When was a kid I had the Lifelike or whatever “molasses mine”. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Fast forward 40 years I find one on eBay. So I decided to kitbash it with a Walthers sand and gravel kit to create the most rust-ridden and (possibly) radioactive slime infested place on earth. The last place on earth you would want to work. Behold United Coagulants (a divison of the yet-to-be-modelled “Central Congealing”).
The Mobile Coagulator (No. 3) is 95% 3D printed on a very afordable Robo R1+, with a few random scraps addded. And who doesnt love to just wreck an occasional gon?
Heat gun, wee bit of airbrush, and a lot of Rust-All.
Thanks, Kevin. It’s always a fine lne for me between whimsical and some sort of believability. I want it to look authentically early 1950’s at a glance, but I also want it to have a siginifican’t— but not overtly obvious—sense of fun.
As much as I am in awe of Selios’ Skill, I’m with a lot of folks here that full on post-apocalyptic depression era with 70 pitch roofs is a bit over the top. But the guy is a master, there is no denying it. Maybe Dr. Wayne can match his skill, but the majority of us can only admire, criticize, or shrug with humble indifference. Ultimately I want a really scudgy chunk of a town on my layout. But it’s just an interesting chunk, not the whole thing.
Oh, I agree with you there, even Mr. Selios finally realized this and spruced things up a bit on his layout recently. A little goes a long way. Yes, there were some pretty run-down areas on both sides of the tracks (in any era, not just Depression years) but I’m in agreement that, for our layouts, a little gentle wear-n-tear is a much more pleasant scene.
I recall the article by E.L. Moore, perhaps in RMC, for his version of the Molasses Mine which the AHM model was copied from. Actually, before Selios, I think EL Moore added quite a bit of character to his projects with careful use of age and weathering.
Anybody remember the great molasses flood of 1919?
Drum Guy, Nice gon wreckin’. I’m with ya’, Selios is the man and so is the Doc. Gettin’ the right mix of ‘the other side of the tracks’ versus well kept is a tough cookie and a delicate dance. Regards, Peter
I’ve been around railroad facilities, factories and especially various refineries since the mid '50s. What the OP modeled was (and is today to a point) the “usual” in earlier years.
In example, I worked three years at a vegetable oil refinery in Louisville ('67-'69) and it was on par with the previous posters photos. As germs don’t inhabit vegetable oils, no one went overboard on “neat and clean and pretty”.
The thing is, most of us (esp. those that model earlier years) do not want to show the dirt and grime and debris that was the norm at terminals and yards and other RR facilities. To me, it would just be depressing…realistic, but depressing.
I don’t think the weathering is either silly or stupid. I think it’s well done.
If you’re interested in having it look more like the photos, I’d say to add similar weathering to the overall grounds. Turn the industrial building into an industrial “site”.
Thanks for all the kind comments, very much appreciated and encouraging. United Coagulants is just sitting in a temporary spot. When I find a home for it, it will be in a fairly disgusting locale, maybe I’ll put an out of scale 3 eyed frog hiding under the loading dock. When the structure is lit up, there’s a faint green light emanating from the holding tanks. I was gonna add some sort of pulsing effect to the light, but figured that’s just too much.
Wayne: does Gern Industries have anything to do with the old Steve Martin routine where he says his real name is Gern Blahnsten, and he actually earns his living from his audio book cassette series “Learn with Gern”? Goofy fun stuff.
No, nothing to do with that. It actually dates to the mid-'50s, when my brother and I used to play table hockey. We used a full schedule with four teams each and all of the players were named, enabling us to keep statistics on scoring, saves, etc.
One of his players was Charles “Cookie” Gibson, a high-scoring centre. Somehow, it evolved in my brother’s fertile brain (there’s a direct connection to fertiliser, I think) that Cookie Gibson was a “flux magnate”.
GERN (always all-caps) is an acronym for “Gibson’s Extraordinary Remedial Naturalized” flux, as evidenced by this advertisement from the late 1800s/early 1900s…
As it evolved, GERN brand flux makes pretty-well anything at least 3% better.
The Gibson Works, in Port Maitland, Ontario, was featured on the cover of the December issue of Popular Flux Magazine…
