An E. L. Moore sighting in France!

Screen capture at around 4:15 in 2 Pieds au Colorado

In yesterday's post about the 'Two Feet in Colorado' challenge I noted in the fine print that I thought I saw an old E. L. Moore designed kit on one of the modules. Take a look at the module by M. Guy Knox at around the 4:15 mark. The opening photo to this post is a detailed screen capture of the building in question with, ta da, the Grusom Casket Co. main building (aka the Ramsey Journal Building with different window frames), called out with the red arrow.

It's still amazing to me that here a quarter of the way through the 21st century these old kits keep popping up.

Moore in the summer of '77

Left: Cal's Lumber Yard | Right: Grusom Casket Co. (both snipped from July '77 MR)

Galen tipped me off to some E. L. Moore goodness in the Trackside Photos section of the July 1977 issue of Model Railroader. On the left is a build up of Cal's Lumber Yard by George Landow, which is appropriately called the E. L. Moore Lumber Co., and on the right is a build up of the Grusom Casket Co. kit on Lila Martin's Sierra & White River RR (I also see what looks like another Machine Shop build up in the full picture, which I didn't include here). I sometimes think a list of all E. L. Moore project sightings in model railroading magazines since the '60s would be as thick as a telephone book, if telephone books still existed :-)

Kit # 5978

Hey kids! Collect 'em all: #5973, Moore's Balsa Products; #5975, Speedy Andrew's Surf Shop; and #5977, Cal's Coastal Cafe.

Ramsey's Park Square: Finished!

In the previous instalment I had finished the base layer painting. That layer didn't look too bad, so I thought, why not do a little concentrated work and finish the thing. So I did :-)

The biggest job seemed to be adding mortar lines to the brickwork. I haven't settled on a preferred technique and have used a wide variety over the years. I think the oddest was rubbing on toothpaste, although it did produce pretty convincing results along with adding a minty fresh smell to the project! This time I rubbed in some white, fine modelling paste from Liquitex. The procedure was simple enough: rub a dab into some mortar joints, then rub off the excess that got on the brick surface. I must have had dirty fingers when I applied the paste as the bricks came out with an aged tone. Maybe I need to market my finger oils as a high quality weathering compound :-)

The window frames were sprayed with a leftover can of Krylon green paint. It turns out none of the window frames fit properly in the wall openings. I didn't have the patience to file and fiddle with each frame and opening to get a perfect fit, but just pressed and squeezed each until it wedged in its opening and then applied glue. 

The draperies are printed paper items leftover from the Kibri apartment project.

Eventually I'm going to add a staircase below the door on the back wall. I admit I've copped out on this detail, but what I'm interested in with this model is the front facade that'll be seen from the street. In the meantime, for safety's sake, maybe I better add a danger sign to the door as that first step is a lulu :-)

Why are those windows bricked up? Won't the apartments be dungeon-like on that side? Well, yes, but maybe they just need the right tenant :-) Ok, well, this wall came from a Grusom Casket Co. kit, and not from its ancestor, the Ramsey Journal Building, so there's the reason. I was just making due with the parts I had on hand, and I didn't have either a complete Ramsey Journal or Grusom Casket kit in my stash. 

The roof is quite simple. The skylight is from the kit, and the air conditioner is from a collection of Walthers rooftop detail accessories. Other than adding some pigeons, and maybe some droppings, to the upper ledge of the facade, that is that. It's not the most detailed of models, but I like the concept, and I think it'll add a little unique character to the layout.

Ramsey's Park Square: Base painting

Over the last few day's I've been applying base colours to the shell. I started on the easy part and painted the interior a flat black to make the walls a little more opaque and to reduce interior reflections.

The bricks are painted with a loose mix of Revell Aqua Color #36137 Reddish brown, and #36162, Mossy Green. The green is maybe no more than 25% of the mix. It's added to partially grey and deepen the reddish brown. Keeping the mixture loose helps create tonal variation along the walls.

