Twin Whistle Whistlestop and Bachmann Plasticville: Diner Build-a-thon(s)

MaxSouthOz posted:

Thanks, TR.

I gleaned from an earlier post that you are a musician, as well.

I've just retired as the double bass player with the Cherry Pickers.

Ring any bells?

Max,

That's fabulous!  As they say on Spinal Tap "More Bottom!". I have just spent a very pleasant evening tapping my toes to your band's You Tube videos!  You have a great sound!  I hope that you will keep playing even after your retirement, if that's something that you'd like to do.  Truly wonderful choice of tunes and the audiences loved you!

Coincidentally,  I was a bass player, too -- mostly classic rock and some big band jazz, a few weddings.  It was something of a novelty to be a female electric bass player way back when.  When I moved to the boonies after college, I played Country and Western because that was what "played" out in the wilds of Central Massachusetts.  I also played acoustic mandolin and more recently got  a 5-string electric mandolin.  Mostly folk, country, or jazz.  No bluegrass.

Then, after about twenty-five years of bass player head bobbing in the background of the band, and who knows how much hearing loss standing next to the cymbals, I switched to electric guitar so that I could concentrate on lead vocals and some simple melodic leads.  (Unlike Sting and Paul McCartney, I couldn't play bass and sing well at the same time.  It was one or the other.)  I sort of semi-retired after some injuries, performing mostly low key stuff with friends at my church.  Now, I have zero time to play or sing.  I must say that I really miss performing.  Hopefully, some day I can get back to it. I'm even thinking of picking up the dobro if/when I retire.  Anyway, enough about me!  It's a long winded way to say that I enjoyed listening to your tunes and it brought back fine memories.

Train Mention 

And to keep this thread "on track" for our equally fine moderators, I listen to a local bluegrass-jazz radio station every Tuesday night on my drive home from work.  They play the best TRAIN songs!!  Bluegrass is just overflowing with them!  Who knew there were so many awesome train songs?

Thanks for sharing this fabulous tidbit and another one of your many talents, Max.  Most impressive.

Tomlinson Run Railroad 

Thank you for your kind words, TR.

Sadly I shredded my rotator cuff and two other tendons in my right shoulder and now I can't play for more than a few minutes at a time.  Plus, we were offered some tours and as I have a 30 year start on the other guys, I'm really over being away from home. 

You sound like you are still right into it. 

Here's a shot of us performing at Shottesbrooke Winery, near to home.

I'm singing Chug-a-lug or something.

You can see that the boys are very impressed. 

Wow.  I'm very sorry to read about the right shoulder, Max. Mine was the left RC, twice, but nothing that bad. Since then, a guitar or mandolin strap is not the greatest thing to have hanging off it.  Hopefully, you aren't limited in your modeling.  Such nice photos (good publicist?), but I can see how the travel would lose its appeal.

Across all New England today we are due for a Mother's Day drencher, so I can't finish the remaining wood priming.  After church, (where I will atone for my wanton yet somehow surprisingly wholesome musician days) I will try and write-up why using the diner model's supplied inside and outside trim forces you to pay special attention to the window detailing.  And, for which in my opinion, they don't provide an adequate solution.  It seems that the challenge of this kit keeps coming back to "window treatments"!  

Perhaps I'll close with a word or two about my attempts at mass producing O scale diner china.  Then it's back to the dissertation chapter for the rainy remainder.

How about a new title for this post: The Tin Whistle Stop Diner?   Stay tuned as I fiddle around some more ...

TRRR

The gels that Don sent arrived last week.  They are much thinner than I expected and the colors really "pop".  They have great potential, especially due to their thinness, and I look forward to experimenting with them as time allows. (Unfortunately, I have lots of school work to do.  Here are some ponderings from last week when I was home sick and so could goof off guilt free.) 

Before moving forward with the stained glass windows, I must determine whether to add inside and possibly outside trim to the windows.  It seems like I will have to and I think that picking up some bass wood will be the way to go versus painting plastic or cardboard that is cut to size.  That means buying some wood (or snagging some coffee stirrers ).

Here's why I think trim will be needed:

#1 The full diner wall with the windows is 1/16" thick. This version of Whistlestop's model adds a 1/16" thick interior panel that fits just under the windows.  The instructions are faint, hence the faint scan.  Try and enlarge it if possible:

An aside: This extra layer means that the stove and refrigerator in the kitchen at the end without the door won't fit unless I cut the inside trim as indicated with the red line.  I'm OK with that. The kitchen area often has renovations that ruin the diner's original interior.  I could skip adding the wall, but I think that using the inside wood will make it easier to paint simplified simulated tile trim that I am planning to go around the interior walls' edges. Plus, the supplied wood is a bit smoother for painting than the larger windowed wall.  More about those painting plans later.

