Dolores Station - finally underway

In the last couple of days I finally got the wainscot siding and the clapboard siding sprayed in brown and beige and started putting them on the station inner walls. On top of the wainscot is a scale 1 by 6 which I also had to paint first. I took the photo after I had on a couple of walls on the baggage end of the station. The walls are laser cut from very thin wood, in scale so the wainscot is really vertical siding, and the clapboard has the right profile. In the background you can see the inner walls of the station (the ones with points on the top). After the photo was taken I finished the clapboard walls and am now onto putting vertical shingles on the upper portion of the walls - the pointed portion in the photo.

This kit was made by Banta Model Works (http://www.bantamodelworks.com) in Vermont. It is based on great drawings by Mike Blazek, and is exactly as the Dolores station looked. It was engineered by Joe Fuss, now of Raggs to Riches... What fascinates me with this kit is that these walls, windows, etc are cut extremely accurately. No fudge. No trimming needed for a good fit - just keep everything true and square. So far a very impressive kit. Banta has done a great job with this. And even more impressive is that I have owned the kit for 4 or 5 years, and he answered my questions via email in a day or two. Great customer service.

Wait till you see the windows! I have to decide soon which will be open and which closed, and where to put the curtains. Remember - this is 3/16 th scale! The station is sitting on a piece of foam core. When I am done with the station, I will cut a new piece of foamcore from black material, and cover it with scale lumber for a platform.

A grown man should not have this much fun. Good thing I am on the path to retirement.