Dan D. Sparks

Backesto Block Bldg ~ Marquee Market

2026-10-05T00:34:00.000-07:00

Modeling a Turn-of-the-20th-Century Market.

Going ALL OUT on a FULLY DETAILED Interior.

Being situated at the very edge of the layout, my model of the Backesto Block Bldg can be scrutinized quite closely. So for the buildings first tenant I'm going to seriously deck-it-out with detail.

The market will occupy the storefront on the left. Good as place an any.

What I'm Thinking:

Bountiful produce spilling out of the store and right onto the sidewalk.

From baskets of fruit on the ground to boxes of fruit on barrels and benches to pyramids of cans rising in the windows - it just keeps going up and up and up!

Insanely neatly stacked produce and cans! Even the bananas are neatly fanned out. Cute place too.

What I've got:

Looking around at what's available in HO scale, I was able to pick these up on eBay:

Busch 1071 Marketstand. This has that big leafy produce as well as stackable fruit. Those Jams and Jelly jars really caught my eye. Stacking those in the window with the store lighting behind them may create a stunning stained glass effect.

Preiser 17501 Boxes of Fruit and Vegetables. Great variety of produce. The sacks of potatoes are nice too. I really like that floor scale, that could make for a nice detail in the store.

Preiser 17502 Baskets of Fruit and Vegetables. These are a must since they were quite prominent in those old timey photos.

Okay so this is what I have to work with, Let's see what I can do with them.

Yes sir!

Let's see what I can do!

Dandy

№ 135 ~ The Paying Passengers

2026-09-21T00:34:00.000-07:00

How Many Passenger Figures Can I Pack In To This Model?

"...and for the carriage trade, I puts on my Hat!"

The 1915 Panama California Exposition is in full swing and the streetcars are filled to capacity with excited visitors. To try to capture the feel of this, I'm going to attempt to see how many figures I can fit in this model.

Space is terribly limited though by that big ol' motor and mechanism. So I'm squeezing in figures wherever I can.

The SDERy Class 1 cars are of the "California Car" style. That is one end is open to take advantage of the fair weather, and the other end is the enclosed "all-weather" section. This open-end section (above) is where I was able to add the most figures since it has only a few obstructions. Notice I did seat the woman on the left on the motor mount! The motorman will be standing on the platform on the right.

The enclosed section is a little more challenging with the mechanism being housed in that portion of the model. But I was able to fit a few figures in there. That seat has to go unfilled so as to have access to that screw hole.

Well I've been painting my motormen all wrong. A visit to the San Diego Electric Railway Museum in San Diego I learned that the motorman's uniforms were actually a dark brown (not blue). Which makes sense since the cars the men motor are yellow trimmed with brown. These guys are an accessory to accent the car! This is an Andrew Staddon figure.

Full Car! I don't think I can fit anymore figures in this car. For those of you keeping score, I was able to fit 14 figures in there. Almost time to close her up. But before I do that I will be fabricating some window shades to help hide the stuff I don't want seen and empasize what I do want seen. Until next time-

Car full- Next car please!

Yes sir!

Next car please!

Dandy

Backesto Block Bldg ~ Interior

2026-09-07T00:34:00.000-07:00

Constructing the Interior Walls and Stairs

to Add Strength to the Structure.

It turns out that storing styrene as a roll is not at all a good idea. Eventually the styrene won't roll out flat- it will have a permanent bend to it. So! To try to get the walls of this building as perfectly straight as possible before painting, I'm going to first add the interior walls to try to add strength to the overall structure.

But First - Stairs!

The Backesto has three stairwells. Frustratingly, prefabricated stairs in HO scale are plentiful, but closed-tread stairs not so much. I'm going to have to fabricate my own.

Evergreen #159 .060 x .250" styrene makes for a good tread size.

The next tread overlaps by about half. I kept adding and building up until...

Stairs! Styrene sheet the same thickness as the treads was used for the midway landing.

Floor, and ground floor walls are permanently glued into place. The grid pattern supplying a lot of rigidity to the model. The second floor and roof will be removable so that interior details and lighting can be accessed.

I think we are in a good spot to proceed to the painting of the building now.

Yes sir!

In a good spot!

Dandy

№ 135 ~ Fancy Footwear

2026-08-17T00:34:00.000-07:00

Weathering and Installing Truck Side Frames.