#2 The model also has an outside sign that goes the full length of the diner side, and the full height, up to the bottom of the windows.  It also is 1/16" thick:

I could just skip the outside sign but if I don't, what all of this translates to is that the 1/16" window frames and their posts are now sandwiched in between 1/16" boards on each side.  I'm afraid they will visually get lost.  Also, the instructions just to say glue the "glass" in above the inside wall.  Well, what's the point of having a nice painted interior wall with some bare plastic pasted above it?  Yuk.  That would defeat the nice interior detailing like the tiled counter and chalk board menu that are included in the kit.  So, it looks like window trim is needed to hide the plastic and to build up the windows to match the width of inside "wall".  Window trim on the outside might be less critical/important but it may still be necessary depending on how I address the stained glass window sashes. And, keep in mind that I haven't a clue what I'm doing .

Here are links to MELGAR's diner post that show how the model has changed from his earlier kit to mine (unless you made some additions of your own, MG) and also a post by Dave C. The latter post shows the outside windows. Here, the outside gap doesn't look so bad, but Dave's used larger corner trim (for example) than the awfully thin 1/32" trim supplied in my kit. Great models, guys!:

https://ogrforum.com/t...68#72101420630074268

https://ogrforum.com/t...12#71819767801617512

Here are some interior shots of a diner near me, the Moran Square Diner, Fitchburg, Mass.  (taken from the web via their FB page and RoadsideArch?). They just scream "Yo! Architect! Window trim is required (ya lazy bum).":

The next photo is my own outside pix.  Note how the windows seamlessly blend with the enamel side panels.  No, 1/16" gap there ... well, then again ... maybe there is!  It's 1:1 scale after all! .  In addition to its great preservation and fine food, the nice thing about this diner is that the outside trim looks easier to model than the other example that I posted:

And, just for fun, here's a parting shot -- an "art shot" that I took on the same day.  It's got three different architectural styles captured in a single frame:

Tomlinson Run Railroad

Last night it was really hot, thundering, and not great for sleeping so I started to create some Fudgcicle stick paint "swatches" starting with the Golden Artist Color acrylics my company gave us one holiday.  Because the Fudgcicle stick wood (Linden?) is similar to birch/bass, creating these little paint sticks gave me a real sense of how the paints would spread on the model's wood.  These paints are really, really nice!  They go on smoothly and retain their color when diluted with water.  This AM, I continued this effort and made a paint stick swatch with a Rustoleum's American Accents example that I picked up in the craft section of my hardware store.

What a difference!  The Rustoleum, which is made for craft projects, didn't adhere to the wooden stick as well, which weakened the color.  I was surprised because this latex paint is designed for crafts, usually, I assumed involving wood as the label shows.  I don't know whether the difference is between acrylic vs. latex or if these artist paints are just superior.  They do like to spoil us at work, so I'm banking on the superior part.  I don't have photos yet, so I'll close with a little post from Chef Chuck Wagon.  When you're feeling like you need a little pick-me-up, try Chef's Ginger Hot Chocolate:

0. Preheat some water. For ambiance, use a diner-themed mug. This is from the Littleton, NH diner.

1. Take some fresh ginger and mince up so much of it that you think it's too much. Put it in the mug to steep.

2. Add a packet of good hot chocolate mix. Don't forget to save the packet so that you can use the silver inside lining for a modeling project.

3, Stir and enjoy!  Chef says "It's wicked good" and as you can see he stands by his work:

And, now off to my work!

Tomlinson Run Railroad

great topic here, I have to seat and read all the great information.

Andre.

AG posted:

great topic here, I have to seat and read all the great information.

 

Andre.

Andre, you are too kind!  Thanks.

TRRR

Andre, you're right.

It reads like a Carter Brown. 

MaxSouthOz posted:

Andre, you're right.

It reads like a Carter Brown. 

So what you're saying, Max, is that these posts are either a "crime" or a "mystery".  And, if this model ever gets built, people will be asking, "Who done it?". Right? 

But, honestly, I had to look up Mr. Brown .  I don't get out much, so thank goodness for Wikipedia!

Perhaps we'll end up with a final post along the lines of "Whistlestop Diner:  The Graphic Novel". If Chef Wagon has anything to say about it, it'll be a "cereal". :-)

Thanks, Max.

TRRR

What I'm sayin' is;   like a Carter Brown, once you start reading, you can't put it down.

Grippin' is wot it is, Milud - Grippin"  

Max, you had me laughing out loud! :-} 

Well, the weekend is here and that means that it's time to play "Dissertation versus Distractions"!  So to get those distractions out of my system and get some writing done, here are a couple of updates, and then it's "nose to the grindstone" for me ...  Hope you enjoy the pretty colors!

De Colores

Forgoing sleep last night (who needs it? sleep is for sissies), I finished creating the color stick swatches from the acrylic artist and acrylic and latex crafts paints that I have on hand.  Here they are all lined up in a row. "Pretty" impressive, huh?:

The color swatches are grouped so that the centered sticks are the Golden Artist acrylics that I raved about in a previous post.  I am still raving ... (OK, no wisecracks, guys!).  The sticks that extend to the left in the top photo and extend upward in the bottom photo are Model Master acrylics.  The sticks that extend to the right/downward are Rustoleum American Accents (oh, gosh, "American accents", like I have?).

