Riffing on Cerny & Hayden's lunar loco in OO scale

A lunar locomotive inspired by Cerny & Hayden's Apr '78 MR April Fool's project.

A couple of weeks ago Steve was telling Debra and me about Lego's upcoming release of the moon rocket from Tintin that was featured in the albums Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon. This lead to a fairly wide ranging discussion, and me being me, I started to wonder about the feasibility of building a small, maybe micro-sized, futuristic lunar model railway. And with April coming up this lead me to again think about the article A lunar railroad you can model by Alan Cerny and Bob Hayden that appeared in the April 1978 issue of Model Railroader.

Once a scale was settled on I started to work out dimensions to fit the drive unit,
and look right when an astronaut stood beside it. The loco is unmanned.

After that initial discussion I started to think long and hard about a freelanced little lunar layout that would incorporate, and maybe showcase, Lego's Tintin rocket and the Cerny & Hayden train. To make a very long story short, I eventually settled on a layout that included the rocket, elements of the C&H train, as well as the excavation site in the moon's Tycho crater where the monolith is discovered in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Yes, you read that right: Tintin, C&H, and 2001 in a single layout :-) If I can get the locomotive, train, and track to pass various layout feasibility tests I have in mind, I'll post the layout plan, but until then it's all highly questionable as to whether it will work. Regardless, this gave me a good excuse for trying my hand at making an operating version of the C&H loco as I've wanted to do for 48 years!

These figures are molded in some hideously soft plastic.

The first question that needs to be dealt with is scale. I won't keep you in suspense: I chose OO, 1/76 scale. Why? Well, there are two reasons: one technical, and one artistic.

The technical one is easy (although not completely separable from the artistic one): I have 2 boxes of Airfix OO scale astronauts, and an HO motor bogie from BD Concepts (16.5mm gauge with a 34mm wheelbase).

And then there's the artistic reason, which gets down to questions of size and viewer relatability. 

Let's start with the Tintin rocket. It sure isn't OO scale. The Lego website states it's 49cm tall, and the official Tintin site states that according to Tintin canon the 'prototype' stood 75m tall. So, this puts the Lego model at 1:153 scale, which is in the range of the various N-scales that are used throughout the world: 1:148 to 1:160. If the Lego rocket was in OO this would put the prototype at 34.7m tall, considerably shorter than 75m.

Does this height discrepancy matter? As you know I've posted a lot about Selective Compression over the years (for example, see: Selective Compression [alternate], Selective Compression [alternate #2], Use small to seem large, and Selective Impression) and its application to make big things still seem big on a layout even though rigorous adherence to scale is violated. Recall that I'm still trying to build a TD-Centre replica for an HO-scale micro layout, and if I was rigorous about scale an HO scale model would stand nearly 8 feet tall! So, the answer is, the rocket needs to seem a lot taller than surrounding elements, especially people, even though it is considerably shorter than its 'prototype'. Given that the Lego rocket stands 490mm tall, and the astronaut figures are around 20 to 25mm tall, that relative height requirement is meet. 

Also I should point out that the rocket itself makes it easy to play this game with scales because of its lack of visible size markers like windows and hatches. There is a lower hatch on the fuselage, down near the fins, but when closed it disappears into the red-and-white checker board pattern. 

If I had stuck to N-scale I think the non-rocket elements on the layout, especially the people, would be too small to be relatable to viewers. There'd be a giant rocket and everything else would be teeny-tiny. As well, I don't know how I'd build a C&H train that small.

So, compromise and judicious balancing of layout element sizes is the order of the day.

The BD Concepts motor bogie used to drive the lunar loco

The article states the C&H loco is built to 3/8" scale, which is roughly 9.5mm = 1ft. OO-scale is 4mm = 1 ft, so my model is considerably smaller than theirs, and my model's size is driven by the size of the BD Concepts motor bogie I used: their 34 mm wheelbase unit. They have smaller ones. I used their 28mm unit in the Spumoni Flyer. I only had the 34mm one on hand, so that was that. My choice makes the loco longer than C&H's.

The loco is built up from 3 styrene boxes cut from 0.020" thick scraps:
a rectangular box that covers the drive unit,
a box with trapezoidal ends that sits on top, and
a funny shaped 'nose box' that's stuck on the front.

Ok, you're at 30Squares, and you know I'm interested in the backstories to old model railroading projects, and this one had a strong pull :-) I've wanted to build it for a long time, and looking back, 1978 was a rough year for me, so there's a little bit of nostalgic retrospection going on in me with this project.

