Joe Rusz said:Hey Joe, if those Hubley kit are the white metal ones, they are 1/20th scale. I have about 30 of them and they are great for modeling 20.3. They did a 32 Chevy and 3 versions of the Model T besides the 4 or 5 versions Model A's in 1/20th. They were also sold under the Gabierl and JE Scale Models (Eartl) brands.
. Plus I have a dozen Hubley Model A kits, painted and assembled, with no place to go. Granted they are 1/24, but maybe if I put 'em in the background...
Rodney
Rodney, yes they are white metal and I assembled about a dozen, all Hubley kits and all Fords. I did a dang nice job too, which sometimes amazes me because I often do schlock work. I still have an unassmbled Model T and…I forget what else. Problem is, by their age they kinda paint you into a corner when it comes to the era you choose to model–if details such as this are important. With 1930s stuff, you’re lookin’ at maybe up to the early 1940s or possibly immediately after WW II, when cars were still scarce because of the war effort.
So I dunno…
Maybe it would be easier to model turn of the 20th century and just have dirt roads, horses and wagons and maybe the occassional automobile.
A way to avoid the tape measure, make a “Story Board”, at least that is how I call it! A 6 or 8 foot 1x6 or 8, painted white with alternating black squares 1 foot long alternating on each side. You lean it against the building and take a picture and then you can scale off the picture. Of course if stop and knock on the door and get permission to measure and take a picture or two, you might find another modler!
Paul
Paul, I’ve seen those devices (boards). MR or some other model train magazine did an article on making yourself a folding stick with black, or red and white has marks. Of course, if ya gotta go somewhere by air, hauling around a stick is problematic. But it sure is quicker than measuring. When is was back near Albany, NY gathering data on my Riders Crossing store, which lays unassembled on my work table, I spent several hours measuring–and sketching–every single element of that building from the clapboard size (3-inches and 6-inches, they mixed and matched) to the thickness of the window muntins. But I had nowhere else to go and had the permission of the owner of the building.
Anyway, good tip. Sorry to ramble.
Joe Rusz said:
Rodney, yes they are white metal and I assembled about a dozen, all Hubley kits and all Fords. I did a dang nice job too, which sometimes amazes me because I often do schlock work. I still have an unassmbled Model T and...I forget what else. Problem is, by their age they kinda paint you into a corner when it comes to the era you choose to model--if details such as this are important. With 1930s stuff, you're lookin' at maybe up to the early 1940s or possibly immediately after WW II, when cars were still scarce because of the war effort.So I dunno…
Maybe it would be easier to model turn of the 20th century and just have dirt roads, horses and wagons and maybe the occassional automobile.
There were still quite a few Model A cars around even to 1950. Two different friends of mine had dads that drove their model A to work and one of them had a coupe with a rumble seat that he took us to an airshow in about 1948. We rode in the rumble seat and … heavens…no seat belts either !!! :o There was a 1928 (approx.) Mack bulldog crane truck with open cab still working on the SF water front in the 1960s and a most elderly gentleman who frequented the produce area in Oakland collecting used wooden produce crates in a real jalopy also.
My grandfather’s last “new” car was a 1931 Model A that two of my uncles repainted and gave him in 1950. Lots of these in farm country behind barns.
Joe Rusz said:
Paul, I've seen those devices (boards). MR or some other model train magazine did an article on making yourself a folding stick with black, or red and white has marks. Of course, if ya gotta go somewhere by air, hauling around a stick is problematic. But it sure is quicker than measuring. When is was back near Albany, NY gathering data on my Riders Crossing store, which lays unassembled on my work table, I spent several hours measuring--and sketching--every single element of that building from the clapboard size (3-inches and 6-inches, they mixed and matched) to the thickness of the window muntins. But I had nowhere else to go and had the permission of the owner of the building.Anyway, good tip. Sorry to ramble.
Craig
I really like Piko houses. Nice size and super easy to build.
(http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/4297/townlaundry.jpg)
Love the clothes line Matt!
I don’t know what it is about Matt’s location… It might be the diffused light from the trees, but I just love the pictures.
Well, Matt, regardless of whether you like Piko or not, you certainly make that product look good. The first shot with the house and laundry line and the third photo with the loco in the foreground, really look great. Very realistic.
Thanks all for the really nice comments I’ve been pretty pleased with the Piko products we’ve purchased thus far. My favorite Piko line are their adobe buildings (Las Cruces series). Probably not the style you were looking for Joe, but they do well for a southwestern town:
Yeah, Matt, no adobe. Only frame or brick structures. You’ve done a nice job with the dirt roads and the dirt ballast. Looks pretty much to scale, i.e. ya don’t got stones that are the size of rocks all over the place (it’s one of my private pet peeves).
You guys have probably forgotten about this thread (I know I would have if I were just lurking), but I saw a cool two-story house with a front porch and a unique side baywindow in one of the final scenes of the movie musical “Oklahoma.” I took some pictures off the TV screen with my iPhone. Speaking of that movie, I Googled it because there’s a train scene when they sing “Everything’s Up to Date in Kansas City.” Turns out it was shot in Elgin, Arizona where a short line owned buy the Santa Fe ran until 1962, I think. The loco is a standard gauge Baldwin (I think) mogul (2-6-0) pimped up with a diamond stack. It’s on static display in some city in AZ. FYI, despite its name, “Oklahoma” was filmed in Arizona because even back in 1955, due to development, it was difficult to find a place “where the wind comes sweeping down the plain” in Oklahoma.
