1940 Auto Repair Shop Interior by FriedClams - Finished - Diorama in 1:87

[lmagna]

 

What can one say? It just keeps getting better and better.

[Javlin]

Sheesh Gary!!!!!

[Edwardkenway]

Just catching up and....😮😯😲😳

Incredible modelling Gary!

[FriedClams]

 

Greetings fellow modelers.  Thank you all for your wonderful comments and the “likes”.  After a couple of months away from modeling this little diorama has called me back.

 

Wall Details and General Clutter

 

I have finished populating the back wall with things, stuff and junk.  Or at least I think I'm finished.  In subjects like this, it seems there is never enough detail – never enough stuff.  More and more items keep coming to mind that really should be included but mercifully I have run out of room.  In fact, the arbor press I made back on post #38 will be left out because there is just no good place for it.  That's always a risk making details in advance instead of letting the model tell you what is needed as it progresses.  Anyway, here is a short update.

 

A storage unit with drawers is made of basswood that was pre-stained.

 

 

 

The face frame for the drawers is paper. The drawer fronts are stuck down on double sided tape and tiny specks of CA are applied to each, then the unit is flipped on top.

 

 

 

The drawer pulls are slices of painted half-round styrene.

 

 

 

The problem with cubbies and shelves is that you can't leave them empty.  Cans are a good way to fill some of the holes and they are easy to make.  Printing onto tissue paper then gluing it to wood dowels and/or styrene rod produces a decent can.  It doesn't really matter what the print says because no one will be able to read it anyway.

 

 

 

Other little bits of things are glued on.

 

 

 

The compressor against the back wall is a white metal casting from Durango Press.  I added a start station and “black iron” pipe that feeds the air hose by the door.  The hose is blackened solder.

 

 

 

A basswood bench is made.  The bench grinder is a Rio Grande Scale Models piece and the torch came out of my junk box and I don't recall who cast it.

 

 

The image below shows the completed back wall (the mezzanine above is still empty.)  The barrel stand was made previously on post #48 and the remainder of the items are a combination of scratch and modified castings.  Some of the wall signs I printed while others are from JL Innovations.  All were sanded on the back side to reduce thickness and then dirtied up with ink/alcohol.  The pit rail is .022” phosphor/bronze wire that was soldered together and blackened.

 

 

 

Thanks for swinging by to take a look.

 

Gary

[mtaylor]

Wow.  That looks great.   I guess the solution to your space problem would be to have a wider floor area so things could be in the other half of the shop.  It would really be cluttered though and probably not look as good.

[wefalck]

I love those dioramas !

 

It is true, there is never a enough clutter to make - just look around your own workshop and compare

 

One thing I was wondering about (even in those less safety-preoccupied times than today): shouldn't there be any stops at the end of the rails for the car to prevent it from overrunning ? Also some rails left and right might be helpful to keep it on track ...

[CDW]

Beautiful diorama!

This reminds me of my best friend's alternator, starter, and generator shop. His family has owned and run the business for over 75 years here in our home town.

[Keith Black]

1 hour ago, FriedClams said:

the arbor press I made back on post #38 will be left out because there is just no good place for it

  Gary, we are looking through a wall correct? Couldn't the press be on the front edge across from the main workbench with the back to the viewer? I'm loath making the suggestion but golly I hate seeing any of your work being left out. You've made such a wonderfully detailed and totally believable scene that rivals the boat shop which I didn't think was possible. 

[Egilman]

Between the oil barrel on the cross bucks and the corner brother, just turn the tires sideways.....

[TBlack]

Remember the old model railroad saying: "the clutter is the clincher"

[FriedClams]

Hello All - thanks for the likes and for stopping in to take a look.

 

On 10/28/2021 at 4:00 PM, mtaylor said:

 I guess the solution to your space problem would be to have a wider floor area so things could be in the other half of the shop.

 

Hi Mark.  More room would be nice and to do it over I would make it just a tad wider.  Even just an inch or so would help, but then again, I'm really just trying to create an atmosphere and as you say more clutter may actually hurt the model.

 

 

On 10/28/2021 at 4:04 PM, wefalck said:

It is true, there is never a enough clutter to make - just look around your own workshop and compare

 

One thing I was wondering about (even in those less safety-preoccupied times than today): shouldn't there be any stops at the end of the rails for the car to prevent it from overrunning ? Also some rails left and right might be helpful to keep it on track ...

