Scratch-building a version of the HO mine house in the October 1954 issue of Model Railroader. Features include a real Nova Scotia iron ore roof, stucco siding using sand from the Atlantic Ocean seafloor off the coast of Nova Scotia, red shale from the shores of the Bay of Fundy, coffee stir stick siding, corrugated and rough packing cardboard, rare earth magnets, steel washers, and real native copper ore from the old mine workings in Cape d’Or, Nova Scotia (in operation from 1900 to 1907).
Mr. Old School is back. Nice mine house.
Mike.
and all paid for with genuine 1954 minted coins, I assume?
Dave Nelson
MR October? I didn’t even know that Reggie Jackson was a model railroader.
The full reference is Model Railroader, Volume 21(18), October 1954, pp. 30-31. The mine house was built by the Lowry Central Lines Model Railroad Club for a show in Minneapolis.
First thing I did was make a cardboard mock-up to see if I liked the building. This is what it looked like.
Old School…
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Great to see you back!
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I love your model work and always enjoy reading your updates.
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-Kevin
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Thank you Kevin. A lot has happened regarding me and model trains since I was here last. Been monitoring this forum during my absence though.
I decided to build the loading section of the mine house using coffee stir sticks for the walls. At 150 sticks for $1.25, it’s a good deal. The beauty of the coffee stir stick is it’s dimensions: ~1/4” wide and ~1/16” thick. I glue the sticks to 1/4” graph paper and score the sticks to make them look more like typical scale lumber widths.
What I like about the cardboard mock-up (above) is that even that work is clean and neat - in particular the windows.
The coffee stir stick idea is a good and time-honored one. There was a video on MR Video Plus some years ago showing the use of coffee stir sticks on what might have been cereal box cardboard, held in place with transfer tape - very thin double sided tape. I was so intrigued that I set out to try to get a roll of 1 inch or 3/4 inch 3M transfer tape and was having all sorts of problems finding a source, only to learn that it was on the shelves of a local art supply place all the while.
Advantage of the double sided tape on cardboard - no liquid from glue or cement. And the transfer tape (same basic stuff as I assume creates peel and stick parts in laser cut kits) holds like the Dickens. You have one chance to get it right.
Dave Nelson
I liked the cardboard so much that I kept it for the main building. I used sand from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Nova Scotia to make a stucco finish.
Another view.
Another view.