One of those finishing touches the really brings the model to life.

№. 135 has got a new pair of shoes!

Side frameless. №. 135 has been running around the layout without proper footwear. It's time to rectify that.

Hard knocks life. The side frames are weathered with my tried and true technique of using a wash of Bragdon Weathering Powders mixed with alcohol. Then they were sealed with Testors Dullcote.

Obstructed. The newly installed side frame interfered with the free swinging trucks by contacting a couple of underbody details. Fortunately, careful filing back of these details allowed the trucks freedom of movement without losing the details.

Back in action with proper footwear.

Yes sir!

Back in action!

Dandy

Backesto Block Bldg ~ Color Management

2026-08-03T00:34:00.000-07:00

Paint for the Backesto

Giving Mission Models Paint a Try.

Since I don't think Floquil is coming back and acrylics seem to be getting really good!

Painted! Not the white ghost anymore. The building is looking much more grounded now.

Painting

Black Primer for the interior wall. This is to help prevent the building walls from glowing when the interior lights are lit. Styrene is rather translucent.

Tan Primer for the exterior of the building. This color is almost correct for the final color of the building!

White paint for the whole interior, including the walls that were painted black. This will help reflect the interior lighting back into the scene, illuminating the scene more fully.

Sandgrau RAL paint for the exterior. This color turned out a little 'dingier' than I expected so I think I'll try lightening it up a bit.

White and Sandgrau mix. Ah- that did the trick! I think we are on the right track now.

Masked for the trim color. I can't paint straight lines. But I can tape straight lines! So I taped the Bejesus out of it.

White trim. Yes its bright, but it'll tone down with a light wash of Bragdon weathering powders (mixed with alcohol). This will tone down the white and really bring out the details. (The blank walls on the bottom floor will eventually have a painted advertisement on it).

Brick Red for the window frames and doors. Those I had to paint by hand- a rather painstaking and precise experience! The Bragdon wash toned down the white trim nicely.

I really need to fix that broken span wire!

Gay Nineties Elegance?

Yes sir! - Gay Nineties Elegance!

Dandy

№ 9 ~ Decoder for De Motor

2026-07-20T00:34:00.000-07:00

Installing a Tried and True TCS KAM4-LED Decoder

with built-in Keep Alive, auto-adjusting BEMF (Back Electro-Motive Force) motor control, Quiet Drive, and built-in resistors to power LED lighting, all in a tiny-tiny package.

Alright, № 9 has been running on the layout since 2020 (and is my best runner!). But apparently I neglected to write a post about installing its decoder. I found this out while performing some maintenance on the car and researched this blog to refresh my memory about it, but it wasn't there! So- here I am to right that wrong.

Stanton Drive installed. The two pairs of current collecting wipers can be seen rubbing on the back side of the wheels. One pair is wired to a red wire and the other pair to a black wire.

Grounded. Since I run off the overhead and not 2 rail, all 4 wheels are tied together electrically by simply soldering the red and black wires to the trolley car frame.

Connected. The orange and grey wires from the Stanton's motor are wired to the decoder. Normally I would use a micro-connector here so that the floor could be disconnected from the body of the car. But I'm not sure that doing that is worth the extra effort. So- we'll see how it goes.

Positive and Negative Power Connections. The red wire from the decoder is soldered to the trolley pole bushing in the ceiling of the car. And the black wire from the decoder is soldered directly to the body of the car that is grounded to the wheels. Back in DC days the trolley pole was the positive (+) and the track was the negative( -) . But DCC is AC so "positive and negative" no longer applies really.

Decodered. The white wire is connected to the front headlight and the yellow wire to the rear headlight and both ground to the blue wire. Those lights I did post about. But the interior lighting I just realized I also neglected to post about! So I'll do a write-up about them when I refamiliarize myself with what the heck it did with them! Then the decoder is tucked up out of the way into the clerestory ceiling and glued into place.

Operation. Between the Stanton Drive and the KAM4, № 9 is a smooth operator.

Yes sir!

A smooth operator!

Dandy

Backesto Block Bldg ~ Windows of Opportunity

2026-07-06T00:34:00.000-07:00

Modeling Open Windows

Modifying the Models Closed Windows into Opened Windows.

Modeling the building with opened windows adds a lot of charm and character.

And realism since this was the main factor for regulating the buildings temperature back in them days.