 

Yes – real world clutter is totally overwhelming and beyond my patience and abilities.

 

It does seem like a matter time before someone drops a tire off the edge/end, but here's the inspiration photo.  This looks like a staged or promotional photo for sure, but then again . . .   Thanks for the comment Wefalck.

 

 

 

On 10/28/2021 at 4:08 PM, CDW said:

Beautiful diorama!

This reminds me of my best friend's alternator, starter, and generator shop. His family has owned and run the business for over 75 years here in our home town.

 

Thanks CDW for the nice comment, it's good to hear the dio brings to mind a real place.

 

 

On 10/28/2021 at 5:09 PM, Keith Black said:

Gary, we are looking through a wall correct? Couldn't the press be on the front edge across from the main workbench with the back to the viewer? I'm loath making the suggestion but golly I hate seeing any of your work being left out.

 

To be honest Keith and as strange as it may sound, I don't know if there is a wall there.  I've kind of left it up to the viewer to decide if what is shown is the whole shop or just a corner of it.  Is the viewer standing in the middle of a larger garage with other service bays behind him, or as you say - looking through a wall?  Hmmm.  Either way, your suggestion is a good one and please don't be reluctant in offering your thoughts - I have always greatly valued your input.  Reconsidering the arbor press, I may place it between the drill press and bench where the welding torch now sits.  Because the torch is on wheels it could believably be placed anywhere.  And something that has nagged at me is the knowledge that I placed it against the wall backwards.  The torch kit would never sit the way I currently have it - with the tanks facing outward and the cart against the wall because you lean it back onto its wheels to roll it off.  I'm going to move things around and see what I can come up with.  Thanks for your suggestion and comment Keith.

 

 

On 10/29/2021 at 11:07 AM, Egilman said:

Between the oil barrel on the cross bucks and the corner brother, just turn the tires sideways.....

 

Hello Egilman.  The problem in that back corner is that I have to keep it clear for the exterior door.  I would have to move the barrel stand elsewhere because moving it much further to the left would pinch off the walking space between it and the pit safety railing.  I am going to consider some repositioning of things.  Thanks for the suggestion - more eyes and thoughts are always helpful.

 

 

16 hours ago, TBlack said:

Remember the old model railroad saying: "the clutter is the clincher"

 

Hello TBlack.  Thanks for looking in.  The model railroading folks are the masters of modeling clutter – they do it so well!  

 

Thanks, Gary

 

       

[wefalck]

... at least they put wedges behind the rear wheel, to keep the car from rolling off.

[FriedClams]

Greetings all.  Thank you for your comments, visits and likes.

 

A little more progress to show.

 

I added back the arbor press to the diorama and positioned it where the torch cart used to sit. I moved the drill to the front as far as possible to allow for more elbow room around the press.

 

 

 

Moving on, I next populated the mezzanine with stuff. The tires, spoked wheels, fenders and front spring are salvaged from a Jordan model that went all wrong. Everything else is scratched. Corrugated boxes are a quick way to fill up space and are simply folded paper painted with water colors.

 

 

 

I decided the mezzanine needed a hoisting rope. It is a piece of miniature rope that has been bleached and re-colored. The bleach removes that starch/sizing (or what ever it is that makes it stiff) and allows it to coil naturally. It was saturated with a water/PVA mix so it holds its shape and stays where placed. This close-up shows me I placed it crooked and needs a little straightening.

 

 

 

The underside of the pit vehicle gets a downward facing warm white LED. It is attached with a generous blob of clear Gallery Glass. The stuff starts out opaque but dries crystal clear. It is non conductive, comes in different colors (which can be mixed) and dries translucent like stained glass. Handy.

 

 

 

Here is one of the mechanics making an appeal to his Creator asking forgiveness for past sins and his constant use of coarse language.  He offers a gift of what he claims is 25' of rubber jacketed electrical cord but is really just a piece of solder.

 

 

 

Unmoved by this insincerity, the Creator instead drops a 29 Ford flatbed on his head.

 

 

 

The brightness level of the LED will eventually be adjusted down quite low. I hope it will bring attention to the frame structure and keep the pit from becoming a black hole.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for taking a look.  Be safe and stay well.

