bigindoortrains.com

Well, a bit more progress over the last week or so. First, we gave the three buildings a coat of paint and pasted in some windows. I picked up a couple gold paint pens thinking those would be useful for drawing in the mullions on the windows, but they didn't work so great. I tried two different manufacturers (Sharpie and Craftsmart), but they just weren't very visible on the red-tinted acetate. We dropped back to plan B.

I had some 1mm masking tape in the model-building paint box which I had never used (how one can make a straight line for masking with the stuff is beyond me). Being a yellow color, I figured it might be a suitable for creating the mullions. I talked it over with Howard and he recommended giving it a try. Turns out, it works pretty well, although I didn't get the spacing correct on the multi-window "panels" I laid out for the hotel. No worries...the Japanese didn't paint theirs perfect either

So after adding a bit more detail, I gave them a basic paint job, then pasted in the windows. Far from perfect, but serviceable:



One thing to note - while trying to figure out the placement(s), I came to the conclusion that I couldn't fit all three on the hillside, so we'll make a standalone out of the Buena Vista and just use the smaller two on the project.

Next, finishing/mounting the contours.

So we next cut out forty-some contours for the hillsides. It's a tedious process, I'll admit, especially since each needs some amount of fitting to make them work. I also cut and pasted in the two bases for the buildings I'm going to use:



I also changed up the planned lighting of the buildings. Originally, I was going to illuminate them from behind, basically cutting out a large opening in the back, mounting them flush to the hillside and hoping the light would shine through. However, the pre-painting of the buildings and the subsequent painting of the hillside didn't line up chronologically, i.e. there was no way to mount the unpainted buildings, paint the hillside, then paint the buildings in place (and mount the glazing). So we switched it up, now planning to cut openings in the bases and cement in the buildings after the painting is complete. I'm probably not describing this well, but it should work better (as long as the light shines though from underneath rather than behind).

Haven't really figured out a light-source yet, but I've got a number of options. We'll see...

Okay, so the last thing I've managed to finish (well mostly finish) is pasting in some paper webbing to help support the paper mâché application. In its sopping wet form, paper mâché sags pretty bad, so you need something underneath to prop it up a bit. In the model train world, one would use Hydrocal or some sort of plaster with newspaper wadding underneath. You only need a few contours, the newspaper providing the underlying form. That stuff dries hard as a rock, so after it cures, you just pull the wadding out leaving the plaster shell. Here we're going old school, plus we want to keep the weight down, so it's paper mâché:



Lionel used glue-soaked felt for some of their big tunnels in the prewar era, and the postwar #920 Scenic Display Set came with a big piece of felt, two tunnel portals, powdered glue, a bunch of other scenic supplies, and detailed instructions on how to build a tunnel similar to those made two decades earlier. I think this set was sold for one year only (1957), speaking to the complexity of building it.

The Elastolin tunnels made both before and after the war used paper mâché as covering. It's something I'm familiar with, and it gives a decent result, especially if you're looking for something that looks of-the-era.

American Flyer made their prewar tunnels out of paper mâché composed of ground up paper/wood fiber soaked with glue. They must have used a mold to form them, as there's no interior framework other than a metal hoop used to reinforce the "portal". Back in the early days of collecting this stuff, I'd occasionally see these tunnels in the antique stores, not realizing they were made by the company. It's a wonder that any of them have survived.

Anyway, I'll let this dry thoroughly before the next step - applying the paper mâché, a process only slightly less messy than applying the glitter

Finally got back to this, giving it a papering yesterday evening:



Made a number of mistakes during this effort, primarily forgetting to crumple up the paper bag before tearing it up into strips/pieces. You need to do that to break down the fibers, making things a bit more pliable. Had to crumple them up individually as I was using the bits, something that significantly lengthened the amount of time required. No worries, it still came out fairly decent.

I'll need to touch it up in a few spots, let it dry for a few days, then it's off to the paint booth.