A lot of us have hobbies other than cars and trucks and I'm no different . In addition to numerous 1/24 model kits ( mostly Ford ) and HO model railroading , I was involved with 3 other guys in building a scale model of the Ebbetts Field ballpark , home of the Dodgers when they were in Brooklyn up until about 1957 . The real park is shown in the first pic
The brains behind this project was a very talented fellow from Windsor , Mark Williams , who was contacted by a man from California who wanted the model built for his HUGE model train layout but nobody he contacted in the U.S. would do it .........so Mark along with me , Joe Lemay , Bob Henderson and Mark Roach constructed the stadium from scratch using wood and wood products . Mark Williams designed it using only photos since there were no dimensional plans available . He transferred his design to a laser cutter and 9 months later it was finished . There are thousands of pieces including 31,000 plastic seats that were outsourced . Yes the seat bottoms do work like a real seat . There are lights for night baseball , of course and the model is the most accurate rendition of Ebbetts I've ever seen . Here are about 25 construction pics .
I don't have a pic handy of the finished infield . You can see a couple of pics of the detailed red and white concession stands thet were on 2 floors , one above the other . The light standards on top of the roof do operate ......I made the roof out of long strips of toilet paper , painted flat black to resemble the tarred roof . The hole in the middle of the field , at the pitchers mound , is so the owner can stick his head through and be " part of the ball game " .......that was his request , it was his money !
T
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Glad you liked it ....it was an amazing build . The stadium came apart in three pieces for shipping to California . The customer had serious thought of having us build Old Yankee Stadium and also the Polo Grounds for him but it never came to be !!
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To Err is human ....to blame someone else is Management Material !
How much time did it take to build that .. I have just been looking at it again.. I am pretty amazed by that project.. It really is a stunning job and looks just fantastic..
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It got behind a little over getting the seats outsourced so it became 9 months start to finish ....I think we projected 6 or 7 months but , as in any project , there can be snags . The customer was getting a little impatient because Mark kept sending him progress pics and the guy was really excited . It would appear from my initial wording on the intro that Mark Williams is in one of the first pics but he is in the 16th pic only . Mark is a retired Ford Motor Co worker and a car guy ....had a 33 Ford street rod , Ford powered up until a few years ago that got snapped up by someone from Quebec shortly after he listed it . He's kind of into those little channeled Ford " Zipper " cars nowbut I don't think he has one yet .....also had a Porsche Boxter once etc .Very talented guy as are the rest of the crew . All are into model railroading .
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To Err is human ....to blame someone else is Management Material !
This is really, REALLY, cool guys. I once operated a speed shop for Speed-Sport owner Bob Hecker. It was winter and un-naturally quiet. I took some pieces of dried cedar, a coping saw, x-acto tool set and set about making scale doll-house rocking chairs, one at a time from scratch. I can fully appreciate the amount of dedication and skill you fellows have. Keep it up!
A few years later I leased one of my rental houses to a couple who built the 7 Wonders of the World in H.O. scale, for a Toy store in Maple Leaf Village, Niagara Falls. They made the coolest stuff as well. I think this could become a very addictive hobby.
Building models , mostly car related but also train related in the last 20 years , has been a very satisfying hobby for me .
I got into scratch building about 10 years ago using styrene plastic sheet for some items and wood for others . When I had my large train layout it was built on the steel industry theme . Many years ago a fellow named George Hulett invented a huge machine to mechanize the removal of iron ore from a cargo ship hold . Before that it was hand balmed !! The Edmond Fitzgerald was one such iron ore boat . The model Hulett I built took me 7 months and was made from scratch ...only thing I bought was the chain for the ore bucket . I was delighted to have the model on the cover of an industrial modeling magazine accompanied by an article I wrote .
The first pic below is a real Hulett and the rest are my model .
That's some fine work there Terry.. Some really fine talent here .. I am always surprised at the many talents of people that we hardly every get to see.. It's one of the reasons, I wanted more topics for discussion on this forum.. As many of us age we take other or get more into other interests we have been harbouring.. I don't think we should ever limit the subjects we talk about..
For the guys who just want to talk cars , fine there are lots of the members on here that will gladly do that and if another member has a unique hobby or skill I would to know that too.. So if your reading this there are no subjects I would ban other than the crap stuff, politics, religion, and subjects that cause the hair on the back of my neck to stand up.. We will stay away from from no-win stuff..But this is great stuff that was great work Terry thanks for posting
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There is no elevator to success — you have to take the stairs.
Thanks for the kind words .......there are things I like to do just for their own sake . I think a lot of people are like that , having something to get involved with to maintain ones sanity . It doesn't matter what hobby it is .......just met a friend of a friend who is into bird watching big time . Whatever floats your boat . Turning it into some sort of work might just bring the pressures you were trying to avoid in the first place .
I was offered 4 figures for the Hulett , before the kit came out that has nowhere near the detail , and I turned it down . Just not what I felt like doing .
One of the most interesting people I've met was a retired modeler who worked for the Smithsonian .....he could not believe that he would actually get paid for doing something , building models , that he was passionate about . All of his stuff was museum quality , of course , and his needed materials were free ! I was in awe of this guy when he showed slides of the various models he built from scratch .
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To Err is human ....to blame someone else is Management Material !
The ball park was sent out to California about 2 years ago . It was designed to come apart in three sections and then stacked in a large truck with an 18' foot enclosed box . It all went well for the long drive because we packed it properly . Mark then flew out to reassemble it on the guys " home layout " which , needless to say , was huge and in it's own separate building .
-- Edited by teejay99 on Sunday 10th of July 2016 04:00:14 PM
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To Err is human ....to blame someone else is Management Material !