This was a really worthwhile exercise.  I learned a lot, and I now have test colors on wood that I can use without having to haul out the actual paints or make a less useful paper chart.  Two of the Golden Artist paints were extra thick, which is good to know if I use them in the future (the mfr even lists that kind of data on the tubes). Otherwise, with these paints, it was one coat and you are done!  Luscious, vivid colors and with only light brush lines visible (except for the thick red).  Clean-up was a breeze.

I purchased the Model Master acrylics a while ago for an HO-scale house that I (shock, surprise) never finished.  These paints separated out over the years.  All of them were a disgusting runny grey until I remixed them.  Fortunately, they remixed fairly well, with the color being consistent and evenly distributed after stirring.  However, there was some clumping at the bottom of the jars.  As I recall, these paints worked well for the small brick and slate walkway details that I was painting on a Patel plastic house model.   But this exercise is all about how the paints work on wood with a grain that's similar to bass wood, and they were OK.

The American Accents latex paints continued to disappoint me.  As you can see in the 9th sample from the left, coverage was poor on wood.  But the worst thing was that the paint dried too quickly or something -- it was evening three of a heat wave.  So, the paint brush or the paint brushed on the Fudgcicle stick would have a rubbery clump of paint stuck on it that would then get dragged around with each brush stroke.  That was not good.  By the way, the right-most stick is a silver metallic paint.  The photo doesn't do it justice.  It's actually decent if you are careful to prevent the clumping problem.  I've used it to suggest mirrors for scale trucks and autos that had the body color where the mirrors should have been.  Not great but not bad. Lastly, the "just cleans up with soap and water" was misleading.  I was covered in the stuff that wouldn't come off with soap and water, and my counter top still has some tiny specks that was Comet bleach resistant (!).

Now let's see this stuff in action!

Previously, I worked out how I want to paint the tile on the resin counter that was included in the Whistlestop Diner kit.  On two sides there are nicely inscribed lines for the tiles.  In a notebook, I drew a grid that represented the actual number of etched "tiles" on both surfaces. Using the Airport Diner's black, white, and salmon tile as a model (see here), I determined exactly what color each tile would be to end up with a visually balanced pattern.  I hope to actually paint it this weekend, but for now, use your "Squint-O-Vision" to anticipate the finished product:

From top-to-bottom, the front of the counter will have a white row, two rows that create a black and white checkerboard, a middle section that will have two centered crosses created out of the light blue -- with perhaps a Titan Buff center, more white, and then the bottom two rows will be black.

On the short side of the counter, the patterns from the front will wrap around to the side.  But because of the narrow width and thus fewer rows on the side, the traditional tile cross won't fit.  (It can't be centered.)  Instead, there will be a centered square whose opposing quarters will be blue and buff or blue and that darker tan.  Both represent a classic diner color combination.  Usually, it can be hard to find modern materials that match 1930s and 1940s tile colors, but I think that these paints are perfect.  These will be out-of-the-tube colors because the choices are so great. 

The rear will be a light tan suggesting wood. I hope to draw a simulated series of shelves with plates or coffee pots or something on them to glue to the back side.  The top will simulate pink marble with brown lines, so I'll have to do some mixing when the time comes.  And, speaking of time ...

Distractions: 1 Dissertation: 0

(Unless you count the purple 5x7" index card in the photo that has dissertation notes on the other side ... )

Tomlinson Run Railroad

TRRR,

You are amazingly systematic. Keep going but don't put off the dissertation work. I know from experience how stressful it is to write one. Model trains and diners are a good diversion...

MELGAR

That lot is very impressive, TR.  It puts my OCD to shame! 

My weapon of choice is Golden Artist. 

I hope that you have more than one page done on your dissertation. 

MELGAR posted:

TRRR,

You are amazingly systematic. Keep going but don't put off the dissertation work. I know from experience how stressful it is to write one. Model trains and diners are a good diversion...

MELGAR

MELGAR,

Thanks for the encouragement.  It's always nice to hear from someone who's been through the experience.  Congratulations!  (And, in what subject, if I may ask?)  Yes, trains and diners are the perfect diversion. 

Max,

I got a chuckle out of your "weapon of choice" wisecrack and, yes, I have a page written.  In fact, I have three chapters of seven done, and "bits and bobs" here and there of others.  Unfortunately I have to discard one because the thesis topic shifted.  It's all part of payin' the dues, I suppose.

Diner Update:

While taking a typing break, I painted the tile on the kit's resin counter.  To my surprise, the black paint bled when applied on top of the white wash that I placed over the grey primer.  Perhaps the white paint wasn't as dry as it looked?  Regardless, the incised lines didn't hold the paint in place as hoped.  This feature will definitely require two coats, and perhaps I'll need to switch to a toothpick with a filed, angled edge or perhaps a nail.  Having the paint bleed with a super small brush was NOT what I expected. 

I also painted the scale refrigerator white and fortunately it came out well.  I'll add the secondary colors (chrome and grey) and other small details like manufacturers "lettering" tomorrow.  Photos when completed.

