Harvest Time
Creating an autumn agricultural scenic effect CRAFTSMAN/George Dutka, photographs by author
Central Vermont A Central Vermont train passes between two pumpkin patches in my fall scene.
During my planning period of
the HO scale White River Divi- sion Railroad (March 2009 Mod- el Railroader), a lot of thought was given to fall season scenic features I could emulate. An agri- cultural feature I noted and loved while touring New England were the pumpkins found on porches, at stores, farmers’ markets, and fields throughout New England. I just had to include pumpkins in my main line scenes. .
My Pumpkin Patch
The pumpkin patch scene took longer to plan than to con- struct because I could not find a ready supply of HO-scale pump- kins. I began by building the barn and adjoining sloped field, which remained cropless until I could locate or scratchbuild pumpkins.
68 RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN
The field is a layer of ground goop covered with a layer of sandy-col- ored dirt set in place with diluted white glue. Most small pumpkin patches seemed to be built on a mound or sloped fields following the land terrain.
One fall, I went out and mea- sured pumpkins since I was con- sidering making some from clay. Average size pumpkins I could model measured 14 inches wide by 17 inches tall or 13 inch- es wide by 12 inches tall with a three-inch long stem that is two inches wide.
On a visit to Broughdale
Hobby Shop, shopkeeper Crys- tal Hegmans mentioned seeing pumpkins advertised some time back and would look into it for me. An order was placed a few weeks later for Master Creations’ pumpkins (#20702) sold by BTS.
Each package has six pumpkins made of cast white metal in vari- ous sizes. (They also have O-scale pumpkins if that is your scale.) I completed this project several years ago, and now I see numer- ous pumpkin options available. I purchased 15 packages of the Master Creation pumpkins, which did not need much filing or trimming. Around 100 pump- kins filled my 7x8-inch field. Be- fore planting, I spray painted the pumpkins Floquil Reefer Orange and dabbed the stems with dark green paint. I set my pumpkins on the sticky side of masking tape to hold them in place while paint- ing. I attached each pumpkin to the field with Woodland Scenics accent glue. I just randomly put the pumpkins around the field. If I were to model a field ready for harvest, the pumpkins typi-
HARVEST TIME SCENIC EFFECT
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