What's New on the PRR Panhandle 2.0?

[G3750]

Ah George, what can I say?
It will be a real high for me.

I didn't understand your meaning.

George

[rogruth]

Ah George, what can I say?
It will be a real high for me.

I didn't understand your meaning.

George

Getting to see it when it is (almost) finished.
Almost being in reference to model railroads never being finished.

[G3750]

Updated 3/8/2021:

Today was a teaching day, so not a whole lot got done. I did evaluate a few HO sidewalk products:

• Chooch - rejected these as they are a bit thick. They look good, but I don't want to mess with their self-stick gunk. Been there, done that. We're not going back there again.
• Plastruct - these are vacuum formed and (to me) look goofy. They looked goofy on-line and having them in my hand didn't clear up anything. Pass.
• Walthers 933-3187 HO Cornerstone Curbs & Sidewalks kit was my choice. This set comes with 4' of sidewalk, manhole covers, fire hydrants and other details. I'm hoping to see these by the weekend.

I will press on with the painting and test-fitting of the HO houses, as well as construction of the hillside.

George

[G3750]

Updated 3/12/2021:

Made a bit of progress on a number of fronts:

• My 933-3187 Walthers Cornerstone - Concrete Curbs and Sidewalks kit arrived today. I think it will be useful.
• I drilled holes in the bench work and ran wires for lighting for several of the houses. I need to get another set of lights for the remainder.
• I painted part of the road sections for Highland Avenue. The HO street section (Leisuretime Products No. 202) got a combination of gray shades (Gray Primer, Deep Gray matte, and Pebble). It has to look a bit distressed - anything except fresh black asphalt.

George

[G3750]

Updated 3/21/2021:

• All sections of roadway intended to portray Highland Avenue and Superior Street have gotten their "distressed asphalt" paint jobs. I have also started gluing them down on a section of styrofoam.
• Man-holes have been painted, rusted, and installed on part of the road.
• Sidewalk sections have been painted and are being weathered using a wash I concocted. Some have received their strip of lawn.
• Street signs have been painted.
• A friend is 3D printing some HO concrete steps for the fronts of the houses.

I have come up with a structure for supporting Highland Avenue and the houses in their proper heights and relationships to each other. My plan is to assemble all that on the bench, put it on the layout, and then apply Great Stuff foam and quilt batting. Paint, ground cover, trees, and steps will follow.

George

[G3750]

Updated 04/04/2021:

I've been working on the area behind the PRR Station - Highland Avenue & Superior Street.

A friend 3-D printed some "concrete" stairs I laid out. These will lead up the hill from Highland Avenue to the houses.

Building HO houses, especially those that must be cut to fit a specific location, is a bit tricky. HO is too small, at least for me. I cut the base of the 2 story frame house to fit the diagram (or so I thought). In fact, it is about .10” too long, which is must better than too short. We’ll stick with it and see how the stairs work with that slightly steeper angle. Next I cut the house’s side walls and basement walls to that size. I’ve also cut out the front porch overlay using HO brick styrene sheet from Plastruct. That was also tedious and exacting work. All this had to be done under a magnifier loop. The porch has been assembled using a styrene glue (Pro-Ambroid) I had on hand. It’s pretty old, but should be OK.

The mortar lines of the brick porch were enhanced with some diluted off-white acrylic paint. I wiped it on and then off. The dirty drain holes were highlighted using an India ink / matte medium wash.

Next, the window frames and the door were inserted into the front wall, which was then flipped over. I applied styrene glue to the backs of the door and the windows so that it would seep into the joints. After that, these were set aside to dry.

My trip to Hobby Express yesterday yielded some of wonderful City Classics HO curtains and blinds. These were cut and applied to the front wall of the two-story frame house. I then laid some black construction paper behind the 3 upper story windows to indicate the rooms were unoccupied and dark. A piece of scrap balsa wood was cut to approximate the floor between the two stories; it will help complete the light box. All these were affixed using some of Eileen’s Tacky Glue. I think the curtains and blinds really help, even though the windows will be hidden somewhat by the porch roof.

Anyway, here are some photos from the construction effort. I'm interested in your thoughts on this - I'm in uncharted territory here, at least for me.

