Buffalo Canyon Mining Company in On30

[friscomike]

Howdy folks,

There are four lights in Homers, front and back porch and kitchen and bar.  The light in the front is a gooseneck and the interior lights hang from a ceiling beam.  The wiring was routed down the back wall and hidden with a kitchen cabinet.

The gooseneck support tubes are stainless and to scale. After I annealed the tubes, I inserted the magnet wires that led to the LED. Next, I bent them. I've only done this in HO, so hoped the O-scale version would be easier. The LEDs were housed in an 18" reflector, common for the era. I have selected pico warm white from Ngineering. I may paint them with orange clear paint if they are too white.

Gooseneck light in test stand.



Ceiling beam hiding the light wiring.


Kitchen cabinet for hiding the wiring.


Back door light


Front light


The roof and signs are next.

Have fun,
mike

[Philip]

Nice shades Mike! 

[PRR Modeler]

Great looking catina Mike. The lighting takes it to another level.

[friscomike]

Howdy folks,

The roof is cardstock covered in 600 grit strips cut into prototype width and colored with brown pigments.

Roof


Next I made the front and back sidewalks using strip wood and coffee stir sticks.


Front sidewalk


That's it for now. Next up are the signs.

Have fun,
mike

[friscomike]

Howdy folks,

Signs were printed with an inkjet printer on card stock. That was the easy part.  The design, however, ...
I used Affinity Designer, a British app, to design the signs. It is similar to Adobe Illustrator but easier to use and way cheaper for me. I especially like it because it creates vector graphics that can be resized without a loss in quality.  Each sign had three designs, one for the sign to be printed, one for the sign backing, and one for the frame. 

Here is a photo of Homer's sign frames and backing boards cut from a .023" laserboard placed next to the printed sign.



Main sign

Thanks to several forum members for coaching and ideas for the sign's colors, typeface, and design.



The final saloon:

Front


Side


That's it for Homer's Place. Next up is Cowles General Store.

Have fun,
mike

[Larry C]

Mike you certainly did a fantastic job on this build! The lighting
really make it POP.

[Rick]

This thread is a nice trip down memory lane.

[Philip]

Nice work Mike.

[Jerry]

Love seeing this all over again like Rick said a nice trip down memory lane.

Jerry

[friscomike]

Howdy folks,

Many thanks Larry, Rick, Larry, and Jerry for your comments.  It was fun posting the thread here.  I left out the broken rail and blown valves along the way.

Have fun,
mike

[friscomike]

Howdy folks,

This post officially begins the Cowles General Store build thread. The store is based on the fantastic Thunder Mesa Studio's General Store kit. The structure is small at 4.5″W x 3.5″H x 5" D.



I'll begin with the backstory.

Backstory
The Cowles family were Sooners living in the Big Pasture area. The family lived from agricultural and merchant activities including fruit trees and cotton. Darrell, one of the family's sons, grew up with a hoe in his hand helping his Dad. When he came of age, he said enough of this farm work and headed to the city.

In Fort Worth, Darrell quickly rose through the ranks of an advertising company where he used his natural drawing skills to design advertisements. He saved his money. One day in the local soda shop, a petite blonde named Linda Bell caught his eye. After a few years, they married. Linda Bell came from a long line of merchants and convinced Darrell to change careers and enter merchandising.

The new gold rush west of Fort Worth near the Quitaque created a demand for trading post. The gold meant plenty of customers for a general store. Darrell heard the call, "Go West young man" and the couple soon found an old vacant adobe building on Main Street to start a General Store. The price was right so they packed up and headed to Quitaque. Linda Bell knew the business and set up most of her suppliers before she left Fort Worth.

The business was a start-up success in 1893 and continues in the black today (1920).  Now you know how the Cowles arrived in Quitaque and who started Cowles General Store.


Build
There isn't much to assemble the kit. Most of the work will go into the finish. Here is the obligatory kit component photo:



The walls are made from MDF about 1/4" thick. The doors and windows are from laserboard. As provided, the kit isn't but a few inches deep. I wanted it a bit deeper to fit on Main Street on the lower level beside the river. To expand the structure, I cut extensions for each side using the laser. The walls will be covered in plaster, so the joints shouldn't show.

Here is a view of a side wall with the laser extension plug I designed in Affinity Designer. It is made from 1/4" basswood.



I joined the two walls and had a deeper building.

I glued the structure together, clamped it, and then let it dry overnight. I filled the gaps with foam putty which didn't work well.  I didn't have any wood putty on hand. After it dried, I sanded it, then rounded all the corners in preparation for the stucco.

