Bethel Cottages - Porch Narrowing & Assembly (pt.4)

As we continue building the "Bethel Camp Cottages" (click here for part 1, here for part 2, and here for part 3), it occurred to me . . .

. . . Other than its overall proportions, the other thing I liked about the house I borrowed from Somerset as my temporary stand-in (pictured above) was the little porch. 

FYI, these kits are now available from San Juan Details, who acquired the former Grandt Line kits.

Unfortunately, while the gable trim on the house kits I'm using is great and really evokes the "camp cottage" look I'm going for, they don't have any sort of porch. So I got the bright idea of using the floor and roof parts from the lean-to addition provided in the kits to build some back porches. Having a back porch rather than a front porch may seem a bit odd, but since the cottages face away from the Connecticut River, I figured a rear porch would give my little camp denizens a nice place to have a cup of coffee and enjoy the view.

Unfortunately, the lean-to parts are a bit too wide, so I had to narrow the floor and the roof.

And in a bit of overkill, I reached out to my friend ScottL, who is a professional home builder (among many other talents) and he sent me this handy - and very detailed - diagram on how to build the porch.

In the end, I ended up doing a lot of eyeballing...

You can see in the photo above how I shortened/narrowed the lean-to floor by about 6 boards. The front porches included in the kit are actually just little stoops, so I used the 6 boards I'd removed from the lean-to floor to create a larger front porch, as you see with the house on the right.

I also narrowed the porch roofs by about 1/4" to match the width of the porch (which, in turn, matches the width of the cottage).

Using Scott's blueprint as a guide, I realized that the depth of the porch roof would need to be reduced as well, or else the roof would have WAY too much overhang. Coincidentally, I removed about 6 courses/rows of shingles to get a depth that looked right. Thankfully, these seams - which actually aren't too prominent - will be totally hidden by the roofing material I'll add later.

To give the porch roof a bit more strength & stability, I added a ledger board to the back wall of each cottage using "2x4" strip styrene, glued right on the highest clapboard before the clapboards start to narrow. The rear edge of the roof will rest on this, just like the prototype.

While I could have just used 4x4 strip styrene for the porch posts, I dug through my Tichy assortment box and came up with exactly the number of posts I needed for the three cottages (6). These are Tichy #8092, shortened about 1/8" in order to allow the roof to pitch down.

Here are all the parts, ready for assembly (including a porch roof section that still has to be narrowed).

And here it is added to the cottage.

Once I showed this photo around, some folks pointed out that the roof looked a bit thin - like it needed a bit more structure.

So, instead of actually doing individual rafters, I decided to simulate them by just adding fascia board around the perimeter of the roof. I think you'll agree it looks much more realistic this way.

The last step on the roof was to paint the fascia boards to match the trim color. Believe it or not, especially considering my historic fear of airbrushing, I masked off the fascia boards and airbrushed them to match the rest of the trim.

With that done, all that's left to do is the roofing material itself and final painting and these cottages are within striking distance of being finished! Check in next time as we wrap up this build . . .

Bethel Cottages - Painting and Wall & Roof Assembly (pt.3)

Getting back to building the "Bethel Camp Cottages" (click here for part 1, and here for part 2), it's a matter of preference when you do your painting. Some folks paint everything and then assemble. I've always thought that a bit more difficult since it requires you to plan WAY ahead in choosing your colors - and you may mess things up a bit with glue while you're assembling. But if you assemble everything first and then paint, it's tougher to paint windows/trim/etc.

So it's usually best to consider the order project-by-project and do what will be easiest and most effective for that particular project. In this case, I thought it best to paint early in the process.

Of course, that meant I had to figure out what colors I wanted to use . . .

I started by noting (on the post-it) what colors I wanted generally, then I went looking for those colors - or at least close to them - in my stash of craft paints. You can see in the pic above what I chose.

I brush painted the walls, trim, and porch floors, and that worked fine with multiple coats (thankfully, the paint dries quickly - especially when helped with a hair dryer :^) but I kept getting lousy coverage on the windows, doors, and porch posts.

So I decided to airbrush those. While I could have made my craft paints "airbrushable" (per an old RMC article discussed here), I decided instead to find some "close enough" colors in my stash of Tamiya paints.