 

Gary

Edited March 13, 2022 by FriedClams

[CDW]

Awesome!

[wefalck]

Love those cardboard-boxes, looking very convincing. It this sort of thing that enlivens such dioramas.

 

I like to take pictures of old workshops and the likes in museums, as still-life in themselves, but also as inspiration for such models:

 

 

 

 

 

[Egilman]

44 minutes ago, CDW said:

Awesome!

Agreed! Understatement of the year as well!

 

Best example of scratch building and modelers vision I've seen in a long time....

 

That should be on someone's magazine cover....

[mtaylor]

Wow.. Beyond amazing work.   The slight sage of the bench in the back is great touch.

[gjdale]

1 hour ago, Egilman said:

Agreed! Understatement of the year as well!

 

Best example of scratch building and modelers vision I've seen in a long time....

 

That should be on someone's magazine cover....

 

Wot ‘e said!

Edited November 1, 2021 by gjdale

[Old Collingwood]

Wot everyone else has said   -  Amazing work.

 

OC.

[TBlack]

8 hours ago, FriedClams said:

 

Here is one of the mechanics making an appeal to his Creator asking forgiveness for past sins and his constant use of coarse and abhorrent language.  He offers a gift of what he claims is 25' of rubber jacketed electrical cord, but is really just a piece of solder.

Unmoved by this insincerity and ticked off by the duplicitous offering, the Creator instead drops a 29 Ford flatbed on his 

 

Gary,

I'm getting the feeling that you see yourself as the shop foreman/owner, and that you wish you were 3/4" tall.

Tom 

[Keith Black]

 Gary, such a neat little world you've created. A world to draw the viewer in and become absorbed, making up stories in their mind about all the little bits and how each works.   

[gsdpic]

Wow, just amazing as everyone has said.  Thanks for including that last picture with the eye glasses.  Looking at all the other pictures it is so easy to imagine this diorama and the individual pieces being much larger.  The amount of detail you are fitting into a small space is incredible.

[popeye the sailor]

Gary's thoughts are my own as well......the realized size of the diorama next to a pair of glasses is amazing!   very ....very nicely done!  

[Bob Cleek]

I've been "lurking" from time to time to watch the development of this masterpiece. I have to confess, I had no idea the scale was so small! It's truly impressive. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Landlubber Mike]

This is one of the coolest dioramas I've ever seen, and incredibly impressive considering the scale.  Absolutely fantastic work!

[Danstream]

Fantastic, the last picture with your glasses is simply mind blowing.

Greetings,

Dan.

[FriedClams]

Thanks so much for all the wonderful and generous comments - you folks are so kind.  And as always, thank you for the likes and for stopping by.

 

On 11/1/2021 at 9:34 PM, TBlack said:

I'm getting the feeling that you see yourself as the shop foreman/owner, and that you wish you were 3/4" tall.

 

How do you know I'm not 3/4" tall?

 

 

Interior lighting Prep Work

   

This posting is a bit tedious - I apologize in advance.

 

I put LED lighting on some but not all of my models. There has to be some justification for the effort and the subject needs to call for it. These little dioramas don't just call for it – they scream for it. But in the same way that bright colors can sometimes make small scale models look toy-like, so too can bright lights (or too many of them.) This diorama would be difficult to view without lighting and it will add greatly to the ambiance providing I don't botch it.  There will also be “daytime” through-the-window” lighting which I'll explain in an upcoming post.

 

In addition to the drop light under the vehicle, there will be four pendant lights hanging from the ceiling and a single bench lamp. The pendant lights hang off conduit that roughly scales to a little larger than 1” trade size pipe. The “pipe” is stainless tubing and has an inside diameter of .013”. As you can see in the image below it is quite small and yet if I had something smaller I would use it.

 

 

 

The problem in using small tubing is that there are no prewired LEDs with fine enough wires that will fit through such tubing. Here is a prewired #0805 LED (the size I will be using) and clearly it will not fit down that tubing.

 

 

 

So I solder my own using a simple process that makes soldering fine wires easy and almost enjoyable in a deranged sort of way.  LEDs can be bought in strips that were cut from reels for literally a cent or two apiece, so when I smoke one, it doesn't bother me in the least.  Here are the sizes I use. From left – 0402, 0603, 0805, 3528 and 5050.  The 0402 is small enough that it could be used in an HO scale headlight.

