The Doctors' Office

As recommended by a granddaughter and mentioned in the back story, the layout needed a clinic or doctor's office to meet the needs of the locals who took advantage of farmer Nick O'Tean's cash crop, tobacco.  Some progress was made over Mother's Day weekend, but this Clever Bros' kit was a bit more complex that others (and was just now completed).  Here's the start:

This is actually the photographer's studio, but it had the look of a small house that might have been converted to a doctor's office in the late 1940's to early 1950's.  The studio includes a large windowed dormer.  I couldn't see a use for that for the medical profession, so that was not installed.

The Clever Bros were VERY concerned that this structure have internal bracing.  Rather than just use cardstock, I decided to try my hand at foamcore backing.  That created a number of complications that I didn't do a good job of foreseeing -- like glue tab placement, interference from two pieces of foamcore when walls were folded together, etc.  Still, I think what I got will stand up pretty well:

Note that the front door has a "glass" installed to allow view into the interior.  This occurred primarily because the door blind had "Artistic Photography" printed on it so I cut the blind short and installed the window from a piece of bubble pack.  The Bros had included an alternative front wall without "Artistic Photography" printed on the wall, itself, but they left the blind as it was. . . .

With a window through the door, an interior needed to be installed.  I looked through other Clever Bros kits I had and found something that I could make work in the Hobby Shop.  Now, what good is an interior if you cannot light it up.  So, my first stab at installing a light emerged.  Just one complication after another.  Hope this will work out on the layout:

The "room" doesn't exactly fit the rest of the floor plan, but with the roof on, who will know?

Adding exterior trim and gingerbread proved to me that I need another glue or more skills.  I have been using Elmer's white glue (softens the cardstock too much) and CA (dries before parts get positioned and seems to get smeared easily).  Maybe more skill at cutting out would be good, also.  How in the world someone would build an N scale model is beyond me.

Once again, from an appropriate distance, the finished model looks OK.  Although it is not easy to read, I had to come up with two doctors' names since I could not conjure up a single name to reflect the ills of the community.  Notice, also, the "veneer" door that the Bros came up with.  By gluing the door to the steps, you could position the rear door anywhere you wanted.  I'll probably go with the side entrance. . . .

Kudzu -- the Plant

OK, what would be more natural than a hillside covered with Kudzu -- the plant, not the comic strip -- along a blacktop road out in the country of South Carolina in 1956?  Well, we have just the hillside although it's along the railway right of way, not the highway.

A couple of modelers had suggested using Woodland Scenics poly fiber for the Kudzu vine.  I was in Hobby Lobby this weekend and decided to check on their poly fiber supply.  They had some, so the next step was trying it out.  I vaguely recalled suggestions for leaves and had Lipton tea bags (oops, I had the cheap stuff, Harris Teeter) and parsley flakes on hand.  First, I spread out the poly fiber, then wet the fiber with hair spray.  Following that, I dusted the fiber with tea followed by parsley flakes and sprayed more hairspray.

The tea, on the far left, was pretty dark while the parsley flakes were basically green.  Tea seemed too small for leaves, flakes too large!  With the darkness of the tea, spraying with green paint looked to be needed.  I used some Krylon Italian Olive Satin, not because I thought that was the color of Kudzu, but because that was what I had on hand.  While the paint was still sticky, I added some more flakes for coverage.  Then I used some Design Masters Prairie Grass spray paint for highlights -- didn't I remember somebody somewhere recommending highlights to make it look more realistic?  Don't know that I agree.  Maybe my problem was that the paint started sticking the individual flakes together, and they were already too big. . . .

So, the shop was beginning to smell like someone was cooking in a beauty salon with all the products I was using:

To glue to the hillside, I painted and dribbled (dribbling worked better) Woodland Scenics Scenic Cement over the area of interest.  The web of poly fiber stuck well to the hillside, but I took the opportunity to add a little more Scenic Cement to the edges and flatten them down a bit.  One of the Kudzu modelers had commented that he could have done a better job of blending the Kudzu into the rest of the scene.  I think sticking the edges down will help.  From a distance, you can get the idea of the vine covering the hillside over the summer.

I may go back when it all dries and try to separate some of the parsley flakes or even break some flakes up a bit and shake over the existing vine.  I did add a little bush for contrast, but I'm afraid it might look a little alien -- by the time Kudzu covered the hill, it would have swallowed the little bush, too.  

Looks like I should add a little more growth to the hillside to give it more of a 3D look.  That's for another day.

