Jac's Lines Challenge #1

Jac's Lines

Jac's Lines

Member
Jan 28, 2005
152
0
16
53
Rochester, NY
Ok, I don’t think that I’m going to finish this project by September 15th, but I’ll post updates anyway. This scratchbuild is based on an old Erie RR station in Avon, NY. Today it houses a bar. We just bought a house about ½ mile from this station and I thought it would be a cool model. I’ve been having problems resizing my own pictures of the station, so here’s a link to some 1970s pictures. Basically the building is unchanged:

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=pphhphoto&fileName=ny/ny1100/ny1189/photos/browse.db&action=browse&recNum=0&title2=Erie%20Railway,%20Avon%20Station,%20Railroad%20Avenue,%20Avon,%20Livingston%20County,%20NY&displayType=1&itemLink=S?pp/hh:@field(TITLE+@od1(Erie+Railway,+Avon+Station,+Railroad+Avenue,+Avon,+Livingston+County,+NY))

The station sits on what used to be the Rochester Divison of the Erie Railroad, running from Corning, NY to Rochester, NY. Today it’s run by a local shortline called the Livonia, Avon and Lakeville RR. They make runs a couple of times a week, primarily agricultural products (corn and corn syrup being a big local product). The LAL has a website and there are several pictures of their locos (with a pretty cool black and goldenrod paint scheme) posted online:

http://66.66.225.141/rochesterrailf/images/LAL/lal424.jpg
http://www.tamr.org/Andy_Inserra/Images/006_3_1.jpg
http://ny.existingstations.com/archive/196.jpg

The station was built in 1875 or 1876. Up until World War I, it was primarily a passenger terminal. Avon had warm sulfur springs and in the 19th century was a kind of down-market Saratoga Springs, with numerous hotels and health spa resorts. There was a big engine service facility in town, including a small roundhouse and shops. All of that is gone now, but there is a cool feed mill complex that I may go photograph and model someday.
 
Fortunately, elevation drawings for this station can be found in the October 1978 issue of Model Railroader, so I didn’t need to go out and do my own measurements. Getting a copy of the elevations and then ordering the needed parts took up a lot of time, so I’m getting really late start. I’m going to model this to how it looked in the late 1920s/early 1930s, so there will be a freight dock along the front of the station and the colors will be Erie’s cream and green scheme. Because there are so many windows, I will do some detailing of the interiors, and if I’m feeling really ambitious I may add lighting.

So far, I’ve built the body of the station. Basically it’s to the MR specs, but I compressed a little (the real station is 95 feet long, mine is 85 feet long in HO scale). Windows and doors are all Grandt Line castings; the walls are a mixture of board by board and sheet siding.

Next up is the roof. I think this is going to be the biggest challenge because of the multiple surfaces and angles that need to be worked in. I also need to decide on shingles vs. ribbed copper (copper was the original material, but was swapped out at some point). In the original station there is also all sorts of complicated gingerbread trim under the eaves. I’m not sure how I’m going to handle that on the model.
 

Attachments

  • July 2006 020.jpg
    July 2006 020.jpg
    64 KB · Views: 357
  • July 2006 023.jpg
    July 2006 023.jpg
    57.9 KB · Views: 357
  • July 2006 024.jpg
    July 2006 024.jpg
    66.5 KB · Views: 356
MilesWestern said:
when does the contest end?
Click to expand...
It "ends" September 15..... "But" we grade on the curve...... We don't penalize for late turnouts..... because the main rule of EVERY Gauge contest and challenge is that it should be FUN For all!! sign1 sign1 sign1 sign1 sign1

That's what I meant by -- "hang around" in here after the 15th.." we dont mind if it takes longer than the 15th... :D :D :D

As Ausian keeps reminding me :D --- No Worries --- aussie
 
Slowly but surely making progress here. I think there's too much work to be done in the summer (work entailing barbecues, baseball games, and the dreaded honeydew list). Anyway, I've finished the roof and made some decisions about the structure overall.

Framing the roof ended up being not as bad as I thought. Basically I added basswood supports and then used basic high school geometry to figure out the right angles and measurements. I say "basic high school geometry", but that of course required getting gears that haven't been used in two decades moving in the old noggin....

I also painted the structure prior to installing the window "glass". My sense was that it would be a lot easier to paint the frames before the glass was installed. I still need to go back and do a lot of touch up, but all that comes later.
 

Attachments

  • July 2006 037.jpg
    July 2006 037.jpg
    67.5 KB · Views: 295
  • July 2006 064.jpg
    July 2006 064.jpg
    47.4 KB · Views: 292
I also had to decide what to do with the gingerbread panels under the eaves. Below is the worst photograph in the world, but it shows the prototypical arrangement. I went out to the station and looked carefully, and each of the lines you see is less that 1 inch in width.

For the life of me, I just can't figure out a way to make this work on an HO model. The MR article has a diagram of the patterns in O scale, and even then it would take months to carve the panels; I can't imagine doing it in HO. I tried a less complicated pattern in styrene, but was really unhappy with the results. The author of the MR article suggested photoetched brass...Great idea but expensive to have someone else do it, and too steep a learning curve for me to do it on my own. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm game...

So I compromised and went with clapboard. This way I can go back and add the gingerbread later if I want to. I still think it looks pretty good.
 

Attachments

  • scan0001.jpg
    scan0001.jpg
    22.3 KB · Views: 293
  • July 2006 066.jpg
    July 2006 066.jpg
    53 KB · Views: 289
Next up are shingles and different pieces of trim. This is after about 90 minutes worth of work. The octagon cut shingles are from Rusty Stumps, and I highly recommend them.
 

Attachments

  • July 2006 067.jpg
    July 2006 067.jpg
    56.7 KB · Views: 287
Nice work on that roof! Lots of angles to figure out! My first thought for the fancy trim was photo etched brass too. To have it custom made would be expensive, are there any kits made in any scale that may provide some such trim, even if intended for something else? It would be a different design, but just a suggestion of intricacy ought to do. I wonder if there is any doily material fine enough?
 
Wow! Nice work, and those shingles sure do look great!

Fo rthe gingerbread - have you considered either just a picture of it. or using a fine woodburning tip in your soldering iron? I have no idea if it'l work, but if you copy the drawing to HO size, and then "burn" the cutout areas dark, while leaving the raised areas, you might be able then to dry brush the paint on, giving the effect of gingerbread with deep shadows in the cutouts...???

Andrew
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom