In-ko-pah Railroad -- An authentic miner's cabin

[Ray Dunakin]

I just completed a new structure for my In-ko-pah Railroad. It's a replica of an old miner's cabin in the little town of Ione, NV. Here's a photo of the prototype:



As you can see, there are some unique features that really give this cabin a lot of character, particularly the homemade metal awnings over the windows, the stovepipe with its fancy clay cap, and the window cut into the original door. One of the awnings appears to be made from part of the roof of an early automobile.

I only had a couple of photos, taken from a distance, and the the cabin is surround by tall weeds and junk. So I had to "fill in the blanks" using my knowledge of other cabins similar to this one. I also added a window to the blank wall on the opposite side.

The model is made of styrene, textured and painted to look like old, weathered wood. The awnings and corrugated roofing are made of brass. The door and door frame are modified Grandt Line castings.

Here are some photos of the model:



I replaced the saw mounted on the front of the cabin, with a bighorn sheep skull. The skull was sculpted from polyclay...




The rear of the prototype cabin was not visible. On my model, I opted to give it a different style of siding -- a common practice on many of these old buildings. I also painted it with grayer, more muted colors, to represent the shaded side of the cabin...


Here are some close up detail photos. The window shades were made from Tyvek, cut from an envelope and painted a yellowish tan. The curtains were made from lace, saturated with acrylic matte medium and then painted grungy off-white::




Here's the cabin temporarily in place on the layout. I still need to do more work on the site, to bring the concrete "soil" up around the cabin. I also need to add plants, an outhouse, and other details:



The cabin is located in an area without wiring, so I installed an LED powered by two D cell batteries. Here's a test shot of the cabin at night:


As I complete the cabin's site on the layout, I'll post new pics:

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Miners_Cabin.html


Enjoy!

[Ray Dunakin]

I just finished making an outhouse to go with the miner's cabin. Like the cabin, this outhouse is made of styrene which has been textured and painted to resemble aged wood. The "tin can" shingles and the metal patches are made from brass.

I still haven't placed it on the layout yet, but here's how it looks by itself:







The interior includes an old toilet seat, some toilet paper, and a strip of flypaper. 

You can see more photos starting here:

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Miners_Cabin.html#14

Enjoy!

[Ray Dunakin]

Been a long time since I last updated this, but I finally have something new to show...

First off, I built a small water tank to provide water for the cabin. It's supported by a "wooden" platform made of styrene. The rear of the platform will rest on a stone ledge:

 


The pipe is made of brass rod with slices of 1/16" styrene tube added to it. The faucet handle is a snap fitting from the fabric store. The hose is a length of solder attached to a short piece of brass rod, which fits into the styrene faucet. A slice of heat shrink tubing forms the "brass" connector on the hose:

   

   


I now have the cabin, outhouse and tank permanently installed on the layout. I still have to add plants and some clutter:

   

   

   

[Ray Dunakin]

 I'm not completely happy with some of the colors on the tank platform. I was trying to make it look like the tank occasionally leaks or overflows, the wood becoming discolored from alternately getting wet, then dry again. But I don't think I got it quite right.

[Ray Dunakin]

The tank was spray painted with Rustoleum's "Cold Galvanizing Compound", which comes pretty close to looking like real galvanized metal. (It's 95% zinc.) It turned out a little dark though so I gave it some thin washes of light gray craft acrylic. The rust colors were also done with craft acrylics, starting with very thin washes and gradually adding more color to certain areas.

The finished paint job was topped with a coat of Krylon UV matte clear.

[Ray Dunakin]

The sun is finally starting to reach the area where I placed the cabin, so here are a few pics with most of the plants and junk installed. Still have a few little things I want to add later:





 



 


Enjoy!