Passenger Station Diorama


tompm

Active Member
In this topic I will discuss the construction of my second diorama. This one will depict a passenger station along a branch line. The branch line runs along a creek and crosses under a highway and a trolley line. The station serves the local rural community and the nearby amusement park. I may in the future add the necessary facilities to handle the local milk traffic. This is diorama is based on what might have been if my fictitious RLK&T had been built along the Crum Creek Valley at the point where West Chester Pike and the Philadelphia & West Chester Traction Company trolley line crossed the creek. The amusement park is based on Castle Rock Park which was owned by the P&WCTC and located along Crum Creek near West Chester Pike in Edgemont, PA.

The kit that I chose for the station is Model Power’s HO Scale Station and Freight Shed. As I was constructing the kit I realized that I have this kit except it was called Arlo Station and was marketed by AHM I believe. Model Power added a cupola and some dormers but the rest of the kit is the same.

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The first thing I noticed about the kit was I did not like the red and white colors. I decided to change them to a yellow/cream and green that is prototypical for this area. There are several stations in that are painted similarly in the Philadelphia area.

Here are the walls with the undercoat applied.

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Now the final colors.

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The paints I used are as follows:
Undercoat: Apple Barrel Dolphin Gray (20781) thinned with blue windshield washer fluid (1:1). (Also used for the roof).
Final Colors:
Folk Art Green Meadow (726) thinned with blue windshield washer fluid (1:2)
Folk Art Sunflower (432) thinned with blue windshield washer fluid (1:2)
 
Looks great!..The colors changed that whole kit for the better. Fill me in on something: I have heard of the washer fluid usage before, is this used as a thinner for airbrushing or does it actually do something for the weathering and color of the paint? If it works in airbrushes as a thinner that would be a big money saver over the thinner prices!!
 
Tompm Just like trucula wrote, the colors of the building you've chanched are far more better than the "originals"
Like the colors you chose!Great..

Jos
 
What? Am I the only one that likes the grey plastic look?

Well I have agree, I like the undercoat too. It has the weathered blue/gray wood color...Nice shade of a primer.....I just didn't like the color on the box...It looks too fake and toy-like. I also like how the windows were attached to the chair rail/trim boards, what a time saver! And that whole kit is a great space saver for a small layout, Gives you the advantages of a passenger station and a freight terminal all in one!...Great choice!
I shoulda took a couple shots of the house I was working on last night, we took several kits and kit bashed them to look like area homes. We took pictures of the real places, printed off copies and passed them out to members with the kits that were close to it....All we had to do was redo most of the trim or porches to match the originals. Nice simple project!
 
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LOL...your right Chip!...He should send a pic of his completed kit....maybe they'll change their box and sell allot more!
 
Thanks folks!

One thing I forgot in my opening is that this project stretches over a 3 year time period. I began it in late 2004. That is why it will seem like I am working at a very fast pace. Also explain why some of the photos are not high quality. I was using a VGA camera for many of the early ones. The diorama was added to the layout a few months ago.

Part of the reason I am posting this is because several people wanted to know how I got to this.
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I have heard of the washer fluid usage before, is this used as a thinner for airbrushing or does it actually do something for the weathering and color of the paint? If it works in airbrushes as a thinner that would be a big money saver over the thinner prices!!

Several years ago I was having problems with Polly S paint clogging in my airbrush. I tried various thinners but nothing seemed to work. Finally someone suggested blue windshield washer fluid. It worked and I have not used anything since. I use it in the airbrush, for brush painting, and for washes. It works great with the craft acrylic paints that I use.
 
Several years ago I was having problems with Polly S paint clogging in my airbrush. I tried various thinners but nothing seemed to work. Finally someone suggested blue windshield washer fluid. It worked and I have not used anything since. I use it in the airbrush, for brush painting, and for washes. It works great with the craft acrylic paints that I use.

I use it for airbrushing thinner, too.
 
COOL!! Thanks for the tip!...that will save me a few bucks!!...well I will wait till after season because that stuff is in demand now!!...I guess it should be used with water based paints and not enamels that would require proper thinning.
 
Several years ago I was having problems with Polly S paint clogging in my airbrush. I tried various thinners but nothing seemed to work. Finally someone suggested blue windshield washer fluid. It worked and I have not used anything since. I use it in the airbrush, for brush painting, and for washes. It works great with the craft acrylic paints that I use.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
I thought that I was the only one in the world that had a problem with acrylics and an air brush. Constant cleaning of my air brush had me so frustrated that I was about to switch to solvent based paints. I thought that I had tried everything, but this is great news.;) :)
 
After I began assembly I felt that the station walls needed something. After searching the LHS’s I found some signs by Blair Line. I attached various signs on the walls.

I did not like the look of the clear plastic window glazing that was included with the kit. I thought it was too thick. I replaced it with clear styrene from Plastruct. For the shades I cut up a manila folder and glued the shades on.

Next I did some weathering by dry brushing some Folk Art Charcoal Gray.

This was eventually followed by the assembly of the four walls. I toyed with the idea for a while of making a base from Plaster of Paris. In the end I just went with the base that was included.

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In one my visits to the LHS I discovered some lights. I painted the lights meadow green and attached at various points around the structure.
 
For the roof I looked at the roof and the sample picture on the box and determined that the shingles seem to resemble wood shingles. I then looked around the neighborhood for examples. I realized that wood shingles vary in color and that there is no consistency or pattern of colors on older roofs. Therefore, I decided to use a technique similar to what I used on the rock castings. I dabbed various colors of paint on the roof and then hit it with a wash of the dominate color. I tried using washes for all the applications like the rock castings but because the roof is plastic they did not work. Paint straight from the bottle seemed to work the best. I used in order Folk Art Clay Bisque (601), Cinnamon (913), Burnt Sienna (943), Maple Syrup (945), Raw Sienna (452), and Asphaltum (476). For the final wash I used 2 applications of a Cinnamon and blue windshield washer fluid mixture. I sealed it with Dullcoat.

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Now I assembled the cupola and attached it. Next, came the dormers. Lastly the chimney and stove pipe were attached.

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A final coat of weathering and the station building was basically complete. I still may add additional details as I think of them and find them.

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More to come later including the diorama itself.
 
For the diorama base I started out with a bunch of pink foam that I had leftover from when I torn down the first layout.

april3e.jpg


After I shaped the foam I began planning the walls and bridge abutment. First I made forms using scrap pink foam which I secured with Elmer’s caulk in a bottle. I then poured plaster of Paris. Once it had set up I removed the forms.

Then using a brad held by a pin vise I carved the stones. I occasionally misted the PoP to keep it carving easy. Sorry about the picture quality. At the time I was having lighting and camera issues.

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