Winter 2020 Self Isolation 1:25 Scale Diorama Project with some Fort William and Port Arthur History

Finally after many months I've put together a completely different kind of post.  This is my COVID-19 isolation project....no I don't have it, just being careful and smart.  We all know we're in this together and are trying to occupy our time doing what we enjoy the most.

Before I show you the project photos, there is a little history I want to talk about here.

Years back there used to be an oil refinery on McKellar Island that some of us may remember as The Husky Oil Refinery, but before that, and one of the photos will explain, the refinery was called Riverlake Oil Refinery.  There is history about that on the Internet, but the name that I was drawn to was Riverlake Oil, or "RO".  In the 1950's there was a sign in the pit area at the old Canadian Lakehead Exhibition race track that just read "RO".  Riverlake Oil was run by McEwen Fuels Petroleum Distributors in the 1950s until Riverlake was taken over by Husky.
This peaked my interest, and so I began a research project which culminated in building an old service station model in 1:25 scale of a Riverlake Oil station which actually never existed.
Interested yet?  Well, to add to the fictitious service station I also added a "What If" to the project.  "What if" the Lakehead Stock Car Club would have bought that old station and converted it into a LSCC Clubhouse.
So that's it.  Over the last 5 months I built the scale building and as many of the local race cars from the 1950s that would fit on the diorama.  There are quite a few photos and at the end there are pictures of the models by themselves with a corresponding photo of the real jalopy that raced here at the CLE in the 1950's.  I tried to create as much realism as possible.  A neighbor and good friend of mine Karl Schmidt supplied me with all the scale lumber that I needed, as he used to have a similar scale outside model railroad.

We start off with what I think are the most realistic two photos in the group, and the others photos are how the project was put together.  Also you can click on each picture in this entire post to enlarge screen size.

 All the posters and wall hangings are computer generated and miniaturized, and all the license plates are Ontario plates and all before 1956.

Here is a little write-up on the Riverlake - Husky thing that may be interesting to you, as well as all the appropriate logos.

 

This first photo shows the front of the RO service station with worn signage, including a nice old Ford V8 sign, some beat up old gas pumps, a coke machine and one guy carrying an old fuel container and another guy changing the tire on Tom Dow's car, as well as a local Bourke's Drug Store sign on the side of the building which looks painted and aged.  I tried to make everything look very busy.

Now back to basics - The initial construction was done using scale rough ceder lumber such as 2 x 4's,  2 x 6's, beams and ship lap lumber.  The building was finished first, then mounted on a base to do the scenery, using screened beach sand and other model railroad greenery, flowers weeds etc.

The first thing I totally completed right up to weathering was the outhouse.  It was a practice project that I started before I began the initial garage building.  To get the wood to instantly look old, I used a bottle of water with 1 tbsp of India ink.  after it dried it look just like barn board.

Here it's starting to look old.  The tiny hinges about 1/2 the size of my baby finger I found on Amazon and they actually came from Holland....free shipped and about $5. for more than I needed.
This is the rear of the building with a little hatch to access the attic, and scrap-booking corrugated paper painted silver and weathered to look like a tin roof overhang.

Here's how the front looked with the weathered RO signs and the "new" Lakehead Stock Car Club sign.  No gas pumps were done yet.

 

The weathering was almost completed here and the wooden flooring is computer generated from real old flooring then printed out on satin photo paper.

Many things can't be bought or are too costly...so making this little pepsi cooler was the best way.  3 sides computer generated printed on photo paper then glued to a wooden block...pretty convincing I think.  LOL


Here, a two inch long Go Kart on a working stand....many of the stock car jockeys from the 1950s also raced their Go Karts at the Intercity Parking lot
Also I'm making little shelving, workbenches etc out of light balsa wood and trying to be creative with old paint cans and oil cans.  Also, a junkyard for the rear of the building made up of many old model car parts, glued together, rusted out and weathered.  You will see more when everything is installed in the Clubhouse.                                       

Tiny Go Kart on a work stand with a full size pencil beside it.

Here's a model of Don Marsh's car with a compressor and the finished shelf at the broken window.

Bench Detail is shown in these two next photos.  Much of the detail is available in different model kits but adding your own finer detail such as signage, fan belts, oil cans extra engines adds more and more to the detail.








Everything in model kits are basically just white, so everything has to be painted.  I use a huge lighted magnifying glass to the detail.
The Oxy-Acetylene tanks come in kits but have to be painted and detailed.  Fine red and green wire make the hoses.  The wood stove is made from a wooden ball and a pop cap plus small wood pieces and the chimney is a bendy straw.





This is the more detailed back of the building with everything now installed including the outhouse, signs, pop crates, trees bushes and even some racoons in the garbage cans.

These next two photos show the detail local Coca Cola sign...computer generated and thinned out to tissue paper consistency.  Then glued to the shiplap.

This one shows some outside detail including a hydro meter and tap and garden hose.  The next few shows the interior in its final stages with everything in place.  Everything is glued in except the vehicles.  They can easily be changed around.

