Here at 30Squares Labs we continue to experiment with the compound N2HOc. For the laymen out there, N2HOc refers to structures resulting from converting N scale kits to casualized HO scale models. You may remember the previous project that successfully synthesized the 30Squares HQ (aka the Eldon Building) from Walthers' N scale Backshop kit.
Ok, ok, enough with the nonsense.Back in March I bought this kit at a local swap meet. Since then its been sitting on the floor near my drafting table. While I was cleaning up after finishing Cal's Lumberyard I opened the box and wandered through the parts.
After a few minutes of handling I had a sense this little building would make an interesting HO scale garage. Well, it would be a casualized HO scale garage since, strictly speaking, this kit had nothing to do with HO scale.
The kit is an N scale version of the HO scale Ramsey Journal Building kit, which is based on E. L. Moore's project of the same name that appeared in the December 1967 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. The HO scale plastic kit of his project was first released by AHM (kit #5819) in the late 1960s. Over the years it was repackaged and re-released by a number of companies. I don't know when the N scale version was released, or if Model Power was the first to release it - I suspect not, but there's some research to be done on the history of this little model.The kit was likely first released in the mid 70s or early 80s by the look of the parts. Even though the box wasn't sealed it appeared that all the parts were present.
To build a credible version of the Ramsey Journal Building - or the 'Star Journal Building' as this thing is called, likely to avoid a copyright infringement legal entanglement - you'd have to apply generous amounts of TLC during construction.The parts are rather crude by today's standards, not to mention their garish colours.
To make matters a bit worse, the walls have serious sink holes near the chimneys that need to be filled and re-scribed. For my garage I cut off the chimneys as they'd be out of scale, but I still had to fill those dimples.
The walls' inside surfaces are clean, but because I was going to open up the building I had to grind off all the mold release pins and assembly numbers.
I'm not going to walk you through a step-by-step build of this project. It's dead simple to make, and no doubt you'll know how to do it by simply studying the photos.
What I am going to do is focus on its design so if you're interested in doing your own N to HO conversions, you'll get a sense of the trade-offs required, and the properties of kits that might be suitable for such modifications.
First off, I should note I have my biases when tackling these sort of projects. I like a building that lets in lots of light, and that affords unobstructed views into and through it. Those were the primary drivers on the modified Cal's Lumberyard project, Cal's Cabbage Co., the McGregor Park Library, the Insectary, and what attracted me to Walthers Backshop kit. I applied that bias to this project. The kit has lots of windows that can let in a lot of light, a façade that can accommodate a big open door, and a flat roof for a big skylight, so it seemed to have the right characteristics for the kind of building I like.One question that is often raised is, doesn't the size of the bricks give away the game? N scale bricks are far too small on an HO scale model. Yes, that's true, but there appears to be variation in brick sizes across kits, especially old ones.The photo on the left compares the bricks on our garage to those on the Walthers Backshop kit. Both are allegedly N scale. Given that in HO a standard brick measures about 0.7mm high by 2.3mm long, the Model Power ones on the right of the photo are quite close to true HO, and the Walthers bricks in the centre of the photo are close to true N scale. Those bricks to the far left in the picture are sheet styrene panels I added to close up some openings in the Backshop. To confuse matters, the sticker on the sheet said they were "1:100 scale, HO scale". Well, they are close to 1:87.1, true HO scale.
Since the bricks on the Backshop are too small for HO I chose not to detail them with mortar and weathering. To me the important feature of the building is its huge windows, and not its brickwork, so I chose not to call out the bricks and spoil the illusion. However, on the garage, given the bricks were about normal size for HO, and the exterior of the building was quite plain without either the clock tower or stock façade, I detailed the brickwork to provide more visual interest. It's all a choice about what you want the model to say.
Here's another comparison: Ramsey's Garage on the right and the Park Square building on the left. Park Square was built using the HO scale Ramsey Journal Building as its shell.The Park Square's bricks are huge and seem more like blocks than bricks. In other words, the bricks on the HO scale Ramsey Journal Building kit are very oversize for HO scale.
One last comparison: our garage on the right and Moore's Balsa Products on the left, which is just my renamed build of the E. L. Moore designed HO scale AHM Machine Shop kit.The bricks on the machine shop are much more HO-like than those on the Ramsey Journal Building.
The message here is, don't be too swayed by the claims to HO or N scale as far as brickwork is concerned. Size it up for yourself.
And then there're windows.
Each window is a bit small for HO, but they're passable. Which is a good thing, because there were two other problems that had to be dealt with.
The first issue was each window had to be cut from the strips they were molded into so I could create individual frames. This isn't a problem for a box stock build because no one can see inside. Once de-stripped, I cut each window down from 8 panes to 4 by removing mullions with an X-acto knife. Ok, well, actually I removed the mullions first, and then removed the frames from the strips. The extra mullions had to go because in the 8 pane window, each pane seemed too small. With just 4 each, the windows seemed more in line with HO scale.
The second problem was the tops of the ground floor windows weren't high enough above grade. This is very apparent when they're compared to the back door I added - the door's a Tichy Train Group item.
Speaking of windows, the largest are part of the skylight.
The kit comes with a rather small skylight, and simply opening up the roof so it would let light inside wasn't going to produce the effect I wanted. I scratchbuilt a larger one from 0.020" thick sheet styrene and some styrene strips. It's that white, triangular structure shown in the photo on the left. Below it is the kit's stock skylight.
Skylights are pretty common on the E. L. Moore plastic kits. On the left is the Park Square build and that's its skylight. It's an HO scale item, but if I was opening up that model for more natural light I'd say it's too small to do much good.
The machine shop - Moore's Balsa Products in this picture - is better skylight-wise. Although If I were to do another I'd replace the kit's roof with a flat one and add some slightly bigger skylights.
The garage's new skylight uses considerably more rooftop real estate, but it still only just peeks above the walls, and it's not too noticeable from the street.
The only other new cosmetic detail was the addition of a pair of trifold doors out front made from slices of 0.020" styrene sheet. They didn't quite turn out as I'd hoped, so let's move on.
On the structural side, I had to add three internal joists made from styrene strips. The walls bowed inward, and since I had discarded the kit's base, I added the joists to get rid of the bow. They did the trick, and although they're merely sketches of actual joists, they make all the right suggestions when viewed from the outside.
Did any of these modifications for light and views work? Well, here's the view inside:
I can see the sign on the back wall of the post office through the garage's backdoor window, and there are some interesting shadows on the garage floor, so I'm happy with these effects, modest as they are.
Since I've been thinking recently about my father's old '49 Mercury I pulled my HO version from storage and used it in the glamour shots. It's an Oxford item.
Hey, if your friends don't hurry up they'll have to walk to school.
No comments:
Post a Comment