The facade was painted from one of my last remaining bottles of Model Master Aged Concrete. I've figured out how to mimic the colour with paints from the Revell Aqua Color line, but I'm sentimentally attached to my Model Master stash and will continue to use it until the hardened, crusty end :-)

Now it's on to adding mortar lines to the brickwork and detail painting to the facade.

Ramsey's Park Square: Facade and Building Shell

I see several fit and finish issues to fix up.

I recently finished the facade, and, making use of a great idea suggested by Galen, went ahead and installed it in the building shell.

He suggested only cutting out the kit's lower level window and door on the front wall for the facade instead of removing the entire wall from below the sills of the second floor windows as I was originally going to do. This meant adding a foundation wall around the lower perimeter, but with the obvious basement window on the facade, this addition made visual sense for the model.

Also, this arrangement makes the building look less dumpy and squat. The overall proportions are now much more pleasing.

I did a test placement of the shell on the layout. I feel that it fits in quite well.

For reference, this is the facade's other side. The facade is simply a box with a 10mm depth, made up from scraps of 0.040", 0.020", and 0.010" sheet styrene. 

The foundation walls are cut from 0.060" sheet and square section styrene.

To make this model I've had to scrounge from all three Ramsey Journal and Gruesom Casket kits I have. I bought these things mainly for the boxes, so I haven't inventoried them until recently. It turned out each was missing some key part - and as an extra bonus, two included components from some other unidentified kits - but together there're enough components to get me through this project. These three are now officially donors. Maybe the future holds some more Ramsey-Gruesom kitmingles.

Ramsey's Park Square: A Start

 I've had my eye on building a model of Ottawa's Park Square apartments for awhile, but I've been reluctant to dive into such a large project. I think it's because although I greatly admire its Art Deco entrance, I didn't want to tackle making the rest of the building.

What to do? What to do? Well, after staring at my prototype photos for a long time it looked like I could build the entrance and use a Ramsey Journal Building kit for the rest of the structure. I don't know if this project classifies as a kitbash since only one kit is being used. Maybe 'kitmod', for 'modified kit', is better.

Sourced from Google Street Views

Here's the prototype. It was built in 1936, and opened in 1937 with 13 apartments. It would be too large for my layout, and since all I'm interested in is the entrance, I thought it would be easier to make up a story about why a classy Art Deco entrance was attached to a dumpy little building than building the full prototype. No doubt Cousin Cal was involved somehow :-) 

Right now the facade is only about half built. The lower part of the front wall of the Ramsey Journal Building will be cut out and the Park Square facade will be inserted in the opening. I'm not sure how I'll proceed once the new facade is installed, but figuring that out is part of the fun of these sorts of projects.

Tom Daniel's Railroad Modeler year

Tom Daniel's M. Bezler & Company from Railroad Modeler Mar '72

I was reading some old Railroad Modeler magazines over the weekend, and came across an interesting kitbash, M. Bezler & Company, by Tom Daniel in the March 1972 issue. As well as a few odds and ends, it's built from our old friend the AHM Grusome Casket Company kit, and Vollmer's Two Story Factory, item #5610.

This wasn't the first article penned by Tom Daniel that I'd seen in my reading, and I started to wonder if this was the same Tom Daniel who designed all those awesome 1/24 scale showcar kits. Vince has got an extensive library on this subject, so I asked him. And he did the logical thing and asked Tom Daniel directly via email. Mr. Daniel replied quickly, and confirmed that he was the author of those articles. I'm a big fan of Tom Daniel's kit designs, and have featured here the T'rantula, Rommel's Rod, Ice 'T', and the Hot Wheels Red Baron - and I've got a 1/24 scale Red Baron kit stashed away in the basement awaiting assembly and a post. I didn't know he had an interest in model railroading too. 

