MikeyChris
I considered using styrene, but decided to use wood for this project. I have not built much since 1990 ad am slowly getting back into the groove. I felt the need to build in wood. :-)
I chose styrene for construction because it's faster with which to work and much more durable than the basswood models which I made before Evergreen started making their extensive line of scratchbuilding materials.
Had I wanted the pens to look less well-maintained, I would have painted them to look like bare, weathered wood, then added the white paint in a manner that looked more worn and weatherbeaten. The photos are older ones, and I've since added more weathering, even though the cattle still appear to be suffering from constipation.
MikeyChris
doctorwayne
The assembly was done on a sheet of 1/4" balsa,
I was gonna use a wood or Masonite for my base, but was afraid the scenery process would severely warp it. Did you have any serious warping?
I used the balsa only as an aid for assembly of the planks and posts, building each of the multiple pen walls into sub-assemblies, which were then put together on the plywood layout top used in this particular area.
A pencil drawing, on paper, of the plank and post spacing was placed over the balsa, then covered with a sheet of waxed paper. This allowed me to use straight pins to hold the components in alignment on the drawing, which was visible through the waxed paper. The pins placed to denote one side (top or bottom) of the planks can be left in place for all similar sides of the pens, with fewer, temporary ones installed on the opposite side of individual boards to keep them aligned while glue is applied. With styrene, the solvent-type cement dries quickly, and those temporary pins can be removed within minutes, so that the completed wall can be lifted and a new one layed out.
The waxed paper was used to prevent the cement from sticking the assembled walls to the paper drawing, and would serve the same purpose when building yours from wood, regardless of the type of glue or cement used.
Thanks. I didn't start out as a CN modeller, but a good friend is, and I've done a great deal of work for him, which sorta drew me into CN modelling for myself. I started out painting brass models for him, through a local hobbyshop, but when we finally met, a friendship developed and the jobs just grew - repairs, upgrading locos, brass and plastic, to match specific prototypes, some scratchbuilding, etc., etc. He supplies prototype photos and lots of books with photos and prototype data, and I usually build what he wants and a copy or two for myself.MikeyChris
I like the horse car. Where did you find plans for it?
It's always nice to see a fellow CNR modeller's work.
The horse express car was done from a photo of the Grand Trunk prototype, along with a drawing and technical data, all in his copy of the Lepkey/West book on CNR Passenger Equipment 1867-1992, which spends more time in my library than it does his.
Here's a photo of a CNR T-3-a, built, like the ten prototypes, from a USRA 2-10-2, in this case a re-motored Akane:
Wayne
