Welcome to ... "Hooker's Point Lighthouse"
Built 1995 by Richard E. Bendever
Award Winner National Model Railroad Association 1996 Atlanta, Georgia Convention:
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NMRA Merit of Achievement Award - 121 Points
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Testor's Highest Iron
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Badger's Best Weathering
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Voted Most Photogenic by the Editors of Model Railroader, NMRA Bulletin, Model RailRoading, Model Railroad Craftsman.
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NMRA Bulletin November 1995 Front Cover Photo
The
above photo is what the Judges saw ... along with 360 degrees of attention to detail! Just a few notes about the inspiration for this diorama ... I kit-bashed a Master Creations Rutherford B. Hayes Coachworks, a Volmer Windmill, scratch-built a Fine Scale Miniatures Coal Dock & topped it off with a Badger Airbrush bottle upside down wrapped with Scale Structures Limited engine house window castings for the light globe all in about 400 hours of loving attention to detail.
Photo
Description #1: Would it be hard to believe
that all of the details (except for the automobiles and the figures are "cast in
Hot Glue"? Look closely at the right photo. The doors, brick footer for the
dock, barrels, bumpers; they're all hot glue. Yep, and I even wrote an article
about it in the 1996 NG&SL "Gazette" magazine."...
Photo Description #2: The
image at left shows the globe "unscrewed from the top of the lighthouse tower. I
used a Badger airbrush jar and lid to create the globe around the camera
strobe/flash that I adapted to simulate the effect of a Fresnel lens. Needless,
to say, the camera strobe was "way" too powerful....
Photo Description #3:
The photo at right shows the diorama boxed up to be delivered to its new home in
the Northeastern USA...
Photo Description #4:
This is a more close up view of the Coal Dock's backside "on the water" with Egg Shell technique rock castings, 'real" copper turning the green patina that is so hard to replicate, and a bunch of other stuff missing ... this was a work-in-progress photo.
Photo Description #5:
From this view it is easy to recognize the Master Creations "Rutherford B. Hayes
Coachworks" structure as the waterfront basis of this diorama....
Photo Description #6: The
photo at left shows the many possibilities for additional detail by
incorporating the Fine Scale Miniatures Coal Dock kit into a waterfront model ...
Photo Description #7:
Photo at right is the bird's eye view looking down at the crated diorama... and
yes, even the row boats are cast in "Hot Glue."
Photo Description #8:
Photo at left is of the right rear side of the motorcycle repair shop entrance
and stairs up to the roof for access into the lighthouse tower. I always try to
sneak something past the Contest Judges which is what I did by detailing the
plastic Volmer windmill tower to look like a wood lighthouse tower ...
Photo Description #9: Every
building has a backside where all the junk is stored. Hooker's Point is no
different ...
Photo Description #10:
Photo at left is looking down the tracking from the back of the diorama across
the coal dock and out into the water ...
Photo Description #11:
This is one of my more favorite photos of Hooker's Point. I like all the
different lines and angle and how they blend with the curves of the rocks. The
rock work around this model is extremely light. I hot glued eggshell thin rock
faces to precarved expanding foam. I was supposed to write the article for the
"Gazette" and maybe now is a good of a time as any to write it. ...
Photo Description #12:
An odd fact about this diorama is that I never really "finished" it. Yes, this
is the level of completion that I entered it in the NMRA Contests, and yes, this
is how the model looked when it was purchased. But, I had plans for an entire
harbor scene that never came to fruition. My modeling style is to work multiple
projects at the same time which is where I get a good deal of my inspiration and
when a technique doesn't work on one model I have another to try the technique a
little differently. All this multi-tasking keeps me for boredom and helps me to
overcome modelers-block.
Photo Description #13: The devil is in the
details with this photo. Although there appears to be plenty of detail, there is
still so much opportunity to tell so many more stories with this portion of the
model. The photo at right shows the front side of the Coal Dock with "Hot Glue
Castings" barrels for the counter weights, foundation footings, and more ...
another photo shows the boats, dock details, & more that are also "Hot Glue
Castings".
Photo Description #14:
The image at left is another shot of the coal dock "on the water". I overcame
the tendency of Enviortex® to "crawl" up the concrete footers by waiting a few
house after the Enviortex® has solidified but still very tacky. The coal dock
assembly was then placed on the water and pressed down ever so firmly. BTW This
was a one shot deal!.
Photo Description #15:
This is a more close up view of the Coal Dock's backside "on the water" with Egg Shell technique rock castings, 'real" copper turning the green patina that is so hard to replicate, and a bunch of other stuff missing ... this was a work-in-progress photo.
...
Photo Description #16:
The photo at left was one of those once in a lifetime shots and the flash was
just about right, too. I could write a small book about all the details
and techniques used to accomplish this photo of the Hooker's Point coal dock.
For instance, dry
transfer lettering
was used for the signage on pre-stained, unsealed wood and the dry transfers
would not stay flat--they kept curling up. And then I remembered from another
modeling experience that lacquer thinner "melts" dry transfer lettering. The
rest is history so to speak.
Photo Description #17:
This is also a scanned image of the original proof used the "Gazette" for my innovative article on Hot Glue Casting as written in the Nov/Dec 1996 Narrow Gauge & Short Line Gazette. For the record, the Narrow Gaugers in Cincinnati, OH this past August 1997 were not impressed!...