I am sharing my completion of the Model Tech Inc. Newton Falls B&O passenger station kit. I am not a frequent contributor to this on-line forum, but I do plan to post some other completed projects in the future for your enjoyment. I have changed the name of the station to Connelsville, as I am modeling Cumberland to Connelsville on the B&O, Chessie and CSX line. Model Tech Inc. does not exist any longer. I believe this kit was available in the late 1990's. I live in Northern Ohio, where the owner also lived, so I was aware of this kit for a long time. I was able to find this kit on the Bay. It was a very difficult kit, taking over 300 hours to build. I spread the build over a 2 year period, as I stopped half way through the build to work on some other train layout projects. ( I am not a great builder, but I have determination to finish projects.) This kit required window, door, door frames, rafters and soffits to be assembled. The roof shingles were also very time consuming to apply. These were the best roof shingles I have ever worked with. I added a floor to the kit and glued a paper checkerboard floor on it, even though no one will ever see it. I made many mistakes along the way, but most are hidden from view or I was able to work around most assembly errors that I made. The soffit and roof rafters in particular were a great challenge to allow the roof to lay properly. Once the roof is on there is no access to the inside, so there are no lights or people or station equipment inside the building. I have included a few assembly pictures that show some of the hidden details as well as the finished kit on my layout. I like the fact that this is a unique building that few people have. It adds a sense of importance to my town, with its large size. The brick walkway makes the station stand out too.
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Looks fantastic!!!
John, It does look like a pretty involved kit, but oh what a fantastic station it is! Yours looks absolutely stunning!
Very Well Done.
Beautiful work. Great job.
Very nice build. I hope you become a regular poster here. Looks like a beautiful layout.
John,
The time you spent on this is evident, the station is definitely a stand out. Thanks for sharing.
Dave
Impressive!
That is very nice. I remember when these came out and I delayed buying one ... much to my continued regret. The actual station was demolished in 2011 after a train derailment pretty much took out the entire building.
Nice job! I’m a B&O modeler and I really appreciate the work you have done.
B&O all the way!
Billy C
Wow, beautiful! I can appreciate the time, determination, and patience the job took!
Enjoy it!
Stunning work. Would like to see more of your layout featured on the forum. Out of curiosity, what material are you using for your roads, the texture and color look great!!
The asphalt road is from Scenic Express. It is their SE4200 series of roadways. They have several variations, some with centerline stripes and some without. They also have 90 degree curves, which I have used. Thanks for the positive feedback.
Very nice work on your model.
I bought this kit many years ago but haven't built it. I would appreciate knowing your opinion of the accuracy of the laser cutting of the kit parts.
MELGAR
Melgar, I am not an expert, but I thought the accuracy was good with this kit. Two areas that I had trouble with was 1) fitting the doors between the door frames and door threshold. It was a very tight fit, so much so that I left a few of the door frames out, so that I did not have to sand the doors significantly. 2) The roof rafters were so thin, that they were easily bent/displaced when you applied the sub-roof on top of them. The roof rafters should have been made out of a thicker material.
One question "Newton Falls" where? Ohio by chance?
Ron
Yes, west of Youngstown Ohio.
@John Cubic posted:Yes, west of Youngstown Ohio.
Yes and north of Berlin Center. One summer recall a sever thunder storm in area when a tornado touched down in Newton Falls area.
Ron
I didn't realize there was a station in Newton Falls @PRRronbh and @John Cubic. Pretty cool stuff. I know there's industrial history up that way but I don't know much about it. I thought it was the Connellsville station at first. It just about looks exactly like it!
I believe that tornado was in 1985.
Bill, that must have been the day of several tornadoes here in Butler County, Pennsylvania. May 31.
I recall seeing signs in Berlin Center for Newton Falls when taking our older daughter to college in Canton. I never drove up that way though.
I believe it is because I'm pretty sure it tore through Farrell/Sharon areas @Mark Boyce. But I'm not sure. I didn't come along until 1991
@BillYo414 posted:I believe it is because I'm pretty sure it tore through Farrell/Sharon areas @Mark Boyce. But I'm not sure. I didn't come along until 1991
Yes, there too! You’re the same age as our older daughter. 😊
Must been a heck of a storm @Mark Boyce. How about that? haha
It was, @BillYo414
@John Cubic posted:Melgar, I am not an expert, but I thought the accuracy was good with this kit. Two areas that I had trouble with was 1) fitting the doors between the door frames and door threshold. It was a very tight fit, so much so that I left a few of the door frames out, so that I did not have to sand the doors significantly. 2) The roof rafters were so thin, that they were easily bent/displaced when you applied the sub-roof on top of them. The roof rafters should have been made out of a thicker material.
John,
The reason I asked the question was because, in the first photo you posted, the rafters at the end of the roof look to be misaligned with the eaves. I thought this might have been due to inaccuracy in the angle of the roof pitch.
MELGAR
There were multiple challenges with the rafters. The soffit had to be at the proper angle for the rafters to sit properly. I had trouble with the soffit as you can see in the first picture because the rafters did not lay flat all the way down the soffit. Photo 1 is after I reworked the soffits to be as close as I could get the soffits to match the rafter angle. Some sides were better than others. The explanation of how to properly lay the soffit was rather weak, there were no good pictures in the instructions, so I did not understand the downstream problem it would create with the rafters. I ended up cutting off several of the ends of the rafters on the lower level so that they were behind the face plate. Unfortunately, on the upper lever there is no face plate, so there is no way to hide the misaligned rafters. Plus, I have never built a building like this, so my inexperience was a problem.
In addition, the rafters on the left and right hand sides of the building hang off the main rafter down the middle and the 45 degree corner rafters. The delicate little hooks that these rafters had to hang on to the middle and corner rafters made them almost impossible to keep straight. Finally, these smaller rafters tended to pop up when glued and not remain flat where the hook was at the roof line. I did sand these, but the rafters are so delicate, it was very easy to break them. So the subroof would not lay completely flat and keep the proper alignment. Very challenging problems that I was not able to completely overcome, but also not very easy to see in the finished building.
@BillYo414 posted:I didn't realize there was a station in Newton Falls @PRRronbh and @John Cubic. Pretty cool stuff. I know there's industrial history up that way but I don't know much about it. I thought it was the Connellsville station at first. It just about looks exactly like it!
I believe that tornado was in 1985.
Hi Bill, the event I am speaking of happen much earlier. I am sure of this because Sunday Oct. 15, 1978 I was driving south to Charlotte to start new job on Monday the 16th.
Ron
@PRRronbh posted:Hi Bill, the event I am speaking of happen much earlier. I am sure of this because Sunday Oct. 15, 1978 I was driving south to Charlotte to start new job on Monday the 16th.
Ron
Ah ha! Different incident. Thank you, Ron!
@John Cubic posted:There were multiple challenges with the rafters.
If I ever do build this kit, I will probably reinforce the rafters (above the eaves) with basswood strips to strengthen the roof support structure and improve alignment. Your photos are very helpful in this regard.
MELGAR
Great, glad to hear that my photos will help a fellow modeler.