ModelRailroadForums.com is a free Model Railroad Discussion Forum and photo gallery. We cover all scales and sizes of model railroads. Online since 2002, it's one of the oldest and largest model railroad forums on the web. Whether you're a master model railroader or just getting started, you'll find something of interest here.
here is a little HO service station I built out of the junk box --most of it was made from some Plasticville scraps , part of a "sububan house" and a "bank" . The drive way was the house's patio. The gas pumps are scratch built with brass and styrene rod, tires are "O" rings , oil containers also brass and the barrels wood. there was a bucket and squegge for washing windows but it went south.
Thanks for looking.
Dave
Thanks , but I assure you it was mostly junk box stuff.
The tires are actually easy to do and best of all cheap! What one does is mount the O rings on a shaft that can be put in a drill , then sping them against a sanding disk in a dremel or just sandpaper on the bench till you have a slight flat surface for the tread to go on. Then using a "splatter screen" from the utensil isle at the supermarket. They look like a little tennis racket and are made of very fine screen. I use a torch , but I am sure the gas kitchen stove would work , heat a bit of the screen red hot and with the "tire" on something you can roll it along the screen with burn the tread in. You will only get a bit of a tread at a time so try to make each pass match up with the last. You can get different tread patterns by using different angles across the screen , diagonal to the weave makes "knobby" or snow & mud tires! If you buy O rings at a place like Fastenal they cost about 2 -3 dollars a hundred , if they are too big in diameter , cut them down and super glue the ends together. I use mostly 3/32 to 1/8 thick ones.
Beautiful work! I've been eyeing o-rings for tires for a while but you pulled it off. Being a big plasticville fan, I think your base building is called the 'cape cod' house. The suburban is a very low one story. Either way nice use of it.
Beautiful work! I've been eyeing o-rings for tires for a while but you pulled it off. Being a big plasticville fan, I think your base building is called the 'cape cod' house. The suburban is a very low one story. Either way nice use of it.
Thanks Gary ,
They do work well, in more than HO -- I use them also for all my S scale junk yard, here is a sample of wheels and tires in S scale . Including some wire wheels I made. The metal items are what are called "anchor or crush " nuts for thin metal, 10/24 is just right for 1/64 cars. One picture shows some with a wheel center made from aluminum baking pan.and a tire made to look flat. Just sanding off a flat spot won't really look right , so this effect was done by gluing abd painting a bit of a rubber band to the bottom.
The only part that I think came from the suburban is the one story rock front and the curved door which were supposed to be picture windows, the clapboard gables I have no memory of whence they came.
Happy you like it in any case , Thanks.
Dave
Dave, That actually sounds more like the split level house. Again, anyway you did it you did it well. I would like to see a write up on the gas pumps myself.
Dave, That actually sounds more like the split level house. Again, anyway you did it you did it well. I would like to see a write up on the gas pumps myself.
Gary ,
Not being a plasticville fan or expert , I will take your word for it --all I know was it was a few pieces I found in the scrap heap, not hard to make a silk purse out of a sows ear --- IF you have a SILK SOW!
When I get to Colorado and get my hobby stuff back and can play again I will build another set of Gas pumps -- perhaps they will turn out a bit different because I don't remember now just HOW I did them , the enlarged picture of them makes them look tapered , if they actually are, then I must have turned them partially on my unimat lathe, I do know that the hose is made of "rubber legs" . They are something you get at a flytieing shop and are very handy for a lot of things . There is a toothpick along side them so you can see the size. The glass top is a piece of lucite rod with a hole drilled up in it and some varnish dabbed in it for gas. Anyway, when I do another Gas pump , I will take pictures along the way.
Those "rubber legs" look real handy! I'll have to see if I can pick some up. Not sure if I'm seeing correctly or not, but it does look like there are lathe bands on the pump stands...
You've shown some great tips in this thread (and your other one). Thanks!
Yeah, those rubber legs look like just the thing to use as hydraulic hoses on the Norscot HO earthmoving equipment, much more realistic looking than the black wire I was thinking of using. I'll have to go and check out the local fishing supplies shop.
Those "rubber legs" look real handy! I'll have to see if I can pick some up. Not sure if I'm seeing correctly or not, but it does look like there are lathe bands on the pump stands...
You've shown some great tips in this thread (and your other one). Thanks!
Yeah , I 'm thinking I might have turned the pump bases on the unimat --- been a while since I built that model -- about 8 years or so.
I never make notes or take pictures of progress --- not till I got hooked up with Railroad forums that is!
What the Rubber legs are for is to make legs on bugs and things when making fishing lures so be sure to find a shop catering to flytieing people.
