A model railroader goes to a plastic scale model show

My 'Moon Mail Madness' diorama. (No, that tattooed leg isn't mine) 

I went to the scale model show held at the Holland Armoury on Sunday. Ok, well, I did more than go, I entered a diorama too. The first time I've entered one of these events since 1975 at age 15.

When I heard about the show back in June I immediately had an idea for a diorama after reading the requirements on the show's flyer. I had some vehicles I had kitbashed back in 2005 or so that had never been entered into a show before, and now I had some impetus to build the diorama I long thought they belonged on. The small layouts I've built over the last few years have improved my diorama modelling skills, so it seemed like the right time to give this project a go.

The blue car on the left is a 'Martian Rover' I kitbashed from an AMT/ERTL Dodge Deora Show Car kit.

The box was shortened by 1", and the roof forward of the back window frame was cut off. The wheels and tires are from an AMT/ERTL Moonscope kit. I was kind of obsessed with the Moonscope kit back then and its parts showed up in a lot of my builds. However, I did build one up and mildly accessorized it:

The trailer is from an AMT/ERTL Fireball 500 kit. And yes, the wheels and tires are from another Moonscope kit.

The postal vehicle on the trailer is a very old MPC Ultravan kit that has been accessorized - yes, you guessed it, accessorized with some Moonscope parts :-)

The mailbox is a new build. It's made from scrap pieces of sheet styrene. The prototype is the mailbox at the end of my street. The door handle needed to be big so a gloved astronaut could grab it. Keeping in line with the show's theme of 100 Years of Mopar the handle is from a '69 Dodge Charger!

I'll do a separate post on building the base, but for now I'll note that it's built up from Cell-U-Clay.

Your loyal scribe shows off his handy work.

A bit of paint, a bit of glue, and a postcard from someone's mum and everything is ready to go.

So, off I went. 

You know I had great expectations for the dioramas that I might encounter. I waffled for a long time about taking mine as in the grand scheme of things I didn't spend a lot of time on it even though it was a fun little project.

This is the passage in the show's promotional flyer that sent my thoughts racing:

"*Models may have bases. As soon as ANY objects are added to the bases other than the model, it will be classed as a "diorama" *Dioramas cannot exceed 2' x 2' (51cm x 51cm)"

Seems an innocuous statement, but it got me thinking two things: first, I thought show dioramas must be becoming such large, complex pieces that practical limits had to be placed on entrants (which got me thinking my little diorama would be massively overshadowed), and, second, when 2' x 2' was noted I immediately started to think they should have a category for micro-layouts. You may recall 2' x 2' was the footprint for the Loonar Module micro-layout. Look, in essence all a micro-layout is, is a diorama with an element capable of motion. Why are there segregated shows for plastic models, especially ones that are components of large dioramas, and shows for model trains? It's likely just a historical relic whose root has something to do with how the hobby business was and still is structured. I think there'd be some interesting opportunities for idea sharing if big dioramas with plastic models and micro-layouts could share a show. Let's not forget micros, and many smaller sized, portable layouts can be in larger scales like 1/64, 1/48, 1/35, 1/32, 1/24, and 1/22.5, which correspond with several plastic model scales. Not too mention that a few micros have featured automobiles, military themes, and airplanes as well as trains. 

There were only 3 dioramas featuring automobiles - at least when I was there*

Who won you might ask? It wasn't me and I don't know who did. *I had to leave early due to a comedy of errors I caused that was ignited by lost keys :-( It ended with the keys found and a bout of leaf raking. I'll say no more.

Main diorama table at red arrow. Impressive work that I unfortunately didn't capture.

There was lots of impressive work on display and I was very glad to have attended to see it all. The one project that made the biggest impression was this one (unfortunately I don't know who to credit this build to, but if you're out there, you did a great job!):

I entered one of these kits in the 1975 model show.

Why? You remember that 1975 model show I mentioned entering, well, it was one of these kits that I built and entered. I didn't paint it up like this (I didn't have the skill), or build it anywhere near as good, but I'd recognize it anywhere.

Ah, memories.

Making a start on a utility passenger car

The 'passenger' car is simply a flat car with a bench. Here's the flat car part. Bench is still to come.

On-and-off over the past few weeks I've made a start on a very simple, open air passenger car for the Mt. Lowe layout. It's based on one I saw a plan for in this book:

This is one of the best RR books I've read. Highly recommended!

