Woodland Scenics | Rusty's Regret Model Car

This Porsche has been parked outside the Western Homestead Shanty on my layout for the past three years. You might say I enjoyed the inconguence of a brand-spanking-new car outside the rundown shack.

But what was the story here? 

Life Like Train's Western Homestead Shanty. But why is there a Porsche parked outside?

Had the car been won in a raffle by the occupants of said shanty? Was the shanty a front for some illegal activity? Had someone's cover been blown, and they had to take refuge in a little shack on the Sunny Model Railroad, with the dead giveaway being their baby-blue vehicle parked outside?

And is the lady, hanging the laundry out back, an accomplice to these shenanigans?

Recently rummaging through my e-Hobbyland order from a couple of years ago, I realized that there were still several Atlas and Woodland Scenics models yet to be built.

And I was pleasantly surprised when I rediscovered this Woodland Scenics model car, still sealed in the original packaging. I had totally forgotten about it!  I must have had the shanty in mind when I ordered ol' Rusty.

Woodland Scenics Rusty's Regret from their Auto Scenes collection of cars and vehicles.

Woodland Scenics Rusty's Regret is a nicely detailed model, all plastic, though I wish it were die-cast. It could also do with a little more authentic weathering, which I plan to do soon.

Rusty's going to get even rustier after I'm through.

Rusty's Regret in front of the rundown old shanty. Now that's more like it!

There's a certain charm and melancholy in this picture of Rusty against the setting sun coming through the window.

Looking at these pics, I'm inspired to a lay a sandy driveway in front of the shanty instead of the thick flock of grass where the car now sits. One can never be done working on a model railroad.

This picture brings more of the shanty into focus -- note the weathering on the walls and the barrel detail at the side. And I still have to get around to concealing that plastic base!

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

Woodland Scenics | Deer Figures

As I mentioned in an earlier post about Adding Figures To A Model Railroad, I enjoy going 'figure shopping' and looking for new things to add to my model railway.

Seeing this Deer set by Woodland Scenics, I immediately knew where I wanted to place them -- behind the Country Chapel on the hill!



Woodland Scenics Deer. The tree stump in the background is included as part of the set. A nice touch!

I wanted to create an idyllic scene next to the Chapel, with shady trees and lush green grass. No surprise that wild deer might find their way here.

A deer and her foal rest under a tree

I made the tall pine trees with Woodland Scenics Tree Armatures gluing on dark green Clump Foliage for the leaves. The light green tree, under which this deer is resting, was part of an architectural landscape model that someone had abandoned next to a stairwell in a carpark! Pretty cool!



Closer view of the found architectural model tree. Note original white paint on the lower leaves.

I managed to salvage some 18 trees in total from that architectural display. Each tree is profesionally made out of twisted metal wire and every one was spray-painted completely white. Go figure.

To blend them into my layout, I first had to paint over the original white paint. I decided to use various shades of dark green and light green -- the light green to give the impression of sprouting new leaves. You can still make out some of the original white paint in this pic. Oops, missed a spot. Or two..

Also included in Woodland Scenics Deer set was this dramatically leaping stag. I attached it to a steep slope with good ol' Scenic Accents glue. Funny thing about this stag -- I occasionally have to re-attach standing figures because they either fall over, or start leaning at a peculiar angle. This stag has maintained its position since the day I put it on my layout in 2010!



The Leaping Stag. Hmm.. sounds like a good name for a whiskey.

And looking at these deer figures up close, I'll need to break out the magnifying glass and super-fine paintbrushes one of these days to give the factory paint-job a little touch up. Those googly eyes are starting to bother me..

See my earlier post about building the Country Chapel model kit by Faller.

Model Kit | Model Railroad Sanding Tower by Faller

A quantity of sand was carried by trains to prevent their wheels from slipping on the track, providing the necessary friction when the track was wet or oily. The sanding tower loaded sand into a dome situated above the boiler of steam locomotives, where heat from the boiler kept the sand dry. The sanding valve was operated by the train engineer and air pressure dropped dry sand onto the rails just in front of the wheels.

Sanding Tower by Faller

This Sanding Tower model kit by Faller was pretty complicated to put together but thankfully, the instruction sheet was fairly clear as to where all the various bits were supposed to go.

Railway man looks off into the distance from atop the Sanding Tower, contemplating his existence on the Sunny Model Railroad

I used Tamiya Extra-Thin Cement for this kit which helped cut down on the potential mess factor. The great thing about Tamiya Extra-Thin Cement is that it is applied with a brush, giving you ultimate control over how much cement you need use. For a model such as Faller's Sanding Tower which is made up mostly of a complex mesh of very thin plastic struts, the lesser the amount of cement used, the better. You also don't get the unsightly blobs at the joints such as when cement from a tube is used.

A railway man leaps from the second strut of Sanding Tower instead of using the ladder. Note rust weathering on the tower. Also note globs of Scenic Accents Glue used to attach the figure to the Tower. These close-up pics sure do bring out details I would otherwise miss.

True to the prototype, I painted the Sanding Tower kit with Model Color's Basalt Grey. Weathering was done with a light dry-brushing of rust red to simulate, well.. rust.

Scenic Accents Glue was used to attach the figures to the Sanding Tower. The great thing about Scenic Accents Glue is that it doesn't dry out and remains tacky, allowing easy re-positioning of figures on a layout.

Another view of the top of the Sanding Tower. Again Scenic Accents Glue used to affix the figure is clearly seen around his shoes.

As you can see in the pics, I used perhaps a little too much Scenic Accents Glue, something that only shows up in these close-up pics. Cleaning up the excess glue will be easy though -- just pluck them off with tweezers. I'll need to get out my magnifying glass for this purpose though. These eyes ain't what they used to be.

A view of the Sanding Tower from the ground at evening time. I was also testing the Fleischmann bulb in the Constance Signal Tower in this picture.

I still have to get around to levelling the Sanding Tower with the baseboard and attaching it permanently, blending in the base of the tower so that it is nearly flush with the groundcover.

More model kit buildings on The Sunny Model Railroad:

Western Homestead Shanty by Life-Like models

Country Chapel by Faller

Atlas Picket Fence and Gate Kit

Constance Signal Tower Model Kit by Faller