Repeating window patterns. Here is what I am faced with. Let's break up that monotonous pattern a bit.

Printed Closed. Because of the 1mm minimum thickness required for 3D prints at the time, I had to model the windows in the closed position.

Flat File. Taking advantage of files that have the smooth sides, we can file in one direction in the corners.

De-sashed. The lower sash is filed away. Then the sides of the sashes are filed up to the desired height of the opening. The flat side of the file helps us to not file into the window frame.

Sashed. Then the lower sash is replaced by an equivalent length of styrene. Because the upper sash would be behind the upper window, I'll add it after the window glass is installed later.

That lived-in look. The random opened windows resemble musical notes to me (oh dang!- I should have arranged them as a bar of some popular music.). This will help give the building that lived-in look.

Yes sir!

A lived in look!

Dandy

#135 ~ Test, Adjust, Test, Adjust, Repeat

2026-06-22T00:34:00.000-07:00

Making the Necessary Adjustments to Help Make № 135 a Reliable Runner.

In the last post about № 135 we were trying to troubleshoot why it couldn't negotiate the left-hand turns.

After determining that more weight was needed, it turned out that a little more work was also needed on the frame to allow the trucks to swing more freely.

After some work, № 135 successfully negotiates a left-hand turn.

Turning the power truck with my fingers, I could just make out that one corner of the truck was rubbing on the frame. Normally I would remove the truck before filing the frame, but an extra weight I had just installed made removing the truck a bit complicated. So I kept the truck in place and carefully cleaned up after the filing. I don't want all that debris getting into the gears!

With its trucks swinging more freely, № 135 successfully negotiates a left-hand turn with № 426 making an opposing left turn, while № 9 makes a right.

№ 135 is becoming a much better runner. Occasionally it will still derail while making a left turn, so more adjustments will be needed. In some places, I'm beginning to suspect that the track itself may be the culprit and that it is what needs adjusting.

It's a constant battle: run, troubleshoot, adjust; run, troubleshoot, adjust; run, troubleshoot, adjust. Slowly but surely, things keep getting better and better.

And then one fine day, it'll all be perfect!

Yes sir! Perfect!

Dandy

AshNoir & Chill

2026-06-08T22:15:06.943-07:00

A Short Video Featuring the Recently Completed Watts Building and the Grand Union Intersection

My photo of the completed model with a little help with the atmosphere from PixVerse ai.

The Video series chronicling the modifying of the Walthers Ashmore Hotel Kit to resemble San Diego's Watts building has wrapped up over on the Dan D. Sparks YouTube Channel. And for a 'Grand Finale' I made a Noirish 1 minute video featuring the building in its new location on the layout next to the Grand Union Intersection.

Above is the 1 minute 'sensationalized' YouTube version of the video.

But for those of you who enjoyed the 3 minute finale in Part 10 of the series, here it is as a stand alone video exclusively on this blog (though I reserve the right to make it public in the future). This is the slower, all noir version:

The electrical arching in this video was unintentional. I didn't notice it until I was editing the video. I'm not sure what happened there. Something must have gotten on the contact wire. But I liked it so much that I added the appropriate 'zzzap!' sound effect for it.

I hope you enjoy!

Yes sir!

"Zzzap!"

Dandy

Backesto Block Bldg ~ Grey Area

2026-05-18T00:34:00.000-07:00

What Color Was the Backesto Building?

Studying Historic Paint Color Charts and Deciphering Black and White Photographs for Color Information.

There won't be a definitive answer as to what the color of this building was. So I'm going to have to make an educated guess.

The Latest Historic Colors.

By Bernard Gagnon - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25747618

Tan-grey with white trim and blue-grey accents. Despite using historical colors, I don't believe these are the original colors of the building. Grey is a very trendy color these days (Millennial Grey) for clothes, cars, houses, etc. So the owners, wanting to attract tenants, have pushed the colors toward grey. The designer as well seems to have made some artistic choices such as the corner pilasters being the same color as the main body of the building but with the 'unexpected' white accent in the mid-section. Also the dark blue grey accents below the windows doesn't seem to be a historically accurate choice either.

By David Lyman - Backesto Block Building c1980s

Light tan with dark tan trim and oxide red accents. Here is a photo of the building I shot some time in the 1980s. It appears to me that the buildings of the Gaslamp Quarter during this time were a bit over-painted. Very colorful.