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0B5n8hH4GvDfjF

George

[rogruth]

George,
Well OK. But how many houses do you need to make?
Is there an easier way? Of course I understand that you want a high detail level.
Any way to "fake" upper levels with fronts or flats of some type?
You could spend a lot of time building houses.

[G3750]

George,
Well OK. But how many houses do you need to make?
Is there an easier way? Of course I understand that you want a high detail level.
Any way to "fake" upper levels with fronts or flats of some type?
You could spend a lot of time building houses.

Roger, I'm in a trap of my own making (if you know what I mean). I am a victim of my own perfectionism.

Someone I know once referred to herself as "a recovering perfectionist". Alas, I've never made it that far on my own "12-step program".

Actually, I am starting to get some momentum on this. The hang-up has been (as usual) deciding exactly what I need to do. I am going to start a full-court press to acquire the needed 3 Albion Catalog Houses (Laser-Kit #621) to complete the scene. They've been scarce as hens teeth. There are 6 houses in total for that particular diorama. I have 4 of them on hand. The houses are (left to right as viewed):

• Two-story frame house
• Tillman farm house
• Tillman farm house
• Albion Catalog house
• Albion Catalog house
• Albion Catalog house

A 4th Albion Catalog house will be used for my grandparents' home in Weirton (near Weirton Steel).

George

[G3750]

Updated 4/6/2021:

I have made some serious progress in the last few days on the 2-story frame HO house (Dave's grandmothers house). The following interior work has been completed:

• Windows & treatments (blinds & curtains)
• Lighting (a Just Plug LED peel and stick light was installed on the 1st floor)
• Floor between stories was added
• Black-out of the 2nd story

On the exterior:

• The roof sections have been aged with an India ink wash.
• Brick facing of the front porch, including columns has been added. The columns were cut to mate up with the porch roof.
• Eaves were added to the front of the house.
• The porch roof was installed.
• Roof sections were glued to their eaves and gutters.

The photos tell the story: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0BGI9HKKEITx9

George

[rogruth]

George,
Don't forget (I'm sure you won't) the affect that pollution on the buildings at that time.
I noticed when I lived in the Valley that people painted their houses white and in a year
or two they were grey and then the paint would start to peel. When aluminum and vinyl
siding came along it just took longer. Now I don't know how you will model the smell.

[G3750]

George,
Don't forget (I'm sure you won't) the affect that pollution on the buildings at that time.
I noticed when I lived in the Valley that people painted their houses white and in a year
or two they were grey and then the paint would start to peel. When aluminum and vinyl
siding came along it just took longer. Now I don't know how you will model the smell.

The house is fairly new or newly painted. Yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

And 50 years on, I can still recall the smell of palm oil and HCl (used on coils to reduce rusting).

George

[G3750]

Updated 4/11/2021:

I'm working on the 2nd hillside home - an HO Tillman Farmhouse. I've cut the base and the walls, installed windows, and curtains, and am starting to glue walls together.

Some photos in the link. First shot is of the first completed structure (2-story frame home). In the 2nd, some windows share the paint booth with 4 ingot molds that have received their initial coat of rusty red primer. In the 3rd, I am gluing in a window to one of the cut walls of the structure. Like the other buildings, I have cut this one along the mid-line and half will protrude from the backdrop. Photo 4 shows the major components (including the cut walls) of the exterior. Photos 5 & 6 depict a glued corner. The black construction paper at the left is for blocking light out of the 2nd story.

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0B5yeZFhGjp87w

George

[chuck]

Very nice work on the houses. The corner clamp looks interesting.

[G3750]

Very nice work on the houses. The corner clamp looks interesting.

Thank you! I really like the clamp. I picked it up 10? years ago. It's big enough (they come in smaller sizes as well) to be useful in O, which is why I bought it in the first place. It's getting a workout with these HO houses right now.

George

[robert.]

I have a machinist friend making a clamping device for me. it's a 14 inch metal disc. A lot like a record turntable. It has a groove cut in the center alongside the edge. Then we will wrap copper wire around that edge. Turning this disc into an electromagnet. He made a few different size metal blocks. I'll use them to hold wood together after glue is applied. Turn it on and see if magnetism hold everything together as the glue dries. It will either be a heavy desk weight or a great jigging device.