Thoughts while building the Insectary

Over the last week or so I've been working on the Insectary. It turned out to be a rather pleasant little project and the resulting model seems rather striking. 

If you compare these photos of the model to the real thing you'll see I've taken a few liberties and made some changes to several details, but I've stuck pretty closely to the overall design. I took this approach because I wanted to build this from odds-and-ends I had on hand in my scrapbox and avoid buying new materials. Although, I had to relent on the windows. I didn't have any suitable moldings, and I didn't want to scratchbuild 25 window frames (!), so purchasing something suitable was the only way to proceed.  After some guesswork regarding window dimensions, I ended up buying Tichy Train Group item #8062, 24" x 56" 2/2 double hung window moldings. Now the windows on the prototype aren't double hung, but appear to be hinged at their tops which allows them to swing open at the bottom, so yet another deviation. 

Verticals are 0.125" x 0.125" styrene strips 

Now that the E. L. Moore book is done I've been feeling a bit adrift blog-wise. The ELM project has been 'officially' going on since 2013, and 'unofficially' it traces back to the second post I made in March 2009 on building Bunn's Feed & Seed. I have simultaneous feelings that the long era of ELM posts is over and not over as there are still many unanswered questions. For the most part though I feel the posts are over, and there's an ELM shaped void in the blog :-)

The blog's stats show the ELM posts to be by far the most popular, followed by posts on other famous mid 20th century model railroaders. Strangely, before I got into serious ELM posts, the most popular posts were those in the first series of the Streetcar Noir pulp, Light Ray Blues. For awhile it had quite a lot of views from Japan for some unknown reason. The second and third series did ok, but not as well as the first. Posts about my own projects rank well below ELM, legendary model railroaders, and novellas. In a surprising twist, the most popular post on my own work was actually a rather banal photo of my old LOL layout I posted on Instagram. There's a message in all this for me :-)

Shingles are strips cut from 220 grit sandpaper

I'm thinking the posts are going to become more random than usual - I've been told some consider the blog chaotic, so maybe no one will notice :-) - as I settle into some other groove. Frankly I'm not even sure if blogging is the way to go these days given the dominance of video when it comes to how-to build scale models material. I have no desire to make videos, so blog retirement is a possibility - although I have said that before and gotten right back on the saddle after a few days of retirement :-) 

The roof is removable; it's made from 0.060" thick styrene scraps

Building the Insectary was a nice diversion from turgid blogging thoughts: it was a bit tricky construction-wise, but small in size so I didn't have to wait days to see significant progress.

The foundation is also made from 0.060" styrene sheet

Anyway, so much for navel gazing.

I have a lot of leftover window frames. They come in 12 packs, and I needed 25, so I've 11 for the scrapbox. I can see them being used for some other buildings that are near the Insectary. The windows will give the collection a family feeling, so they won't go to waste. 

The interior is simple, just a counter that runs around the perimeter with some cupboards underneath. I popped over to Ikea to see what they had in stock, but they were sorely lacking in anything in HO scale :-) So, out came the 0.020" thick styrene sheet, and in a bit I had some counter space. Once the layout is further along I'll add some sort of interior action - genetic insect experiments gone awry ?

For this picture I put the camera lens right up against an end window and hoped for the best. Yeah, there's some messy paint work near the eaves, but that isn't visible from normal viewing angles. I'll have to clean that up when I add some interior detail.

Well, that's it for now. I wonder if the farm has an Arachnidary?