But What Color WAS the Building?

Somebody knows. But I don't know that somebody. Looking at historic photographs though I can glean some clues. Such as...

The building was definitely two-tone. In this 1910 photo the frieze (facia?) and cornice appear lighter than the body of the building.

In this (unfortunately low rez) photo the corner pilaster and quite possibly to window hoods also appear lighter than the facade. Also notice that the recesses of the corner pilaster are not painted a contrasting color as they are in the 1980's color photo.

And finally, the window frames are clearly a dark color which was common in that era.

So my takeaway from the old photographs are a light facade with a lighter trim and dark window frames.

Historic Colors

Looking at a lot of historic color charts as well as restored historic buildings I have a pretty good idea of what the colors were being used back then. So using this knowledge I'm able to formulate a reasonable color scheme for this model:

Cream Body

White Trim

Oxide Red Accents.

Yes sir!

A reasonable color scheme!

Dandy

#135 ~ Right Turns Only

2026-05-04T00:34:00.000-07:00

No. 135 runs like a dream—until it meets a left-hand curve.

After a fair bit of troubleshooting, adjusting, and modifying, I’ve finally made some progress. The car can now negotiate the right-hand curves without much trouble.

But the left-hand curves? That’s a whole different story.

#135 runs beautifully in most respects, it’s smooth, steady, and reliable. It just refuses to cooperate when it comes to left-hand turns.

To get a better look at what was going on, I set up a camera trackside and ran the model past it. Watching the footage back gave me a clearer picture of the problem:

What I’m seeing is the car starting to climb the rails on those left-hand curves. That leads me to think a bit more weight might help keep it grounded and tracking properly.

The challenge is figuring out where to put that weight. I’ve already packed quite a bit into the roof, and I’d really prefer not to load up the passenger area if I can avoid it. So now it’s a matter of getting creative and finding a solution that works without compromising the look of the model.

But that’s part of the fun, right?

Yes sir! ~ It's all part of the fun!

Dandy

Two Building Builds!

2026-04-06T21:42:00.000-07:00

I've Been a Busy Boy!

Busy with Blog Posts, Recording YouTube Process Videos and Building out the Layout.

The Backesto Block building (pictured left) is being chronicled here on this blog, while the Watts Building (far right) is being featured in videos over on the Dan D. Sparks YouTube channel.

San Diego & Southeastern #107 rolls into a bustling downtown San Diego scene.

The full scene set up. Cobbling together what I had on hand, I was able to create a pretty nice scene. This shot was taken from the tripod at the front of the layout.

On the left is the Backesto Block, scratch-built using 3D printed parts. In the center is my Bank of Santa Monica model, originally built years ago as a kitbash of Walthers Merchant Row II—it fit the space perfectly, so back into service it went. On the right is the Walthers Ashmore Hotel, finished to resemble the Watts Building in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter.

Autos come from a variety of manufacturers.

SD&SE #107 is a Suydam PE 414 model, backdated to its original San Diego appearance.

A Little Whimsy. And for fun, there’s a couple dashing across the boulevard—actually a dancing pair of figures from Preiser!

So yes… lots of entertainment coming from ol’ Dan D Sparks.

Yes sir~ lots of entertainment!

Dandy

Backesto Block Bldg ~ Score and Snap!

2026-03-23T00:34:00.000-07:00

Using the Tried and True Method of Score and Snap to Assemble this Styrene Building Model.

Score and snap is a surprisingly effective way to model with styrene.

I started by printing out a horizontal flipped image of the dimensional drawing and then gluing it to the back of 1/16" thick styrene. This side will be the interior of the building for reasons I'll explain in a moment.

The first cuts are precisely where the top and bottom of the windows line up.

Snap! The styrene is first scored about half way through the thickness with an X-acto and then it is bent to snap it the rest of the way. The cutting distorts the plastic, but the snap makes a perfectly clean cut on the other side! When the pieces are glued back together (minus the window openings) the joint on the snapped side of the styrene will be all but invisible. That's why the mirrored imaged drawing is on the inside of the building- to hide the cuts. But the exterior side of the styrene will be almost pristine!

The top and sides of the wall are then glued back together minus the window strip.

The windows are carefully removed from the sprue and cleaned up.

The windows will be glued to the exterior of the building (the drawing is on the other side).

The styrene walls between the windows are scored and snapped from the window strip...

