Modeling Hubbard Feeds
- lmindheim
- Sep 26
- 3 min read
As much as we'd all like to consider ourselves "pure prototype modelers", if we make strict adherence to the idea a hill we're willing to die on, we end up with a case of winning the battle and losing the war. The "war" being the overall goal of balanced scene composition. Our prototype themes are massive; even a generously-sized layout room is minuscule in comparison. As modelers, we're dealing with aisles, reach-in distances, and relatively narrow shelves, all constraints that don't exist in the 1:1 world.
The sooner we can come to terms with that reality, the sooner we can move on to the task of making the decisions necessary to craft a scene that, while technically not "prototypical," is plausible, practical, AND fits our circumstances.
Successful modeling starts with decision making, decisions that emphasize scenes as a whole, not a collection of individual elements.
I'm currently building Phase 2 of the HO scale Alco Line project. The primary scene is centered around Mankato, MN. Although we have a fairly generous shelf length to work with, it's certainly not anywhere near the size of the actual town (nor would we want it to be). As with most model railroads, the shelf depth is relatively shallow at about two feet. The dominant visual feature of the Mankato skyline is the Hubbard Feeds elevator on the banks of the Minnesota River. Modeling it full-size is out of the question. For one, we don't have enough depth. If we modeled it full length, the model would be disproportionately oversized and squeeze everything else out of the available area we have for the town as a whole.
Compositional decisions need to be made that take into account the overall scene, not just one element. The first step is closely studying the prototype and nailing down its defining features. Next, an assessment needs to be made as to where the necessary model components are going to come from. In other words, how am I going to build the darn thing? After doing so, I came up with the following:
-An emphasis would be placed on relative proportions, not scale size. I started with the bank of four smaller silos on the left and made the assumption that those would be made from the Walthers ADM kit. That was my dimensional baseline
-The eight taller silos on the right were about twenty percent taller than the Walthers kit. Those were made from PVC pipe.
-The overall shape was filled out with a kitbashed conveyor from the ADM kit and rectangular structures from ADM and Prairie Co-op kits. The far left structure was a heavy kitbash of the Roberts Printing kit.
-Color treatment and weathering is crucial and is a close second in importance. The silos on the left have a slight beige cast to them; those on the right are more of a slate gray. The base colors were achieved with multiple layers of rattle can primer colors. The silo form lines were airbrushed on.
-I wanted to work the Hubbard logo in somewhere and had to mull that over for a while. The prototype logo is at the end of the silos. Modeling that curved feature would be very difficult and not that visible. Doing some deep dive searches, I found an example of an elevator in Watertown, SD where the logo was on the flat face of the elevator and facing the street. While not purely prototypical, it was a better fit for this situation, so I followed that example for the Mankato model.
In summary, creating an effective model typically involves moving from the purely prototypical world dimensionally and moving to the proto-freelance realm
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