I got a little confused when I started searching for Cerny references in the Model Railroader archive because there was mention of an Elmer Cerny and an Alan Cerny. It turns out Elmer was Alan's father. Elmer was an exceptional draftsman, and had a career in the pages of MR as a contributor of highly detailed drawings of locomotives, rail cars, buildings, and other structures.

Two nuts from my cast-offs box were glued in for weight.
The hatch panels are cut from scraps of 0.010" thick styrene.

It appears Elmer's first contribution was a letter to the editor in the December 1952 issue. From what I can tell his first full length piece in MR was an article called Build the Bartlett Building Materials Warehouse in the September 1970 issue. 

State of construction at the end of day 1.

From then on Elmer Cerny was a fairly regular contributor of exquisite mechanical and architectural drawings until the October 1978 issue. MR had very high drawing standards, and Mr. Cerny's work was one of the cornerstones of that tradition. By my count it looks like he contributed 13 articles and/or drawings throughout the 1970s.

The top of the rectangular box is made from 0.040" (about 1mm) thick styrene.
The opening is sized to accept the drive unit mounting clips.
I explained how to attach one of these drive units here.

Mr. Cerny contributed a number articles of a type of what I might call, building profiles. In these articles he'd present photographs of a building that caught his interest, describe it and talk about it, and include fine architectural drawings that would allow a modeller to build an accurate replica. So, in some ways, MR was at times playing the role of an architectural historical archive.

Jumping ahead in the build sequence: here is the drive unit clipped into the opening.
I haven't decided on how I'm going to couple cars together, so no couplers yet.

Alan Cerny, Elmer Cerny's son, was a MR staff member in the Art / Layout department. His first appearance in MR's masthead, under the Art / Layout heading naturally, was in the February 1976 issue. His name continued to be listed there up until its last appearance in the January 1979 issue when it looks like he left the magazine.

State at the end of day #2.
The nose box was also built of 0.020" thick styrene.
The bumper is a piece of 0.060" x 0.060" styrene strip.

His name is listed as a collaborator on a few technical drawings that appeared in MR over the years, but his splashiest bylined contribution during his tenure I think was the lunar model railroad article.

The other side of the shell at the end of day #2
The greeblies came from various kit leftovers:
The antenna, front lights, and camera are from a Moonscope kit.
The lifting hooks are from a Sikorsky Skycrane kit.
The lifting handholds are from some long forgotten airplane kit.

The article seems to have gotten a lot of play. 

It was mentioned in Russ Larson's April editorial. Reading that editorial all these years later makes we wonder if MR okayed this project to capitalize on the excitement created by Star Wars, which was released the previous year, and since they noted that Cerny was "caught up in the current space fantasy craze" maybe he was just the guy for the mission :-)

Rare behind the scene view of 30Squares' scrap and greeble bins
located deep in the bowels of 30Squares' secret construction facility :-)

The Bull Session column in the May '78 issue has a lengthy note in the tradition of those book and magazine articles that were published in that era that had titles like The Making of 2001, The Making of Star Trek, and the Making of Star Wars. This bull session note was their The Making of The Lunar Model Railroad. The author mentions the idea of lunar railroading was kicked off by Bob Hayden on the afternoon of 28 October 1977, which would indeed put it in the midst of the Star Wars craze. 

State at the end of day #3: A horribly bungled paint job that had to be stripped!
I was giddy with joy at being able to spray paint outside on a day with summer-like temps.
It was windy though, and I held the spray can too close for too long to the shell and....
blobby paint resulted.

And there were other things going on in the culture that may have also fuelled interest from MR. The lunar model railroad article notes Stewart Brand's book, Space Colonies, which was published in September 1977, as a reference. Also, Gerard O'Neill's highly influential book, The High Frontier, was first published in January 1977, and in paperback in January 1978. Star Wars itself was released at the end of May 1977. There was a positive space vibe in the air at the time, so maybe MR was looking for a little piece of the action.

State at the end of day #5, the final day of construction.
Day #4 was spent repainting the shell with a brush!
And doing detail painting and decaling.
On day #5 all that was left to do was snap in the drive unit....and voila!

The June and July '77 issues contained a number of positive letters from lunar railroad fans in the Railway Post Office column. One correspondent, a Mr. Thomas G. Levy, noted: "If the lunar train concept and modelwork had been in existence before 1968, it would have undoubtedly been included in the lunar surface footage of the motion picture "2001: A Space Odyssey." It would be an excellent idea to be included in the upcoming movie "Star Wars, Part 2"". Challenge accepted :-)

The paint stripping wasn't perfect and left a rough surface.
I rather liked it and just painted over it.
Maybe it's some sort of thermal coating that's been eroded by moon dust :-)

Another correspondent, Mr. Dan Swearingen, noted that some of the components used looked like those in his old Erector Set, and one proposed shipping container looked like a sardine can. Mr. Donald L. Ward commented that: "...the lunar railroad was excellent! Previous attempts at "April foolery" have been just foolishness, but here is an article filled with creative imagination." Overall the response, well at least those published, was quite positive.

