The Future is Handmade

I hadn't had any coffee when I posted this video and forgot to link to this associated article.

Interplanetary Space Hoppers still missing

We looked for you in Montréal, but you weren't there.

-

On t'a cherché à Montréal, mais tu n'y étais pas.

The Superior Bakery's melted twin

Mysterious bag of parts

Yesterday after I was done rummaging through the Superior Bakery, checking to see if all the parts were present, I found I couldn't get the lid back on the box. It seemed this bag of parts was preventing the lid from properly seating. All the parts were present, so I wasn't sure what the bag of stuff was. I didn't want to fiddle anymore with the box, so I left it with the lid askew and made some coffee. 

Today I went and opened up that bag.

Top: Melted remains of fire victim | Bottom: Walls and roof of pristine twin 

The bag contained the remaining parts from a Superior Bakery that seems to have experienced some sort of tragic fire related accident. A hot-knife based kitbashing gone wrong? A lit pipe that got too close to the kit? Stray cigarette ash? Children renovating the model with firecrackers? Who knows. At least the box does contain a complete, unblemished Superior Bakery inside. I'll consider those 'extra' parts a bonus and ask no further questions about the horrible fate that befell them.

Model building is full of mysteries :-)

A Mini Moore: The Ramsey Journal Building in N scale

As well as those 2 classic Revell kits, there were quite a few E. L. Moore legacy kits for sale at the swap meet. It's been awhile since I've seen so many at one show - no doubt due to some sort of post-pandemic inventory build-up in the Moore-O-Verse :-)

The one that caught my eye - and caused me to open my wallet - was this version of the Ramsey Journal Building in N-scale. $5, but it appears complete with instructions, windows, and signs. The box is a little beat up, but all in all, a good buy for an interesting little kit. There were also a few built up ones for sale, but I'd rather do the building as that's where the pleasure is for me. Maybe a little summertime series on its construction? Stay tuned.

A Superior haul

I dropped by the OVAR swap meet today with John and Garet. It was a big event, well attended by venders, swappers, and buyers. I was quite surprised to see these classic Revell kits, the Engine House and its derivative, the Superior Bakery. They only cost $10 CDN (7.26 USD; 5.92 GBP) each, so this was a fantastic bargain. They appear to be complete including instructions and decals, and the boxes are in good shape too. I can see a summertime series about building these classics as I did many moons ago with their cousin the Weekly Herald. Stay tuned!

E. L. Moore's Soo City barge

All photos courtesy James L. Dixon

This model didn't make it into the book, and although it's a simple project I thought I'd show it here to round out the collection of models from E. L. Moore's harbour diorama.

E. L. Moore wrote a two part article called Add a Harbor to Your Pike that appeared in the January and February 1968 issues of Railroad Model Craftsman. The article discusses how to build a complete 1900s era harbour scene that includes 2 tugboats (one from a Model Shipways kit and the other scratchbuilt), a barge, sail loft, and a wharf. 

I've posted pictures of the Sail Loft and the scratchbuilt tugboat John McKeon from that article.

As well, we saw some tantalizing photos last year of the barge along with the Model Shipways tug Taurus. 

Recently James Dixon forwarded some pictures of the Soo City barge from the harbour project so we could get a better look at it. As you can see, the barge is still in excellent condition. 

I rather like that coiled rope, and, as you can see, Mr. Moore used a Moore Green on the deck :-)

This view shows the barge flipped upside down. Yeap, it's a waterline model with a hollow hull. I'm rather surprised the hull hasn't warped given the lack of interior stiffeners.

I think there might been more E. L. Moore original models out in the wild. I hope the book can help surface them. If any are brought to my attention I'll be sure to post photos of them here.

The E. L. Moore eBook is done….and it’s free!

First things first. The book is available in two formats: pdf and ePub. Download whichever one you like, or both, they’re free:

The Model Buildings of E. L. Moore (pdf)

The Model Buildings of E. L. Moore (ePub)

The eBook is 225 pages long and contains 617 high resolution images. The pdf version weighs in at a hefty 278.8 MB, while the ePub is a slightly slimmer 249.3 MB. It also has chapters discussing E. L. Moore’s life as a model maker, raconteur, accidental kit designer, and folk artist, as well as a bit of his personal history. An extensive bibliography finishes things up. 

I’ve chosen to produce an eBook at this time and wrap up what’s been found about E. L. Moore as I’m concerned that one day soon Google, or Alphabet, or whatever they’re called these days, will pull the plug on Blogger, and the E. L. Moore content I’ve posted here for the past 10 years will suddenly disappear. An eBook will help it live a bit longer.

Also, the eBook format allows the information that has been presented as a sequence of posts in time to be structured into a more logical narrative. Now, the book isn’t just posts that have had covers slapped on them; no, the posts formed the source material, and all the information has been rewritten, cleaned up as best I could, and reorganized.   

Sample pages

As a child in the late 1960s, and on throughout the 1970s, I loved to read and write. I’d read just about anything I could get my hands on. When I first ‘discovered’ Mr. Moore’s work in the summer of 1973, it was in the pages of a magazine, and for years I continued to read all the model railroading magazines I could find. My introduction to model railroading was via the written word and photographs, and later the hobby shop - there weren't any near my house. Those old articles also introduced me to the idea of exchanging technical information and discoveries via articles and papers, which helped to set up the beginnings of my career in science and engineering. 

While on the E. L. Moore trail for the last 10 years one thing I found quite interesting that was new to me was that Mr. Moore was also a voracious reader, not to mention a regular writer who seemed to have his fingers glued to his typewriter. At one point in the 1950s he claimed to have a library of nearly 1,000 volumes, and I later learned he was a regular patron of his local library, didn't watch or own a tv, and read a newspaper or two every day. And we know he was a dyed-in-the-wool lifetime letter writer with an extensive correspondence. I kind of feel a Fellowship of the Word with him :-) So, look, if you want to compensate me for this book, why not send some money over to a literacy charity in your part of the world. The ability to read and write is just as important today as it has ever been, and still has the power to unlock imaginations.

Well, that’s it for me for awhile. I hope you enjoy the book, and happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Calling occupants of interplanetary Space Hoppers

 We didn't see you in Oshawa.

We left out some chairs for you in Gananoque, but you were no where to be found.

You were a no show in Smiths Falls.

We'll keep looking.

If you're only going to watch 1 model railroading video this year ...

... this is the one to watch. This is probably the most inspiring 'how to build a layout' video I've seen in quite awhile. Don't miss the advanced corned beef and tomato paste technique for track placement :-)

A post about posts

I've been puttering away on scenery these past few weeks, focusing mainly on repetitious items like overhead wire poles and fence posts. Both of those items were made from bamboo skewers you can buy in bags of 100 at the grocery store. I was lucky as they turned out to be just the right size for poles and posts, not to mention they're cheap too!

Those red fence posts are used all over the Experimental Farm. I think I cut maybe 90 or so for the layout - you can count 'em if you like, but I'm not offering any prizes :-) They're dead simple to make: just take a skewer, cut the pointiest bit off the tip leaving a blunt cone, then cut the post to 15' or so, 10' of which will go into the ground. Repeat 90 times :-)

After painting the tops with white acrylic, each post was painted with a loose mixture of Tamiya XF-7 Red acrylic and Revell Aqua Color Reddish Brown. I'd don't know if their chemistries are compatible, but they mixed up just fine.

After 90 fence posts, I started to hear this song in the back of my head. Take it away Gene!

Moo-rian cow shade

The Central Experimental Farm has a few of these cow shades scattered throughout the pastures, so naturally I had to have one for the layout. I haven't scratchbuilt anything in awhile so I figured this would be an easy reentry. 

It's built from leftover pieces of wood from the scrapbox. The verticals and beams are 1/8" square balsa strip, and their stabilizing diagonals are 2x4 scale lumber. The roof is basswood and balsa sheets glued together so their grains are perpendicular to each other.

The outer roof panel is the balsa bit. For old times sake, and to make the shade stylistically similar to other buildings on the layout, I pulled out the woodburning tool and scribed in the shingles Moore-style.

Cowabunga!