Your Luggage, Sir

Yes, yes, I know that I declared the depot "done", but I realized after making that claim that I had forgotten a couple of details.  First was the baggage cart that I bought specifically for the depot.  Some of you will recognize this pile of red and green parts as one of the Jordan Highway Miniatures kits.

Yep, I used a kit.  I decided that trying to scratchbuild one just wasn't worth the effort.  Maybe next time.  I'm not a big fan of using styrene to represent wood, because it usually doesn't come out looking like wood.  However, I'm fairly pleased with the outcome of this one.  I think I found the right mix of colors.

Here's how it looks sitting on the depot platform.  Right there in the spot that I left open for it.

Perfect!  Now to do something about those missing door handles...

Depot Done!

I am officially declaring the depot finished.  Today I installed the train order signal (scratchbuilt, of course), which I believe was the final addition.

The train order signal is built from a piece of brass tubing and a commercial styrene ladder.  If you've been reading my stuff for a while, you can guess what the arms are made from.  Yep, they were cut from that plastic "For Rent" sign.  The arms are movable too, so I can position them differently from time to time, just for variety.

Here's how the finished product looks sitting on the layout, all hooked up with the lights turned on.

Hard-Wired Depot

The depot is very nearly done.  Roofing shingles are glued down, the roof has been painted, and has been mounted to the structure itself.  All that remains is to install a chimney, some flashing along the roof/wall joints, and then some weathering.  As soon as those last few things are completed, it will be ready for placement on the layout.  That placement includes hooking up power for the interior lights, which is the topic of this post.

Obviously, due to the amount of work I'm putting into these structures, I want to be able to reuse them on a future layout, or even take them to show at a contest or other event.  For that reason, I won't be permanently mounting any of them to the layout.  I'll also need to be able to easily connect/disconnect any power going to the structures.  After giving this some thought, I've settled on the cheapest and easiest means of doing so that I could come up with - the 9-volt battery connector.

I purchased 50 of these for $3.00, so they fit within my modeling budget.  They're easy to install, and easy to connect or disconnect.

They're also easy to conceal - just dig an extra-large hole under each structure, and stuff the whole thing through the hole.  The building sits on top, completely hiding the wiring and the connector.

New Year's Confetti

Like many people, my New Year's Eve celebration involved lots of small bits of paper.  Thanks to the bad cold that I've been fighting, which triggered the occasional cough or sneeze, my bits of paper would occasionally fly through the air, like New Year's confetti.  A few pieces landed where they were supposed to - on the roof of my depot, where they're intended to look like decorative roof shingles.

I started by cutting a piece of plain white printer paper into 1.37 inch (10 scale feet) strips.  Using a special pair of craft scissors, I then cut across those strips, in 1/4-inch intervals, to produce a pile of scalloped strips.

Turning these scalloped strips into roof shingles is a simple matter of gluing (with plain white Elmer's glue) a row of strips across the bottom edge of the roof.  A second row of strips is applied, overlapping and slightly offset from the first row.  Repeat with a third row, then a fourth, and so on until the roof is covered.

As soon as I finish covering the entire roof surface, I'll paint the whole thing a dark gray color, then apply my mix of weathering chalks.  If all goes well, the end result will look like a roof covered with asphalt shingles.

Under The Lights

With the fake interior installed, and the structure permanently glued down, it's time to turn on the lights and see if the illusion works.  First, let me apologize for the lousy photos - I'm struggling to find the right technique for getting good shots of the lit interior.  There's a trick here that I just haven't figured out yet.

Here's looking in through the bay window at one of the figures seated on a bench in the waiting area.  You can also see his buddy standing beside him, and the clerk at the ticket counter.  Part of the horrid linoleum floor is visible as well.

I haven't decided what this guy is doing yet.  He's too well-dressed to be a depot worker.  My best guess at this point is that he's a professor from Minneapolis, accompanying some secret cargo travelling from the West Coast.  Some mysterious relic from South America or the South Pacific perhaps?

There's some sort of tall tale being told here.  From the posture, it must involve wrestling a bear.