"Vintage" Tank Car

So, this Staley tank car has been in my "collection" since the late 1950's.  Nice car, but with a hook and loop sort of coupler.  So, it wasn't used then and it hasn't been used lately.  Why not swap out the hook and loop for a Kadee coupler?

First problem, the coupler is attached to the trucks and the local hobby shop doesn't carry a direct replacement.  OK, let's just work with it and come up with a solution.  Looks like a little grinding on the coupler "box" would allow the Kadee box to be glued with coupler inside.  Pulled out the Dremel tool and played like a dentist for a few minutes, and the Kadee box would almost fit.  Some CA glue and the box, coupler, and then trucks were on the car.  Not too sure about the structural strength of this set-up, but it connected easily and had no problems being pulled by the box car with the "manual locomotive."

While the layout doesn't really need too many more cars, the era of this tank car (says 1928 on the side!) and it's unique type made it a good candidate.  Besides, there's the nostalgia factor, right?

Planting Tobbaco

The tobacco barn and several (56?!) tobacco plants were completed in January, 2015.  Since then, no grandchild has shown interest in completing the tobacco farm, until today.  The granddaughters succumbed to a request to plant some tobacco.

We started by each granddaughter sketching her suggestion for filling the bottom right corner of the layout, then we combined the two ideas on one of the sketches as the final design:

Then we used Lou Sassi's recipe for ground goop that we had used before:  one cup each of earth-tone paint, celluclay, and vermiculite along with 1/2 cup of white glue.  The girls spread this over the corner:

Then they added some grey-brown dirt picked up from the yard for the "main" road plus a little tan gravel for the path to the tobacco barn.  The path needs a little work since the gravel was a bit coarse!

We finished up with a couple of trees (the hardwood tree was too heavy to stand in the ground goop unless it was dry), some fine and coarse ground foam from Woodland Scenics, a hedgerow behind the barn leading to the farmhouse off the bottom of the layout, and a few bunches of broom straw -- all attached with white glue or Scenic Cement.

Oh, and, yes, we did install the tobacco plants -- while the ground goop was still damp -- in rows about 4-5' apart, and the plants maybe 4' apart.

Another nice job by the girls.  Maybe not my exact plans, but certainly fills the bill.

Cotton Broker Office

I suppose every small town cotton operation needs a cotton broker.  There's a small building near what appears to have been a cotton warehouse adjacent to what the City is now calling "Textile Corridor".  They have plans to develop the area into businesses, offices, restaurants, housing, etc.  They might even plan to tear this building down; maybe not:

The office was used by a Cotton Broker.  Last Broker was a member of the Moore family.  So, in honor of EL Moore, who had supplied the Cotton Gin drawings I used, this will be Mr. Moore's office.  While Mr. Moore buys and sells the cotton, Mr. EC Hanson heads up the cotton classing activities for the USDA.  They have separate offices in the small, brick building.

As for other buildings on the Blacktop Crossing layout, I chose to construct a representation as opposed to exact copy of the office.  Paul has helped with other "custom" cardstock, and did so with this one.  He warned that I may have to fuss with the roof a bit; and I did.

Construction started out fine:

Note the tar roof in the foreground.  Just couldn't get the up/down  inside/out folds to give the look I wanted.  No problem.  I had absent-mindedly printed out a second (actually, it was a first, since it was before Paul had fine-tuned the "kit") copy, so I had plenty of tar and brick to work with.  Decided to use some balsa wood I had on hand to give thickness to the brick walls around the top of the roof.  That worked out fine:

Previously, I had noted that the rear door had an air conditioner on it.  That would have been "uptown" in 1956, so I tried to replace it with a window fan above the door.  That worked out OK and probably is more prototypical for that day and age.  And the roof is on.

Best location so far on the layout is near the Cotton Gin just at the Blacktop Crossing.  I guess this would be headed into town. . . .

I tried to give a little 3D look to the front door, window/door fan, and window sills.  That helps the look of the building.  At some point it looks like I will need to add the utility junction boxes -- I've seen some in the Clever Bros models that I might be able to use.  But, then do you need to add phone and electrical power wires?!?!  And, by the way, the windows, doors, textures, roof tar, etc., all came from Clever Bros as well through copy and paste efforts.

Another Tractor

OK, this entry will be much shorter than the previous. . . .

