Western Homestead Shanty by Life-Like Trains Part 2 | Water Tank and Windmill

Also part of Life-Like Train's Western Homestead Shanty model kit is this Water Tank and Windmill.

The main challenge here was putting together all those wooden struts together cleanly, without using too much glue. As always, Tamiya Extra-Thin cement is the best model kit glue for this type of intricate handiwork.

Life-Like Trains Water Tank and Windmill.

I painted the water tank, wooden supports and windmill struts with Humbrol's Matt Dark Brown.

Realistic, but pretty dull.

I think I will get hold of some matt dark green paint and paint over the wooden supports, just like the suggested paint scheme on the image on the box.

The blades on the windmill came pre-painted, or should I say, electroplated, a nice brushed-aluminum. It looks pretty good, so I'll leave that as is. Plus, it's nearly impossible to get that high degree of electroplated smoothness with regular brush-on paints, especially for plastic parts that are supposed to look metallic.

Detail of water tank, wooden struts and supports, with wood barrels added in this picture. The white fence is for keeping the longhorn steer off the railroad tracks!

The Western Homestead Shanty kit also comes with an assortment of barrels and even a couple of longhorn steer. Family pets, perhaps?

Time to get rid of those ugly, factory-painted white spots on those longhorns, too.

You can read about how I modelled and weathered the Western Homestead Shanty, complete with hanging laundry, in this earlier post:

Western Homestead Shanty by Life-Like Trains

 

Model Kit | Station Platform by Atlas

A model railroad is not quite complete without a station platform.

I had purchased a OO scale station platform by Hornby a while ago -- you know, the grey plastic one that looks a little like a 1/350 scale model aircraft carrier.  Bringing it home, I found it too large to place anywhere on my layout. Funny how things seem a lot smaller when we look at it in the hobby shop. That, and it also lacked the rustic feel that is the main theme of The Sunny Model Railroad.

Station Platform kit by Atlas in HO Scale

My better half found me the perfect station platform in a little train hobbyshop in Melbourne, Australia, of all places. The Station Platform by Atlas was just the right size for my layout and it had that all important rustic vibe I was looking for.

You can see the two halves in the roof that make up the Atlas Station Platform. The modeller has the choice of building either a shorter platfrom using just one half, or a longer platform with both halves glued together.

The Atlas Station Platform kit is actually made up of two halves. You have the option of using just one half of the kit for a smaller station, or both halves glued together to see the longer station platform you see in these pics. I assembled this kit with good 'ol Tamiya Extra-Thin Cement.

Painting this kit was pretty simple -- Model Color's Basalt Grey for the station platform's roof and Cork Brown for the station pillars. Humbrol Silver was used for the station lamps.

Seated figures and baggage handlers are by Woodland Scenics,

Also included in the kit are benches for the passengers, a slightly oversized hand trolley and a luggage weighing scale. I suspect the oversized hand trolley is actually in OO scale. I might relegate it to the spares drawer once I find some more platform accessories to add to the station.

A leather jacketed figure seated on the oversized hand trolley. Contemplating the scenery, I presume? 

The seated Woodland Scenics figures are from the 'People Sitting' set in HO scale. I was amazed at how perfectly they fit on the benches in their sitting positions, their feet exactly touching their ground. The baggage handlers are from Woodland Scenics 'Train Personnel' set. All figures are attached with Scenic Accents glue.

I'm thinking of wiring the station platform up with a small bulb for evening commuters. More on that later.. if I get around to it, that is.


More model kit buildings on The Sunny Model Railroad:

Western Homestead Shanty by Life-Like models

Country Chapel by Faller

Sanding Tower Model Kit by Faller

Atlas Picket Fence and Gate Kit

Constance Signal Tower Model Kit by Faller

House Under Construction Model Kit by Faller

Gantry Crane Model Kit by Faller

Model Kit | Gantry Crane by Faller

I'm quite a fan of Faller model kits, especially their railroad work structures.

This Gantry Crane by Faller was really easy to assemble. All the parts fit together seamlessly, and I had the whole thing put together in less than half an hour.

I love it when a model kit comes together this easily!

Gantry Crane by Faller

The only fiddly bit to put together was the hand-crank gear mechanism at the top of the Gantry Crane. I used black thread to simulate steel cable and wound it round a few times on the wheel before attaching the hook you can see dangling at the end.

I used a drop of PVA glue on the thread to stiffen it so that the plastic hook would look like it had some weight as it hung off the end.

Closeup of the hand-crank detail at the top of the Gantry Crane. I used black thread to simulate steel cable.

The picture on the box suggested that the structure should be painted a brown, wooden color. I wanted it to stand out a bit more on my layout so I went with Model Color's white acrylic paint instead.

I used a thin coat of white paint to allow the underlying grey of the plastic kit to show through, which automatically gave it that aged and weathered look. Piece of cake!

A view from the top of the Gantry Crane. Note the simple weathering technique I used for the wooden structure.

In this mini-diorama, the Gantry Crane is supposed to look like it is loading lumber from the nearby lumber yard onto the Fleischmann wagon.

The figures pictured here are from Woodland Scenics Dock Workers set.

The Gantry Crane operator is from Woodland Scenics Dock Workers set in HO scale.

I really like the detail of the the two workers carrying the wooden crate. Makes me want to get out the fine black felt-tip pen to give these two some distinct facial features!

The odd one out from the Dock Workers set is the worker with his hand on his chin. And since he was the only one who appeared to not be doing anything, I decided make him the Gantry Crane operator.

There are few more figures from the Dock Workers set not pictured here because I haven't gotten around to placing them on the layout yet!

Woodland Scenics Dock Workers unloading crate from the orange Vollmer truck. Note lumber yard to the right of the picture.

The bright orange truck in HO scale is by Vollmer. Looking at it in closeup, I think it would benefit greatly from a detailing and weathering treatment. 

I'll do a tutorial on weathering the Vollmer truck very soon.

More model kit buildings on The Sunny Model Railroad:

Western Homestead Shanty by Life-Like models

Country Chapel by Faller

Sanding Tower Model Kit by Faller

Atlas Picket Fence and Gate Kit

Constance Signal Tower Model Kit by Faller

House Under Construction Model Kit by Faller