I love the Witch Hat station!

I do aim to take a stab at it and post a play-by-play here.  Chickens before they're hatched, of course, but I figure on starting with either the coffee shop or the lighthouse, depending on what I see once I've opened the box and read the instructions.  The chandlery and the boatbuilding shop are back-of-mind, but I definitely see them together, en scène.  (I have quite a good pile of old issues of WoodenBoat magazine, and have my late father's custom-built 1950s 16' cedar canoe as an inspirational totem, boat-wise.)

Bonjour à tous.  I've foregone breakfast in lieu of mail-ordering an out-of-production "diorama kit", namely Builders in Scale Kit #9, TideWater Wharf.  Had been staring at it for a few days and seeing its lighthouse in my soup, hearing my AMEX card bleating plaintively, scuttling along the floor toward my iPad as I slept. Got fed up and pressed the button.

Apart from the lighthouse, it has a ship-chandler/sailmaker's loft, a wee coffee shop, and a monstrous boatbuilder's hangar.  I've got a bee in my bonnet about building a vaguely-Atlantic pierhead micro layout or two, thus my justification.

I added a (relatively) inexpensive old brass HOn3 D&RGW boxcar to the order, unpainted, because (a) the postage stayed the same, and (ii) one can never have too many little boxcars, and I presently have precisely none.

Terminology question:  Does SBS mean step-by-step?

Those electric boxcabs are right up my alley.  Err, siding, I mean.

Quote from: restocarp on January 10, 2025, 06:10:06 AM

This is wonderful, and inspirational.

I have just acquired the Orville Redenbacher company. Heat up some oil in your kettles, lads.

Quote from: ReadingBob on January 08, 2025, 07:06:34 PMQuite a project. I remember those kits from when I was in high school but I've never built one. I'll be following along!

I worked in a couple of hobby shops as a teenager.  One of 'em had piles of Suydam kits, and I can't remember seeing anyone ever buy one. They were terrifying, the metal ones, at least.  That said, I'll be making popcorn for this thread.  (And I have a spanky-new resistance soldering machine and corner clamps, now.)

Quote from: deemery on January 07, 2025, 02:37:48 PMSo I think we have requests for at least 3 new forums:

* Early Rail
* O Scale Narrow Gauge
* Tools and Techniques

And I'd add
* HO Scale Narrow Gauge

and maybe suggest
* Locomotives
separate from Rolling Stock.  (Should there be 2, one for Steam and the other for Stinky Diesels?  )

And one more thought:
• Questions and Requests

dave

I know I've just crawled under the door, but...

Locomotives:  seconded.  Just one subforum dedicated to whatever pulls, pushes, or derails and delays the train would be fine by me.  (I have more small locomotives than I have soup spoons, and they're a wild and implausible mix of steam, diesel, and electric.)  I'm happy to look at anyone's motive power project, regardless of scale, gauge, or prototype origins, because I might be (a) inspired and (ii) learn something.  It ain't really a train until it's coupled to something that can move it.

HO Narrow Gauge certainly gets my vote.  No need to specify the space between the rails beyond the fact that it's narrower than Standard.

Tools & Techniques:  Perhaps include "where do I find/where can I buy" somehow?  I see parts and supplies described (often vaguely) that I had no idea existed.  Sometimes, in threads that are years old, and the original posters have moved on.  And-- the Walthers catalogue doesn't have everything.

Craftsmanship meets charisma.  Wonderful little pile.  Well done, that man!

I'm happy to have provoked a conversation, and I ain't forgotten I promised you some pictures. They'll come.  Lack of good light (I'm a fussy photographer) and lack of sleep have both conspired against me.

Meanwhile, I've been wargaming an idea for a tiny pierhead layout/diorama featuring this 'station', and possibly a lighthouse.  It happens I have two old lighthouses five blocks from my apartment, part of the setup for an old railroad ferry pier which has just gotten re-purposed as a public park.  Both lighthouses are being preserved as heritage buildings and are kept in good nick. My brain is grinding its coffee exceedingly fine.

Oh, I hadn't seen that.  You've got an eye.

I've been fascinated by the Maine two-footers, and their infrastructures' distinctive aesthetics, since I first learned of their existence as a teenager.  Blame the Narrow Gauge & Short Line Gazette, Dave Frary, and Bob Hayden.  They induced me to buy a few of Peter Barney's books, by mailorder, once I could afford them in the late 80s.  This ridiculously small, absurdly cute building sitting on a pier stood out among them all.  Two words:  Witch's Hat.



Decades ago, I swooningly decided to build an inaccurate but sincere HO homage of the silly thing from styrene sheet.  Then life got in the way, I got out of modelling and model railroads and dove deep into street photography, and the build I'd started went into a dynamite box in my hall closet.  Said box got dug out from its spider-hole just before Christmas, and I'm now determined to finish the thing.  Which has led to internet reading that didn't exist when I'd started it.  To wit, this.  Scroll down, if you're still interested, to the bottom of this blog post.  The building in question is the last entry.  There are drawings, and interesting words:

https://twofootartist.com/wiscasset-railroad-buildings/

I think I may have to start the thing over.  But tomorrow, daylight permitting (I live in a cardboard box with one very small window that faces west), I intend to take a few pictures of where I've gotten with the model and its architecturally maddening, accursed witchy hat, and invite your insights.

Quote from: craftsmankits on June 13, 2024, 09:10:09 PMAwesome work.  I also smell a rat.  I saw at least two of those pesky varmints. I'll bet there are more lurking about.

The kind old tea-sipping cat lady next door's four-legged security detail surely has the situation under control. And that contrast is my absolute favorite thing about this smashingly-executed, memorable little scene.  I can imagine Omar Little from "The Wire" strolling by.

Oh,and the newspapers in the windows... Brilliant hack.

Magnifique!  Bouche bée.