Once Upon a time.........
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I am a man of few words but lots of pics
I quit drinking beer because the download was taking longer than the upload !
My next diorama is called "Once Upon A Time In The Movies" .It is my idea of how a movie set may have looked like back in the 1960's and is pure fantasy .It is a piece that I have dedicated to the great Italian film director Sergio Leone.The theme is old Western movie making based upon my favorite movie "Once Upon A Time In The West." This diorama will be in 1/24 scale.I plan to have lots of fun with this one !I am presently building a locomotive as a movie prop based upon the old General model kit.Well here goes !
Well I guess that I might as pick up where I left off building the locomotive as a prop to be used in the movie set.You will remember that I am using "The General" kit as my starting point and I am now adapting it to look like a movie prop.There is lots of nice detail to work with here and it is an eye-saving 1/25 scale.This is my first RR diorama and my first attempt at building a scale model locomotive so please if you see that I am going down a wrong path I would appreciate it if you more experienced builders would advise me.I have run electric(yes we had electricity way back then, LOL) trains on and off for 65 years now but never had this building opportunity before.I can't remember exactly what my first train was but it was back in Toronto just after dad returned from overseas about 1945 .I do remember him saying though before one of his flights "Don't leave it plugged in too long you will burn out the transformer"Well he wasn't gone long and I proceeded to do just that.It became a push train after that. :-[
This is my first locomotive build so it is taking me a lot longer than it normally would with an airplane build where I pretty much know where everything goes.The sand box cover and the steam dome came already painted brass but I didn't like it.Too shiny and it needed cleaning up of the flash along the seam lines.I stripped the old paint off,softly sanded them,scrubbed them clean and then applied gold paint which is close enough to a brass color for now.Later when I weather the whole thing I will adjust it as required. The running boards are gray in color and will likewise be weathered later.My final step on any model that is not meant to be handled a lot is the use of pastels.
I have mixed opinions about this kit.The accuracy I cannot vouch for one way or another because I simply do not know enough about locomotives of this era.The quality however shows its age.The main problems are the type of plastic used and the molds.The plastic is of a type that makes it very difficult to remove the all too present flash.Normally I like to do this with a sharp Xacto or some gentle sanding.This is a type of plastic that does not sand well as it is too soft.The larger parts are OK but the small parts are very difficult to work with and break very easily.I have spent a lot of time on repairs.The brass parts all require that the paint be removed, the flash removed ,and then repainted with acrylics.Nothing looks worse than seem lines on shiny brass.The acrylics do not stick to the surface very well and must be lightly sanded,then washed and undercoated with gesso before the final finish is applied.If I was doing this as a stand alone model as a new shiny example of a new locomotive of this era I would have to do a lot of scratch building.For what I am using it for as an old rusty and weathered piece it is adequate for my purposes and should look pretty good when finished properly.The plastic kit making industry has come a long way since this kit was manufactured especially in aircraft modeling in 1/32 scale.The new kits have perfect fits and almost build themselves but as an old time modeler I find that just painting someone else work can be a little boring.I enjoy a challenge and have the time to spend rebuilding stuff whereas most modelers today don't want to invest that much of their free time scratchbuilding.In todays fast paced world it is quite understandable.We are living in the golden era of the kit but it wouldn't last long as they are too expensive for kids now and the old now have the money but are just getting older.In the end our hobby will survive as man has always been fascinated by model making throughout the ages. Maybe scratchbuilding will make a comeback but with a lot fewer modelers doing it though.
I am just starting the interior sheathing of the forward cab wall using coffee stir stiks.This is a long procedure of cut and fit,cut and fit,filing around windows etc....These boards will be painted a weathered green .I have continued to dull the brass using a very thin wash of raw umber either brushed on or sprayed using the old toothbrush method.The exterior of the cab will be painted a weathered orange to look like a well faded red color and then worked over with pastels.This diorama represents a long abandoned movie set.
I have temporarily taped the cab together to make sure that it all fits together before doing the finishing.Now I will break it down again and finish each panel individually.What looks like green barnsiding in the next picture is my standard method of aging wood stir stiks that I have discussed many times before when building old hangars.The important thing to remember is not be too neat and tidy as you want to retain the human randomness element in this type of work for it to look natural.On the other hand,remember only man plants trees in rows.Play with it and above all have fun,don't be in a rush to finish .Treat each object you do as a individual model in itself.Every piece that you do deserves the same attention whether it is that board behind the toilet or the cab instruments or cockpit panel.The key here is consistency and pride in your work !If you make a mistake, so what, 99% of your viewers will overlook any small errors if the story is good.
Almost there ! The window frames could use a few rusty nails and maybe a little greenish patina for the brass.The bottom left where the wall meets the plastic floor already has a nice wood grain effect so I will leave it as is and weather the floor with pastels.A small piece of wood trim should complete this area.It is a good idea to complete everything even things that you figure will not be seen in the finished diorama which is mostly the case at normal viewing distance but the camera has a way of picking up everything good and bad.I take a lot of closeups to check for errors or improvements that could be made to improve" the look " of the piece.My favorite look is old and weathered(like me)Stuff that has some history to it.These kits are wonderful things for the modern diorama maker if you look at them as a good place to start your modeling of any subject.A lot of the hard stuff like research has already been done by the manufacturer so why re-invent the wheel? I check a few measurements in the beginning stages of any build just to see if they are within the ballpark to satisfy myself that it is a good subject for modification.Remember that I am not looking for 100% accuracy here but a good representation of a model to be used as a prop for my diorama.I look at all my work as props to help me tell an interesting story, which in turn gives me a lot of artistic freedom to do as I please.Once it is finished I lose complete interest and go on to the next thing,in fact I usually like the pics more than the diorama itself.Well now back to the subject at hand.I will include a pic here of the kit built out of the box by the manufacturer for comparison purposes.There is nothing wrong with new and shiny or building out of the box it really all depends upon what satisfies you, all of us begin there and some just prefer to develop our own personal style of modeling later on down the road.
Chassis Assembly.Well this looks like a nightmare to put together.Poor instructions,bad fitting of the parts etc..etc..I will have to build a jig to put it all together and keep it all square if there is any hope of having it fit properly to the body of the engine.This kit was from an era when it was expected that modelers would find a way how to do it, far from the "fall together "kits of today.This will be a real challenge but lots of fun nonetheless.First up will be to find a way to stabilize the main frames so that they can be joined together with the other components in between and then install the cross members to tie it all together.Glue alone will not do the trick here so metal pins will be required.You know it makes me wonder how many of these kits actually got finished....