Mels

On numerous visits to the hobby shop over the spring the Mels Drive-In kit from Moebius Models has called out to me from the shelves, “I know you want me. You can’t resist my circular restaurant and stylish retro sign.” 

I tried to counter with a rather lame, “but I don’t have a big parking lot on my layout, or a collection of cool 1950’s cars to show you off.”

My protests were to no avail. Maybe it was its seductive personal-pan-pizza size box, or the allure of how it might look bejeweled in radiant optical fibres. I was over 15. I couldn’t resist. I plunked down my cash, and the clerk gave me a wink as I took Mels out to my car and home to my workshop.

And so it begins: my adventure with Mels Drive-in.

[The opening scene in American Graffiti had Mels as the locale - according to Wikipedia it was located in San Francisco and closed down but reopened to film the movie, and then demolished after the movie was made.]

Mels Drive-In had a prominent role in George Lucas’ 1973 movie American Graffiti which sealed its place in the broader popular culture as an icon of 1950’s America. 

[David Fincher's 2007 movie Zodiac featured Mr. ED's briefly in its opening scene. I don't know if it's an actual building or a clever computer graphic, but the film places it in Vallejo, California.]

Moebius Models was very savvy turning it into a kit, what with the strong focus on 1950s stream-to-diesel transition era layouts in the American model railroading press. 

[Here's the base for Mels situated in a possible track plan.]

To me, I do admire its styling, and it seemed that it would fit well on a corner of whatever streetcar layout is to come. I imagine it as being part restaurant, part street car stop, located at a bend in the streetcar track with a lawn spread out between the building and the track with lots of picnic tables and a view of the ocean. Sounds good to me. 

I don’t plan to do a lot of modifications on this kit. I think it’ll be close to box-stock, but with some lighting. I’m planning on using side-illuminated fibre optics along the perimeter of the circular roof and some regular fibres drilled into the sign much like I used on the WSMoftheWBB project. 

I’m not sure if all this will work out, but I’ll see. I’m also going to try and build this one fast instead of my usual dead slow pace. I was reading an article called Old Schooled in a recent issue of New Scientist about how to help an old adult brain like mine learn new things – according to Debra this is required reading for me :-) One thing it mentioned was that “adults can hamper progress with their own perfectionism: whereas children throw themselves into tasks, adults often agonise over the mechanics of movements, trying to conceptualize exactly what is required....you should focus on the outcome of your actions rather than the intricacies of the movements”. The last project I did where I decided not to agonize too much, and made speed of completion a priority, was the Fortran Building, and in the end I was rather happy with it; compromises and all. So, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that I can find the time for this build and put the pedal-to-the-metal when I do.

Back to where it all began

“Do you wish to seek consul for this interview?”

“Am I being charged with a crime?”

“No.”

“I don’t need a lawyer.”

Leslie Warden had returned. She was seated across from Adams and me at the big conference table in interview room 8. Apparently she had picked the lock on her ‘lev suite, hid near an exit door, and successfully escaped without detection as soon as the train pulled into Confederation Station. Somewhere between here and there she had combed the sand from her hair, showered, and changed into some fashionable business attire. Clearly, she still had some close connections in the city. Her demeanor suggested she was starting just another day at the office. No one could tell that only yesterday she was some sort of gun-wielding desperado holed up in a Ward’s’ Island beach cave for who knows what reason.

Adams continued, “We’ve asked you to meet with us to discuss interview warrant A75-35 concerning two missing prototypes of a compact low-yield fusion generator.” Adams slid the warrant across the table to Leslie.

Leslie silently glanced at it.

Adams pressed on, “Let’s begin. I’m Zachariah Adams, Head of Scientific Investigations.”

Zachariah? Now I knew.

Adams nodded towards me, “This is Special Investigator Edward Bryce.” Adams then glanced towards the man at the far end of the conference table, “The proceedings will be recorded by Constable Grant Williams.” Adams looked back to Leslie, ”Do you need anything before we begin?”

“No.”

Without further ado, Adams launched into the heart of the problem, “Dr. Warden, on Wednesday, 27 March 19C6, two experimental prototypes of a compact low-yield fusion generator were determined to be missing during an audit of the government’s physics storage facilities. Before your resignation from federal employment in the Compact Fusion Research Laboratory on 13 February, you had access to that facility and those prototypes. Do you know what happened to them?”

“I didn’t steal them if that’s what you mean.”

Adams leveled his gaze on Leslie and kept on going in an equally level tone, “On Thursday, 19 July 19C6, while escorting Mr. Bryce to his home, Constable Robert McMillan, was killed in the line of duty by a single, prolonged shot from a directed energy weapon believed to have been constructed from the missing prototypes. We believe the killer thought Constable McMillan was me.”

