As promised in my teaser of Saturday June 24, I’m presenting here “a new kind of reportaaagé!” Ride with your humble blogger on a high-speed road trip across the fruited plains and join me as I pay a visit to a good friend whose passion for model railroading mirrors my passion for slot cars. What’s the connection, you ask? The diorama! I’m looking for some new ideas to jump start my long long delayed landscaping projects, and my friend has accomplished some amazing things using Styrofoam, some glue, basic household tools, and a lot of good ol’ American ingenuity!
Harrison is a few years my junior; we’ve been good friends since we met back in 2005, when we were in similar situations in life. Since then, our lives moved in different directions as fate and consequences took their course, so we occupy very different stations today. While I chose to stay in the city, he has moved out to a multi-acre spread in the country, and has made phenomenal progress on the restoration of a 1915 farm house, which he is painstakingly taking back to its original cosmetic state while replacing all the infrastructure that inevitably deteriorates over 108 years. However, he has found time to pursue his hobby as well, and what he has accomplished with so much smarts and so little financial investment really bears looking into!
So on this journey, thunderjetheaven.com takes a detailed look at “Harrisonburg,” his idyllic 1950’s era town created in O-scale in his basement toy room! Your H.B. came away with some inspiration and some great ideas, and I hope you, dear readers, find some inspiration of your own!
It was a fun visit with my old friend; we even found the time to tinker a bit with his own 1:1 scale toy car, a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere sedan which, like his house, is going back to factory-original in every sensible way. I’ll look forward to seeing how the final portion of his landscaping comes out even as I begin in earnest on my own!
As always, comments and suggestions are welcome!
It was a pleasure to talk about this stuff with you. I find working on the diorama quite calming and relaxing as well as running the trains. I’m excited to see what you decide to add to Drag City. A great post! Thanks Bud!