A Signal Tower For East Branch -- Part 2

Workbench on Christmas Eve

Between the last post and Christmas Eve I made some progress with the Atlas switch tower. The tools, materials, and status of the tower are seen in the photo of my workbench. To get to this point during the buildup towards the holiday, I did manage to spend a few minutes on the tower on a number of different days. Since things had to dry and this was my only project, that schedule worked out fine. I will use a bullet list format with each bullet point representing a different day to document the progress.

• I scrubbed the plastic walls, base, and roof with 70% isopropyl alcohol using a toothbrush. After the alcohol dried, I painted the edges of the base with my standard "earth brown" latex paint. 
• I took the second floor walls out to the garage to paint with 2X Ultra Cover "flat gray" spray primer. As it was in the 30s, I brought the wall sections back into the basement to fully dry after spraying both sides of the walls. I lightly sponged a red and brown craft paint onto the bricks of the first floor.  
• I applied a control coat of Vallejo Wash "dark gray" to the brick walls of the first floor.
• Using Vallejo 70.992 Model Air "neutral gray," I painted the first coat onto the windows and doors of both the first and second floors of the tower. After measuring the thickness of the blue plastic door with calipers, I added .040 X .080 styrene strip to the top and base of the scrap box door in order to match the opening on the first floor wall. 

Today, as I write this a few days after Christmas, I returned to the tower revamp, but I will wait until I have made even more progress to discuss it in my next post. 

 

A Signal Tower For East Branch

At an in-person meet of my "new" NMRA division a week ago, I "won" a couple of somewhat dilapidated HO scale buildings as a raffle prize. One of them was an Atlas signal tower with a missing door and a loose wall. I decided that it would be a good project to get me out of a modeling funk. Adding a light and some interior details along with some painting practice might allow me to work towards a reasonable stand-in without the stress of underachieving with my self-imposed expectations on an expensive kit.

Possible location between the NP Interchange and 4th Subdivision mainline

By adding this structure here, I can also complete a first layer of scenery in the neighboring nearby couple of feet of terrain. These two projects should get me going again. Nothing too challenging with them, but I can get back in practice and hopefully see some progress. 

Atlas signal tower, partially disassembled

While it is not even close to a Great Northern prototype buiding, I have decided that it is a relic of the Bellingham and Northern Railroad that the GN took over. I found a Woodland Scenics Just Plug light in a parts drawer. As I mentioned earlier I will create some kind of interior for the second floor. The paint scheme will be the GN dark and light grey. The dark grey for the doors and window frames will help disguise the oversize window mullions, a trick I remember Lance Mindheim writing about somewhere. My first step was to further disassemble the building a bit more so that I can drill openings through the base and floor for the Just Plug wire. While this is not a contest level project, I hope it is just what I need to get back in the flow of actually working on the railroad!