Leslie gave Adams a shocked look.

Adams opened the manila folder in front of him and continued reading from some hand written notes, “During an investigation of the workshop facilities of Mr. Ronald Fairbanks at the PCC Leap Year Winter Invitational in February 19C7, Mr. Bryce found what appeared to be a fusion generator prototype installed in the motor of a streetcar drag racer. An attempt to remove it caused it to explode. No injuries resulted. Fragments were subsequently recovered by the incident investigation team and they appeared similar to materials used in the missing prototypes. Mr. Fairbanks confirmed that you were the person who sold and installed the device.” 

Adams looked up at Leslie. No response.

Adams turned to a new page in his folder, “During an interview with the Birney brothers at their company headquarters, the brothers confirmed that they hired you to temporarily install a device for their prop trolley for the movie Builitt. You removed and took back the device once the movie was shot.” Adams gave her another glance.

“Yes, I did contract work for those two companies, but I didn’t steal any prototypes. And I certainly didn’t construct a weapon or help anyone else to do so!”

Adams turned another page and went on, “And a little over a week ago, there was an attempt made by two armed men – one of whom was the Constable McFarland who was involved in appending Constable McMillan’s killer - to disrupt a streetcar as a ruse whose end goal apparently was to assassinate Constable Bryce. The subsequent events lead to you being here today.” Adams paused. “If you would like to stop this interview to obtain consul, we can do so.”

“I don’t need a damn lawyer! ” shouted Leslie, and after a brief pause, in a calmer voice, “but I think I need your help.”

Silence descended.

After a few seconds that seemed like an hour, Leslie asked Adams, “May I have some coffee?”

Adams looked down the table towards Constable Williams, “Make that coffees for everyone please.”

The next instalment can be found here.

Wall Decals

It was looking like the only way I was going to get crisp, clear lettering on an intensely red background for the WSMoftheWBB was to buy a new higher-end printer that sported a place for a pure red ink cartridge. I didn’t want to spend any more money on this project, so I decided I’d go with what I had and try to blend the wall decaling in with paint. 

The end result was a somewhat run-down look at street level. Toronto being a rather gritty city, this wasn’t too far out of place in the overall scheme of things even though it wasn’t prototypically accurate for this building. I once had a painting teacher who said that a painting has to hold together on its own because the typical viewer has never seen the actual object that you’re painting, so if you need to do something that deviates from the object to make the painting work, that’s fine. I think the same applies to model building. 

I’ve got decaling on my mind these days and since I was at it I decided to try another idea I’d been toying with: the addition of a simple mural to the back wall of Stella’s Used Records. I bought a boxed set of Bill Evan’s Village Vanguard recordings last winter in a remainder bin and I thought the cover image would be a great piece of HO graffiti – well, I’d be impressed if I walked down a street and saw it sprayed on a building :-)

I scanned the image, scaled it to fit the wall, and printed it on a piece of Micro Mark clear decal sheet. The image was fixed with a few sprays of Tester’s Dullcote. The decal was set on the wall with several applications of Micro Sol decal setting solution. 

The ‘Building in a Bag’ becomes The Elgin Restaurant

[The walls were temporarily leaned together to see how things will look.]

Although simple and toy-like, this is a rather charming kit. I started by making new pieces for the long sidewall and the small back wall. Each new wall is made from two pieces of styrene cut and glued together: the outer piece is 0.020 inch sheet with an embossed stucco pattern, and the inner piece is regular 0.030 inch sheet. 

[These are the walls that were replaced.]

[There's a gap between the stone wall and the main section window frames that will need a sliver of thin styrene sheet to fill.]

Prior to an initial spray of colour, all the walls were washed in warm soapy water and sanded a bit to remove any remaining sprue burrs. Many low-cost toy-like structures can be improved considerably just by giving them a more nuanced paint job, and I’m hoping that will help out this little building. Things are looking promising and even painting the once light blue window walls have made it clear that they have rather nice shapes and detail.

Edward St. track plan starts to gel

My previous doodles with blue track templates and MacDraw pictures weren’t getting me where I wanted to go. They were too squiggly; more-or-less for the sake of putting a twisty closed-loop of track in a small space. Fair enough, but those plans weren’t omnivagant just because of the weird track paths. Basically, the track plan was dominant, and the buildings were still just sprinkled about as decoration. I think with this new variation where the buildings form a core so that the track takes people from a place at one end (the Experimental Farm), through the heart of a city section past houses and stores and businesses (down Idlewild and across on Edward St), to a place at the other end (Bluffer’s Park), and then back to the Farm on the other side. It’s starting to become omnivagant even though the overall plan is less squiggly: it’s starting to be more deeply integrated into the fabric of activities while still going everywhere. I’m not sure if it’ll remain without switches; more development is still needed.