Starting early this week I see...
Having finished a big gap in a long stretch of scenery back on March 29, I’ve tried to focus on finishing some small scenes and details. Normally, when I say I finish a scene, I finish a scene. But being only human, there are some small details I don’t get to in the rush to try to get the scenery finished. So being home pretty much most of the time over the past few months, I’ve tried to focus on some of those neglected details. Here are three of them.
The first two images show a farm truck at Goodman’s Feed Mill in Port Royal. The truck is by Whitebox (one of my favorite diecast vehicle manufacturers) which I weathered up a bit and filled with a pile of feed sacks. In front of the truck, a figure from Arttista stacks a few more in a pile.
The next two images show a long planned unloading platform at the Mifflin team track. Here, the figure on the platform (also from Arttista) guides the driver of the truck as he backs the vehicle up to the platform where the crates of new farm equipment parts will be loaded onto the truck. The vehicle merits special attention. It is by SpecCast, a manufacturer primarily of 1/64 Scale vehicles. I came across this by dumb luck while doing a search on the internet and actually found this on Walmart’s website! (Other vendors stock it as well). I looked at their 2020 catalog, and it is their only O scale vehicle (actually 1/50th which is perfect for O scale). It is one of the nicest vehicles I have ever purchased for the layout. I weathered it up, and positioned the front wheels which are moveable to make it look like the driver is carefully backing up to the platform.
The last three pictures are of a pair of classic cast metal PRR signs found along the railroad right of way. These ones are specifically meant for the ends of major bridges. I scratchbuilt them out of styrene, and they have all of the ribbing on the back and the sign faces are accurate for the Pennsy. I included the third picture of the group simply because it shows other lineside details, but more than anything, the beautiful Path Valley. Here Tuscarora Creek winds its way through the valley just before it empties into the Juniata River at Port Royal. Tuscarora Mountain is in the distance beyond the farm fields.
Enjoy!