Once all the parts are painted, the real fun starts - putting the parts together so they start looking less like parts and more like a building!

At many points throughout the process of building these former Grandt Line kits, I realized how much more advanced they are than the "typical" plastic structure kit. Case in point: I couldn't get away with just one piece of clear styrene on the windows. As you can see in the pic above, the window castings are actually offset - just like the prototype. So of course I needed two separate "window panes", using calipers for precise measurement so the panes would fit inside the recesses. For what it's worth, I used my go-to adhesive for windows: Aleene's Clear Gel Tacky Glue - dries just like it says - clear.

Once the details (windows, doors) were added to the walls, I used 1-2-3 blocks to help me assemble the walls and keep them square.

Once the main structures were done, I next needed to build the roofs.

Thankfully, a 90-degree block made that pretty easy.

And lastly - the coup de grace - I added the beautiful gable trim included in the kits that really makes these little cottages stand out!

Most folks would probably consider these structures just about done - and I almost did. Then it occurred to me that it'd be nice to provide a nice place to look out over the river . . . So be sure to check in next time to see how that turned out...

Modeling Monday - Camp Bethel Prototype Pics & Starting to Model (pt.2)

Since the "something completely different" (aka my Atlas RS-3 project) is sidelined for the time being, it's time to turn my attention back to the cottages at Camp Bethel along the line in Haddam, CT.

I'd heard that Camp Bethel was an old camp meeting grounds, but the only one of those I'd ever seen is in Oak Bluffs, on Martha's Vineyard island. The cottages there are all very meticulously restored and very Victorian and Queen Anne. So I was eager to see what Camp Bethel would look like, especially if I was going to model it.

Unlike its island counterpart, there's a much wider variety of restored and "original" houses in Camp Bethel and many have been pretty heavily modified. But it was nice to get a feel of the place - and to realize that the model kit houses I had on-hand would help create a fine representation . . .

While all of the houses technically face toward the center of the campground, you can see in some of the photos how they back up to the top of the bluff overlooking the Connecticut River.

I think this will allow me to set up an ideal scene on the top of the hill between East Haddam and Shailerville bridge - I'll have the "fancy" front of the cottages face away from the river (and toward the aisle) and put porches on the back so that folks can sit and enjoy a nice view of the river.

To see how that would look, I made some temporary mockups by photocopying the walls from the kit . . .

I pretty quickly discovered that the stock kits would be a bit larger than I wanted - all the better reason to photocopy/mock them up first.

So I cut them down to a size that was closer to the stand-in I'd robbed from Somerset. These smaller editions will work out much better.

It's a lot easier (and better) to cut up paper before committing to cutting up a perfectly good kit. And since I knew from my cut-up mockup that the smaller size would work, it was much easier to "ruin" the kit by cutting it down to the size I wanted.

The challenge with shortening the walls is figuring out how to disguise or otherwise hide the seam/joint. So I decided to cut along the edge of the corner trim as you see in the photo above.

Once all glued back together, the seam/joint virtually disappears! And don't forget to shorten the roof sections to match. I just cut off about 3/4" off of one end - which I plan to point toward the back - and made sure to orient the space for the chimney closer toward the back as well (on the stock it, it's centered).

With the walls and roof sections shortened, the next step is to wash the parts in preparation for painting - which we'll cover next time!

Friday Fun: Modeling Camp Bethel (terrain prototyping) pt.1

As of my last layout update, I'd pushed basic scenery north into Deep River, CT. Since the next area to be modeled is East Haddam/Goodspeeds (actually located in Haddam, on the west side of the Connecticut River, but let's leave it at that...), I figured it high time to check in with the prototype.

This is the station area looking north. The car is heading east on Bridge Street (aka Route 82) and will be crossing the river on a 1913 swing bridge in just a few hundred yards from here. Off in the distance, left/west of the track, you can see the hill on which Camp Bethel sits.

Similar view, as it looks today, shot closer - from north of the grade crossing. Same building on the right, but modified.

Walking further north, you can't really make it out through all the trees, but Camp Bethel is up on top of that little hill on the left.

