First Video

I shot some video of the layout over the Christmas holidays. This weekend I finally got around to figuring out how to use iMovie to put the video pieces together and then load the whole thing to youtube.

El Camino Municipal Swimming Pool – First cuts

I’ve been thinking about this build – along with several others I hope to finally get started – for quite a while. Instead of my usual pre-build fretting over how I think all the building steps should proceed, I just decided to jump in and start cutting. Although that seems reckless, it often helps me get over mental log jams. Simply making a start can often clarify things.

The donor kit is an AMT/Ertl 1959 El Camino. I chose this particular vintage of El Camino because the roof is shaped something like a cap that sits over the cab instead of being seamlessly integrated into the body as on later models. To me, this made it a little more building like. I also like the fins 

The pick-up bed, rear cab pillars and roof were cut away from the body using a cutting wheel in my dremel tool, followed by several iterations with the grinding drum and various sanding sticks. To get a square and even edge along the bottom, a sheet of sand paper was placed on the workbench, and the piece was sanded as a whole until it looked right.

I’ve been thinking this project might also be a good candidate for LED lighting. Small ones could be used in the tail-lights, and the bottom of the pool could be fitted with lights that point up into the ‘water’.

Niagara Falls Trolley Cards

Over the Christmas holidays I was browsing through the family files at my father’s house and came across a post card set that was bought as a souvenir of a trip – probably taken by my mother’s mother ‘s family - to Niagara Falls.

I don’t know anything certain about the dates of either the vacation, or the cards, but they might both date from the 1920s. The set contains 11 cards, each one printed on both sides, of views of the falls, boats, bridges, and trolleys. They are quite beautiful. I like the ambience of these images. Debra and I last visited the falls back in 2010, and some of that feel still lingers there if one looks for it, but there’s a lot of Las Vegas there too.

Of canoes and ground throws

I have lots of little jobs and projects that I've put to the side for one reason or another. Now that Christmas is well over, and there's lots of snow on the ground, it's a good time to tackle them. Those canoes are items from Sylvan that have been sitting on my shelf for years. They're nice little models, but they are actually waterline items and have flat bottoms. It turns out that my own canoe is for calm water and is also flat-bottomed, so no problem with me on that. These models come unpainted and need a little sanding to clean them up before painting. They're not super-detailed, but paint-up nice. I also installed two switch ground throws from Caboose Industries in the industrial section of the layout. Straight out of the package they are black plastic items, so I painted them with a little rust and primer red to match the yard crane that's in the same area.

The Oceanview Hotel: Basic Structure

The Oceanview Hotel is a caricature of a boutique hotel – and a destination of the passenger service of the Lost Ocean Line - built using leftover window moldings from the Mr. Scott’s build. I had a large collection of extra window frames since I had drastically reduced the height and footprint of Mr. Scott’s to fit a particular location on the old layout. As well, the donor kit for Mr. Scott’s came with many extra parts, which further increased my window frame stash, and it seemed a shame just to let them gather dust.

After playing around with the frames it looked like a simple tower could be built just by gluing them into squares and stacking. The frames are a 9 scale feet high, so although the ceilings in the tower floors wouldn’t be generous, but they at least wouldn’t mimic floor 7 ½ in the Mertin Flemmer Building shown in Being John Malkovich!

The window frame connectors are built up from I-beam styrene pieces, and the floors are made from 0.040 inch styrene sheet stock. The central shaft for the elevator and utilities is also built up from 0.040 inch sheet, and is reinforced with glued-in square-section stock running the entire length of the piece.

The Oceanview Hotel would have lots of organizational and design problems if it were a real hotel, but I was pleasantly surprised by its look once I stacked up all the floors and stood back for a good stare. I’m moving on to painting and detailing. Also, if I can find a source of cheap LEDs I might try my hand at adding some lighting.