The structure is small at 4.5″W x 3.5″H x 5" D, so it shouldn't take too long to complete it, (LOL).

Here is a photo of the structure, fresh out of the clamps.



That's it for now.  TBD.

Have fun,
mike

[friscomike]

Howdy folks,

The structure was glued together and made ready for stucco.  I used a thick gesso stippled on with an acid brush for the stucco affect.

 

The result was a convincing stucco finish.  Cowles is painted in a color I mixed using online photos as a guide.



The timbers for the roof supports and the lintels were cut and stained.  I used a stencil to letter the sign on the front of Cowles.



I had to touch up the sign's stencil marks, but a 000 brush and Optivisor did the trick.
.
The windows and doors were assembled and painted, and glazing was added.  The floor, ceiling, front porch, and sidewalk were completed next.  The roof support posts were installed, the porch braces and roofing were added, the terra cotta chimney was added, windows and doors were inserted in the openings, and an interior floor was added.



The kit didn't have a foundation so I made one from dimensional lumber and carved stones into the exposed faces.



The structure is nearing completion and ready for details.

Have fun,
mike

[friscomike]

Howdy folks,

This build was a lot of fun.  It was my first stucco structure and easy.  Here is the front view without the sidewalk and final signs.




Final side views
 

Final front view


The details are a mix of purchased and home-printed items.  I'll add a Model T panel truck lettered for Cowles to the final scene.

That's a wrap on Cowles General Store.  Hope you enjoyed the show.  BTW, next up is a massive scratch built structure, Parish Livery.

Have fun,
mike

[IWannaRetire]

Mike, thanks for posting this detailed thread. You seem to be as budget-minded as I am, and you're getting great results.  Scratch-building is exactly what I enjoy reading most on a forum.  It's why I was on RR-L and freerails (RIP) before. 

I am thrilled with the results of my 3D resin printer (Mars 3). Here is a sample of details parts that might be hard to find and cost a fortune to ship...

Shipping small things is my frustration as well.  I live halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee, not a retail desert by any measure, except hobby shops!  There's a guy in a small hobby shop in my closest downtown who's open sporadically, with no apparent regularity.  That's fine, I understand.  But when I introduced myself on my first visit and said "I'd like to re-enter the hobby with some scratch-building" he grumbled: "Nobody scratch-builds anymore."  End of conversation. No offer of "I can order for you from Walthers, etc" 

About an hour away, there's an excellent brick and mortar, Des Plaines Hobby, near O'Hare Airport.  Being an hour away, I'm always making my list and checking it twice.  He has ordered products for me from his large list of vendors as well. 

Ordering online myself for one or two small items usually costs as much or more to ship as the item.

I'm following the 3D printing threads and mentions here closely.  My son-in-law has just related an interest in it for a different hobby, and my grandson is approaching just the right age...



   

[friscomike]

Howdy folks,

The next structure on my list is Parish Livery and Drayage. The structure was built from scratch and designed in Affinity Designer. I don't have a pretty design to share but have enough to give you an idea of the preliminary design. The exterior is board and baton of 12" boards on all sides but the front which will be ship lap.  Wooden shingles are on the roof. The size is 9" wide by 6" tall and 6" deep.

Backstory
Stephonic Parish was a retired Sergeant Major from Ft. Davis in south Texas. Mr. Parish used his 20 years of Army pay savings and bought a mule team and wagon. He started a drayage and transfer business which was a huge success. Eventually, he made enough money from drayage and transfer to buy an abandoned old livery stable in Quitaque. Thus, he opened Parish Livery and Drayage. In addition to mule teams, horses, and wagons, Mr. Parish purchased a motor truck, too. Services offered are regular livery and stable, horse sales, and drayage/transfer to Floydada and Turkey. (Steve Parish, the structure's namesake, is a fellow modeler, veteran, and good friend at the Texas Western Model Railroad Club.)

Here is where it all started


The Parish LIvery dimensions are 9"W X 6"D X 6.5" High and cut from 1/8" bass plywood. One side is open and the other enclosed. The scribe lines you see in the photos are for batten guides. The middle photo shows the inner front wall. The outer wall will be board and batten. A peak crowns the front along with crown moldings. A small corral will adjoin the back of the structure. The initial planning for color is barn red like I've done on Choctaw Lumber structures with a faded white front.

Front wall cut and laid out



Rear wall and interior walls


Exterior side walls


That's it for now.  Stay tuned!

Have fun,
mike