Ever since hearing of our own little version of the Martha's Vineyard Campmeeting Association, I've wanted to model at least a hint of Camp Bethel - which lies conveniently between the East Haddam scene and the Shailerville Bridge scene, providing a perfect scenic break.

In fact, I'd planned so far ahead to include it, that I'd long ago cut the fascia to form the hill profile. Unfortunately, as I started looking more closely at the prototype topography, I realized the hill profile I'd made was WAY too high. I also needed some flat area for the cottages. The masking tape above indicates the proposed cut line, and also protects the painted fascia from my saber saw.

Here's how things looked after I cut the hill down - and added foam on edge along the inside of the fascia for mounting the cardboard strips.

As you can see, I'd originally planned on adding a rock casting to the side of the hill to make up for the hillside being SO steep here.

But the more I looked "north" down the track, the more the hill still looked too tall and steep - especially when compared to the topography shown in the prototype photos.

So, out came the saber saw again and down came more of the hill. I also decided not to use a rock casting since that would be really out of place in this spot - at least, again, according to the prototype.

Looking at these photos again, I think I may redo the cardboard strips so that the stacked foam doesn't look quite so much like a huge outcropping.

Incidentally, the little cabin/cottage you're seeing in the photos was borrowed from Somerset and is being used as a mockup for sizing purposes. Unfortunately, I can't really use it here since it belongs in Somerset - and I need more than one cottage to give them impression of a "camp" anyway.

But, thanks to my friend Bruce Edgerton, I already have on-hand some cottage kits that he gave me a few years back, which I think will fit the bill nicely. But to be sure they'd work, I figured I'd need to take a field trip to do more prototype research . . . That'll be the subject of the next post. Stay tuned!

Wordless Wednesday #279

A Welcome Break

A few MORE words about Wordless Wednesday #105

Heh - talk about going from "Wordless" to wordy. . . But John has some additional information to share about this week's WW that's too good not to share.

So, take it away John!

There was usually no need to wait at E. Haddam unless the first train to arrive was to receive a "hot" car from the second. The Shore Line local received the lion's share of this exchange and often was the reason for the Valley local running down to E. Haddam on other than Tues., Thurs., & Saturday. 

In my experience we would run to E. Haddam as well as Berlin on Mondays which created a long day for the crew. Cars from the B&M and NYC exchanged in Springfield were usually preblocked for Hartford and Ceder Hill. Hartford, being a smaller operation, could handle these cars faster than Cedar Hill and usually make the morning run of the Valley Local faster than they could if they were sent to New Haven. 

However, as traffic declined in the late '40s the Hartford yard activity began shifting to Cedar Hill. An example of this was the discontinuation of the through trains between Maybrook and Hartford. The cessation of the Hartford/Boston freights after the 1955 flood ended significant classsification activities at Hartford. I know the hump operation at Hartford was closed at some point during these years but I don't know exactly when. 

I think your records show that the Valley Local was cut back to 3 days per week in 1949 which was probably why Bill Beaupre bid a Springfield passenger job. He loved the Valley job and I doubt very much that he would have left it unless it became a financial necessity. 

Certainly on my list of things to do, especially now that layout construction is winding down, is to get a much better understanding of how the locals interacted with each other, how the cars were handled, etc. Fortunately, I have a few RR-produced booklets that give (at least part of) the official plan of operations, but there are plans and then there's reality. And nothing beats the memory of one who was actually there to tell you how things actually worked.

So thank you John - this information goes a long way toward filling in some of the knowledge gaps the RR paperwork leaves behind.

A few words about Wordless Wednesday #105

A very good friend, whose judgement I trust implicitly, mentioned that it'd be nice to add "at least" a few words to my Wordless Wednesday posts - "A pic is only worth 992 words" after all. I admit, when I see such posts on other blogs, I hope for at least some basic caption info - and I'll try and do that a bit more in the future (except, of course, for "Name That Location" photos where I need your help). And I'll let you in on a little tip - the labels at the bottom of the post usually contain some important information as well.

But this photo definitely merits some additional attention. Perhaps not as many words as this post, but a few more words nevertheless. . .

