Garbage Truck

To populate the streets on my layout I am constantly looking for interesting vehicles and figures to create unique scenes.

One such vehicle is a garbage or refuse truck, to collect all the garbage bins placed along the sidewalk. A few modern models of garbage trucks exist, but I need a model that suits my 1940's era.
I searched the internet for appropriate pictures and probably would need to scratch-build one.

ClassicRefuseTrucks.com has a wealth of vintage pictures from the 1930's until the 1960's.
The truck above is equipped with a Leach garbage Loader.
 

The smaller rear bucket loader garbage trucks above would be right for smaller communities and I will try to scratchbuild one of these. (A Heil Collecto truck at left and a Leach at right)

Then on ebay I was fortunate to find a couple of resin bodies that I could mount on an existing truck chassis.

THE RAIL CONNECTION offers several resin bodies and trucks.

I choose one of my flatbed truck models from Classic Metal Works to accept the garbage body.

I removed the flat bed by inserting a small screwdriver between the bed and the chassis and popped the deck off. It is actually glued at several spots.

The rear axle and wheels are wider than the garbage body so I needed to add fenders. I salvaged two rear fenders from a Con-Cor Steam Era 1930's Ford Truck kit.
 

I drilled a small hole (#76 ??) in the side of the fenders to accept a piece of .019" brass wire.

Then I also drilled the same size hole in the side of the body where the fenders would be.

As you can see, the resin body casting is not very clean and has a lot of small holes that came from trapped air bubbles during the casting process. I tried to fill some but as the truck will not be too close to the layout edge they will not be visible after painting.

I test fitted the body on the chassis, to check if the fenders would well cover the wheels. Then I glued them to the resin body with a few drops of CA.

Then I applied a coat of grey primer from a Tamyia spray bottle.

After the primer had dried I brush painted the body with Vallejo Alluminium paint. I didn't feel the need to fire up my airbrush because the Vallejo paints cover well even with a brush.

Finally I glued the garbage body to the chassis with a few drops of contact cement.

Soon later the city workers were busy collecting the garbage bins.
I will apply a decent weathering to the truck and body and keep on checking for appropriate lettering for the garbage truck.

Stay tuned for more special vehicles to be added soon.

California Packing Corp. (Del Monte Quality Foods) Part 2

Here's my update on the Del Monte packing house on my layout. Check the first part California Packing Corp., Santa Ana, CA.

After my initial thought, placing the packing house next to the aisle, I had to admit that the available space was not enough to put it there. I had planned to use 2 kits and to make it double in length, but even without the loading dock it was too wide.

I will put the NeHi Bottling Company in that spot instead. This would be a scratchbuilt structure so I could use some selective compression on that.
                                                                                                                                                                          Photo of former NeHi building courtesy of Jim   Lancaster
                     

I will place one side wall against the backdrop and add a turnout with a stub track to serve the packing house.

But now first things first.
After assembling the wall sections I airbrushed them with Vallejo Military Green paint. (#70.975)

Then I masked the different trim sections and door sashes...

..and brushpainted them with a bright red color.

I lightly brushed the loading dock planks with Vallejo Khaki (#70.988) and gave them a Black Shade wash after drying.(73201)

Then I sprayed the railings, doors and windows with a coat of grey primer

and after the primer had dried, a coat of Vallejo Vermillion red. (#70.909)

I inserted the window frames and glued the castings from the back side with Deluxe Glue 'n' Glaze. I also used this medium to glue the window glass. It dries transparent and doesn't craze the clear acetate windows.

I scaled and printed the Del Monte Logo on plain copy paper. Then I cut it roughly out with a pair of scissors.

I gently sanded the logo from the back side until the color of the logo was barely visible. Extreme care must be taken with this method, not to tear the logo apart. Then I trimmed the excess paper around the logo outlines.

I applied a thin coat of Deluxe Card Glue on the back of the logo and positioned it on the wall.

I pushed a paper towel on the logo to squeeze the excess glue out. The logo is thin like a decal and fits snuggly between the clapboard siding of the wall. A light weathering of the walls will dull the logo down.

I placed the packing house temporarily against the backdrop until the track gang moves in to lay the new turnout and stub track.

To prevent the blue backdrop from shining through the windows, I glued pieces of black drafting paper behind the window glass. Railings had to be modified because I arranged the wall sections a bit differently than intended by the instructions. Shown are the 4 Vallejo colors that I used on this project.

Now waiting for the weekend to install the stub track.

California Packing Corporation, Santa Ana, CA. (aka Del Monte Quality Foods)

With my valance and fascia work almost done, I finally found some time to work on a couple of new structures for my layout. Between my staging yard (LA/San Bernardino) and San Juan Capistrano I had squeezed in 2 more industries representing the town of Santa Ana. Since Walthers released a kit that is based on the California Packing Corporation aka Del Monte Packing House, I absolutely wanted to include this significant structure on my layout.

On the picture above is the First Title Insurance Company Photo showing the prototype packing house

and here is the Walthers representation of it as the Valley Citrus Packers. At least four of these kits will be necessary to come close to the real thing. My limited real estate nevertheless allows for a two kit long structure. This will be the right side of the prototype picture.

The wall segments of the kit are beveled to form a rectangular structure with one wall piece for every side. For my packing house I had to join three sections with the stepped wall in the center.
I sanded the beveled edges away except for the left edge of the straight section and the right edge of the other straight section.

I trimmed the alignment tabs away using a pair of Xuron cutters.

Then I sanded the edges smooth.

I reinforced the wall sections with .040" plain styrene pieces from my scrap box glued to the back of the wall sections. I clamped everything together until the glue dried.

I searched the internet for the Del Monte logo found on the prototype picture. This logo was in use from 1909 until the 1960's. I will print it on clear decal paper and apply it to the structure after painting.

Next step will be painting and assembling the packing house.

Stay tuned for the next installment.

Reworked Lighting and Upper Valence

Some time back, after I had installed and painted my backdro,p I also installed lighting on the ceiling all along the layout.

The layout room has an overall height of 2,50 meters (aprox. 8 feet and something) To get the layout framed in conveniently I had to install a valance extending down roughly 60 cm (2 feet). 

The ceiling is poured concrete and drilling holes into it was a real pain. Also working overhead to screw the light fixtures and valance supports is very tedious. Finally I didn't like the idea of such a deep valance and also the lighting was a bit too far away from the actual layout base.

When I visited my friend Pit Karges' HOn3 Lodores & Silvertown layout, I immediately liked the idea to attach the brackets lower on the wall. This was no big deal because I had glued my backdrop flat against the walls. I screwed the brackets through the backdrop to the brick wall underneath.

I used 38 cm long brackets on the wider and 28 cm on the narrower parts of the layout

The brackets extend as far out as the edge of the layout. The valance fascia boards will be 20cm. This leaves a viewing window of at least 60 cm.

On the picture above you see the difference between the ceiling and the future height of the valance.

The backdrop on the center peninsula is 3mm MDF with no support underneath where I have to attach the brackets

 I drilled 8mm holes into the backdrop and inserted drywall dowels.

The screw is tightened until the end of the dowel is spread against the back of the board. These work very well for all kinds of hollow core supports including plasterboard. 

In the process of reworking the layout lighting I will leave 3 fluorescent lights attached to the ceiling for general room lighting. So I only need to illuminate the layout when I'm running trains and by this save some electricity.

I will use the area above the valance as additional storage.

Stay tuned for the final work session on the valance and fascia.