Sugar Cane train in 1920 Haiti

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
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I felt the back jungle still needed to be enlarged a bit and another roofline added on. So I did what the locals would do built a lean to over the waste basin using downed tree limbs, old wood and a well used piece of canvas.

First the wooden "super structure" was built up:

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Next I scrounged up a well used paint rag and some Elmer's white:

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Then I cut a piece of the rag to represent the canvas roof and soaked it in full strength white glue. I squeezed out the excess and draped it on the wooden frame :

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After the canvas fully dried I weathered it with A/I wash and dry brushed highlights:

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I now had a somewhat enlarged alcohol making facility and that's supposed to be a good thing.

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Thanks for looking!! Doc Tom:Coffee:
 

DanBKing

Dan the Man
@Doctor G I see in the second last photo, that the branch line directly past the distillery is gonna soon be closed, due to the expansion of said distillery....:drinksmile::drinksmile::Drinks:.:toast::wacky::singing::hungover::hungover::hungover:

:);):)

Your detail work is stunning! thumbsupthumbsup
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Dock%20Scene%202_zpsdnt8lerp.jpg






I felt the back jungle still needed to be enlarged a bit and another roofline added on. So I did what the locals would do built a lean to over the waste basin using downed tree limbs, old wood and a well used piece of canvas.

First the wooden "super structure" was built up:

DSC07972_zpsf4mcgmt7.jpg


DSC07971_zpsgziga5t2.jpg


Next I scrounged up a well used paint rag and some Elmer's white:

DSC07973_zpsgnlk6dxc.jpg


Then I cut a piece of the rag to represent the canvas roof and soaked it in full strength white glue. I squeezed out the excess and draped it on the wooden frame :

DSC07974_zpsnv2szttx.jpg


DSC07975_zpssym4rsmn.jpg


After the canvas fully dried I weathered it with A/I wash and dry brushed highlights:

DSC07977_zpsvb2t9kwm.jpg




I now had a somewhat enlarged alcohol making facility and that's supposed to be a good thing.

DSC07979_zpsoxeonmfg.jpg


DSC07981_zpseotzyvlj.jpg


DSC07978_zpspyhkrgmt.jpg


Thanks for looking!! Doc Tom:Coffee:
Thanks Dan. There is good clearance on the spur to the engine house. However all the trains like to stop here for a tasting of fermented sugar juice. This is a cause of considerable bottlenecks. Tom
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Banana trees are everywhere in Haiti. They provide much needed extra cash for the subsistence farmers working in the countryside.

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They are grown in any place that has nothing else growing and at times on very steep slopes.

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I wanted some banana trees for the Leogoane rural section of the mini layout. I found this interesting Pegasus plastic kit in 1:48 on the internet.

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Each little tree was built up from 4 plastic parts.

I painted them with spray paints and planted a grove of trees on the steep slope of the spur heading to the cane fields on the layout.

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The trees were a lot of fun to research, build,and plant on the layout. Hopefully it adds a little more authenticity to the Haitian sugar hauler in the 1920's.

Doc Tom
 

Sky Seeker

Well Established Member
Banana trees are everywhere in Haiti. They provide much needed extra cash for the subsistence farmers working in the countryside.

Haiti%20loading%20banana%20plants%202_zpscokmsbls.jpg


They are grown in any place that has nothing else growing and at times on very steep slopes.

Bannana_zpskzfrrzme.jpg


Banana-tree-at-Hotel-Montana-PAP-Haiti-Aug-20113_zpsblovkglu.jpg


Nice Job Doctor!



50909682-haitian-man-carries-a-banana-tree-following-gettyimages_zpsequwv7pi.jpg


I wanted some banana trees for the Leogoane rural section of the mini layout. I found this interesting Pegasus plastic kit in 1:48 on the internet.

DSC07969_zpsokcjtcbi.jpg


DSC07970_zpsd1t6nuvc.jpg


Each little tree was built up from 4 plastic parts.

I painted them with spray paints and planted a grove of trees on the steep slope of the spur heading to the cane fields on the layout.