Distractions: 1  Dissertation: .75 and counting

Tomlinson Run Railroad

And one last post for the evening:  A couple of posts back, Chef Chuck Wagon shared his recipe for ginger-flavored hot chocolate.  The mug it was prepared in was from the Littleton Diner in Littleton, New Hampshire.  Here's a photo that I took of that diner some years' ago. (The mansard roof isn't original, but you knew that :-):

The Littleton  Diner was manufactured by the Sterling Company (1940?).  That's the same manufacturer that brought us the "streamliner" diners that looked like moderne-style trains, like this one in Rhode Island (my photo):

I mention the Littleton Diner because if you look at the pinstripe and etc. detailing on the enamel panels in the top photo, you'll see similarities with laser detailing that has been added to the windows in the newer version of this diner kit.  The primer kind of hides it, so look closely:

Although, like paper, the bass wood seems to have a "side" to it, I suppose that if you don't like the laser lines, that you can flip the wall over and use the detailed side as the inside wall -- in fact, that might add a nice interior touch.

As part of my color exploration this weekend, I have decided to make the outside of the diner an old-fashioned green as shown above.  The prototype building, which still exists, is mostly white with red accents.  That's a bit too 1950's for me for the architectural era represented by this model.  Instead, I'm going with traditional muted colors from the 1930s and 1940s -- including the black, white, and salmon tiling in the actual Airport Diner photos referenced previously.

Lastly, here is Roxie, the roller skating waitress, demonstrating the use of a color wheel.  Roxie shows us that by combining equal parts orange and yellow and then adding white to tint it, a nice shade of salmon will result.  Sorry, Roxie, that's salmon as in the color, not the fish.  (Chef says to just stick to burgers and fries for now.) 

If I use the supplied interior "walls" then I will paint them salmon with a band of black tile and maybe some centered black tile crosses. Those will match the motif that I just added (ever so sloppily) to the resin counter.  I want to experiment with using calligraphy pens on scrap wood for creating straight lines for the wall tile without having to resort to masking tape, but that's an experiment for another time -- after I dig out my pens.

Have a great rest of the weekend.

Tomlinson Run Railroad

TRRR,

Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering...

MELGAR

You did a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Mel?

Respect, man. 

MaxSouthOz posted:

You did a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Mel?

Respect, man. 

Yes, very impressive, MELGAR.  I work with two aerospace engineering PhDs, and too many physicists to count -- both amazing backgrounds to have.  Both fields seem to instill a particular way of thinking and responding to the world that translates well for problem solving in software.

TRRR

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

Tina, the CFO at the Tomlinson Run Railroad, really likes the scale "Fiestaware" from Youngatheartminiatures.com.  While the price is reasonable for the detail and quality, Tina was concerned about the cost of ordering enough to add to the diner model.  Eventually, my plan is to take what's learned in this wood project and translate it to building up the railroad's MTH Madison PRR dining car kitchen and dining room.  That project would include stacks of dishes in the kitchen, as well as place settings.  (The seller offers a quantity discount but the threshold may be higher than is needed.)

As head of engineering, I was tasked with finding an inexpensive solution.   The Fiestaware dinner plates are about 1/4" in diameter.  The salad plates are a bit larger than 1/8".   I happen to have two paper punches: one is 1/8", the other is 1/4" diameter. 

In keeping with the theme of repurposing food-related materials, I started with the bottom of a plastic tofu container as a test material to simulate plates.  I punched a series of 1/8" holes in the plastic.  My idea was to place and glue the plastic with the holes in it over another sheet of a contrasting color.  By centering the 1/4" punch over the 1/8" hole, I can create scale plates with a raised and colored rim.  Either the rim or the center of the plate can be a color, or both.  In these tests, I just simulated a white rim and colored background -- I didn't bother with gluing on a backing sheet.  Perhaps, I should have as that would add thickness.

Here's Tina holding the purse strings, while Roxie is floored by the thought of handling such fancy china while on roller skates.  The fancy unpainted Fiestaware is in the lower right corner:

The two plates in the bottom center give an idea of what I was trying to do. They have white rims and a colored center.  The plates to the left of them were created to give an "impression" (literally and figuratively) of an indent but without the color.  They were created by only applying enough pressure with the 1/8" punch to create an indent in the plastic.  Then the 1/4" punch was used to punch out the plate around the centered indent:

The two paper circles in the upper center in the photo were created with a regular 3-hole punch and are too large.  But, they might pass for a serving platter or charger plate.  Just above Roxie's tray, you can see two holes with red centering lines drawn on them.  Unfortunately, the lengths to the centers of the punches differ, so it is tricky to eye-ball centering the larger punch over the smaller hole. Because of this difference, you can't rely on the body of the punch itself when placed against the edge of the plastic to stop at the right place.  Even after measuring the difference, it is still an imprecise manual process to line the two holes up.  The fact that the punches have clear covers helps.  You can see that I managed to center one out of two.  The foodie-rocker Meatloaf would tell us that "Two outa three ain't bad."  So, hopefully, lining up the top punch will improve with practice.  Although characteristically out-of-focus, you can also see a bit of the (5) solid plates with the indents here:

This experiment wasn't a success but it wasn't a total failure, either.  For example, I tried stacking the plastic punched plates. It will be tricky but possible with glue.  In that scenario, I will only have to create an indent on the top plate in each stack of dishes.  I see stacked dishes like these working better in the dining rail car kitchen than in the diner model, which has even more limited space.

Lastly, an update: This weekend I created a 1.75 x 7" "tile" floor pattern by scanning a security envelope pattern and then sizing it to match the bass wood floor's dimensions.  I will need to reduce the pattern by 6 scale inches or so to experiment with adding a tile border around the four sides.  I still need to detail the refrigerator and I am still trying to improve the painting of the tile counter.  I've experimented with a "tool" that I created for paining individual tiles.  I will post those results when done.  Chef was hungry, so I started to paint a black-headed sheep ... (not to worry, it's just for milk for cheese :-). 

Tomlinson Run Railroad

The punch idea is an inspired one, TR. 

And the narrative makes me smile. 

Thank you.

Why thanks, Max.  'preciate it!   I'm thinking about trying to make some "Blue Plate Special" dinner plates for the diner's daily special meals.  (They have a 3-portion divider in the center.). If it doesn't work, I'm sure that the 1:1 conductor can find a good use for the punches :-).

Tomlinson Run Railroad

Well, it was a lovely long Memorial Day weekend here in the States. On Saturday, I made preparations so that I could devote all of Monday to working on the diner model and/or its accessories.  First up was a trip to Ace Hardware to buy a Dremel grinding stone #997 -- a small, thin pointy tip.  I had filed down the mold seams on the pewter diner stool castings by hand for two of the four diner stools.  It was tedious and, given my limited time, I figured there was a more efficient way to remove the seams -- like (doh! forehead slap emoji) with my Dremel tool.  In reality, the Dremel tip worked OK on the low speed, but I realized that I had the best control with my jeweler's files.  When I have time, I'll hand file the remaining two stools and then paint them.

While at the hardware store I picked up a twenty compartment box with movable partitions.  I can't resist a partitioned plastic box.  Until I can set up a work space, I'm sure I'll find some use for it.  If not, it can store all the Arttista figures that I have on order for a Team Track Tuesday post extravaganza that I'm planning for July 4th.  (I like the idea of a "paintbox" where the 'paints' are the right figures, cars, or accessories to complete a scene ... yeah, right ...)

I also discovered that Ace sells bass wood.  Because I purchased a resin scale gas stove for my diner's kitchen, I'll have some leftover wood from the kit because it includes a section to make a stove.  However, there won't be enough left over wood to craft tables and booths, and maybe some window trim.  So I picked up a sheet of bass wood.  I spent considerable time looking for the cleanest most delicate grain so that it will match the quality of the wood in the kit.   Unfortunately, I didn't notice that the board had a little warp to it until I got to the car.  Hopefully, it won't matter:

As I said, this was a day for preparations.  When I got home, I dug into a storage closet that was buried behind four mandolins (count 'em) and a couple of guitars.  Well, technically, three mandolins, a mandola, a bass, and a guitar, but who's counting?  What a bonanza lay in store for me afterward: I located my calligraphy pens (which I want to try to use to simulate tile patterns and trim), and also a ton of ex-art major goodies like jewelry tweezers, a paint color mixing map, my technical drafting pens, colored India inks, some circle and curve templates, a huge collection of pastels for weathering touches, and a paint box of 40-45 year old acrylic paints and brushes -- some of which are still usable.  More about those paints later ...

Here is an X-Acto Jr. in the shape of an airplane that I uncovered; it looks like a Beechcraft to me.  This was my father's modeling knife when he was a boy.  The tail is hinged.  It opens to reveal a compartment where you can store double-ended blades:

To wrap up this "preparations" post, I also experimented with some furniture touch-up markers that I have.  It's hard to find liquid nick/touch-up stain these days.  I was forced to try these markers to fix some of the damage my (ex-)cleaning lady, Shiva the Destroyer, caused.  They are OK for touch-ups on chair and table legs but they did not work well on Fudgcicle sticks -- my go-to-standard for excellence. In the photo below, look at how spotty the application is:

Update: What I had in mind here was the mahogany and oak interiors of some diners.  See my prior post of interior photos. Stains or paint would be better.

The orange sample is a Berol Prismacolor Marker that I was inspired to try to see whether the problem was with the marker's delivery system.  Amazingly, the color matches my orange acrylic paint perfectly but the coverage on wood is spotty, just like the wood touch-up markers.  But, because the Berol Prisma colors are "true" colors and so match my paints, using a marker like this one may be a way to pre-weather a detail such as trim found on the outside of the diner.  Who knows? It's worth a try.

Tomlinson Running at the Mouth Railroad

Up Next: Getting down to business ...