I think that greeble on the right is a starter motor from a car model :-)
I haven't figured out what to do about couplers.
And weathering, that'll be much later if a layout comes to pass.

There's a brief biographical note about Alan Cerny in an article that introduced MR's then current staff in the August '78 issue. It notes he had a longtime interest in model building and art, and that he studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago. The article also says he regarded model railroading as "a renaissance hobby in which you can learn about the world and yourself - "about your skills and limitations.""

Looks like the Dodge boys had a hand in this thing.
Ugh, I see areas that still need touch-up.

It appears that Alan Cerny's last 20th century appearance in an MR article was in the March 1983 issue as the winner of a MR layout planning contest. The intro to the article notes "Many MR readers will remember Alan's byline from his imaginative article, "A lunar railroad you can model", in the April 1978 issue." It also notes he was then employed at Signode Corp.

Out for a spin on the Way Out Layout.
It runs well.
I need to post a video.

Well, that's that. Next I'll either try my hand at a couple of lunar freight cars, or try some tests to figure out what the minimum curve radius is this thing can handle and what sort of grades it can climb.

While you're waiting for me to make up my mind, I'll leave you with the Deodato hit from '73:

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.

Maybe it's International Space Station Alpha from 1995?

A few weeks ago I bought a copy of Airfix Model World's special issue Scale Modelling Real Space, and Vince was telling me he picked one up yesterday. It's an excellent bookazine, and I especially enjoyed the lead article on building Revell's 1/144 scale International Space Station. It' a real eye-opener to me about what's involved in building a more-or-less accurate version of ISS. There're lots of after market components, and it seems like every piece of the kit had to have some special work done.

After all that work, the resulting model is quite fine. I only had one minor quibble, the robotic manipulator on the model's Japanese module shouldn't have a Canada logo on it as it isn't a Canadian product.

The author mentions that so much custom work had to be done because the kit wasn't that accurate in comparison to the space station. I took a look my kit, which I think I bought around 2005, maybe a year or so after I had returned to model making, to see what could be learned regarding sources. Not much it turns out. The instructions have a 2000 copyright, and given that date, I think the kit might be more reflective of a mid-90's International Space Station Alpha version of ISS. That stapled reference guide up in the photo's lower right corner is a summary of the ISS as it was envisioned by the time of NASA's 19 March 1995 Incremental Design Review. So it could be that the kit is actually a better representation of an earlier stage in ISS's development than how it exists today. I haven't made a 1-to-1 comparison of the kit's parts against the review document, but the box top and cover image on the design review package are tantalizingly close.

Grumping aside, the ISS article, and the bookazine overall, are excellent and well worth a look.

Hot Rod Falcon

Being a nerd, things like the Millennium Falcon come up from time-to-time in casual conversation as it did this week. I mentioned that maybe around 2005 or so, before I had rekindled my model railroading interests, I converted an MPC Millennium Falcon kit into a 1/24 scale, single-stage-to-orbit hot rod.

Can't say that I have lots of construction photos as I didn't take many back then, but there it is under construction on my workbench. The Falcon's cockpit / flight deck was cut off and the fuselage was made symmetrical. 

I recall using some plastic brick sheets to simulate reinforced walkways over the upper fuselage - they're those red sheeted areas you can sort of see in the photos.

The cockpit was taken from a Revell 1/25 scale kit of Ed Roth's Beatnik Bandit II. As you can see there are no seat harnesses, so this was a pre-seatbelt law spacecraft :-) 

I put some sort of circular exhaust dead centre on the bottom, and its grill is cut from a piece of drywall sanding sheet ...

... as is the rear grill. Those little exhaust pipes I added to the bottom always make me laugh. That's it for tonight. I leave you with Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen.

Project Moon Ship

Over the last few weeks I've been working on Lindberg's 1/96 scale U.S. Moon Ship when the EVRR track work wasn't appealing. It's been sitting on my shelf for awhile so I thought I'd finally work on it now-and-then over the summer. Last weekend I took the fuselage part out to the backyard to spray it flat white. It was a little tricky to assemble the centre section with those stacked spheres, but when the filler and dust settled, it wasn't too bad.

Here it is on the bench just before painting. I painted the sphere's insides with flat black to make the thing more opaque. Over on the left are the parts for Gromit's airplane by Airfix. I've also wanted to built that for a long time - now's the time!