Model railroaders are model builders, and sometimes we build models for layouts that aren’t there anymore, and the old models lose their spot. We like our models, but we don’t have a use for them in any of our new projects, so they go into boxes and get stored under our layouts, slowly disintegrating. I had the model of the tugboat Kansas that I built from a Frenchman River Model Works kit for the Jones Island project on the old Model Railroader staff layout, the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy, and I didn’t want to see that fate befall it. If you have a similar situation, read on to see how to preserve a favorite model.
This was a favorite model for a few reasons. I had chosen the name Kansas because that was my mother’s birth state. She passed away a few years ago, and every time I moved the box with the model in it, I felt like I had to do something with it. It was also a fun model to build, and I put a bit of research into the project to make it a plausible addition to the layout. Slowly, an idea emerged on how I could preserve that favorite model.
In addition to model railroading, I’m also into 1/32 scale slot car racing. Slot cars come in plastic boxes with clear plastic covers.
They’re big enough for the tugboat to fit inside. I realized I could make a small diorama with the boat. At around the same time, my father’s 90th birthday was coming up. Since my mom wouldn’t be there, I thought this memento might be a meaningful gift.
This project also gave me an opportunity to try a few techniques.
Figuring out what would fit
I started by playing around with the boat in the space I had inside the box. I didn’t want to just place the boat squarely in the center of the space, so I set it at an angle. I wanted a dock to tie the boat to. This would give the model a bit of context. While the slot car box came with a plastic base, it had various holes and bumps designed to hold the car in place during shipping, so instead I cut a scrap of pine 1x material for a base. I beveled the edges using a hobby table saw – mine came from Micro-Mark.
When we were tearing down the MR&T and cleaning up the supplies from under that layout, I set aside some of the corrugated steel
bulkhead material Cody Grivno and Jim Hediger used when they first built the harbor scene between the Milwaukee station area and what was then Kelly’s Island. I found a couple of lengths that had been painted and figured out where I could put the dock’s bulkhead wall. I planned to use anchor cement to represent a concrete dock, but I realized I’d have a fairly large expanse of concrete next to the tug, and that didn’t seem too interesting.
Fortunately, I had a bag of Design Preservation Models modular wall sections I had purchased decades ago for an early layout project. I chose a couple of panels — one with a large loading dock door, another with a personnel door and steel window — that would fit in the open corner of the space, leaving a reasonable amount of space between the wall and the bulkhead.
I now had the main elements of the scene: the tugboat, a bulkhead wall, and a warehouse wall. I fiddled around with spacing a bit more, and finalized where the edge of the dock would be.
Getting all the parts ready
Using a miter saw, I cut a slot in the top of the wood base for the bulkhead wall to slot into.
After cutting the bulkhead wall to length, including cutting the ends at an angle to match the shape of the clear plastic slot car box cover, I realized I’d need to pour a big chunk of anchor cement, so I dug into my stash of extruded-foam insulation board for a filler piece to go behind the bulkhead. I also realized the warehouse wall was going to need something behind it. It would have been fun to create an interior scene, but I was on a deadline to complete the project, and I wanted the tugboat to be the star of the scene, so I carved another chunk of foam to go behind the wall and support it.
With all of the main elements worked out, I finished the wall section, painting and weathering them with a mixture of spray paint and various washes to create mortar lines in the brick wall, and dirt and grime on the white-painted doors and window.
To create a tide line on the bulkhead, I gave it a coat of Testor’s Dullcote, then masked the top of the wall, before spraying isopropyl alcohol on the bottom of the wall. The alcohol reacts with the Dullcote and creates a white haze that simulated crustaceans like barnacles stuck to the
wall.
Once the paint and weathering were dry, I glued the wall into the base, with the foam filler behind it.
Trying new techniques
A boat needs water to float in, and this gave me a chance to try something new to create the water surface. I started by tracing the footprint of the boat on the base, then I got out my box of artists acrylic paints, choosing a selection of colors one might see in a harbor.
Since I was after a murky look, I chose medium green, brown, dark green, violet, and ultramarine blue. I used these paints to get the
texture. Instead of painting the color on, I used a carving tool that might have originally been for working with clay. One end has a point on it like a large sewing needle. The other end has a cup-shaped device that’s curved like a scoop. Working from the blobs of paint I’d squeezed out onto a piece of scrap matboard, I mixed colors together until I got the shade I was looking for, then picked up the paint on the back of the scoop and placed it on the surface, which I had previously painted with black craft paint. I kept the dabs of paint more or less in line, creating a vague pattern in the lumpy surface.
Constantly mixing up and picking up dabs of paint created a bit of variation in the color, and the thick acrylic paint held the texture as I was working. In a small area like this, it didn’t take long to cover the surface around where the boat would be.
Once I was satisfied with the color and texture of the surface, I pushed the boat down into the paint. My plan was to pull it free and possibly secure it to the base with a screw, but once the paint set up, the boat stayed securely in place, so I just left it.
I gave the paint several days to harden, then I gave it a top coat of gloss varnish. Overall, I’m pleased with the way the water surface turned out.
Next it was time for the other stretch of my skillset. I glued the foam block that supported the warehouse wall to the foam of the dock,
then glued the wall to the foam. I used foam-safe construction adhesive for these connections. In addition to the concrete dock surface, I also wanted a concrete stair and landing in front of the office door. I made a form from sheet styrene and glued it to the front of the building with white glue so I could pull it off after the cement dried.
I used phosphor bronze wire soldered together to create a railing for the stairs, and also to make a sign bracket for a sign I placed over the door, identifying the warehouse as L&L Worldwide, using my parents’ initials and referencing their enjoyment of travel.
I placed the handrail into the form and mixed the anchor cement according to the directions, tending toward a thicker mixture that I hoped would fill the stair mold in one shot. Concrete contractors are probably starting to shake their heads. While the anchor cement filled the dock areas easily, the mixture wasn’t staying in my form, but was running out of the bottom, and I was down to about a week to go before I had to leave to deliver the model. Instead of a concrete stair, I ended up with a blob of material that I had to scrape smooth. Instead, I used parts of the form to create the stair and landing from plastic, painting it with concrete colored brush paint. While the color was different, I reasoned the stair had to be replaced at some point after years near the water.
Finishing touches
To finish up the project, I stained the anchor cement with a black wash made from India ink and alcohol, which I also used to stain the edge of the wooden base. I enclosed the foam block behind the warehouse wall with thin sheet styrene I brush-painted semi-gloss black. When the black paint was dry, I hung the sign over the door. I used stranded wire stained and painted to represent rope to tie the boat to the dock, and added the plastic cover.
The birthday party was a hit, and the model was well received, and now you know how to preserve a favorite model. All in all, a successful project!
