My Tom Schwarz 2019 Winter Build Challenge - Classic Miniatures 7 Wells Fargo

[S&S RR]

Jaime


Great to see you at the workbench! I will be following along.  It's going to be fun to see what you can do with this one. Do you plan on selling the box on ebay when your done? 

[NEMMRRC]

Thanks for all the feedback.


It has been interesting to say the least to work in this kit. It truly does give one some appreciation for what is available today.


Jaime

[NEMMRRC]

It helps there are enough photos of this building on the web to use as reference. The lower floor doors and windows go from the ground all the way up to the second floor. Furthermore, the doors and windows are recessed into the building.


The modeler has to build up all that from the provided strip wood and cardstock. For example, the recessed areas are built up from stripwood and the embossed brick. Here is a sample of that.








Note how the plate shows the modeler which piece of stripwood to use and where to "cement" it. Oddly enough the instructions don't provide a suggestion on what type of cement to use. There are three exploded views in the instruction sheet of the windows and doors and all the bits and bobs that make up each one.


Here is evidence of why it is very important that one cut out the door and window openings carefully.





Notice how I went too far and I almost sliced my front wall in two pieces. The front doors and windows take up most of the surface area of the front wall so after cutting out everything there is little cardstock left of the front wall.


And here is where the build is so far.    








The side you see of the walls is what faces indoors. The opposite side of the wall gets the embossed brick paper. I re-read the instructions and was not able to find directions on how to "cement" all the walls together to the base. There is no type of bracing provided in the kit so I will likely find some and add it to the walls. Furthermore, I've decided to "cement" everything together and then paint it... or at least give it my best shot at it.


This feels like a good stopping point.


More as it develops.


Jaime

[PRR Modeler]

Interesting to see how the older kits were put together.

[deemery]

Well, it's not all that surprising that a bank has very thick brick walls....


dave

[Jerry]

Jaime well done.

Good to see you back at the bench.

Jerry

[vinceg]

Really interesting construction, Jaime. It's fun to watch this.

[Kimkatkim]

Here's some quick info regarding the manufacturer of these kits... The original owners of the Historical Scale Miniatures kits, Laddie Dick and his wife Betty, were located in San Gabriel, CA in the late 60's & early 70's. They then moved the operation to Reno, NV in the mid 70's with their partner Dale Darney. At that time the business name was changed to Classic Miniatures. All the structures have historical significance, hence the original name. I was fortunate to get to meet all three of them in 1975 at their shop in Reno and again in 1978 when they moved to a different location in Sparks, NV. Wonderful people who did everything they could to make my shopping experience with them a good one. They even put a kit together for me that wasn't currently on the market that was part of their previous line. They are part of the reason I just had to be part of the model railroad business back then. So I went to work for Kadee! I have to say that their kits were my introduction into kit building at 15 yrs. old. Talk about starting out with kits that were not exactly easy to put together. Their attention to all the details which had to all be individually cut out - no laser cut pieces! Once I had built one of these, I figured I could tackle anything!

[jerryrbeach]

Kim,


That's great background on these classic kits.  Thanks for sharing!

[Janbouli]

Thanks for sharing Kim, things like this are great to read.

[Kimkatkim]

I'm happy to share my experience with this company. I became aware of their kits while looking through an issue of 1001 Model Railroad Ideas from 1972. In this particular issue was an article about Historical Scale Miniatures and their line of kits. What fascinated me was the layout that was featured that Laddie & Betty had built as a display piece for all their kits at the time. It was done on a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood and was a simple oval with a siding. Since all the kits they offer were from the turn of the century or earlier, it made for a charming depiction of a small town with a mesa added for some dramatic elevation effect. The title of the article was named "Its Only an Oval?" to show what can be done in a relatively small amount of space. The scene was also snow-covered, further adding to the charm of the scenes. I saw that and was hooked! I began collecting their kits shortly after and ended up with most of them over the next several years.

[NEMMRRC]

Wow, Kim!  Thanks for the background on these kits. I have an affinity for older kits and shelf orphans. It's fun to put them together and does learn to tackle just about anything after having finished them.


I'll have more of the build later...


Jaime

[Kimkatkim]

After this one - if you can find a copy - tackle the Masonic Lodge. Its a beauty and has all sorts of fancy cornice work all around the top of the building. Lots of neat cuts in and out of the brickwork too. I consider it the most challenging kit I have ever built. Then again, it was one of my first builds too...but even today I'm sure I would still find it challenging. 

[Kimkatkim]

Here's a box pic of the kit.

[Lynnb]

This is an interesting kit and ovbiously has seen alot of shelf life. I have a few older , not the same manufacturer but similar.