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Blossburg, Northern Pacific Railway Depot, |
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Author: |
Dean O’Neill |
Introduction
The following is a
description of process I went through to build a model of the Northern Pacific
Railway station at Blossburg. I am an intermediate modeler, so if you are an
advanced modeler, you can probably skip this write up. To build this kit, I
modified the Northern Pacific Railway Station kit from American Model Builders
(AMB).
The Prototype
The Blossburg station was
built at the West end of Mullan tunnel in the
1890’s. It does not follow a strict Class A, B or C configuration, but it
is closest to a plan C configuration (the AMB kit describes these three
configurations). I have photos of the west, south and east sides, but not the
“back” of the station, the north facing side so I had to guess on
that side. Here are a few photos of the actual structure, crude as they are, so
you can see what I was modeling.
Images
courtesy of “The North Coast Limited Across the
Rockies” by
Surprisingly, the best
photographic resource for this structure that I could find is a video,
“The North Coast Limited Across the
Rockies” by
The station has a standard
depth of 24 feet and standard height of 13 feet, but a short length at 36
feet. When I mention the front,
back, left or right end of the station, I am assuming I am standing on the tracks
looking at the bay windows.
Modifications
Both the sides and the ends
needed to be modified to get the right configuration. For the ends, neither end
had windows like the AMB kit so I decided to cut completely new ends out of Northeastern Scale Lumber scribed siding --
3/32" spacing by 1/16” thickness. This was actually pretty easy,
just put the kit’s sides on top of the new material, scribe and then cut
the new sides. The key is to keep the blade straight up and down so the
dimensions are exact. Here is a picture of the old and new sides (new sides are
on the right):
Next
I needed to cut the door opening on the east end. I based this door on a Grant
Line door, Walthers Part # 300-5163. You can see in
the picture, I just cut the top off and moved the top trim down and then cut
out two window panes.
For
the sides, I decided to only cut off the right (east) end of the station, and
leave the left end alone, even though ideally I would have taken out 2 feet
next to the bay window. I left the right front as just a bare wall, which
matched the video as best as I could tell. I cut a tab to match my end wall,
and added a slot type hole in the wall to hold the one brackets on this wall
segment. For the back side, I chose to include the freight door in the AMB kit
even though Blossburg probably had little fright. I had no photo to go from and
I thought it would be better than nothing. On the other end of the back wall, I
used the door opening already in the AMB kit.
The
hardest part of modifying the walls was the bay window. I had to reduce the bay
window from 3 windows down to 2. To make a long story short, I cut the center
window out right at the window edge, and then connected the two halves with
little strips of wood on the inside.
Additionally
challenging were the interior walls. I was not interested in doing a full
interior, but I needed some walls to extend and be the sides of the bay window.
I cut a new slot for the wall tabs to sit into on the floor, but got the
placement wrong and had to keep filing and filing until the slot lined up with
the new 2 bay window wall I had created. I put in some scrap wall panels and
glued them in to help support the interior walls. Here is a picture of a
“test assembly” using masking tape to make sure everything fits
together:
Next
I painted all the individual parts (my first airbrush project) and the peel and
stick siding trim parts. I used Floquil paint in the
following formula for the main station color:
1 part Floquil Foundation
3 parts Floquil Reefer
White
Once
the parts were dry, I assembled the station.
The
roof was pretty simple; I just hacked off the right hand end of the roof
provided with the AMB kit. The Blossburg prototype has a simpler end structure
vs. the AMB kit. You need to make it hang over the end of the building long
enough so that the brackets attach and hold the roof up. The only hard part was
calculating the placement of the end brackets on the gables so they match up
right with the roof. I don’t have any precise location to give you, just
get as close as you can.
Before I put my two roof
halves together, I put the AMB roofing on the two halves. I then painted it
flat black to simulate common asphalt shingles. I did not like the look. So I
pealed the whole roof off the wood and did some digging around. In the Narrow
Gauge Gazette, I found a recommendation for some real wood shingles from
Crystal River Products. I installed them and LOVE them. I used “Silver
Wood” by Builders in Scale to stain the roof, lightly sanding after the
dye had dried. For the smokestacks, I used the two included in the AMB kit, and
positioned them straight up from the two internal walls. For the tar that
connects the brick smokestacks to the roof, I mixed black food coloring into
white glue and used it to hide gaps and defects where the roof meets the
smokestack. I always like having a great roof on kits, since you look at the
roof first on almost any kit.
Detailing
With all the walls assembled
and the roof done, it was time to detail the kit. I made the station signs in Microsoft
Word, with the font set to Arial Rounded MT Bold, 7pt. With the word Blossburg,
the sign ended up being .09 in height and .68 in width. I then mounted the
paper signs on some thin plastic, using stick glue (the type they use for
sticking photographs to paper). I also added some power line conduit made out
of .025 brass wire, and fabricated a power box out of scrap plastic. I also
installed Grandt
Line outdoor lamps above the doors, and some B.T.S door knobs. As they
always say, adding some simple details always improves the quality of the
overall kit dramatically.
Wrap Up
To complete the scene, I
built two small side sheds out of scrap wood and some more of the scribe
siding. I had fun making the largest shed, its roof “droops” in the
middle. To achieve that effect, I turned the completed kit upside-down and
poured some white glue in the top. After letting it dry some, I turned it over
and held it down with my thumb for 3 minutes or so and then held it down
further with a makeshift weight. Luckily, it held the depressed shape, adding a
nice visual effect.
I added some weathering with
highly diluted paint, and then later with some black chalk and a paint brush.
Presto, 5 months later,
Blossburg station. I sure learned a lot making this kit.