So far I've found 8 articles in Railroad Modeler published over a 1 year period from December 1971 to November 1972. Most appear to deal with improving and modifying kits, as well as kitbashing. Here're the Tom Daniel stories I've found so far:

Dec'71: A Modified Mallet (modifying AHM's 2-8-8-2)

Jan'72: Shortline Combine (shortening AHM's 82' combine)

Feb'72: A Winterized E-8 (making AHM's E-8 diesel ready for winter operations)

Mar'72: M. Bezler & Company (kitbashing AHM Grusome Casket & Vollmer Two Story Factory)

May'72: An Inside Look at Boxcar Details (adding loads to boxcars)

Jun'72: Elephant Eared Berkshire (detailing AHM's Berkshire loco)

Sep'72: up to date depot (converting Life-Like's convenience store kit into a modern station)

Nov'72: Locomotive Riptrack (Diorama from a Kitmaster J3a Hudson & a Hobbytown 0-4-0 tank switcher)

In the story, An Inside Look at Boxcar Details, Mr. Daniel mentions in his younger days, this author unloaded many, many boxcars, and each had its own mystery and intrigue. Working inside one was ALWAYS at one of two extremes...hotter than a steam room or colder than a refrigerator. I always used to wonder at all the states, cities, towns and lonely spurs the average boxcar must visit during its travels.. which to me hints that there is more to his interest in model railroading than meets the eye. I'll keep you posted if more turns up, but for now, where's that Red Baron kit :-)

[4:09pm Update: The first issue of Railroad Modeler was September 1971, but it wasn’t until the March 1972 issue that they included a list of contributors on the index page. And in that list is Tom Daniel, and there he remained up to and including the May 1973 issue. In June 1973 he was gone, and it looks like the contributors list was shaken up a bit. Some old names were gone, some new ones appeared. Maybe there was a staff shake-up? Maybe some veterans had simply moved on? Was Tom Daniel a founding contributor? Questions, questions, questions.]

Grusom Casket becomes a country store

Snipped from a larger image in June '87 RMC

The winner of the June '87 RMC / Dremel Kitbashing Award was Richard Bower for his kitbash of E. L. Moore's Grusom Casket kit into a country store. Well, it's more of a country store complex made up of a store from the 2-storey part of Grusom's (aka, the Ramsey Journal part of the kit), and a gas station and garage made from the 1-storey part (aka, the Machine Shop). It's a handsome and ingenious bash that turns a single Grusom Casket kit into something completely different. 

Grusom Labs

Scanned parts from AHM's Grusom Casket kit 

Now a railroad terminal building with tracks underneath and offices above, if I can latch onto a starting idea, I might develop something along that line.

E. L. Moore in a letter to Hal Carstens, dated April 2, 1969.

I lead with that quote in a post called What would E. L. Moore do ? back in July 2017. Here we are 3 years later, and I still can't say what E. L. Moore would do, but maybe Art Curren might do a kitbash of this brief based on Bell Labs' Manhattan building using the parts from AHM's Grusom Casket and Machine Shop kits. My simple parts layout certainly needs some size adjustments so that trains or streetcars could pass through the tall centre structure without incident, but those components from Grusom Casket might just do the trick for this project. However, the cost of all those kits would be crazy expensive!

A relation in Germany?

Old Machine Factory by Auhagen

While Martin was searching for Grusom Casket kits he came across this beautiful model by the German company Auhagen. I must admit the overall form and arrangement are indeed reminiscent of the AHM / Pola Grusom Casket kit as Martin pointed out to me. Not to mention that the kit's name has 'machine factory' in it, and a spin-off from Grusom Casket was a 'machine shop'. And, Grusom Casket was originally manufactured by Pola of West Germany. Was Grusom Casket chosen to be manufactured by Pola because it had some similarity to a German building type that suggested the kit could be successfully marketed in Germany and elsewhere in Europe as well as the US? Interesting speculations aside, I can't draw a direct connection with Grusom Casket. But, as I've said before, the similarities are similar :-)

Repair Shop by Auhagen

Well, there's one other thing. Auhagen is also marketing the one storey part as a separate kit - the Repair Shop in the photo on the right - which is what AHM did with the 'machine shop' end of Grusom Casket. As well as the Repair Shop there is also a red brick variation in their Gas station with a car workshop kit.

