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

R

Ray Dunakin

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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:
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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:
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I replaced the saw mounted on the front of the cabin, with a bighorn sheep skull. The skull was sculpted from polyclay...
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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...
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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::
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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:
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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:
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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!
 
brilliant model and great painting to give that aged effect.
Top marks sir!
 
Exceptional work and results from an unlikely material - it is hard to believe it isn't wood such is the very realistic finish. It would have been difficult to achieve it using real wood. Brilliant!
 
Thanks! It was a fun structure to model.
 
Outstanding modelling. Thank you for letting us see such a superb piece of work. :thumbup:
 
WOW that looks fantastic a very lovely model :bigsmile:
 
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:

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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!
 
When you've got to go, you've got to go! I like the detailing - superb. I find it hard to believe it's not real wood.
 
Apparently there's a server problem that's preventing my cabin page from updating. So if you went there and couldn't see the rest of the outhouse photos, please try again later.
 
Thanks Ray - nice web site - will look again.
 
Again Ray thats more like art than modeling ,superb work.
 
amazing work ray
nail holes, everything
the imperfections and odditites all work -not an easy thing to do or to convince an observer

im really impressed with how wood-like youve made the plastic
 
That looks superb, Ray - really enjoyed your article in Garden Railways and the vid - a great railroad.
 
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