with roof paper. Lights were added to the top of the water tank to illuminate the top of the coal tender from 12v mini Christmas tree lights. The spout was made from balsa wood. Ladder was made from cutting out every other tie from N scale rail tie minus the rails. I had the O scale door and window plastic parts. I think my homemade water tower is more handsome than the plastic Lionel Water Tower.
Below is the Lionel 6-12711 Water Tower Building Kit I modeled mine after (this one bought years later)
Charlie
@Choo Choo Charlie posted:Homemade Lionel Style Water Tower
A Lionel 6-12711 Water Tower Building Kit style water tower was made in the 1980s from 1/8 inch Masonite and brick paper covering. The tank was made from an oat meal round box and card board. The roof was covered with roof paper. Lights were added to the top of the water tank to illuminate the top of the coal tender from 12v mini Christmas tree lights. The spout was made from balsa wood. Ladder was made from cutting out every other tie from N scale rail tie minus the rails. I had the O scale door and window plastic parts. I think my homemade water tower is more handsome than the plastic Lionel Water Tower.
Below is the Lionel 6-12711 Water Tower Building Kit I modeled mine after (this one bought years later)
Charlie
Great job. have one on the layout also which I kind of upgraded. Also have another base for one that I made into a storage shed. Nice Reel to Reel in the background. I have an Akia X355 that still works that I brought back from Nam 50+ years ago.
A very nice first build. The attempt was a success.
Great job, especially the difficult hand rails and ladders, Eric I wish I had room for a small chemical plant or refinery.
Larry, that RTR is an Akai GX-28D-SS, a quadraphonic four channel RTR that was bought with lots of issues at a thrift store. I fixed a dead channel and replaced a transistor that was keeping the 3.75 ips speed from working but it ran out of adjustment and runs too slow at that speed but 7.5 is good. It and most of my audio gear is from Vietnam veterans that I bought when those guys were dumping it. I spent my time in the USAR and already had stereo gear. I like that age gear as I have a chance to fix it with discrete transistors and no integrated circuits. I have a few Sansui 9090/db receivers, turntables and speakers that kept finding me. My train room above a garage has two walls of audio gear, a long way from the wife.
Charlie
Very nice, Eric. Would you mind sharing what you made your tanks out of?
This is my first kitbash Union Station I finished a month ago using one MTH Bank. I have a post on it but feel like I've joined the club here.
Mike
Beautiful work everyone.
Peoples Package Liquors is a Woodland Scenics Smith Bros Appliance store that has been painted white, new windows with beer signs, and refrigeration unit added on roof. New interior, but lighting not installed for that yet. Also attached is a circa 1940 photo of the prototype, located in the St. Louis suburbs, that inspired the model. Obviously the model is not an exact copy, just the inspiration.
Great model! JohnA
@Choo Choo Charlie posted:Great job, especially the difficult hand rails and ladders, Eric I wish I had room for a small chemical plant or refinery.
Larry, that RTR is an Akai GX-28D-SS, a quadraphonic four channel RTR that was bought with lots of issues at a thrift store. I fixed a dead channel and replaced a transistor that was keeping the 3.75 ips speed from working but it ran out of adjustment and runs too slow at that speed but 7.5 is good. It and most of my audio gear is from Vietnam veterans that I bought when those guys were dumping it. I spent my time in the USAR and already had stereo gear. I like that age gear as I have a chance to fix it with discrete transistors and no integrated circuits. I have a few Sansui 9090/db receivers, turntables and speakers that kept finding me. My train room above a garage has two walls of audio gear, a long way from the wife.
Charlie
Like you I play it loud, very loud and keep it AWAY from the wife, her idea not mine. I feel like I want to go up stairs and pull my old Akia out and also all the old RTR tapes and play them again. i know they been stored for many years so put the tape on the machine fast forward and reverse and then play it. All my tapes were complete radio broadcasts sent to me in Nam by my twin sister and recorded from the big 8 on our radio dial, CKLW a Canadian station. The guys in our hooch loved that stuff. Has everything on it for hours including the commercials and banter from the DJ.
Thanks for your service in the Reserves, at least you did something for your Country.
@IRON HORSE posted:Very nice, Eric. Would you mind sharing what you made your tanks out of?
This is my first kitbash Union Station I finished a month ago using one MTH Bank. I have a post on it but feel like I've joined the club here.
Mike
Just PVC pipe
At the risk of going off-topic...When I came home from Viet Nam, I brought with me a Teac reel-to-reel, a Sansui amp, and two huge Pioneer speakers. Later I added a Gerard turntable. Of course, it's all gone now.
Old fashioned subway token booth.
These are 90% finished the rest will be done when set in place on the layout.
Has anyone scratchbuilt a dairy or creamery on their layout?
I built a Hood's Milk Factory with Precision Board and used the Hood's Logo my Grandfather designed way back in the 1930's for signage and the milk bottle, the main building sign is copied from the Lionel Milk car. It is not a full building just the front so it could fit in an unused corner. The milk storage tanks are Plexiglass tubes and parts from old models. The Lionel Milk car unloads at the scene.
t
@gene maag That is awesome! Thanks for the pictures and inspiration. I like the tanks a lot. You don't see storage tanks on most "mass" produced dairy/creameries. I also like the milk bottle on top of the building!
I think I want to make something similar to this picture of Polks Milk Plant in Indianapolis from the 1920s. I love the Milk bottle corner in the building.
That's great I just happen to have an original art work of the Polk's Dairy that my Grandfather also created.
That's awesome your grandfather did the artwork for a lot of milk and creameries. Was he in advertising?
I'll keep an eye out for a bottle for you.
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