 There are a number of Ontario era perfect license plates on both of the doors that swing out like barn doors.








Here's a full overhead shot....

 These last three collage photographs show each of the models in 1:25 scale on either side of an actual photo of the real cars

I hope you enjoyed all the photographs.
Before ending this post, Rosemary and I would like to thank all our front line workers including both my daughters-in-law doing their best looking after all of us during these difficult times.  We must keep our social distancing to protect us and our loved ones during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Take good care of yourselves and anyone else that you can.  We WILL get through this together.  Dave

A Young Man's Dreams Dashed with Tragedy in our home town of Fort William, Ontario

HR&J doesn't usually delve into subjects like this, however this sad story is part of Canadian Lakehead Exhibition racing history, and after some research and donated photos, we can read about the most serious local accident in racing history here in our Lakehead cities of Fort William and Port Arthur.  NOTE: IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU CLICK ONCE OR TWICE ON ALL THE PHOTOS AND ESPECIALLY THE NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS TO ENLARGE THEM.

We start with the dream.

In the photo below, taken in front of Wes and Jerry's Service station on 231 N. May St. (The Service Station is behind the photographer) is Wes Inkster, Jerry Whittaker, a very young Lorne Hay, and in the cockpit of Wes' 1934 Plymouth Jalopy (stock car) is also a very young Lyn McIntosh.  The car was just built and sported a new paint job with #13 and even white wall tires.

 The building in the background of the above photo no longer exists...there is presently an empty lot on the north/east corner of Cummings and May streets as shown here.

The photo below was taken at the same time as the one above, and shows that Wes & Jerry's was a White Rose station....and kitty corner across the street was Gibson's Bowladrome which still exists today as Superior Bowladrome.  Sitting in Wes' car is a very young Lyn McIntosh who would later go on to an incredible racing career of his own.

 Gibson's Bowladrome and in the today photo Superior Bowladrome, as mentioned is still there, but the restaurant that is there used to be separate from the bowling alley.  It was named Uncle Frank's Top Hat Coffee Bar and Billiards and was located at 214 N. May St.

Wes and Jerry's Service from the front and still yet another rear angle photo of Wes' #13.  The Service Station was located at 231 N. May Street here in Fort William, Ontario.

 This corner is and has been completely vacant for some time now, and will likely be used as a parking facility for the new Court House as needed.
A huge thank you to my friend DENNIS WINKO for donating the above photos for use on HR&J.

Another friend of mine who also acts as a proof reader for me, ALAN YAHN put together the following history of the addresses surrounding Wes and Jerry's Service.

Wes and Jerry's would be to the right (north/west corner), Jessiman Motors would be to the right (north) of Wes and Jerry's and on the south/west corner would have been Tom's Texaco at the time.

Here is Wes' car at the CLE track the first day he raced it.

 This is what an original 1934 Plymouth Coupe would look like brand new and the picture I edited below it is a "what if" photo.....
Wes had dreams just as we all have.  He wanted to be a great driver like all the rest of the guys who entertained thousands of people at the old CLE track such as Merv Dove, Louis Tocheri, Tom Dow, Barry Kettering, Louis Tocheri and the Massaro Brothers.
Sadly this would not happen.
Read on to see and read the clippings, well done by the editors of our newspaper back in the 1950's.  The following clippings appeared in local newspapers after that fateful night back in the summer of 1957.......

 

After the accident, many fund raising events were planned to assist Wes and his family with the huge medical bills, such as raffles, dances, dinners and concerts.  The beautiful dolls below were raffled off and someone made tons of little cars to sell that kids could paint up with their favourite driver's numbers and names...some shown below....

Here's a young fellow showing off his wooden car collection all painted up.  If someone knows who built these cars for the fund raiser, I would like to know who it was.....Thanks

The above clipping was taken from the Fort William Gardens roster of 1957.  The benefit concert held at the Gardens was incredibly well attended and local artists gave of their time to help the Inkster family.  Our cities of Fort William and Port Arthur always came together to assist others through the years.

 This final clipping was taken from the 1957 CLE racing program showing a thank you from the Wes Inkster Benefit Fund Committee

Wes' #13 Car shown below with some of the damage from his accident never stopped racing however, as Junior (Fran) Speer took over the car sponsored later by Master Cleaners and Tailors on Victoria Ave.  Junior raced this car for only one year as #13, and later changed the number to #21. 

Junior Speer continued to race the car for many racing seasons thereafter and even headed across the border to race on occasion.

 A year later this advertisement with an earlier photo of Wes taken before his accident appeared in the News Chronicle.  At that time Wes was the sole proprietor.

This photo of the same car as #21 and still driven by Junior Speer may have been taken in Superior Wisconsin at their track.
Wes had moved out west many years ago.
After much research we believe that Wes passed away in Medicine Hat Alberta on October 2, 2013 at the age of 78 years.
1957 however was an extremely sad ending to a promising racing career at the old Canadian Lakehead Exhibition Track in Fort William Ontario.
RIP Wes Inkster....Your story lives on............