Much thanks to Martin's eagle eyes for finding these kits! I continue to be amazed by what's out there.

Hornby gets Grusom

This is quite a find that Martin sent my way: A Hornby boxing of the AHM Grusom Casket company kit. 

I don't see a scale noted on the box top, but I assume it's the same HO scale kit we've seen before. I tend to associate Hornby with the UK's OO market. I would think this building would look a tad small on an OO layout, but if it was placed in the background, maybe with some HO figures or vehicles, it could look ok. Forced perspective and all that.

Foundation and Machine Shop*

Snippet from a larger photo in E. L. Moore's  Grusom Casket Company, RMC, June '67

If you've been following along you know there're a lot of variations on the AHM Machine Shop kit out there. One of the significant differences between some of the variants is in the foundation and loading dock. Ok, so which one of the variants is the 'real' one?

It's the ones with the stairs outside the front door like those on the original AHM kit, not the ones with the concrete loading dock. Burn's Engineering is a good example of one that has a loading dock, but there are several that do as the kit list at the Moore's Balsa Products shows. Although, the ones with stairs outside the front door also have a junk strewn base, which as you can see in the picture from E. L. Moore's article is a fabrication - the area near the base on the original is junk free.

Since I'm doing a deep dive into authenticity minutiae, I'll point out a couple of other things. The back half of the original is clad in red brick and the front half in yellow - notice in the photo the darker back half. This is deliberate. The yellow brick part is meant to represent a new addition. So, if you're building a Grusom Casket Company kit, or maybe an 'authentic' Machine Shop, consider making the back half red brick and the front yellow. Also, take a look at that front door. It has a classic three-window design common on suburban houses of the '50s and '60s. The kit's door is somewhat more standard. Ok, now that we're nitpicking, the upper portion of the front facade is somewhat different from that of the kit, but that is almost impossible to fix without a complete overhaul, so I'll overlook that. And one more thing if those weren't enough: the skylights only extend over the red brick half and not over the newer yellow brick portion. Ok, I'm done. For now :-)

*Isaac Asimov's Foundation series is another we tried to read, but didn't even get through the first book. I bought Foundation in the '70s and the other three at a secondhand book store in the '90s (?) for 50 cents each. I had high hopes I'd try the series again. And, yes, I've tried the first volume twice again, and each time couldn't get through it - it seemed rather dull. Well, just as E. L. Moore was saving television for his old age, maybe that's what I'm saving the Foundation series for.

More Grusom boxes

Just when you thought it was safe to jump back into the kit stash, some more Grusom-ness awaits!

Martin forwarded me some images of two other variations on the AHM Grusom Casket kits that have red box labels (yes, there is a boxing without any red labels). So far there appears to be 5 variations on the AHM Minikits boxing: 1 has no extra labelling that mentions either RMC or E. L. Moore, along with 4 others that have variations on the extra labelling. Why so many variations? I can't say for certain, but I speculate that it was a popular kit, and when more had to be produced they printed up new box tops to try and further boost sales. Maybe they were trying to ride E. L. Moore's popularity in the early '70s. I recall an RMC reader survey in '72 or '73 ranked E. L. Moore their #4 most popular author behind Dave Frary, Bob Hayden, and Bill Schopp, so maybe there is a connection. And I guess they tried to sell these kits in West Germany and needed a German variation - but why didn't they translate any of the other text? No doubt there're more oddities still out there.

