Monday, October 19, 2026

№ 135 ~ Shady Business

 Adding Window Shades

to our advantage.

Lots of lights, weights, wires, and a decoder hanging down from the ceiling. I would like to obscure as much of this as I can, while at the same time accentuate some of the details that I want to be seen. The solution to this are window shades.

San Diego's Class 1's didn't seem to have window shades at first but at some point they were added to help keep the sun off the riders. So I'm prototypically correct to use them here.


0.10" Sheet Styrene should work great for this. 

Instead of cutting individual window shades, I cut them as a group for ease of painting and installing. These are strategically cut for maximum exposure or concealment depending on if I'm trying to display what's behind that window or hide what's there. If a big ol' motor frame is there then the shade is mostly closed. If a pricey Preiser figure is behind the window then the shade is wide open. 

For these ladies admiring the powerful workings of № 135 I'll probably have the shades part way down so that the ladies are visible but the mechanism not so much. Note that I was able to slip a 1/4oz weight under the gears. Every bit of weight counts!

Painted, 50/50 mix of Roof Brown and White. Sealed with DullCote which did a nice job of killing the shine. 

Glued into place with canopy glue.


How's THAT for personality? № 135 is looking like one hard working streetcar! And the window shades are doing what they are designed to do, only show what I want to be seen and keeping the workings out of sight.

Yes sir!
One hard working streetcar!

Dandy

Monday, October 05, 2026

Backesto Block Bldg ~ Marquee Market

 Modeling a Turn-of-the-20th-Century Market.

Going ALL OUT on a FULLY DETAILED Interior.

Being situated at the very edge of the layout, my model of the Backesto Block Bldg can be scrutinized quite closely. So for the buildings first tenant I'm going to seriously deck-it-out with detail.

The market will occupy the storefront on the left. Good as place an any.

What I'm Thinking:


Bountiful produce spilling out of the store and right onto the sidewalk.

From baskets of fruit on the ground to boxes of fruit on barrels and benches to pyramids of cans rising in the windows - it just keeps going up and up and up!

Insanely neatly stacked produce and cans! Even the bananas are neatly fanned out. Cute place too.

What I've got:


Looking around at what's available in HO scale, I was able to pick these up on eBay:

Busch 1071 Marketstand. This has that big leafy produce as well as stackable fruit. Those Jams and Jelly jars really caught my eye. Stacking those in the window with the store lighting behind them may create a stunning stained glass effect.

Preiser 17501 Boxes of Fruit and Vegetables. Great variety of produce. The sacks of potatoes are nice too. I really like that floor scale, that could make for a nice detail in the store.

Preiser 17502 Baskets of Fruit and Vegetables. These are a must since they were quite prominent in those old timey photos.

Okay so this is what I have to work with, Let's see what I can do with them.

Yes sir!
Let's see what I can do!

Dandy