№ 135 ~ The Paying Passengers

How Many Passenger Figures Can I Pack In To This Model?

"...and for the carriage trade, I puts on my Hat!"

The 1915 Panama California Exposition is in full swing and the streetcars are filled to capacity with excited visitors. To try to capture the feel of this, I'm going to attempt to see how many figures I can fit in this model.

Space is terribly limited though by that big ol' motor and mechanism. So I'm squeezing in figures wherever I can.

The SDERy Class 1 cars are of the "California Car" style. That is one end is open to take advantage of the fair weather, and the other end is the enclosed "all-weather" section. This open-end section (above) is where I was able to add the most figures since it has only a few obstructions. Notice I did seat the woman on the left on the motor mount! The motorman will be standing on the platform on the right.

The enclosed section is a little more challenging with the mechanism being housed in that portion of the model. But I was able to fit a few figures in there. That seat has to go unfilled so as to have access to that screw hole.

Well I've been painting my motormen all wrong. A visit to the San Diego Electric Railway Museum in San Diego I learned that the motorman's uniforms were actually a dark brown (not blue). Which makes sense since the cars the men motor are yellow trimmed with brown. These guys are an accessory to accent the car! This is an Andrew Staddon figure.

Full Car! I don't think I can fit anymore figures in this car. For those of you keeping score, I was able to fit 14 figures in there. Almost time to close her up. But before I do that I will be fabricating some window shades to help hide the stuff I don't want seen and empasize what I do want seen. Until next time-

Car full- Next car please! 

Yes sir! 

Next car please!

Dandy

Backesto Block Bldg ~ Interior

Constructing the Interior Walls and Stairs

to Add Strength to the Structure.

It turns out that storing styrene as a roll is not at all a good idea.  Eventually the styrene won't roll out flat- it will have a permanent bend to it. So! To try to get the walls of this building as perfectly straight as possible before painting, I'm going to first add the interior walls to try to add strength to the overall structure.

But First - Stairs!

The Backesto has three stairwells.  Frustratingly, prefabricated stairs in HO scale are plentiful, but closed-tread stairs not so much.  I'm going to have to fabricate my own.

Evergreen #159 .060 x .250" styrene makes for a good tread size.

The next tread overlaps by about half. I kept adding and building up until...

Stairs! Styrene sheet the same thickness as the treads was used for the midway landing.

Floor, and ground floor walls are permanently glued into place. The grid pattern supplying a lot of rigidity to the model. The second floor and roof will be removable so that interior details and lighting can be accessed.

I think we are in a good spot to proceed to the painting of the building now.

Yes sir!

In a good spot!

Dandy