On a recent (well, maybe not so recent; it's been long enough that I can't remember when it was) trip, I picked up a Woodland Scenics tractor and planter.  I figured Nick O'Tean needs one for his tobacco field.  I had previously spent about $20 for a tractor kit that took at least as many hours as dollars.  BUT, it was a Ford 8N, so the investment was worth it.  This one came complete -- assembled, painted, and with implement attached.  Since you certainly do NOT plant tobacco with a planter, I pulled out a chisel and hammer to surgically remove it.  Maybe I'll give it to Farmer Brown for his next season's cotton planting.  In any case, here's the newest addition to the layout; or, at least, the most recent one to find a place on the farm.

Note the implement barely in view on the far right side.

The Back Story

Blacktop Crossing Railroad

Arnold Kimmons’ Royal and Edisto Railway (check out Model Railroader Magazine and model railroad forums) has shamed me into developing the back story of our (grandchildren and me) small layout.  In earlier posts, I’ve mentioned some of this, but here is an attempt to pull it all together – subject to change with further developments.

The project is centered on the cotton industry, circa September 13, 1956.  This is about at the end of tobacco picking time and maybe a little toward the middle of cotton picking time in upstate South Carolina.  Since the 1957 Chevy Bel Air had only come out the week before, NONE will be seen on this layout.  Not that they are not nice, just too ubiquitous as a model.

Cotton is being raised by Farmer Brown – isn’t that what ALL farmers are called?  Farmer “Cotton” Brown also owns the local gin, and has chosen to name his only daughter Cotton Ginny Brown.  Since one set of figures given to us included a horse, Farmer Brown must feed and house said horse for Ginny to ride.  Well, actually, the granddaughters thought we needed a stall for the horse hitched to the cotton wagon, but we can give Ginny a horse, too.

The other local cotton farmers come to Brown’s Cotton Gin and exchange stories on a warm September day.

Ginned cotton makes its way to the The Cotton Factory, which is a representation of a cotton factory recently converted to offices for a bill collector in Rock Hill, SC.  The factory is owned and run by John P. Rollins (actually, the general manager of the operations when owned by Gold-Tex many years ago).  Mr. Rollins is proud to drive his Lincoln Continental Mark II around this small town and is even more proud of his daughter, Sally Sue.  Sally Sue was named after her mother, Sally, but John added “Sue” as a typical Southern name so Sally Sue wouldn’t “get above her raising”, as they say.  Nevertheless, Sally Sue drives a nice, Pink Cadillac Convertible, attracting all the local greasers as her blond hair blows in the breeze.

Top dog Greaser is Mickey with his black '55 – but Sally Sue calls him “Meeky”.   Mickey and his mill hill buddies like to stop at the Ebenezer Grill to show off their cars, ducktails, and suave sophistication to all who drive by in pink Cadillacs.   Inside the grill, Loyd Artry is known to serve up the best hot dogs in town, as confirmed by the Buzzy award from The Evening Herald over several consecutive years.  Pat, Robert, and Stephanie are eager to call out their patrons’ names in welcome as they enter the door; Taj accepts payment for the tasty meals at the cash register.

Aside from the textile industry, the locals are also involved in other pursuits.  Growing tobacco is one of the major money crops.  Nicholas O’Tean, known as Nick, is an Irishman that has learned that farming and curing tobacco can fill pockets with green!

Lumber mills and pulp mills can be found nearby taking advantage of the tall pines that grow in the poor soil of the area.  Tim Burr (named by Woodland Scenics, of course) runs the woodlands business in the area including the woodyard.  His sons, Sandy and Woody do most of the work.  Sandy can often be found leaning against one of those tall Southern yellow pines sniffing a flower or taking a snooze.

 

The mill houses provided by The Cotton Factory have been kept up pretty well, give or take the junk yard looks favored by the local yokels. 

A. B. Poe opened a company store next to the factory and initially only took factory script.  Recently, his son, C. D. Poe, has expanded the store to also serve as a farmers’ exchange.  Business has been good.  I think that’s Bossman Rollins’ black Mark II next to the store.

Those returning from WWII also have an armory near the cotton gin that allows them to keep up a bit of US Army pay in the SC Army National Guard 178^th Engineers.

Rumor has it that the old Cotton building that provided offices for the USDA cotton classers (led by E. C. Hanson) and for the local cotton warehouses is soon to be installed.  UPDATE:  The Cotton office is now onsite and Mr. Hanson shares this building with the local cotton broker.

A recommendation to install a hospital, clinic, or doctor's office to serve those local residents who have become customers of Nick O'Tean is being considered.  Maybe Mother's Day weekend will be a good time to construct a doctor's office from a Clever Bros Photo Studio kit.  Maybe something like this:

Ended up with Drs. Payne and Zuffering establishing practice near the cotton gin and railroad crossing.