I don't know how long this kitbashing spree will last but since I'm in the groove, let's revist a few more structures before I go back to the Murray Bay and Monk Subdivision.
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| A classic old Life-Like kit that was given to our club |
Trackside shanties were a staple of model railroading in the steam and transition era. Over the years, many manufacturers offered their own vision of what was a shanty. While following the same general appearances, most varied greatly in dimensions. For instance, the well-known Atlas shanty is probably among the larger while the Revell one is diminutive. Life-Like offered several ones that were falling in the middle.
The quality of these models varied greatly. Personally, I was never fond of Atlas weird side window and the open door. As for the Life-Like offering, they were in general quite nice. The Revell one was kind of interesting but could be improved in the detail department.
Building upon my experience with Arlee station, I decided to apply the same improvements to these littles shanties that were rotting in our club closet. Could they be made to look good? Could their details be standardized to reduce the difference between them and create a sense of family? Surely it could!
As with all
the cheap kits in our collection, these ones were poorly painted, poorly
assembled and messed up by big blobs of glue. The Revell shanty was missing its
door and windows while the Life-Like one had lost its smokestack. They all took
a bath in the ultrasonic cleaner with some Castrol Super Clean. Then, they were
ready to be dismantled and all the glue removed.
Once again,
I reached my box of Tichy windows and started to look for suitable ones. After
looking at prototype pictures, I became convinced that 2/2 sash windows were
the best fit for most cases. I removed some mullions from 4/4 windows to get the right results.
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| The Life-Like windows were ludicrously small for HO |
The Life-Like shanty also got a new door and windows. The original windows were far too small to look realistic and the details on the door made it looks weird and unrealistic. I decided to use the same windows than the Revell shanty and a similar door too. Using plastic sprues, I crafted a new smokestack and added a wooden plinth and a stair. I also sanded off the cheap wooden shingle texture on the roof. I will add new tar paper made of construction paper later on.
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| A fully refurbished Life-Like shanty |
The Revell shanty got some basic modifications including a scratchbuilt door, new fascias and the replacement of the clunky shelf brackets with smaller ones. Wooden texture was added to the walls and the chimney was hollowed out with a drill to make it more realistic. Fortunately, the Tichy windows were almost a perfect fit. The structure was raised on a wooden foundation and a stair made of a big lumber added in front of the door.
Almost every detail was touched up on the Revell shanty
The Atlas shanty was never my favourite, thus it required more thoughtful interventions. The side windows was reduced in width to accommodate a Tichy 6/6 sash window. A piece of Evergreen metal siding had the same profile than the board and batten siding of the kit. A new door was also added in the same pattern than the other shanties. Fascias were added and the roof tarpaper texture sanded off. Once completed, the kit acquired a new identity that is better looking and which could easily be a standard structure on a model railway.
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| A better proportioned window completely changes the Atlas shanty |
The kits were primed and got a dark wash to bring the texture out. It was followed by a coat of buff paint. Hairspray was applied to the windows, doors and trims, covered with light brown acrylic paint and chipped away with a stiff brush and water. A dark wash and some white drybrushing was added later to improve the weathered look.
Different size yet similar in details.
These
shanties took about a day of work and probably less if I wasn’t fighting
against kits that had been poorly assembled. The modifications didn’t cost that
much and provided me with structures that have a better level of details while staying
quite affordable and attractive. They would be at home anywhere trackside!
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| Revell shanty |
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| Life-Like shanty |
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| Atlas shanty |
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