Grusom boxes

You'll need to click on the image to enlarge it in order to follow the discussion, but trust me it's worth it :-) 

Here are two different boxings of E. L. Moore's Grusom Casket kit. Both have a diagonal red box printed on that reads: Reproduced by permission from plans as shown in Railroad Model Craftsman. Now things get a little odd. The one on the left was recently acquired by Martin. Notice the red, apparently typewritten text that says, by Mr. E. L. Moore. The one on the right is from my stash. It has a second red box printed on that reads: PROJEKTIERT VON MISTER E. L. MOORE. I assume mine was meant for sale in West Germany, and Martin's was for the North American market. I thought Pola was selling these kits in West Germany; however, the box suggests AHM was too. More catalogue investigation is needed.

Work-In-Progress: AHM kit list

I'm pulling together the information Vince and I have found out about AHM's miniature building and structure kits. One goal is to identify all the E. L. Moore derivative kits; another is to figure out - if possible - whose designs the kits are based on.

The table below is a work-in-progress, and already I see it should probably be split into a few sub-tables. For example, one for 'classic' AHM kits, one for masterpiece series items, and another for N scale items. Right now it's just based on kit number.   

No doubt someone may have already made such a table. If you have a link to it, or see things that are wrong or need to be added to the one below, please let me know. I plan to make updates to the table as I learn more.

[16 March: general updates]
[Updated afternoon of 15 March: divided into smaller tables]

MinikitS

Kit No.	Kit Name	Designer	Source	Notes
5801	Three Houses Under Construction with “John”
5802	Operating Coal Station
5804	Engine House
5806	Coal Mine
5809	Narrow Gauge Engine Shed
5810	Bridge and Tunnel Set for HO and HO Narrow Gauge Layouts			“The HO Line True to Blueprint” is stenciled on box-top painting
5811	old Time Factory
5812	Small Town Station & Freight Depot
5813	Brewery	E. L. Moore	F & M Schaefer Brewery; RMC March 1967
5814	Rico Station			MR ran plans for Rico Station in Oct ’62
5815	Repair Shop
5816	Operating Water Mill
5817	Operating Coal Station
5818	Rolling Bridge
5819	Ramsey Journal Building	E. L. Moore	Ramsey Journal Bldg; RMC December 1967
5820	Grusom Casket	E. L. Moore	Grusom Casket Company; RMC July 1967	Two storey wing is based on kit #5819 Ramsey Journal Building
5821	Signal Tower	Bill Stokes	Classic signal tower on the Central of Georgia; MR April 1966
5822	Ma’s Place	E. L. Moore	build Ma’s Place; RMC January 1967
5823	Arlee Station	Rob Corriston	Arlee Station, RMC, Oct ’67
5824	“Ruby Basin” Timber Trestle Bridge
5825	Interlocking Tower
5826	Service Station
5827	Sand House
5828	Molases [sic] Mine	E. L. Moore	Molasses Mine & Factory; RMC February 1969
5831	Freight Station	Rob Corriston	Nostalgic Warehouse; RMC May 1972
5833	Coaling Tower
5834	Rooming House	based on an E. L. Moore design		reboxing of kit #5819 Ramsey Journal Building
5835	Fire House
5836	Water Tower	James E. Findley	Branchline Water Tank; MR October 1965	Appears similar to Finescale Miniatures kit #25, Branchline Water Tower
5837	Saw Mill
5838	Church
5839	Machine Shop	based on an E. L. Moore design		One storey wing from kit #5820, Grusom Casket
5840	Bungalow with swimming pool
5841	Bungalow with garage
5851 B	Mill Street			Includes: Grusome Casket; Arlee Station; Water Tower; Interlocking Tower; Crossing Gate;
5861	Uncle Al’s United Grocery Store
5865	Pedestrian Overpass
5867	Plastic Factory with Silos
5871	W. E. Snatchem Undertaker	E. L. Moore	W. E. Snatchem - Undertaker; RMC November 1967
5872	Village Blacksmith	E. L. Moore	under the green lichen tree . . . THE VILLAGE SMITHY STANDS; RMC September 1967
5873	Speedy Andrew’s Repairshop	based on an E. L. Moore design		derivative of kit #5822, Ma’s Place; later sold by Model Power as Billy’s Auto Body
5877	Maintenance Group
5878	Busy Bee Department Store	E. L. Moore	Three Store Fronts and a Shop; RMC December 1969
5879	Emporium Department Store	E. L. Moore	Three Store Fronts and a Shop; RMC December 1969
5883	F. C. Rode Hardware Store	based on an E. L. Moore design		reboxing of kit #5871 W. E. Snatchem Undertaker
5885	Aunt Millie’s House	based on an E. L. Moore design		reboxing of kit #5871 W. E. Snatchem Undertaker