DSC07983_zpsdo0getwa.jpg


DSC07989_zpsdeehyjuh.jpg


DSC07987_zpsvnnxrsw5.jpg


DSC07984_zpsyqvgmex3.jpg


DSC07985_zpsifrjxf7g.jpg


The trees were a lot of fun to research, build,and plant on the layout. Hopefully it adds a little more authenticity to the Haitian sugar hauler in the 1920's.

Doc Tom
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
It has been a busy work week but I was able to get a little more done on the On30 Haitian sugar hauler.

I went ahead and planted about 20 trees and jungle plants on the mountain above Leogane on the "rural side" of the mini layout.

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Also started construction of the sugar cane press that will provide the juice for fermentation at the Rhum distillation operation.

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While I had the camera out I grabbed a few shots of the open air engine house on a hot Haitian day.

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Thank you for looking. Doc Tom
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the compliments guys. Here is a little more of the story and a question.


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To continue with the build of the Rhum Distillery in the very rural section of my mini Haitian layout I scoured the Internet looking for a suitable cane press prototype to model. This layout is set in 1920 Haiti and electricity was non-existent in the rural countryside. It is still that way today for the most part.A small operation like the one I am modeling could have used a small gasoline engine to power the press but again not likely. They were imported and rarely sent to the hinterland. Besides gasoline in the Haitian mountains was usually not heard of in the 1920's. So that left human and animal power.

I found this hand powered cane press on the net and thought I would give it a try.

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Here is my take using plastic bits, wooden dowel pieces and parts from the junk box.

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I did up the wheels for the hand cranks in the Haitian national colors of red and blue like the prototype. If you look closely you can see the shiny handholds from thousands of hours of hand labor turning this beast.

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Next I need some laborers cranking the press. I have not purchased 1:48 figures in quite a while (wrapped up in a now defunct Garden RR X5 years). Where do you all like to get figures?? Any chance you know of manufacturers making African or African-American figures?? Thanks for all help and leads.

Doc Tom
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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
This is the prototype cane press I was trying to model on the mini layout.

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A signature part of this press is the falling down shade canopy. I went ahead and built one of these over the cane press to protect the workers from the tropical sun.

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The workers are pooped from hand cranking that press for hours. They would love some rest except that blasted train with the shrill whistle will not allow a nap.

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I think the Leogane Rhum Distillery is about complete except for piles of fresh cut sugar cane placed at the press.

Will next move down the line a little to build up structures in the village and planting the sugar cane.

Thanks for looking. Doc Tom
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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
Looks really good! glad you made such good use of the beams from that traveling crane shed I wasn't going to use. I was very tempted to save it for future use, but I could tell you wanted it right now!! looks real good.


PS those banana trees add a lot of character!!
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Thanks Bill. Thanks also for the donation of the structural iron that went in to the construction of the Rhum distillery.

Been fooling around with Kit's new iPhone. Here is some "eye candy" shot with that iPhone:

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All those megapixels in that little phone really work well IMHO. This is a new "replacement" Porter I got from B.mann recently for an older model with conked out engine. It has been through weathering and paint and has a load of pressed sugar cane for fuel. Tom
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Some more Little People from Arttista made it to Haiti and hired on with the little sugar train.

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They were immediately put to work firing the new Porter and loading the bunker with pressed cane used as fuel.

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Soon the locomotive will move a cut of cane cars to the fields to harvest more of the sweet produce of sugar cane.

Doc Tom
 

gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
Doc,

Great work. I just caught myself up on Bill's layout and it's great to see progress here as well.
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
My mini layout depicts a 1920 sugar hauler in Haiti. So I thought it time to plant some sugar cane plants on the layout. Here are some new growth plants just outside Leogoane.

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When fully grown the sugar hauler will be there to help with the harvest.

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Thanks for looking. Doc Tom
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Dock%20Scene%202_zpsdnt8lerp.jpg






I have started on my first ever On30 "movie" of "Ti Neg La" (kreyol 'the Little Guy') that will be in You Tube theaters soon. Here are a few stills from the flick that I thought I would share.

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They are scenes from the little sugar hauler working the streets of 1920 Port au Prince Haiti.

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Here you can see some of the 3D Flats I constructed to nestle in to the hillside on this small mini layout.

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Thanks for looking, input and advice.

Doc Tom
 
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