That's all I have for now.  The photos really don't do justice to the lighting, it has to be seen first-hand to get the full effect.  Or I need to figure out how to take the pictures correctly.

It's Getting Crowded In Here

The depot interior is finished.  I built benches for the waiting area, put down a horrid blue and white linoleum floor, and place a few figures in strategic locations to create the illusion of a busy depot.  The two seated figures were originally wearing shorts, not exactly appropriate for November in northern Minnesota, especially in 1920.  Also not appropriate was the bright yellow dress that the female figure was wearing.  Since these people will barely be visible, and will be viewed through plastic windows, detail isn't super important, but that bright yellow dress would have been out of place.  I painted the dress brown, and painted over the bare legs on the two seated men.

As I said, detail isn't really important for the figures in the waiting area, they simply need to provide some colors and shadows to provide the sense that there people inside.  The freight area is a different matter.  Since it has large open doors, the interior is clearly visible.  Detail DOES matter here.  I spent a lot more time on the pieces for this section.  The crates are cast metal, carefully painted with multiple shades of brown and gray, then washed and weathered to look like wood.

I still have a couple of pieces to add to the freight room - a scale, a couple of brooms, just an assortment of stuff to make it look "lived in".  The waiting area is completely finished.  It has to be - the depot structure is now permanently attached to the platform.  There's no way to get in there to add more.

Holiday Visitors

Tomorrow I'm having visitors.  The father of a co-worker is in town for Christmas and wants to see the layout.  The good thing about this - it's a reason to clean up the layout.  The bad thing - I have to clean up the layout.

Things are all tidy now, the tools are put away, the work surface cleaned off, scraps are in the Bucket O'Crap, and there's nothing sitting on the layout that doesn't belong on the layout.  I cleaned the track, and did a quick systems check to make sure everything still runs.

To make things a little more interesting for my guests, I dug through my assortment of little people, and found a few holiday travelers to add to the depot.  The checkers players have moved back outdoors as well.

The Lights Are On, and Somebody's Home

The wallpaper has been hung, the carpet's installed, and the lights are permanently wired up.  Looks like the railway agent and his family have moved in - somebody's peeking out of an upstairs window.

As you can see, I used warm yellow LED's throughout the structure, upstairs, downstairs, and in the freight area.  Five bulbs in total, each with its own resistor, soldered and heat-shrinked, held in place with hot glue in case I ever need to replace one.  The upstairs ceiling lifts out to give me access to the first floor bulbs.

The upstairs windows are covered with curtains made from toilet paper (clean, I think).  They're just transparent enough to allow some colors and shadows to be visible.  The one window with the open curtain, the one shown above, allows just enough to be seen to create the illusion of a fully detailed upstairs.

All it needs now is a finished roof, some crates in the freight room, and a few people to make it complete.

It's Warm In Here

Remember the two fellas who were deeply involved in a lively game of checkers?  Well, it snowed last night in Minnesota, and it's cold outside, so they've moved indoors, under the newly installed warm yellow LED lighting.

Conveniently, the freight doors were also installed today, so if the warm lighting isn't enough to keep out the cold, they can shut the doors!

The Weather Outside Is Frightful

All of the window and door trim is installed, basic structure is complete, and the walls are sporting a shiny new coat of paint.

Looks good, right?  Well, anybody who has ever painted their own house knows that it doesn't last long enough.  Sooner or later, the weather takes a toll, and that flawless finish starts looking a little tired, something like this:

As I mentioned earlier, with the weathering applied, it's impossible to tell that I forgot to paint the window frames.  It's also very difficult to tell that the door is actually printed on paper.  The weathering does a beautiful job of tying it all together.

Up next, finishing the (moveable!) freight doors, then on to the roof.  It's coming together!

A Little Holiday Trimming

The doors were all hung in the doorways with care,
In hopes that the passengers soon would be there.
The knobs were installed all snug in their holes,
Ummm, uhhhh, something, something...

 OK, that's as far as I can take this.  Seriously though, the front and rear entry doors are installed, including door knobs!

The door is actually a photo of a door, printed with my inkjet printer, then glued to a piece of cereal box cardboard.  The knob is the head of a tiny wire brad, snipped off and poked through a hole in the door.  Not exactly to scale, but the larger size sort of emphasizes that "this door has a door knob!".

But wait, there's more!  I also started on the trim around the doors and windows.  All of the pieces have been cut, from scale 1"x4" stock.  Here they are, stuck to the sticky side of a lint roller sheet, waiting to be painted.  The sticky paper holds them still so that I can paint them all at once, and helps to keep them from warping.

After painting, installation is a simple matter of gluing the pieces in place around the various windows and doors.

Looking at that last photo, you may be asking yourself "Is that trim really painted?".  Yes, it is, and yes, I purposely chose a color that is very much the same color as the bare wood.  Why?  Because I realized well into the installation of the windows that I had forgotten to paint the window frames before installing the window glass.  Knowing that it would be impossible to paint them without getting paint on the glass, I chose to hide my mistake in plain sight.  Once the weathering has been done, you won't be able to tell that the frames are unpainted.

An Open And Shut Door

Sixty degrees and sunny in mid-November?  In Minnesota?  This is supposed to model railroading season, but weather like this makes it hard to get in the mood.

I've mentioned a few times that I wanted the freight doors on the depot to be movable, so that I could open or close them at will.  I've thought long and hard about how to do that.  After a couple of failed efforts, I found the answer, and it works REALLY well!

Starting with Plastruct "U" channel, item #90582, I cut a piece 24 scale feet in length, long enough to allow the door to be opened all the way with room to spare.  To this "U" channel, I glued a piece of  #90713 strip, also 24 feet in length.  This gave me a nearly enclosed rectangular channel with a small gap along one edge.

Using Plastruct's "Z" channel, item #90592, I made hangers, gluing them to the top edge of the door using CA.  These z-shaped hangers fit right into the gap in the rectangular channel that I built.

The result is a convincing hanging door.  The track is slightly larger than scale, but it works for me, and gives me the sliding door that I wanted.

After painting and weathering, I now have one nice-looking hanging freight door.

After a light dosing of graphite, the door slides freely along the track, allowing me to open or close the door as I see fit.  Exactly what I wanted!

Siding Done

It's been 44 days since my last post here.  Included in those 44 days were six weekends, two weeks without the wife around, plus 5 vacation days.  You would think I'd have made some progress on the depot during that time.  Sadly, you'd be wrong.  I haven't really touched it much until this week.  I am a pathetic excuse for a model railroader.

Aside from that, I've made some progress over the last couple of days.  The biggest achievement is finishing the clapboard siding.  It's DONE!  I've also finished building and installing all of the windows, including the bay window, and I've measured and cut the panels for the roof.  Obviously, I won't be permanently attaching that until I've decided what I'm going to do with the interior.

Bay Watch

Greetings, loyal follower.  When last we spoke, I mentioned that I hadn't yet figured out how to build the bay window on my depot.  After much trial and error, I've managed to produce something that I can live with.

What you see there is simply three individual double-hung windows, glued together side-by-side to form half of a hexagon.  The siding underneath the windows looks a little rough in the photo, but I think once the vertical trim is installed, it will look better.  The next challenge will be the roof over the bay window.

Depot Update

It's been a month since I last posted. A whole month. Where did the time go?

Anyway, I thought I'd share a quick update on the depot progress. I'm still working on windows and siding, admittedly not as much as I'd like to be.

Three sides are done, nine of the thirteen windows are installed.  I still haven't figured out how I'm going to build the bay window.  I'm also trying to figure out a way to make the freight doors movable, so that they can be opened and closed.  Then there's the interior, which will be a whole 'nother project.

How Long Does It Take...

... to build 4 HO scale double-hung windows from scratch?  About two weeks, judging from the time since my last post.  Ok, that's an exaggeration - I've also finished the siding on the front of the depot.

It's actually not that bad building these things, now that I have a system (more on that later) figured out.  The hardest part is not rushing things, trying to move too fast without letting the glue dry thoroughly.

As you can see, with careful measuring and a little filing, they fit nice and flush with the siding.

They even have "glass" installed!

Now, somebody pass the Windex...