Re-labelled Revell kits

Kit No.	Kit Name	Designer	Source	Notes
5842 380	Small Town Station
5844	4 Farm Buildings
5858 498	Superior Bakery

Masterpiece Series

Kit No.	Kit Name	Designer	Source	Notes
5739	Lastop Funeral Home w/Hearse			Looks like it uses hearse and canopy from 5820
15403	7UP Bottling Plant
15501	Ice Cream Parlor & Boarding House	based on an E. L. Moore design		reboxing of either 5878 or 5879; Lighted Masterpiece Series
15502	General Store & Billiard Parlor	based on an E. L. Moore design		reboxing of either 5878 or 5879; Lighted Masterpiece Series
15503	Service Station			Lighted Masterpiece Series
15504	Three Story House with Garage			Lighted Masterpiece Series
15806	Herald Star Newspaper
15813	Kaboom Powder Factory	based on an E. L. Moore design		reboxing of kit #5828 Molases Mine
15814	Automobile Showroom

N scale

Kit No.	Kit Name	Designer	Source	Notes
N 5830	Chemical Plant
N 5832 / 398	Modern Station
N 5841	Rockville Station
5926	Exxon Station

Moore Math: Ramsey Journal + Machine Shop = Grusom Casket

The Grusom Casket kit is two, two, two kits in one ! There's a one-storey building up front, which would later be marketed separately as the Machine Shop, and a two-storey building in the back, which is the Ramsey Journal Building with some windows bricked in.

So, even though the Grusom Casket kit is one of the Original 9, one might argue that it's actually the first of the derivative kits. 

Here's my case.

Take a look at this letter dated 17 January 1968 from Peter Van Dore, then AHM's kit development guy, to E. L. Moore.

At that time, AHM had already produced the Schaefer Brewing Company, and I guess sales were good, because now they're interested in adding Ma's Place, The Ramsey Journal Building, and the Gruesome [sic] Casket Company. 

I speculate that AHM decided to do Ramsey and Grusom at the same time because they realized Ramsey's size and shape was a close approximation to Grusom's two-storey building, thereby reducing tooling costs on Grusom.

Here's what E. L. Moore had to say in response:

19 January '68

Pete Van Dore,
Associated Hobby Manufacturers,
Philadelphia, Penn.

Dear Mr. Van Dore . . . 

I suppose you know just what you want but damned if you didn't pick three that are scattered. I have the Grusom Casket Company model here but #1 Ma's Place is on display in a hobby shop up in Raleigh and #2 (didn't Carstens tell you) I gave him that model and he has it. So you'd have to get that one from him.

I can have Mr. Collier of North Hills Hobby Shop in Raleigh send you Ma's Place and can ship the one I have which can do soon as I hear from you.

Only thing I'd like would be a kit of each one you produce -- including the one you've already produced -- the Schaefer Brewery. I never like to build a second model but built three of Schaefer's and still don't have one for myself.

Here's two, three photos from countless ones I have lying around.

alleyoop . . . . 

signed E. L. Moore

E. L. Moore
525 Oakland Ave., Apt 3
Charlotte, N. C.

I don't have copies of the photos he's referring to, but I did at one time see his Ma's Place model.

So, maybe Grusom's is the first in a long line of derivatives to follow, but it's clearly more than a simple re-boxing with some minor details changed.