 

 

 

 

LED code numbers refer to the standard SMD (surface mount device) package dimensions and don't indicate a level of brightness. They were designed to be wave soldered onto printed circuit boards, not hand soldered. And confusingly, they are sold by both their metric measurements and their imperial measurements. So a metric #1608 (1.6mm x .08mm) references the same device as an imperial #0603 (.063” x .031”.)  If that isn't confusing enough, there is a metric 0201 and an imperial 0201, but they are not the same device and have a completely different footprint. Same is true for 0402 and 0603. I can solder an imperial 0402, but it would take a wizard to hand solder a metric 0402. Point being – buyer beware.

 

 

I use #39 magnet wire that has a .0038” diameter including insulation and is adequate for feeding a single LED. The insulation is an enamel coating and is better to burn off than to try and scrap off, which damages the underlying copper. With a ball of freshly applied solder on the tip of my iron (almost about to drip off), I quickly insert the wire into the drip before the all flux burns off. This burns off the coating and tins the copper in one step. So after cutting the wires to length, I burn off a 1/4” section about 1” back from the end. This 1/4” section is what gets soldered to the LED connection pads.

 

I place the LED onto a strip of double sided tape and then position the wires over the top and stick them down to the tape on both sides of the LED. This keeps everything in place during soldering. I position the wires so the insulation comes right up to the LED on the right hand side as shown below. I don't care about the other end because those wires will be clipped flush.

 

 

 

I then place a drop of “no-clean” electronic liquid flux on the LED followed by a split second touch with the iron in one hand and solder in the other applied simultaneously. No more than a second. One wire at a time with a cleaned iron tip and a fresh drop of liquid flux for each wire. I've had no luck going back to correct a bad solder joint because the solder becomes thick and clingy and the device can't survive the additional heat. It's a fast one shot thing – not difficult but takes a steady hand.

 

 

 

I use Kester 951 no clean liquid flux, Kester 83-7145-0415 electronic silver solder (.02” dia.) and a Weller 25 watt pencil iron with 1/16” flat tip. This little 1/2oz. syringe type applicator is handy for the flux.

 

 

 

First the desk lamp is made by annealing the stainless tubing and bending it into a gooseneck. The lamp shade is 3/16” diameter aluminum and the base is 1/8” dia. brass. The LED is a 0402 warm white.

 

 

 

The pieces are assembled and the underside of the shade gets a drop of “crystal clear” Gallery Glass to insulate and hold the LED in place. It will dry clear and shrink down flush with the shade or close to it.

 

 

 

The completed lamp is just over a 1/4” tall, 2 scale feet.

 

 

 

I cut four lengths of the tubing for the pendants and work a tiny flange onto one end of each. This mushroomed end will hold the shades and was made by reaming/wallowing with tip of a dressmakers pin.

 

 

 

The aluminum pendant shades are from Ngineering.  I center drill the domes with a #77 drill bit which makes for a tight fit allowing the flange to hold onto the shade.

 

 

 

The shades are primed in and out.

 

 

 

The tubing is pushed through the shade and the 0805 LED wires slipped in. The LEDs were encapsulated with clear Gallery Glass after they were soldered and allowed to dry. This insulates the bare connections so I can push it back into the shade without fear of shorting it out.

 

 

 

Then another drop of Gallery Glass to hold it firm.

 

 

 

The shade tops are painted a heavy acrylic wash over rust colored primer. It looks like oxidized copper (serendipitous and not what I was aiming for, but I like it and must write that down.)

 

 

 

Thanks for looking.  Be safe and stay well.

 

Gary

Edited February 23, 2023 by FriedClams

[CDW]

Great tutorial Gary!

[Canute]

That patina matches the look of the station lighting in the interior of the train station my club lives in, in Hendersonville, NC. The building is 119 years old. The club has been in there since 1992. Really like your work, Gary. 👍

[Keith Black]

 Gary, I almost reacted with a 'sad' emoji because with the lights going in, it means this is just about the last chapter of this build. Each completed project is absolutely amazing but the journey with you creating a build is so very rewarding. 

 

 This one isn't even finished and I'm already on the edge of my seat in anticipation of your next project. Any hints?