Prototype Road Trip #2!
Too much work and too little time and I've made *no* progress on my diner building other than lots of thinking about interior and exterior accessories. However, with the long holiday weekend, I did manage another prototype research road trip -- this time to the actual prototype.
Yesterday, I drove to Charles Ro in Malden, Massachusetts to pick up a long awaited Lionel railbox car. Then I walked all of .6 miles on the former Boston and Maine rail trail (conveniently situated at the foot of Charles Ro's parking lot) to the Lunch Box diner at 902 Eastern Avenue. This is the real life prototype for the Whistlestop kit. Google Maps said the diner was "Permanently Closed". Fortunately, it looks like it's under new management as the "Crazy Good Kitchen". My camera setting used was "beach & sun" to try and offset the time of day and strong back lighting, so the new blue-grey paint looks more grey than blue. I finished the road trip with dinner at the Pearl Street Station (1892 Boston & Maine), also in Malden.
Inspiration: The real diner's white trim clearly needs a second coat, as do my model's white sections. I'll try and get that done during the long weekend.
The journey begins ... "Durable" bumper on rails in between Charles Ro's parking lot and the East Coast Greenway/U.S. Bicycle Route 1 (nee Boston & Maine Railroad). The locals would call this a "bumpa":
On my way, some nice construction workers waved "hello":
The backside of the diner; I made a mental note-to-self to study the interesting roof detail, colors, rust stains, and etc.:
Perhaps I've already written that I've been struggling with how to treat the roof. Under consideration so far: just paint it (keep it simple principle), painted rough-side tape, glued and painted foil yogurt tops (rough surface), or to-be-determined. Studying photos of barrel-roof buildings shows that many have flat grey or red tile as shown here.
If any of you read my recent post to the diners, trolleys, and converted rail car restaurants topic, notice the circles on the roof line. This indicates that the original diner had the row of light bulbs featured in that post. Their traces are so ubiquitous that this light bulb placement under the eaves must have been a factory feature. As I've said before, wouldn't it be fun for someone to model!
I've already described my plans for the rear wall but every so often I think about getting one of those MTH (?) telephone shacks or outhouses and simulating the real thing:
I can imagine some of you easily tackling the current version of the ventilation system, shown above and below. I'm going to stick with the cyclone vents that came with the kit. I did manage to get them painted but they need weathering:
Here's proof that it used to be the Lunch Box Diner:
I remain very interested in the roof details where the roof line joins the body. I'd really like to have a solid section to raise the roof line slightly as is shown here and in the side-view 4 photos above:
The side porch is a nice touch. Given the interior details that I plan to use, I won't be adding a door. There just isn't enough wall space in the model:
Of course, rows of soda cases would look nice, as shown above. Here's another side view with window detail:
Looks like layering a short top pane over a larger bottom pane (adding the stained-glass/wood trim detail), and then gluing the unit to the inside of the window might do the trick. The motto on the side says "Not Responsible for Your Obsession" Since 1930. (I don't get it, but I guess it goes with the "Crazy Good" name. They serve acai bowls. 'Nuff said.) Notice the old brown ceramic telephone insulator installed side-ways:
One of the "accessories" that I've been thinking about adding is an air conditioner on the side, just above the door. The prototype doesn't have one but it does have the classic vents -- now converted to windows. I'd previously posted experiments for simulating a mesh version of these mirror windows:
Tomlinson Run Railroad