...and glued in place between the windows. Notice how the cuts in the styrene are almost invisible on this side of the wall.

The same process is used for the ground floor doors and windows.

Here is the building reassembled. You can really see how effective the score and snap technique is with the clean snap lines.

Then it was a matter of adding the entryways, posts and piers, cornice moldings and whatnot. I had to fabricate the roof peaks, cornices, as well as the belt course (look at me throwing around fancy architectural terms!) with various Evergreen dimensional styrene strips.

When I was satisfied that there wasn't anymore to be done while the walls could be laid flat, it was time to square them up and glue them together in the magnetic squaring jig.

Now with the walls squared I can focus on the parapet roofing and its rounded corner. For the roofing I used Evergreen Standing Seam Roofing.

Plain styrene sheets were used for the rear walls since they'll butt up to its future neighboring buildings and therefore not seen. The chimney 3d prints have also been added to the parapet roof.

So there we have it. The basic building. So far so good. But there is still a lot of work to be done.

Yes sir!

There's still a lot of work to be done!

Dandy

Backesto Block Bldg. ~ Gettin' My Kicks Printing Backesto Bits

2026-03-09T00:34:00.000-07:00

The Backesto Bits Sprue has Returned from the 3D Printers!

It took many tries, many revisions, (and many dollars!) to get it to pass the printers standards. But it's finally done!

Despite following the printers minimum standard of 1mm thicknesses, they pushed back a lot on how delicate the whole thing was. After a lot of back and forth and many revisions, I eventually figured out that their "Fine Detail Plastic" could handle the delicacy. But of course that is their premium plastic and cost a freakin' fortune to print- $272.39! I could have bought an actual 3D Printer for that kind of money (I'm looking in to it now.). But this has been going on for too long now so I bit the bullet and ordered it. Live and learn. Yes sir- live and learn.

But man- you can't beat that detail! This printed beautifully. The finished model should be ridiculously realistic!

Yes sir!

Ridiculous!

Dandy

Structures ~ Backesto Block Reduex

2026-02-23T00:34:00.000-08:00

Reviving the Backesto Block Building Project.

This Time 3D Printing the Backesto Block Bldg's Detail Parts.

After the failed attempt to scratch build and cast parts for the Backesto Bldg and sulking about it all this time, I've decided to try again by 3D printing the parts this time.

Printing the entire building would be pricey. So instead I will build this building similar to how the prototype building was built; scratch build the shell and add prebuilt details.

My selectively compressed drawings of the Backesto Block and the Old City Hall buildings.

South side of the Backesto and the Grand Pacific Hotel.

The details (doors, windows, columns, cornices, chimneys, ornaments) were modeled on top of these drawings that I imported to a 3D program (3DS Max).

Then all the 3d modeled "Backesto Bits" were laid out flat and attached to each other to create this sprue for ease of 3D printing.

Then off to the printer it goes!

Shapeways = $272.39! (I should just buy my own printer!).

Now comes the wait. Fingers crossed all goes well!

Yes sir! Fingers crossed!

Dandy

#135 ~ Decodering

2025-04-21T00:34:00.000-07:00

Installing, Wiring, and Programing a TCS KAM4-LED Decoder.

Train Control Systems Keep Alive Decoder for LEDs.

Hot Glued the decoder to the ceiling right in the center of the car.

The wiring is pretty straight forward except that the Red wires are attached to the trolley pole bases and the Black wires to all wheels:

Red = Trolley Poles

Black = Wheels

Orange = Motor

Grey = Motor

Blue = Lighting Power Bus (positive (+) ).

White = Headlight (-)

Yellow = Rear Headlight (-)

Green = Forward Interior Lights (-)

Purple = Rear Interior Lights (-)

Programing

With the Digitrax Zephyr

Programing the new address to #135:

1. Place car on the programing track.

2. Press 'Program Mode' on the Zephyr. until display reads as 'dir'.

3. Press 'LOCO' button. Display reads 'Ad2' for addresses 1-127, press again to display 'Ad4' for addresses 128-9999.

4. Press '1' and '3' and '5'. Display will read '0135'.

5. Press 'CV-WR'. Display will blink the 'Ad#' and then '0135'.

6. Return the car to the mainline to test it.

Some CV's need to be changed. The Green wire (forward interior lights) defaults to the Function 1 (F1) button which is fine. But the Purple wire (rear interior lights) defaults to the F2 button which is a momentary contact button normally used for locomotive whistles (the whistle sounds when the button is held down). Which means that the interior lights on car #135 only light when the button is held down. So the purple wire needs to be remapped to the F3 button instead.

