Mine Office

Testing out my new camera, a Panasonic Lumix G2 using the kit 14 - 42 mm lens on macro setting.

Interior shot of my mine office using the a Panasonic Lumix G2.

Explosives Shack

On30 Dynamite Shack for the Hardscrabble mining area of my layout.

The Mine Models of Junior Yamachi

I'm inspired by the models of Japanese modeler Junior Yamachi. His mining buildings in particular intrigue me. I think it has a lot to do with the originality of design. He seems to capture the essence of these mine buildings without totally copying a prototype. I get a bit tired of seeing the same mining models over and over. It seems that American modelers are so focused on creating exact copies of prototypes where as some of the best European and Japanese modelers I've seen seem to approach modeling from more of a Hollywood set design approach. The buildings suggest what might have been instead of making a statement of this is what it was - exactly. I guess you might call it a bit of whimsy.

See more of Junior's modeling

Farm Stand Part 3

Update on my Farm Stand project. I found out the over sized skids I used make the whole building too high for the wee folk. I sanded down the skids to bring the whole thing down.

Added signage (notice the poster for the Yee Haw County Fair with Earl the Singing Chicken and the poster for a Tent Revival) and some veggies. I'll still be adding a lot more veggies.

Moveable Road Side Stand - O Scale - Part 2

Moving along...

I'm using 2x4's and coffee stirrers. The beams on the bottom are rather over sized but that's old barn beams Farmer Joe had laying around.

I'm covering the roof with corrugated metal.

Now to find/make some signs. Still have to make a door for the back.

Movable Road Side Stand - O Scale

Last summer my 10 year old son wanted to sell some extra veggies at the end of our driveway. I looked around on the web for some plans for a farm stand and I found these plans from 1949 for a Movable Roadside Stand from the USDA. You can probably ask your local agricultural department for these plans.

I never made a full size version but I did think it would make a neat model for my On30 layout. The plans are actually in 1/2 scale or O scale. But unfortunately my print out was smaller than actual size. So I had to print out a scale ruler and take it from there.

For a little building this model actually has a lot of parts to it but fortunately there are no windows to deal with.

Resources:

Movable RoadSide Stand Plans
http://msucares.com/pubs/plans/5699.pdf

Building and Construction Plans from MSU
http://msucares.com/pubs/plans

Farm Building Plans from Colorado State Extention:
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/blueprints/farmbuildings.html