This Kent Cochrane photo shows DEY-5 (S-2) #0604 northbound at East Haddam, CT probably c. 1949. It's one of the two Shoreline locals: In those days, there was one from New London and one from New Haven and they typically swapped cars in Old Saybrook. Depending on the year, one or the other would head up the Valley Line to exchange cars with the Valley Local which operated south from Hartford to this point. That's what the 0604 is doing here - coming in on the siding to drop cars. In this case, two PRR boxcars.  Could be that it's just sitting there waiting for the Valley Local - there's no crew in the cab keeping watch.

The old passenger station used to be located on the right (west) side of the tracks, but it's gone now. But the house in the background remains - the railroad used it as the first station here before they got theirs built. The house is still there today, owned by an employee of today's Valley Railroad.

The sheds on the left, as well as the freight house (mostly hidden by the engine) are still there too. In fact, all that's really changed since this photo was taken about 67 years ago is the freight train itself. There's no longer freight services on this portion of the line and the DEY-5 - and I daresay the cars and caboose - are long gone.

But the track is in better condition now than ever - and sees more passenger trains than ever too. Route 82 in the background is busier, but you can stand in this spot today and it won't take much effort at all to imagine the 0604 burbling through here once again.

Wordless Wednesday #105

Northward to East Haddam!

Christmas Week Progress Pt 4 - Starting East Haddam

I'd only bought enough foamboard to do Essex and Deep River since I'd assumed I'd do East Haddam using plywood constructions because 1) I have plywood on-hand, and 2) the track coming from Middletown south (and through the wall) was mounted on plywood. I knew I was going to have to transition from foam to plywood again at some point - why not at the north end of Deep River?

So that's how I started out - kraft paper on the joists in East Haddam (on the left). Deep River is mocked up on the right. You're looking "north" at Deep River and "south" at East Haddam.

Even Bill agreed with my reasoning re the benchwork, so we got busy plotting out how the East Haddam track arrangement would work. I have about 12 feet to work with here and thought I'd have PLENTY of room for the turnback curve (from DR to EH), the 3 track double ended yard/sidings, a hill for Camp Bethel as the left side view block, and the Shailerville bridge scene before the track had to duck back through the wall to Middletown.

Well, the mockup doesn't lie. I guess I was thinking in N scale again(!)

As we were figuring out the East Haddam track & scenery arrangement, we decided we could sacrifice some Deep River real estate in order to maintain our aisle - and give East Haddam some additional breathing room. The masking tape shows where the foam will be cut.

As we got to the Shailerville bridge area, things were really getting pinched. You can see in the background there about where the bridge should go (in front of the upper level curved track - which will be hidden behind a backdrop).

I would need to bump out this bridge scene a bit in order to create enough depth to do the scene justice. Not only is there a high railroad bridge there (click here for a prototype photo), but Rt. 154 (old Middlesex Turnpike) crosses the same creek at a lower level.

So, this scene sits while I try and figure out how to fit everything in - and by "everything" I mean mostly the bridge, since it'll be a signature scene. My next task: build a mockup of the bridge and its distinctive abutments to see whether how it'll actually fit.

One thing I figured out though . . .

I decided I'm not going to use plywood construction for East Haddam after all. Yup - it's another flat area and I'm impressed by how quickly Essex & Deep River are progressing. So I went out and bought another two 2x8' 2" foam boards which you see here.

I guess I'm becoming a foamer after all . . .

So that concludes my report on "What I Did on my Christmas Vacation." I got Essex to East Haddam (a.k.a. the Southern End) started and well along, got the West End staging started, made a bunch of modifications along the way, and even got a bunch of smaller projects (like the drop gate fences) done. I ended the week with my birthday (yay!) and used my birthday money to order the last(?!) of the track and roadbed I'll need to finish the railroad (Double Yeah!!)

Of course, I still have a LOT to do before the Southern End is operable. I'd hoped - way back a couple months ago - to have an operating session including Essex to East Haddam sometime in January. But I don't think that's gonna happen.

Nevertheless, I'm happy with the progress I'm making. I just hope I don't have to wait until my next Christmas Vacation to get so much done!