PVC pipes (above) were utilized along with various Plastruct domes to construct the tank farm. The tanks could have been made taller but wouldn’t have been as easy to transport. Workers in the yeast plant (left) must take a break from time to time. The figures came from Woodland Scenics, Campbell, Weston, and SS Ltd.
across in building this model. They are the nipper, good for cutting sprues and close trimming of plastic; an angle bracket, used for bracing items, and a corner punch one could hammer on for making square corners on plastic or wood. A corner clamp was used throughout to keep corners
aligned
siding. It may be a forlorn pair of rusty rails and decrepit ties buried in weeds, or a trestle mounted affair adjacent to the building. The spur indicates in- bound and/or outbound traffic for that industry. The Red Star’s west spur ran in the street and was tucked in close proximity to the facility. One can also observe a sidewalk in between. Spo- radic weeds fill up cracks in the street, sidewalk and between the rails. To begin the spur, I spiked a strip of Microscale code 55 track in proper po- sition on a thin basswood base that had been glued to the foam board. I then laid the concrete sidewalks and street around the building with a thin coat of plaster, scoring cracks and side- walk partitions, and painting them with Polly S Aged Concrete and dirt colors. Light dirt colors were used be-
RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN
tween and around the rails. The end of the rails were kept free of plaster to permit later joining to layout trackage. I glued random tiny clumps of green lichen into various parts of the con- crete, using droplets of diluted Wood- land Scenics glue to hold them.
Water piping
Red Star had its own complex water systems, large piping for which was visible on the north side. The model’s pipe work was assembled from parts made by the Campbell Tool Company of Springfield, Ohio. It truly has some of the most realistic pipe couplings I have seen. Unfortunately, it appears that company no longer exists. (Do not confuse that company with Campbell Scale Models, which does still exist.) There were some useful tools I ran
properly when gluing, and a shaping tool, useful in plaster work, found use on the spur track. Most are available through Micro-Mark.
Conclusion
Building Red Star Yeast has been a remarkable experience for me. While the model has some imperfections, overall I surprised myself that I could come as close to the prototype as I did. As mom used to say, “Every knock is a boost.” And so it was, for every time I hit an ob- stacle in construction, I overcame it, found new confidence, and moved on to the next phase of the project. If you have never tried scratchbuild-
ing, consider doing so. You may be sur- prised at what you can accomplish and just how bountiful your imagination will become in resolving engineering issues along the way. This is just an- other aspect of our incomparable hob- by, model railroading.
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