Construction Update #6 - 2nd Placerville Residence, Truck Dump and Scale & Roster Additions

 

The Second Residence

 September 14, 2023

 

The second residence to the north is smaller than it's neighbor to the south.  After studying the one good photo I had from the Denver Public Library Digital Collection and the Mike Blazek plan included with the Steve Harris article in the Sept/Oct 2015 issue of the Gazette it became clear there were some pretty significant discrepancies when it came to doors and windows.  I choose to base my model primarily on the photograph and taking the overall dimensions from the plans.  The prototype was small, about 375 square feet.

I ended up eliminating about 4 scale feet from the front half of the building due to space limitations.  I also changed the window next to the door.  As is normally my practice when it comes to scratch building a structure, the core is cut from styrene followed by a layer of scribed wood.  I took the liberty of adding a window to the north side.  It doesn't show up in the plans nor is there a photo of the north side, but it just made since to me.  I left the back wall blank because it will be right up against the backdrop but I think a window or two on the back wall seems logical.

Here it is ready for installation on the layout.

The Truck Dump 

 September 19, 2023

 

The truck dump was built with a few natural twigs purchased from Bob Rorabaugh rorabaugh@msn.com.  Bob sells a variety scenic details including trees, tree making supplies and ground covers. 

 

The Truck Scale

September 21, 2023

As I mentioned in the last post, I am going to include the truck scale along with the dump in my Placerville Scene.  Since I haven't found any pictures of the actual scale, I did a little research on the internet and came up with a photo of a scale appropriate for my time frame.  Most if not all of the truck scales I found were pretty simple. 

There are three major components; the pit normally made from concrete, the weigh bridge that may be a combination of wood, steel or concrete, and the scale (normally Fairbanks Morris) that was housed in a small shack adjacent to the weigh bridge.  Older weigh stations had the weigh bridge and scale connected by a series of levers.  

Here is a picture of the "typical" 1940's era weigh station.

Weigh Bridge Detail.

 

My model of the scale house is actually the second model I built. The first model was built using a Banta Modelworks Miners Cabin.  I didn't care for the way the structure went together, especially the door and window frames that appeared much to thick in my opinion, so I decided to replace it with a scratch built version using Tichy doors and windows.  The shingles are from American Model Builders.  The stone foundation, that will be set into a slope, was assembled using more left over parts from the Monster Modelworks Placerville Store kit.

A Third Residence

 

As I continue to study photographs from various sources, I keep coming accross additions for my Placerville scene.  I found this picture on the Denver Public Library's Digital Collection.  It sat behind the depot between the store and the garage. Its another relataively easy scratch building  project.  Again, I will have to cut down the depth due to my space limitations..

Placerville 

September 23, 2023

 

Here is an up to date photo of Placerville less the scale house.  As it turned out, I did have just enough room to put the store in its proper location behind Warehouse A/B.  But, I decided to raise it up a few scale feet so it could be more easily viewed.  The structure on the far left is the Miners Supply from Wild West Models.  I haven't been able to find a good photograph of the actual false front building that was located here but it does show up in the background of the lead photo in this post (North and South residences).  For now I will use the Miners Supply but if I do come up with a good photo of the prototype, I'll probably replace it.

 

Roster Additions

RGS pre-wreck K-27 #455 is a brass factory painted  model from P-B-L.  Caboose #404 is also a factory painted model from P-B-L  It was the only "Long" caboose on the RGS.

As always, your comments, suggestions and questions are welcome

sdepolo@outlook.com