Crimson Star's Garden Railroad Site

POLA 999: Susch Station

I purchased this kit from Ultimate Trains Ltd. It is about 16″ wide, 23″ long and 12″ tall, including the cargo loading platform.

This is a big, heavy kit with about a zillion parts, most of which will need to be painted. The photos on the box show nice colors, but the actual colors of some of the parts are terrible. The stucco walls were the worst, being a very bright yellow.

Although I am not quite finished, here are the color changes that I made with the water-based acrylic paint indicated:

Log pile: Craft Smart, Brown 23628; Folk Art, Tapioca 903; Craft Smart, Chocolate Brown 23629; Craft Smart, Espresso 23630

Cargo loading platform, top: Folk Art, Dove Gray 708

Stone wall section of station and cargo loading platform: Folk Art, Dove Gray 708; Folk Art, Rose Pink 632; Folk Art, Sky Blue 465; Folk Art, Hauser Green Light 459; Folk Art, Wrought Iron 925

Doorsteps: Folk Art, Dark Gray 426; Folk Art, Dove Gray 708; Craft Smart, Espresso 23630

Roof tiles: Folk Art, Charcoal Gray 613

Chimney: Folk Art, Medium Gray 425; Folk Art, Dark Gray 426; Folk Art, Licorice 938

Flowerboxes: Craft Smart, Chocolate Brown 23629

Ringer bells on two small parts: Folk Art, Silver Anniversary 506

Stucco walls: Craft Smart, Suede 23625

Walls, white areas: Folk Art, Ivory White 427

Roof wood fascia: Craft Smart, Espresso 23630

This station looks great and will be the centerpiece of the Swiss village section that I am adding to my garden railroad.

PIKO 62057: Beate's Pottery

I purchased this kit from Ultimate Trains Ltd. It is about 9.5″ wide, 11.5″ long and 10″ tall. The pottery display stand is about 5.5″ wide, 5.25″ long and 5.75″ tall.

This kit was easy enough to assemble and went together quickly, compared to my other projects. I painted the following items with the water-based acrylic paint indicated:

Chimney: Folk Art, Medium Gray 425
Pottery display stand beams: Craft Smart, Brown 23628
Pottery display stand shelves: Folk Art, Tapioca 903

There were only a few pottery items included in the kit, so I went to the local craft store and found a packet of eight “Wood Pot Terra Cotta Finish 5/8in.” from Lara’s Crafts, #U11220. This company also had a few other things that looked about the right size, so I bought them for future use.

LGB 5038 Advertising Pillar

These advertising pillars appear on eBay regularly, and sell for a fraction of their retail price. Each one is about 2.75″ diameter and 7.25″ tall. If you browse through old LGB catalogs, you will see that these have been made in various colors over the years. Both of mine were a sort of “pea soup” color. The one on the left in the photo is the original color. The one on the right in the photo was repainted with a mix of these water-based acrylic paints:

Folk Art, Green Forest 448 (3 parts)
Folk Art, Dark Gray 426 (1 part)

At the time that I painted the one on the right, I thought that I needed to coat it with clear acrylic to protect it from sun and rain. Sources on the Internet suggested Krylon UV-Resistant Clear Acrylic Matte, but it was nowhere to be found in Canada. Instead, I sprayed on one coat of Krylon UV-Resistant Clear Acrylic Gloss, and one coat of Excel Craft Clear Acrylic Satin. The photo was made indoors, using on-camera flash. The painted model appears to have the same lustre as the original model, so this combination of clear sealers worked well. I have since been told that acrylic paint by nature is resistant to UV and rain, so who knows if it was worth the extra trouble?

According to LGB literature, this is an old advertising pillar style found in Nuremberg, Germany. I could not find any decent photos of an original on the Internet. No, I didn’t find any indecent ones, either. In German, it is called a Litfaß-Säule or Litfass-Säule. You remembered that the Germans always capitalize the first letter of every noun, right?

The only photo that I could find on the Internet is here. All things considered, LGB captured almost all of the original’s details including the “pea-soup” color.

VOLLMER 1212: Signal Box “Moosbach”

Vollmer’s G-scale kits are quite rare in North America. I snatched this model from eBay for about half the retail price.  It is about 6.5″ wide, 14.5″ long, and 18″ tall.  This kit includes a lightbulb for the lamp over the door. The parts were certainly better designed and made than Pola or Piko kits, but there were still some flaws that made assembly more difficult than necessary.

The colors weren’t too bad, so I only made subtle changes using the water-based acrylic paint indicated:

Stucco walls: Folk Art, Sunflower 432

Door handle body: Folk Art, Wrought Iron 925
Door handle itself: Folk Art, Medium Gray 425

Roof: 1st coat of Craft Smart, Brown 23628
Roof: 2nd coat of Craft Smart, Chocolate Brown 23629

Roof wood bargeboards, mix of:
Craft Smart, Espresso 23630 ( 1 part)
Folk Art, Wrought Iron 925 (1 part)

Chimney: Folk Art, Medium Gray 425; Folk Art, Dark Gray 426; Folk Art, Licorice 938

The signal box has a stone footing for the bottom of the stairs, a stone step for the door, stone window-frames, and stone quoins (corners on the walls).

Stone work: Folk Art, Dark Gray 426; Folk Art, Dove Gray 708; Craft Smart, Espresso 23630

The bricks were orange-colored, but I painted them with a mix to appear reddish-gray.  For some reason, I neglected to record the colors in my mix.  Too bad, it’s a really nice color!

The word “moosbach” means “mossy river bank” in German, and the town of Moosbach is located near Munich, close to the airport.