Digitrax Zephyr Function buttons.

I need to remap the Green wire (CV 35) from function button 2 (F2) to function button 3 (F3).

Even though these trolley cars are bi-directional I have designated the open section as the forward end of the car to simplify things (the open section is easier to see into so I want to put my motorman figure in that end).

Green wire (CV 35) = Front Purple wire (CV 36) = Rear.

To remap the button-

Program: CV 35 V=4 (simply confirm this value since this is the default)

CV 36 V=16 (from the default value of 8)

Remapping CV's is easiest using JMRI Decoder Pro

Otherwise its button mashing on the Zephyr:

1. Place car on the programing track.

2. Activate 'Program Mode' on the Zephyr. Program Mode light lights up.

3. Press the 'CV' button. Display reads 'ad2' or 'ad4'.

4. Press '3' and '6'. Display reads '0036'.

5. Press the 'CV' button again. Display still reads '0036'.

6. Press '1' and '6'. Display reads the value of '0016'.

7. Press the 'CV-WR' button. Display should blink once as it writes to the decoder.

8. Return the car to the mainline to test it.

And that ought to do it!

Yes sir!

That oughta do it!

Dandy

#135 ~ Illumination

2025-04-07T00:34:00.001-07:00

Headlights

Installing LEDs for the headlights.

Working headlights on streetcar models I find to be most helpful when working with DCC. When I place the car on the track the first thing I do is hit the headlight button on the command station to determine if the car is getting power and responding to commands. If the car has been sitting on a siding for a while but the headlight is still on, then I know it hasn't ventured onto a dirty piece of track and the KeepAlive lost its power. So I always try to have working headlights on my cars.

The rounded lens of these LEDs look great as a headlight.

1.8mm, 3 volt, warm white LEDs works for this. The lens portion will fit inside the housing while the square portion glued against the inside wall.

Reaming out the housing a bit was required to accommodate the LED.

Perfect fit! Positive leads on top, negative on the bottom. But the square portion of the bulb is still a bulb, which means it will be casting light inside the car. So...

Black paint to block the light from the back of the LEDs, but keeping the lens clear.

Wire Routing. The leads to the LEDs are bent and trimmed so as to aid in routing the wires past the windows and up to the decoder that is mounted on the ceiling.

Illuminated. I hooked it up to a battery to test it out and voila!

Yes sir!

Voila!

Dandy

Gassier Lamps

2024-06-24T00:34:00.000-07:00

Brawa Historic Street Lamp.

Oh Sure! Now This Model Shows Up!

After committing and installing the gas lamps on 1890's street, this more accurate model shows up on eBay! Isn't that always the way!

This Brawa model is much closer to the style of the gas lamps San Diego had in the early 20th century:

So I purchased it to see if it would be worth it to swap out my current gas lamps.

Well, it showed up in the mail and one thing became apparent to me right away...

It's HUGE! The lamp in the vintage photo is about as tall as the streetcar. But this Brawa lamp is about a car and a half tall. Despite claiming that it's HO scale on the box it might be better suited for O scale. Hey- I wonder if it comes in N scale?

Yes... yes it does. But it looks to me like all they did was make the HO lamp shorter. The globe is still on the large size.

Well it all doesn't matter anyway, these lamps seem to have been out of production for quite some time now. Brawa doesn't make them anymore. So I think I'll stick with what I have for now. Maybe something will come along later. We've seen this sort of thing happen before, maybe it'll happen again?

Yes sir!

Maybe something will come along later!

Dandy

Modeling Streetlamps ~ It's a Gas, Gas, Gas!

2024-01-22T00:34:00.000-08:00

Modeling Electrically Ignited Gas Lamps

When electricity came into use it wasn't used for illumination right away. Instead, electricity was used to ignite the gas lamps.

This made sense since the infrastructure for gas was already there and worked perfectly fine. Electric ignitors was a logical upgrade to this system.

Here are my 1890's street simulated gas lamps being ignited and then warming up to their operating temperature. Pretty Neat-O! That would have been a site to see for real back in the day, yes?

Here is a Gas Lamp as they appeared in San Diego in 1905.

