The Sailor's Club

This was a rebuild of a finished model a client had purchased a flea market. The original kit was one of Chris Creighton's Schomberg Scale Model kits. It was pretty rough and basically required total restoration. A full interior was designed and built, complete with pool table in play, the bar and patrons. An added touch was the upstairs room with the ladies of the night type scene. Full lighting, Prieser figures reconfigured and repainted.

This station is modelled in 1/4"=1'0" scale and is loosely based on an old photo of the Welland Junction structure. Fabricated of styrene plastic, it is modelled only on three sides, as when it is placed on the client's layout the rear of the building will not show.

Windows are modified Grandt Line, the doors are scratchbuilt. The turret roof is painted to represent weathered copper. I had originally intended to shingle the roof in asphalt shingles, but nothing ready-made was available, so I substituted MBS vac-formed cedar shakes.

The ornate eve brackets, platform and station name signs have not yet been added at the time this progress shot was taken.

"O" scale trestle
Standing 16" tall and about 60" long, it started life as a Hunter Line kit that I had assembled for the client a few years ago, but after installing on his layout, decided he'd like something a little taller and longer, with a bit of curve to boot. Addtional bents and bracing built from Mt. Albert basswood timber and tons of Grandt Line nut/bolt washer castings.

HO Scale Nuckoll's Meat Packing Plant

This is the first in a series of structures being custom-built and/or kit bashed for a client's layout empire. The layout is based on 1953 Pueblo, Colorado and will include the immense Pueblo Union Depot, the D.&.R.G.W. Freight Depot, Holmes Hardware, Nuckoll's Packing Plant and more.

The Nuckolls plant has been kitbashed from six Walther's Champion Meat Packing Plant kits, with a lot of wall cutting and splicing.

Below are a couple of shots of the completed main complex ... 'acres' of stock pens and many outbuildings have been completed since these photos were taken ... . Oh yes, the track is being re-laid!
Click here for more photos of this enormous kitbash.

"O" Scale projects in the CreativeWorks3D shop:
A few thousand scale board feet of lumber and timber were gobbled up for a series of Chama Coaling Towers in "O" scale. These received a phenonemal response at the recent National Narrow Gauge Convention in Dearborn, Michigan.
Standing over 16 inches tall, with a footprint of 9 inches wide by 12 inches deep, these are available as "table-top" or full pit designs, where a hole is required in your layout to accomodate the below-ground portion of the coal delivery pits. The full-pit version shown at left is SOLD, while the table-topper shown at right is in stock at US$1,200. Special orders are subject to individual pricing. Click here for more photos ...

Also in the works, are more of the "Pine Creek General Store" models in "O" in both fully detailed diorama and bare-bones structure-only versions

Pueblo Mills
The third in a series of major industries and railroad structures for a vast HO layout. Fully detailed on all sides. Better photos to follow once this beauty has been installed on the layout and scenicked...

This structure was entirely scratchbuilt from photos of the prototype. Not shown is a corrugated warehouse constructed from Grandt kits. The client discovered after delivery that during the period modelled (1960), the scratchbuilt awnings were not on the office section! Door spacing accomodates 40 foot boxcars. Compare to the vintage photo of this structure to see how accurate this was modelled !

The Sweeney Feed Mill Complex is entirely scratchbuilt. The structures were modelled "mirror imaged" to fit the space on the client's layout. The scene disguises a grade separation on the layout with retaining walls and the "Fourth Street" overpass. Signage was photoshopped from the original photos and printed on decal paper, then applied to the models. Working in "mirror image" directly from photos can be very confusing but as you can see the result is quite good!

Mostly constructed of Evergreen sheet and strip with some DPM brick wall sections, Tichy & Grandt windows and doors, this complex was done as a completely scenicked diorama. The client will add trackage and blend into the layout and hopefully we can get some better photos when that's done.

Pueblo Union Depot
Our most recent structure in the Pueblo Series is the Pueblo Union Depot in HO scale. This structure is entirely scratchbuilt, using Kibri "cut stone" plastic sheet to represent the sandstone walls of the prototype station. Dozens of much-modified Tichy and Grandt windows and door castings are framed in Evergreen styrene. The complex roof is covered in Tichy slate tiles. This structure will be almost 6 feet wide when all the building annexes are complete. It is modelled on three sides only, as it sits up against the backdrop, at the back of the client's layout, behind the passenger tracks. Yes, the clock in the tower works, plus platform lighting and interior lighting.

To view more photos of this project, click here ...

Scroll down to view other projects in the Pueblo series:
D&RGW Pueblo Freight Depot, the Sweeney Feed Mill complex, Pueblo Milling Co., Pueblo Yard Tower & Office and Nuckolls Packing.

"Taylor Machine", based on the small black & white photo provided by the client as shown below, was modelled in "O" scale, 1/4"=1'0"..

The main roof is individual shake shingles, with prototype taper and rough finish. The signage was designed and printed by us. The finials on the gable gingerbread were individualy turned from basswood. The awning over the platform is covered in corrugated metal from Sodders, realistically weathered using circuit board etchant.

All basswood is by Mt. Albert, the siding is slightly weathered, with a touch of peeling paint. Windows and doors are Grandt Line castings. The chain hoist is scratch-built. The "stone" foundation is hand-carved in hydrocal plaster.
For more pictures, click here.

L.F. Wills a is slightly modified Stony Mountain Design "O" scale Laser Kit. Custom signage was designed for the intricate front facade, which was scratch-built from styrene to replace the crude bits in the kit.

Many of the laser kit pieces were replaced with basswood scale dimensional lumber, the stairs were scratch built and the model was mounted on a scenicked base.
To be honest, so much was wrong, poorly designed or required more work than really was necessary, it would have been far simply and quicker to build this model from scratch.