A Small Cabin | 2 Comments - Click Here :

    I've been following Trevor Marshall's latest entries on his Port Rowan in S scale blog, about building a house for St. Williams. His posts inspired me to get off my butt and build a structure. All of the other structures for the layout need to be scratch-built (not including the water closets). But as no photos of this particular cabin exist, I was free to build it as I desired.

    On the 1918 valuation map of Dickey, is a structure labeled "Cabin". Judging by its location, I am presuming this to be privately owned by one or more railroad men. There are 5 more of these cabins within close proximity of the railroad (Dickey was not a town, but an important junction and servicing facility). The Bunk House next door was just that - beds for a large force of men (track gangs in the summer, and "snowbirds" in the winter). The Section (eating) House across the tracks had a kitchen and dinning hall on the lower level to feed the men, and living quarters above for the caretakers.  

    

  There are a couple of good laser kits available in S scale. I chose the Miners Cabin from Banta Modelworks because it reminds me of some of the cabins that were in nearby Kokomo. I built it right out of the box (attacking the siding aggressively with my hobby knife to give it a weathered appearance), but I used tar paper roofing from Builders In Scale. I also added a chair (Banta) and a modified trophy elk from Musket Miniatures (obviously placed there by a proud trainman who's wife rejected it back at home).

    Thanks to a great little kit from Banta, this was a quick and fun project which only took a few evenings to complete. Many thanks also to Trevor for getting me back to the workbench!

~Cowboy Up!