Tomlinson Running at the Mouth Railroad

I love it!

Very interesting.  Keep it coming. 

It was going to rain the next day, so on Saturday I finished priming the remaining wood pieces so they'd be dry in time for painting today.  I decided to use the interior wall supplied with the kit, but knew that it would need to be shortened to accommodate the combined width of the refrigerator and stove. They will be placed side-by-side at the short end of the diner, opposite the door, and fit very snugly without the inside wall.

Removing one inch of the wall length worked well with my intended floor plan.  It helps define the kitchen area, too.  Because the wall height matches the resin counter height, I wanted to use one of the cut-off ends as a side wall for the counter.  This would create an L-shape behind which Chef or Roxie the waitress could stand.  My intention was to scribe lines on the wood that matched the tiles inscribed on the counter, and then paint the wood extension accordingly.  Unfortunately, cutting lines kneeling on the kitchen floor on an overcast day didn't work very well.  In fact, I cut a little too deeply on one score, and will need to redo this section or try and glue it.  Unfortunately, the interior wall is very thin at about 1/32" -- half the thickness of the wood that I bought on Friday.  You can just barely see the vertical score lines where the knife tip is pointing in the photo below. The horizontal lines came next:

The interior wall was to be painted salmon with black "tile" touches.  A nice salmon, according to my color wheel, is made from equal parts of orange and yellow, tinted with white.  To my pleasant surprise, in the box of ancient paints that I dug out on Friday was a pre-mixed tube of  Yellow Orange.  OK, it wasn't "Golden Artist" paint but hey ... it was yellow orange.  After all these decades, the paint in the tube is still liquid and I checked the color against my Color Map chips (see below) to confirm it didn't go "bad".  It's still good to go!  It's the stick that sticks out:

I think the Yellow Orange goes well with the green that I've chosen for the outside of the diner.  So, when lightened with white, the yellow-orange should still blend well. 

And speaking of "going well", Chef Chuck Wagon thought that Mochi, Japanese ice cream, would go well with the traditional Memorial Day hotdogs and buns that I had planned.  Who am I to argue with a 1/48 scale pewter figure?  Besides, I got to eat all the ice cream and, in keeping with our food theme, the container made a perfect paint mixing tray. Unfortunately, the mixing did NOT make anything perfect let alone remotely like "salmon":

Chef thought that he could do better mixing these:

There definitely wasn't enough red in it.  So maybe the next time I'll start with plain orange and add white.  Because my time was limited to this holiday and I wanted to do as much as possible, I went ahead and painted the inside walls with this pseudo-salmon, knowing that it was temporary.  Later, I will spend some quality time with my rediscovered Color Map & Mixing Guide.  (Who knows what I was thinking when I bought it years ago, but maybe it will finally come in handy?)  The map unfolds to reveal actual graduated paint chips in all the available colors, and shows in excruciating detail how to create various shades and hues.  It's got to be better than the paper wheel that "looked so good on paper", but failed in the execution:

Here are the outside and inside walls, and a sample end wall:

I originally thought that I would paint the insides of the windows white but after I started, I decided that they looked better primer grey.  So they look pretty messy at present.  I'll touch up the areas where the white slopped over the sides later. It was so overcast today that the white looked just fine under my working lamp.  However, when I took the pieces into the bathroom and fired up the overhead heat lamp for photographing, the extra light revealed that a second coat is in order!  Yuck!  (The heat lamp also messed with the color of the primer - it's neutral grey, not blue.)

In actuality, most of the white may end up being covered by whatever the window solution ends up being, and the trim will be black.  Side note:  I'd hoped to paint my three Bar Mills hand carts this weekend, too, but only got part-way through painting one.  You can't tell in the top photo, but it's a different shade of green with a nice high gloss that I'll try and tone down after the rest of the detailing is done.  Compared to staring at a computer Monday through Sunday, painting was quite meditative.  I just wish the results had been a bit cleaner.  But there's nothing here that a little touch-up can't fix.

This weekend, I also tried to add a black border to the "tile" floor pattern that I picked out of my various security envelope patterns that I've scanned.  Here it is:

Unfortunately, in my two graphics programs the pattern is huge!  It may be how it was scanned.  I spent a lot of frustrating time trying to understand why it wasn't behaving and/or fix it.  And speaking of unexpected results with scanning ... Up Next:  Experiments with ventilation ...