The closest models that match the prototype I can find are these identical models by both Miniatronics and Viessmann. Not quite right, but they do capture the flavor. But they are awfully pricey. Occasionally I'll find one at a bargain price, so I'll pick it up. Eventually I had the 6 that I needed but four of them have incandescent bulbs. I'm a fan of the long lasting LED's. So my plan was to replace the incandescents with LEDs. But I made an interesting discovery about that...

While looking around at Gas Lamp models I stumbled across this Gas Lamp Ignition simulator module (Viessmann 5066). And it will power both the incandescent and LED lamps. Well this sounds fun! So I purchased it.

And installed it under the layout. It only has 5 ports so two of my 6 lamps with have to double up. I chose the two on the extreme ends so that it will be less noticeable that they are in sync.

Nothing like wiring everything up properly just to have it fail. After going through all the trouble of trouble shooting I discovered that the wiring schematic that came with the 5066 Ignition module was incorrect. Where it showed the brown wires going to each of the 5 ports it should have been the yellow wires (as seen in the correct schematic above). Nothing going smoothly is par for course for this hobby I guess.

I decided against the Viessmann power supply (5200). It's overkill for my needs. So instead I ordered this basic 15 volt power supply.

The power connector was installed with double sided mounting tape with a cable clip to secure the wires.

Plug it in and voila! Now this is where the difference between incandescent and LEDs can be seen. Incandescent on the left and LED on the right. I'm a big proponent of LEDs but the incandescents are performing much better here. The LED is way too bright and doesn't have the range of brightness that the incandescent has. The incandescent does a great job of igniting and then glowing dim before slowly brightening as it warms up. Its final operating brightness is more realistic as well. Plus the pool of light cast by the incandescent on the building and streets is much more pleasant than that cast by the LEDs. Instructions come with the lamps on how to change the lightbulbs, so I might do that at some point.

But for now I am quite satisfied.

Yes sir!

Quite satisfied!

Dandy

Jessop's Clock ~ Grand Finale

2024-01-08T00:34:00.000-08:00

Adding the Final Details

to this fantabulous Time Piece.

Voila!

Photos of the Jessop's plaques were straightened, scaled and duplicated in photoshop. There is no way I can model the clocks mechanism in the base of the clock, so it too will be represented with a photo.

Then this was all printed onto photo paper with my home printer.

The back of the plaques were painted with the same copper paint as the rest of the clock.

And then applied to the clock. The edges and back were touched up with more copper paint in hopes to seal it all up and protect it from warpage.

And last but not least- the Eagle has landed!

Well whaddaya think? Not a bad transformation, huh?

Yes sir! Not bad at all!

Dandy

Happy New Year!

2024-01-01T00:34:00.000-08:00

2024

Here's to a Productive Year!

Yes Sir!

A Productive New Year!

Dandy

Jessop's Street Clock ~ Painting

2023-12-25T00:34:00.000-08:00

Painting This Model Just Like Painting Any Other Model.

Testors Paint makes a nice Metallic Copper color. And its small bottles should be about right for a small project like this.

Here are the colors I'm trying to represent:

Copper. With Gold and Black trim. On the left is the clock looking polished and shiny after being restored and installed at Horton Plaza. After several years it has patinaed as seen on the right.

The modified Brawa model has been masked and is ready for the paint booth.

Primered. The Testors "rattle can" primer works just fine for this. I applied two coats within 3 hours of each other and then let it dry for over 24 hours. Testors recommends 48 hours but the weather has been warm and dry so it should be fine.

Coppered. Wow! It looks like a brand new shiny penny. The paint was thinned 15 drops thinner and 20 drops paint for the airbrush. Two coats covered nicely. The second coat was airbrushed on within 3 hours after the first coat as recommended by Testors.

Unmasked. The suspense was killing me as to if the masks did their job. With the spraying done, now is the time for the unmasking.

Success! For the most part the round masks worked. As expected a little touch up paint was required.

After letting the paint dry for the recommended 48 hours it was time for the...

Golded. This was rather difficult to paint as the gold isn't showing up so well. It's very similar to the copper color. Hopefully another coat or two will help it pop?

Birds turn. I'm going to try something different with this bird. I'm going to dip him right into the gold paint bottle! This could go very bad if I drop him in!

The claw pick up tool seems to have a good grip on him- so in he goes!

