The fine folks at the Milwaukee ‘N Southeastern railroad club have been hard at work readying the display layout for Trainfest, November 9-10.

My contribution this year is a dentist’s office in the beautifully modeled downtown section.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have a collection of miniature household items like dishes and toothbrushes from a playset my boys outgrew. During a recent work session I glued two little toothbrushes to one of the downtown buildings, flanking the door on both sides like a whimsical sign for a dental clinic.

Back home, I set to work on this little scene for the sidewalk out front:

Mascot:

I made the guy dressed up as a giant tooth by applying a glob of Squadron white putty to a Model Power figure. After it dried, I filed and sanded it to tooth shape, then painted it white. I painted the arms and legs and added a small circle of gray for a screen so the guy could see out.

Balloons:

I made the balloons by stripping speaker wire and separating the strands, leaving several very fine pieces of wire. I used a tweezers to make tiny loops at one end of each piece, then dipped them in Testor’s enamel. I hung them upside down from masking tape on the edge of the workbench overnight, then dipped and dried them twice more to build up the teardrops of paint. When they were dry once and for all, I painted the wire silver to mimic ribbon. I used CA to secure them to the hands of the mascot and the poor lad arriving with his mother for a cleaning.

Sign:

The sign was made in Word and printed it on my inkjet printer. I cut it out and sprayed the back with Elmer’s spray adhesive, and pressed it to a thin scrap of styrene. I then cut it out with a sharp utility knife and painted the edges black.

The display layout is currently at the home of a club member 45 minutes away, so I will need to find time to install the figures and sign before Trainfest. I will try to post updated pictures of the completed scene.

I hope to see you at Trainfest, and you better floss!