Honoring friends and family with my construction of buildings to made from old and broken ones, I had a Pola cripple creek station which was badly damaged in the hurricane. All 4 sides were in at least 3 to 4 pieces but all of it was there. Started with regluing them together using Model Masters plastic cement. Had to fill in some of the cracks using testors putty and after some sanding and filing but they all came back into shape. This building was to become part of the “Orange River Fruit” company which got its name from my brother in-law, and best friends truck. Daniel had an old 65 Ford truck and the Ford name on the front hood was missing the “D” and the “F” was loose and my kids were always messing with him and him with them and soon the “F” was secured in the “D”'s location and became ORF and a legend was born. I had previously made a Forney out of an LGB 2020 engine and using ore tip cars had made them into citrus load cars, I mean in Florida we don’t have a lot of ore but we do have a lot of citrus. So combining the 2 I came up with “Orange River Fruit” company so I had my ORF and made loads out of lava beads colored to look like oranges and grapefruit.
Daniel was a plumber by trade but had a large garden at his house and every evening, beer in hand was out there pulling weeds, and I believe he saw himself as a great farmer only problem was he grew mostly “nut grass”. Sadly Daniel passed away at an early age but his memory lived on and to honor him I built the Orange River Fruit Co. Made cucumbers from colored rice, tomatoes from beads, found different vegetables in craft stores. Made crates from styrene strips and made an inner room also out of styrene as I was missing the 2 warehouse doors and needed support for displaying of the “goods”. The building became "UD’s Produce, with UD being the affectionate name my kids gave him for Uncle Daniel.
Details included a stove pipe chimney, signage on the roof. 1 window was missing so I boarded it up, 1 had broken grills so when I put the pane in I broke it at the same location, (damn kids playing ball) made a new larger loading dock and added light using LED’s and it looks great sitting next to the industrial siding. Fun build with little expense and enjoyed by family and friends of UD’s