Golded Eagle.

Blacked. It took me way too long to notice that the base is also black. So I masked off the clock and airbrushed the base black.

Gold Bits. Some of the details are impossible to model so they are represented with a dot of gold paint. This dot of paint comes way closer to the detail than anything I could model.

Painted. And thus completes the painting portion of this project.

Yes sir!

Painted!

Dandy.

Jessop's Street Clock ~ Masking

2023-12-18T00:34:00.000-08:00

Preparing the Model for Painting

Masking those round clock faces was a challenge!

But I figured out a reasonable way to achieve it.

This model wasn't designed to be disassembled without possibly damaging it. Otherwise I would have removed the clock faces for the painting of the body. But alas, it's not to be, so I'll have to mask them off. I also masked off the wire leads for the lighting.

The $5 solution was this K&S 7/16 brass tube that matched the size of the clock face frames. I pressed the tube hard into the painters tape and cutting mat. Then I carefully X-actoed around the tube. It took some tries to get it right.

Hmm- not a round as I would like. I'm in for some touchup painting when the masks are removed. Getting the masks to laydown over the clock hands proved tricky. But I think I got it. As long as the paint stays off the clock faces I should be alright.

Alright- off to the paint shop. Fingers crossed.

Yes sir!

Fingers crossed.

Dandy

Jessop's Street Clock ~ Detailing

2023-12-11T00:34:00.000-08:00

Let's See How Close I Can Make This Look Like The Prototype Before I Paint It.

There's no need for this to be a precise model of the Jessop's clock. I would have scratch built it if I wanted that.

This project is meant to be 'quick and dirty'. I'll be happy with a 'reasonable facsimile'.

The birds showed up in the mail (Preiser HO Scale # 10169 - Birds (Pigeons, Seagulls, Crows and Birds of prey)) and I quickly found one that would fit the bill (beak?) and it looks great! So we are off to a very good start here!

On the prototype the bird is on a sort of pedestal. I should be able to fashion one rather easily with styrene.

Using the telescopic abilities of Evergreen Styrene tubes, a ring was cut from a 3/16 tube and fit around a 1/8 tube and glued in place. For ease of handling, it was then filed to the '1/4 dome' shape while still attached to the length of tube before being cut to size.

And then centered and glued to the clock. Because of the delicacy of the parts, I'll be holding off gluing the bird on until after painting.

And that's it. I don't think there is anything more I can do before painting. Other details (such as those arched 'Jessop's' plaques) are best put on afterwards.

Now its time to prep for painting. Since I'm unable to disassemble this model, how the heck am I going to mask off those round clock faces for painting?!?.

Yes sir!

Round masks!

Dandy.

Jessop's Street Clock

2023-12-04T00:34:00.000-08:00

Modeling San Diego's Historic 1907 Street Clock

by Modifying a Brawa Station Clock

Well here is a project from out of the blue. A chance listing on eBay caught my imagination and might prove to be a good project to get things rolling again with this blog and layout.

Okay? So lets roll!

Jessop's Clock is a large outdoor pendulum clock originally located on 5th Street in San Diego. It was commissioned in 1905 by one of the city's noted jewelers, Joseph Jessop.

In 1984 it was moved to the new Horton Plaza Shopping Center where it stood until 2012 when it was dismantled and put into storage.

The clock is scheduled to be restored and reassembled for it's permanent installation in the San Diego History Center in the Casa de Balboa building in Balboa Park for the exhibits opening in 2028.

Neat ol' clock. It never occurred to me to model it, until...

...one of these Brawa "Standard Clock for the Station Forecourt" (Normaluhr für Bahnhofsvorplatz) popped up for sale. It sure does have a family resemblance to the Jessop's clock! Since the price couldn't be beat (especially since they seems to be out of production now) I purchased it.

While trying to determine if this model could be disassembled for painting I discovered that it is made of brass. Or at least the post is. With some plastic parts. The base is all that I was able to remove. So painting will be tricky.

I don't know what kind of bird this is (maybe a Quail?), but I got to find something similar in H.O. scale to make this work.

So I ordered Preiser HO Scale # 10169 - Birds (Pigeons, Seagulls, Crows and Birds of prey). I would think one of these would work!

It's a good looking clock. And if I can pull off the transformation it should be a handsome addition to the streets of the layout.

Yes sir! A handsome addition!

Dandy.