Pola's American Designer Series

I was quite surprised to see this Pola ad in the November 1982 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. 

It starts off by stating: Pola manufactures over 200 HO & N structure kits. Many of these are American designs originally published in MRR (their acronym for Model Railroader) and RMC. We are re-issuing these on a limited basis, at special prices. 

Amongst the pictures it notes that the coal mine in the upper left is a Jack Work design from a 1959 issue of Model Railroader, although it doesn't say which issue. And in the lower left there is the good old Grusom Casket Co. from an E. L. Moore design in Railroad Model Craftsman. It doesn't say who designed that coaling station in the lower right, but the overall implication is that it came from somewhere in the pages of MR or RMC. I wonder if these were released in special American Designer Series boxes, or if there are any further ads with more about this series? An interesting twist. The search continues :-)

[30 October 2020 update: Vince informs me, and I confirm, that the Jack Work coal mine article was actually a 3-parter that appeared in the Oct, Nov, and Dec '59 issues of MR. And, the same ad also appeared in the Nov. '82 issue of MR.]

Hovelology 101

Hovelology: The non-science of measuring, drawing, and photographing old buildings for future modelling use.

Useage: When asked why he was measuring the bank's doors at 1:15am the defendant claimed to be a student of hovelology.

Source: First introduced by William C. Schaumberg in the June 1981 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. Mr. Schaumberg notes on the creation of the term: Unusual things require unusual explanations. It's not scientific, but works in line with the, "if you can't convince 'em, confuse 'em" theory.

from The Dictionary of Non-Existent Model Railroad Terms, 2nd ed., 1999.

Hangin' around

I played around a bit with some thin wire to see if I could cobble together a few hangers for the overhead streetcar wire. After some fiddling, I think I've settled on those in the photo. They're basically just a loop of wire with ears on each end - if I was smart I should have worked out this detail before building up and installing the street posts. I'll either glue or solder them in place. Luckily this is all just decoration, and they don't actually work. I can see why the classic model traction pioneers preferred O scale as HO seems far too small for maintaining one's sanity :-)

Lights along Ocean Boulevard

It took about a week of on-and-off work, but there are now operating streetlights along lower Ocean Blvd (shown in the picture), Mortimer Road, and Museum Avenue, as well as the car stop in the Mortimer Park Loop.

The streetlights are Model Power product number 495, with a couple of their double-header units, #496s, thrown into the mix. They're not all that realistic straight from the package, but when the bases are removed, and they're repainted, they aren't too bad. I've also used 495s for the custom poles that will carry the streetcar overhead wire. 

That pole on wheels near the top of the picture is a rolling gauge I made out of a set of freight car trucks and a styrene tube. It's to help set the height of the overhead wire. 

Machine tool mystery solved

Top: Uncle Peabody's machine tools; Bottom: WIAD machine tool set

It looks like Martin has solved The Mystery of Uncle Peabody's Machine Tools.

Back in May I mentioned that E. L. Moore had written in his Uncle Peabody's Machine Shop article that Airfix machine tools were used inside the building. But, after some looking around it appeared that Airfix didn't sell a machine tool set. After much investigation Martin has found this '60s vintage machine tool set by the German company WIAD (WIAD No. 61 Maschinen modelle) that looks like an exact match for the Peabody tools. So, if you're planning to build Peabody's place, it's WIAD machine tools to look for, not Airfix.