Vehicles complete
Yesterday I completed the "supporting cast" for Ready Mixed - the vehicles that I'll need for the transload operation, and most - possibly all - I'll need for the plant itself.
First up, here's one of the prototype pics of this scene that's driving a lot of what I'm planning:
And here's the scene so far:
While far from an exactly replica, this Atlas Ford pickup made a decent stand-in in my opinion. It's a few years newer than the truck shown in the proto pic above (though still fitting within my May 2005 era), and it's an extended cab, but with vehicle options being what they are, it didn't bother me too much to use it. It was by far the easiest model of the five I built here, only needing disassembly, repainting, and new Ready Mixed logos for the doors. (I'm sorry Bill Brillinger, but my inner cheapskate won out this time, and I printed my own on printer paper. ) I just grabbed Ready Mixed logos off their web site, resized them for HO, printed, and sanded the back of the paper until I could see the logo on the other side, then I glued it to the model using Aleene's Clear Gel Tacky Glue. I didn't realize until I started posting these pics that I forgot to do the license plates on all these vehicles, so that'll be a task for the next phase of this project. Weathering was with PanPastels.
Here's the completed Herpa tractor with factory details, a new horn, and new paint and logos applied, along with the Shapeways trailer. The trailer frame was extended on both ends to allow for a longer hitch platform up front and the addition of a third axle and associated fender extensions in back. New bracing was also added to both ends to match the prototype, and the ladder was replaced with one built from Central Valley ladder stock and moved to the side of the trailer. I think the only other modification was to replace the too-heavy hose hanger on the front of the trailer with wire.
After primer and paint, I applied logos using same method mentioned for the pickup above, then added reflector striping along the sides of the front and rear fenders. The last step - the addition of the red trailer stripes on both sides of the trailer - actually turned out to be the most difficult part of this project. I have no idea what the three "bumps" are supposed to represent on the prototype's stripes, but modeling them with red stripes from a Microscale UP diesel set was really a challenge. In the end, I just applied the various decal segments overlapping one another just a bit, then came back once they were dry and sliced off the overhang with a new Xacto blade and scraped away the excess.
Here's a prototype pic of one of the Ready Mixed mixer trucks.
...and here's a closer view of the kitbashed Athearn models. I didn't think to shoot mixer trucks during my era, and since I don't know if Ready Mixed trucks all had the extended frame shown above at that time, I didn't bother to modify the models to represent it. I did shorten the front bumper frame to remove what I believe was pumping equipment represented there on the Athearn model, and also added the raised wheelset on the back of the mixer drum from Walthers mixer trucks I cannibalized for the Wilson Concrete plant.
As with the vehicles shown above, these were both repainted and got homemade Ready Mixed logos.
There's still a LOT more to do on this scene obviously, with aggregate piles and a scratchbuilt batch plant in my future, but for now, I plan to only take it as far as finishing a few touch-ups on these vehicles (e.g. adding license plates, as well as the numbers I forgot on the mixer trucks), adding the dump pit, auger, and "driver's lounge" for the transload (shown below)...
...and finally, adding new reporting marks and weathering to the cement cars dedicated to this service.
(Note in the proto pic at the top of this post that the Ready Mixed employee has chosen to forego the luxurious driver's lounge and is instead relaxing on the patio using the bucket seen on the right in the above pic. Yeah, I think I'm obligated to model that! )