The Little River Rail Road in Eastern Tennessee constructed these “set out” cabins for its hard working loggers and their families.
They would haul them to a camp site and “set them out” in what were frequently called “string towns” a line of buildings along the rail road.
Interestingly one of the original set out cabins is still in existence 85 years later at the Little River RR museum in Townsend Tennessee. I was there this past summer and photographed the prototype. I was able to get a one foot ruler at a local store and did my first field research photos of a prototype structure I wanted to recreate in 1:20.3. Amazingly the planks used in the prototype are one foot across and speak to the huge trees that were cut in this area, now the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
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I have read a lot about using clear acrylic “plexiglass” plastic here on this site and thought I would give it a try in my attempts to model a set out cabin. Here are some first shots of craft sticks cut to 1 foot width in 1:20.3 and two of the acrylic end pieces I made using the score and snap technique. The wood pieces have received an India Ink stain and Thompson’s Water Seal treatment.
I am very interested in your comments on constructing models using acrylic plastic sheathed with wood. I would love to hear your experiences in this technique and advice regarding adhesives used etc. If there is a past article here on how to do this please let me know. I tried the search engine and only got a little. Doc Tom