The Portage Railway, aka the Hunstville and Lake of Bays Transportation Company, was a narrow gauge railway that ran in Huntsville, Ontario from 1904 to 1959 and not in California's San Gabriel Mountains as did the Mt. Lowe railway. Strangely though, I don't have a problem with that. For this little layout I think this Ontario vintage, barebones people hauler - the so-called 'canopied inspection wagon' that is basically a bench on a flatcar with a canopy above - stylistically fits in with the overall scene. Plan 7 in the book's drawings section spells out the configuration and dimensions. 

A peek at the book's drawing as I work out dimensions

Two changes I plan to make to the car are: 1) change the height of the bench above the flat car's floor, and 2) make the canopy's supports a little less flimsy. The bench's seat seems a little low and the canopy looks like it would blow off in a light breeze, so both of these will be changed once I start work on passenger accommodations. 

For now though, the task at hand is building the basic flat car.

Based on a Peco NR-122 wagon chassis

I'm basing this project on a Peco N-scale wagon chassis kit; it's their so-called 15' wheelbase steel type chassis, kit # NR-122. I had bought a couple of these kits a long time ago to try my hand at building E. L. Moore's narrow gauge coaches. That didn't happen, but these chassises seemed just the right thing for this project.

HO scale Kadee couplers - leftovers from my spares box - were used.

It turns out I did at one time make a start on those E. L. Moore coaches. I had built up a Peco kit for one before setting the project aside. This meant I had to do some rather crude chopping on the chassis to replace the kit's couplers with some HO-scale Kadee units. 

Styrene strips were added to restore the deck after chopping the chassis for the couplers.

Super glue was used to stick the couplers to the chassis. You can see in the above photo I had to restore some of the hacked and chopped chassis with styrene strips to restore solidity to the thing. Those pieces are the same thickness as the metal weight that is provided in the kit.

Once all this basic structural work was done the next task was to build up the deck with pieces of styrene. I followed much the same procedure as with last year's trolley project.

This post's lead photo and the one above give you an idea of what the built-up deck looks like. I didn't strictly follow the prototype in the book. My rendition was more driven by scrap styrene I had on hand to build up something that seemed plausible. 

The couplers sit rather low and only about half are gripped by the trolley's couplers. Well, I've taken the flat car for many spins around the track and they don't decouple, so I'll declare the couplers ok even though they are very unprototypical - they work, so I guess that's some sort of prototypicalness :-)

Now it's on to a bench and canopy.

Is this the ultimate DHC-2 Beaver?

"World's best example of a DHC-2"

Whenever I'm around airplanes I'm on the lookout for de Havilland of Canada DHC-2 Beavers. If you're a longtime reader here you know it was the floatplane of choice on the Loonar Module layout.

The outline of a DHC-2 provocatively enticing me from the shadows :-)

I was at the Gatineau airshow over the weekend, and as I was wandering around the static displays before the show got started I happened to spy what looked like the vague outline of a DHC-2 in a distant hangar.  

So clean the chrome was blinding!

I was not disappointed. Venturing into the hanger I was greeted by this fine specimen. It's the most pristine one I've ever seen. The volunteer who was on hand to answer questions said it was the best example of a DHC-2 in the world! After giving it as close a look as I could from behind the black tape I'd tend to agree with her. I don't know who built or refurbished this airplane, but they did a great job.

A bit later in my wanderings I saw this fine example of a Cessna Skywagon floatplane. An excellent airplane; however, for purely sentimental reasons the DHC-2 remains my favourite.

Overall it was a great show with great weather and great airplanes. I hope to return next year.

A brief stop at La Pulperie de Chicoutimi Regional Museum

Parked out front of La Pulperie de Chicoutimi Regional Museum

We were recently touring the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Québec and made a brief stop at the site of Chicoutimi's famous pulp mill, which is now the site of La Pulperie de Chicoutimi Regional Museum.

It appears to be a standard gauge loco

I was quite excited when I saw this three-quarter view of the loco from the distant parking lot. I couldn't clearly see the loco's backend from there, and thought maybe this was an example of one of the machines that was the basis of the Minitrains loco that E. L. Moore used on his layout. But no. 

Built in 1923 by the Montreal Locomotive Works according to the front plate

However, it's a fine loco in its on right. The plate on the front says it was built in 1923 by the Montreal Locomotive Works. I don't know much about locomotives, so here's a link I found that has something to say about this one.

The museum, with the loco to the left.

The museum is housed in this beautifully restored stone engine facility. The interior is just as magnificent as the exterior; however, I've no photos to show of the inside as we were on a tight schedule and didn't have time to properly tour the facility and exhibits - that's on the list for a future visit!