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 | Atlas White Picket Fences

Also from my e-Hobbyland order -- an Atlas Picket Fence and Gate set in HO scale, sheep not included!

The set comes molded in pristine white plastic so I just had to give it a once over with ModelColor 005 Ivory.




Atlas Picket Fence & Gate Set

As I mentioned in an earlier article, ModelColor's line of water-based acrylic paints makes for fast cleanup -- just run the paintbrush under running tap water.



Painting the picket fence with ModelColor 005 Ivory

Once painted, I had to cut the fence to appropriate lengths.

Gluing the corners with Tamiya Cement I placed the fence so that it fit squarely around the house.



Atlas Picket Fence installed. Note hinged door and glue blob on upper window -- whoops!

I also had to decide on the positioning of the picket fence's 'gate', relative to the front door of the house. I figured the best placement would be to position it off-center from the front door -- left slightly ajar in this pic.

Yes, the door is hinged to the door-frame and can be opened and closed. The house is from a Pola Windmill set I purchased locally.

A little green shrubbery, courtesy of Busch, adds to the realism.

That's what I like about taking pictures of my layout. Somehow, pictures reveal certain details that we may have overlooked.

Like the huge blob of Tamiya cement on the corner of the upper casement window of the house above!

Below is the windmill scene on my layout before I installed the Atlas Picket Fence. Looking at the pic I realise that I still have to cover the base of the windmill with ground cover to hide the plastic base and make it blend into the landscape. Details, details..



The Pola Windmill set includes the windmill and the two houses I placed on each side.

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

Constance Signal Tower Model Kit by Faller

Model Kit | Busch Oxeye Daisies

These are the Oxeye Daisies by Busch. At 1/87 scale, a keen eye and tweezers are required for putting these babies together..

Busch Oxeye Daisies

This kit requires first painting the ends of the stalks a rust red before assembling the flower petals. These will form the center of each flower.

Then, the ring of petals (thankfully molded in yellow plastic) is slipped on the end of each stalk with a tiny bit of glue to form a complete flower. Each flower stalk is then glued on to the base. Definitely not for the faint of heart or weak of eye.

For an idea of the scale of these flowers, the fabric this model is sitting on is 300 thread cotton!

I placed the daisy beds on either side of the front entrance to the Chapel on the Hill. I imagine they are tended to by the local friar, perhaps?


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Busch Oxeye Daisy at the entrance to the Chapel on the Hill

Looking at the detail of this pic, I'm reminded that I need to cover the green plastic bases of the daisy flower beds with fine Earth Blend.

And I'm glad I had my Woodland Scenics Gentle Grips tweezers for this task!