I mentioned a few posts ago that while I hadn’t made any new posts that things were still happening on the layout – even if it was a bit slow due to real world stuff.
So here’s the update on the various projects that I’ve been working on –
Snellgroves Department Store
This is a low profile card stock kit from Metcalfe Models that I’ve placed back by the bus depot in the back corner. I assumed that I’d be able to build it fairly quickly because it was a low profile building, but it actually took me a few weekends to get though.
I’ve decided that I’m going to build out this area as a small town square type of an area. It’s a bit awkwardly shaped, and I’ve been trying to come up with a plan for this area for quite a while.
Ford C Canopy Cab Fire Trucks
I’ve needed some fire trucks to go with the fire station for some time. Showcase Miniatures makes some amazing stuff and would have fit the bill – but they’re unpainted kits. I know my limits, and I know that there isn’t a chance that I’d be able to properly paint an N scale firetruck even if I could manage to assemble the kit.
Athearn has come to my rescue (so to speak) with their Ford C Canopy Cab Fire Trucks, and I’ve bought two – in different paint schemes, because of course I have…
While there are clearly things that have been incorporated on the layout simply because I liked how they looked – a lot of it is there because of some connection I have to the region or the prototype of the model. With the fire trucks it’s a regional connection – we lived for many years in the DC suburbs, and the first layout I built was while we were living outside of DC. So this truck is a representative of our time in that area.
The other truck is from the Chicago Fire Department. We live in the suburbs outside of Chicago, so this truck represents the region.
From what I’ve seen, a Showcase Miniatures kit is just as detailed, but there is absolutely no way I’d be able to paint the details anywhere as close to what Athearn has done with their trucks.
Centreville West Station Reconstruction
The Centreville West Station was the first Metcalfe kit I built. Technically it’s the Settle and Carlisle station house kit, but I adapted it for my purposes. The station has featured in quite of a few of the photos I’ve taken on the layout, but I was always very strategic when it came to angles and staging around the building because during construction, as the saying goes, “mistakes were made.”
One of the things I like about Metcalfe card stock kits – is that even when dealing with exchange rates because I’m buying them from Rails of Sheffield in the UK, and international shipping, kits are typically cheaper than plastic kits from Walthers and others. Not having to paint them is just an added bonus.
So, I ordered a new kit, and built a new station. While the new building isn’t perfect either – it’s significantly better than the old one.
I won’t call out the issues with the old building or the few that are in the new one – but I will say this… This is an angle that I never would have shot the old building from…
