Gil Mellé tries styrene

Top: Tie Plant, RMC Apr '65; Bottom: Arch Bridge, RMC June '65

This model was built of styrene, requiring somewhat different techniques from the wood construction I normally employ ... Styrene is an interesting and different medium for the modeler. It works easily, is far superior to cardboard and has a surface, when desired, that gives the closest appearance to steel possible. It can be bent, cut, sanded, scribed, and scored with ease; and assembles with styrene cement. If you haven't worked with styrene, Kemtron's handbook by Alan Armitage is must reading.

So states Gil Mellé in what appears to be his first published scratchbuilding project that makes use of styrene, Build a Tie Treating Creosote Plant, in the April 1965 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. The project consists of a simple structure and a complicated piece of rolling stock. It's an interesting coincidence that E. L. Moore's first and only foray into using styrene also involved building rolling stock. In his article, Easy Narrow Gauge Coach that appeared in the March '69 issue of RMC Moore uses styrene to convert an N-scale AHM mine car to an HO-2-1/2 coach that ended up looking a lot like the Spumoni Club Coach. 

Mellé carries on with another styrene project in the article Scratchbuild a Styrene Arch Bridge that appeared in the June 1965 issue of RMC. As well as restating his position on styrene he made in his previous styrene-based project, he adds a little more about how Al Armitage fits into the styrene story:

Much of the exploratory work in styrene scratchbuilding was done by Al Armitage, recently appointed as director of design research at Kemtron Corporation. Al knows model building well, since he was formally with Northeastern Scale Models, Revell, and Kadee. Al also authored Kemtron's book on styrene which I must strongly recommend to anyone who has not yet done any work with this material.