Tomlinson Run Railroad

Did I mention that some of the colors that I pulled out of my high school and college era paint box had names like Raw Siena (a/k/a "Dirt") and Burnt Siena (a/k/a "Burnt Dirt").  Seriously, you can't make this stuff up!  So the next time you weather your model with dirt from your front or back yard, know that you are working with the best possible ingredients.  You are a Master Modeler.  Just make sure that the tube says "Golden Artist"! :-)

A while back I scanned the door that came with the kit.  It has a louvered section at the bottom for ventilation.  I wanted to scan the door so that I could print it out and then cut out the louvered section. Once shaped, I intended to glue it above the door to model the classic ventilation found on the ends of barrel roof diners.  (See prior photos -- especially some of the interior shots.)  Unfortunately, like the "tile", the scans ended up "super-sized". Here's the color one; I also did one in black and white:

Fortunately, recently I located some foil that had stamped edges in a miniature grille-shape that would be just perfect for this application.  The Whistlestop diner model side walls are unfortunately a bit too narrow, possibly to accommodate the shallow curved roof.  So, in measuring and placing my ventilation grilles, I decided to use the inside width of the door's window as the length for a grille.  (There are two of them above the door and they appear as mirror images.  Sometimes an air conditioning unit is in between them.  Their shape follows the curve of the roof.  Here are my test measurements (yes, I know 5/10ths is 1/5th!):

I cut out some examples free-hand and just positioned them as a test.  The curve can hopefully be improved, then I'll paint the foil with an India ink or similar wash and then glue the "vents" in place.  Unfortunately, Mr. Heatlamp and my flash turned the silver to red in the following photo, but you get the general idea:

Tomlinson Run Railroad

MaxSouthOz posted:

Tomlinson Running at the Mouth Railroad

I love it!

But honestly, I read (red), every word.

Very interesting.  Keep it coming. 

Ha! Thanks, Max! I've got two more posts coming this evening.  It's been a busy holiday, if not quite as productive as I had hoped.

Tomlinson Run Railroad

Windows!

One of the reasons for trying to move forward with the painting is that I really want to be able to figure out how to solve the "window problem", and the painting needs to be done first.  Recap:  1. I want to simulate the sash windows that the prototype diner originally had. The upper sash is shorter and is a mixture of stained and plain glass.  2. I want the window "glass" to look finished on the inside of the model, which the model instructions don't take into account.

One challenge when it comes to proportions and possible solutions is that the model windows are too vertical.  They should be more horizontal.  This is especially visible in the end sections.  Additionally, as I've noted previously, the windows are different sizes and the spaces between them also vary -- hindering the addition of any interior window framing. 

However, I did decide that I will not add exterior framing.  It's not necessary.  I wanted to insert the finished windows directly into the openings -- until I noticed that the corners of the windows are rounded.  That will make a tough job even tougher.  So, I'm still thinking about this and want to do some tests with overlapping sheets of plastic, borders, and so on.  The plastic for the windows that came with the kit is about the thickness of two sheets of 20 lbs weight paper.  It's pretty thin.  The gels that Don sent are closer to one sheet in thickness, and I have some purple plastic that is thicker than two sheets. So I have lots of things to experiment with when I next have some time.

Toward that end, today I confirmed measurements and decided how high to make the stained glass portion.  That's an important first step.  It's a bit over a third of the entire window; and it will need to have a silver border around it, too.  So, it's going to be fairly small to work with. PLUS, only part of the upper sash has stained glass:

Here are two of the colored cells -- both in colors that a prototype would have (orange and purple).  In fact, one of my Airport Diner photos (above) shows a purple stained glass end window, and the diner's side windows originally had orange stained glass, now lost.  So, these old diner builders thought nothing of mixing and matching colors that didn't necessarily work together :-).  Again, please ignore the sloppy paint. How embarrassing. This is just to show how much color would appear with my proposed proportions -- except that the color would conform to one of the two patterns in my sketch above:

Tomlinson Run Railroad

If you are still with me this far, then you know that Chef Chuck Wagon thought he could do a better job of mixing "salmon" colored paint than I could, but by using ingredients commonly found in his kitchen.  Here's Chef ready to prove his point and use some left over Memorial Day Weekend hot dog buns in the process. Note that, unlike Chef on a bad day, this crab's fake:

I dunno Chef, that doesn't look like salmon to me:

Chef's excuse, it would seem, is that the French's Mustard didn't look so "hot", so he used Grey Poupon instead. (Well, pardon me!)  Apparently, Chef's shopper was too busy buying plastic boxes, Dremel tips, and bass wood to think of celery.  Fortunately, she did manage to get an avocado.  So what color do you get when you mix Hellmann's white, dark mustard yellow, and avacado green?  Nope, it's still not salmon, but I can kinda see (and taste) it coming together:

Viola!  It's another culinary masterpiece from the Chef at the Tomlinson Run Railroad -- The Short Line with the Short Chef!

Tomlinson Run Railroad (P.S. -- It really was tasty!)

You are very ambitious and detail oriented. Your model will be a contest winner.

MELGAR

MELGAR posted:

You are very ambitious and detail oriented. Your model will be a contest winner.

MELGAR

Ah, MELGAR!  If only that were true!   I'm just viewing this project and its many details as a learning experience.  I find that if I try to be somewhat ambitious, when I fall short, it's still further along than had I not tried ... at least that's the plan.

As always, thanks for your encouragement.

Tomlinson Run Railroad

I think that the primary purpose of the exercise is to eat more delicious stuff. 

