I took some time off working on the permanent layout to do some things on my Huffman Prairie N-Track module in preparation for the NMRA Division III show coming up on the first weekend in November. The module represents the area near Dayton, Ohio, where the Wright Brothers learned to actually control their aircraft in 1905. It was right on the local interurban line, so the fit with N-Track was a natural.
The field was boarded by two roads, and roads demand traffic to give them a reason to exist. I had a couple of bicycles (also a natural when the Wrights are involved!) and a horse-drawn lumber wagon... but automobiles were beginning to make their appearance in 1905, so I wanted one.. but automobiles of that era are difficult to find. Thanks to MicronArt, I was finally able to find one - a 1904 Oldsmobile runabout! By happy accident, it's also the car that was in one of the display cars of the American Freedom Train back in 1976, which my wife is wanting to re-create in N scale.
I had never assembled an etched brass kit of any kind before, and the Oldsmobile is rated as a "Craftsman" kit... but I never let something like that stop me before. I'm always jumping in at the deep end. So, I got out my tools, CA glue (and my Optivisor!) and got to work. A few hours later, I had finished the first of the two cars in the kit. I was absolutely stunned at the tiny parts included in this kit and the quality of the etching. It's really a shame this little gem "has" to be black - it hides much of the gorgeous detail, such as the quilted upholstry of the seat!
The photos below show the Olds on the module (though I haven't fastened it down yet, so the position will probably change...) and the hangar, catapult, and Wright Flyer. The aircraft is animated, orbiting the field in a rough oval and banking into the turns as it circles over the trees and cattle at about 40 feet - a scale altitude for the aircraft.
Huffman Prairie is under the administration of the National Park Service, and is on the grounds of Wright Patterson Air Force Base. I visited it several times while I was constructing this module, walking the same ground that the Wrights did and the flight path around the prairie.
