Old kits are not always worth putting into the trash.  Often with a little work they can take on a whole new life and spend many more years on your layout.  Wether it is touching it up with a little paint or stripping it down to its bones and starting again.  Even kit bashing it into something new is more of a positive use than donating it to a landfill.

Platforms

I have been helping a friend clean up and restore an old N scale layout to working condition that he had purchased over thirty years ago.  It is a small two by four foot layout that had been professionally built as a hobby store display.  There are multiple structures on the layout and for its age most are in good condition.  However in the center of the layout is a station with two butterfly platforms, one of which had some damage and missing parts.

Initially I was going to see if I could match the platforms up with a current manufacturer, but none were located.  Like all of the structures and details on the layout, they were all from European kit manufactures, these platforms were made by Busch.  We had decided that the best and cheapest route was for me to scratch build new butterfly platforms to replace the damaged and missing ones.

So after a few simple steps I came away with a basic structure that should last another thirty years.

Demolition

Before I could begin the reconstruction I needed to remove the old shelters.  Because of the age of the kit, the glue that was used had become very brittle and required just a little persuasion to break free.  Not every upright broke cleanly and most required a little clean up of excess material with an X-acto knife and a needle file.  After I had the butterfly shelters removed, I than gently removed all of the details such as the remaining figures, benches, and signs because they would be reused.  Again I cleaned up the areas if needed.

Cleaning

The platforms each had a hefty amount of dust, cobwebs and stains from being in storage for many years.  With some warm soapy water, I gave the two platforms a good scrub down, using an old toothbrush on some of the trouble areas.  Some of the stains would not come clean and so I decided that I would need to repaint.  So I rinsed the parts clean and let them air dry until the water was gone.

Touch-up

There were large holes where the supports for the old shelter and so these needed to be filled.  I simply used some .020x .188″ strip cut into square pieces and repeated it on all twelve locations.  I also noticed that whomever built the platforms years ago didn’t file down the sprue  & flash leftovers, so I went through and cleaned them all up.  Then I filed a few rough spots as well.

I then sprayed a coat of Testors Flat Light Aircraft Grey over both platforms and then moved on to the next step.

Butterfly Shelters

Because there were two missing butterfly shelters missing, I could not reuse them.  I decided to create my own shelters and I also decided to use a more traditional style you would find in North America.  For reference I used some photos I had taken of the butterfly shelters at Ogden Union Station.  Also this was supposed to be a quick job so I kept the details to a minimum.

I had to build twelve new supports and so I decided to use my trusty friend, my wife’s digital craft cutter.  I quickly designed the new uprights in AutoCAD and then converted them to a JPEG so I could cut them out.  I used the same dimensions as the old ones.  I could only cut through .010″ sheet and I wanted it to be .020″ thick for strength, so I cut out 24 supports and laminated the two together.

Next I added strips of .010x .080″ strips to the sides of the laminated supports, I left them a little long to give me a little room for error if needed.  I then came through and trimmed up the excess.

Glue Up

Next I glued two of the supports to the squares I added where the old supports existed.  It was a little tricky to get them to stand strait on all axis’s, I felt I would get one angle perfect but then one of the others would be off.  After I had the first one secure the rest flew up because I added a .060″ I-beam between each support.

Roof

For the roof I cut some .020″ sheet 12 scale feet wide, I also scribed a line down the center as well.  With the scribed line I was able to get a perfect fold to conform easily to the butterfly shape.  Being careful to keep the roof centered on all fronts I glued it into place.

To add further support I added strips of .020x .030″ styrene to the under side of the roof, running parallel to the I-beam.  I then added more of this strip and I-beam on the ends to complete the structure.

Paint

I first painted the supports and celling with Tamyia Flat Green (XF-5), this required a few coats to look even.  The roof was painted with Tamyia Deck Tan (XF-55) and required multiple coats as well.  I then gave everything a thinned coat of India Ink/Alcohol wash.  After the wash I painted a yellow safety stripe on the inside of each platform.

Detals

There is not a great deal of details added to the platforms, I repainted the few items that were preexisting to simple colors.  There is some signs on the platforms that I am still redoing, all of the text is in German and I will be converting it all to english.  I have also purchased some more figures to add as well.

Conclusion

While not up to the level of detail as some of my other structures, it was still a nice break from other, more taxing projects.  So if you have something old from your past don’t toss it out, see if you can give it a new life.