TRRR,

Here's a suggestion for doing the windows. Although you may consider it crude, I think it is satisfactory for placement on a model railroad and to expedite completion. For the window glazing on my diner models, I cut one large piece of acetate which covered all the window openings on each long wall. I then glued it to the inside of the wall. I think this looks fine when viewed from the outside. You can then apply framing (of basswood or styrene) on the inside to define the window frames on the interior and cover the inner edges of the glazing if you think it's necessary. It seems to me you could then apply the material to tint the upper part of the individual windows. These 1:48 scale diner models are really quite small. In my experience, sometimes compromises must be made, and it may not always be possible to achieve perfect modeling of the prototype. Perhaps that thinking is why I'm not even a contest entrant...

MELGAR

MaxSouthOz posted:

I think that the primary purpose of the exercise is to eat more delicious stuff. 

Max,

You have grasped the very essence of the TRRR!  

Have I shared my retirement goal of a TV show on our town-supported cable channel?  It would combine running and playing with model trains, cooking something related that might have been served on a dining car or in a diner, and absurd off-beat humor.  

My first show might be something like "Cooking for the Zombie Apocalypse, or tips for eating on the run".  Those little Lionel figures would be perfect as Chef and Roxie's mild-mannered neighbors.  Of course, the recipies for that episode would be legit and focused on easy to prepare meals for busy people, and not what you might think .   I dream of a certain local hobby shop as a sponsor so that the trains and rolling stock featured would change every episode.  Like that would ever happen! But as I said previously, I do like to dream big and see where it leads :-).

TRRR

For your stained glass problem.

I would suggest you use a drawing program on your computer. Draw them out and then have them printed on transparency material at FedEx office (they used to be Kinkos) or some place like that. 

MelGar,

You are absolutely right, I expect that I will have to compromise somewhere here.  I'm learning that about 1/48 scale a lot it seems.  In fact, your suggestion for the windows is one that I was considering this weekend.  The linden wooden drink stirrers we use at work are thin and just the right width for the interior framing between each window.  However, the top edges of the windows might need to be unframed due to lack of space/skill. With the kit's "inside wall" now being added, I'm not sure of the clearance for the bottom sill and need to remeasure.  The vertical trim boards alone may be enough. 

A similar but more ambitious thought was to use the bass wood I just bought and duplicate the window holes and posts in a single sheet.  Then place that cutout on top of the sheet of plastic to hold the plastic and suggest framing.

However, without laser cutting, I'd have to get fine blades for my jeweler's saw and figure out a work surface for doing fine cutting.  And then there's the challnge of measuring the unevenly sized windows.  Like you, I also considered plastic or even cardboard framing.  That may be a place to start, say, with clear plastic  to trace the window variances, cut out the centers, paint, and glue.

In either of these scenario, it would be easy to add the tinted smaller window, as you said.

I hope that someday my modeling and painting skills can approach yours!   Please do keep the tips and thoughts coming as they arise.

Tomlinson Run Railroad

Steam Railroading posted:

For your stained glass problem.

I would suggest you use a drawing program on your computer. Draw them out and then have them printed on transparency material at FedEx office (they used to be Kinkos) or some place like that. 

 

Steam Railroading,

Actually, I thought the stained glass would be the easy part but now I'm not so sure.  My plan was to cut out the shapes and add the leading via a thin brush and silver paint.  The raised paint for the leading, if it works, would add visual texture. At one point I considered thin 35 mm slide tape for simulating edging.  But it likely won't work at this scale. 

However, your suggestion of drawing the features would certainly solve the problem of the stained glass, the leading, AND the aluminum framing.  And you can't beat the precision that a drawing program affords.  I will  give this some serious thought!  Thanks!

Your suggestion makes me wonder whether there might be a way to use scanning/xeroxing and printing to generate a template for cutting a single piece for the inside trim.

Thanks for getting the wheels turning!

Tomlinson Run Railroad

I would draw the stained glass patterns on a computer and print it out on transparency paper. You can then apply leading if you like.

TRRR,

Basswood strips (say 1/8" by 1/16") could be used for interior window framing, and single-edge razor blades for fine cutting. Also, here is a link to another Twin-Whistle diner with an interior and lighting.

MELGAR

https://ogrforum.com/...21#72805549103324421

TomlinsonRunRR posted:

 

 

Wow! A Digital Equipment Corp. ruler.

Used to consult for them a million years ago. I still have a nice collection of DEC coffee mugs and other SWAG.

MELGAR,

Thanks for the mention of other available bass wood thicknesses.  The hardware store had only one.

Special thanks for pointing me to the recent post of a completed kit!  What a great job the builder did did.  And, the lighting adds so much.  I figured I'd consider some illumination after I complete the model, but it shows the possibilities and value of lighting.  It's also interesting that the builder stuck to the standard paint scheme but added such variety to the interior.  It shows that the space can be utilized to great effect.

No doubt you noticed that the window plastic was just glued in per the kit instructions and your suggestion.  The great close-up photos provided lots to look at with that regard.

Thanks again.  I printed that post out for future reference, including some of the miniature accessories.

I would have completely missed that post otherwise.

Tomlinson Run Railroad