FINE HYDROCAL CASTINGS BY C. C. CROW

    SHOP REOPENING PENDING - as of Apr. 5, 2025

GOOD NEWS!
    I have moved to Toppenish, Washington, and I'm in the process of setting my shop back up. Not an easy task in the basement of a 68 year old house. Good thing I've been watching This Old House since it's inception. I'll need every episode! This will take time but I'm well on my way. But it's been one problem after another. Besides the house, suppliers are no longer, materials discontinued, some items went missing during the move or storage, computer issues, and stuff I can't remember needs to be relearned. Note to self, write stuff down, like the dimensions of the pattern bench I left behind, specifically the height that I was so used to. I tossed the old chair too. Even my casting sink is different, just enough not to be comfortable with. And some of the tools are missing. Worst is my cast iron skillet is gone. And Hydrocal is now $87 for a 50 lb. bag. But I guess we should be glad I can still get it (3 hours away in Seattle!).

Why Toppenish?
    With the passing of my father, I could not afford to stay in Seattle, my home for 45 years, I was forced into storage in the post-pandemic housing crunch. After looking far and wide, by happenstance, I visited the Northern Pacific Railway Museum in Toppenish on one of their History Work Weekends hosted by Doug Shearer, a local retired family physician who put me to work inside a NP steel caboose restoring the interior woodwork. In the mid-80's I had passed by Toppenish and taken a few pictures of the depot as it stood in poor shape abandoned by the BN merger and occupied by pigeons and ghosts. Doug and others, took on the task of restoring the depot, operating the nearby White Swan branch, collecting and restoring NP freight cars, passenger cars, and steam engines, including an S-4 class, 4-6-0 locomotive No. 1364 which was retired in 1954, my birth year. Last work weekend I tended the forge riveting the steam dome, one of the final tasks getting her back in service. There are also plans to build a full-size 90 ft. roundhouse based of the NP standard plan, which I had redrawn from the originals around the time of my origianl visit. Wow! Realistically, it will be a tin shed.

      TOPPENISH RR MUSEUM      phone: (509) 865-1911

    The museum is now packed full of memorabilia and local history, and good people quickly becoming my friends. What better place for me? It was 110 degrees when I arrived with a 26 ft. Penski truck loaded to the ceiling. Add forestfire smoke and I was wondering if I had moved to the doorstep of Hell, but my house has a new HVAC system, and on clear days there's a view of Mt. Adams and the top of Mt. Rainier. I camped up there on several of my trips back and forth, along with exploring various routes and railroad sights of the NP, MILW and GN. The town of Toppenish remains a hub for the rich agriculture, with vast stretches of hops, corn, mint, graps and so on. The topsoil is said to be 50 feet deep due to the Missula flood after the Ice Age. With various wearhouses, canning, bailing, and retail, with a western theme, the modeling opertunities are endless. Along with others long promised, some underway, I can't wait to get back into production. I've missed my creative space.

    It's getting there. Cleaning up and painting came first, then adding electrical. 200 amp service and panel came with the HVAC, but what was reconnected to it was not. Grounds were bootlegged to the galvinized-iron plumbing, but the watermain was replaced with plastic. Six wires went into an overhead octagonal light box by code should only have three. How did they do that? Simple, you just wrap them banjo string tight and short, and tape them up. The soot was a clue. Yikes! So replace all of that, adding proper grounds, and adding what the shop requires. Same for the garage and other equipemnt out there. Suddenly summer has turned to fall. The laser is finally back up and running. Spin caster is next. Just need to get it down the stairs. Vents, air and electrical are there. Casting sink is in. White metail bins are up. Workbench is being organized, sort of. Others still to come. Rather than typing about it, they need to be done. Like updating this and the Builders In Scale websites! I'm working on it.

    So I'm excited about the move and my progress. I don't recomend storage for anyone. That sucked. I would care take my Dad again, in fact spent last winter doing the same for our neighbor Herb while I was stuck in limbo. It's not an easy task but most honorable. There are many things that should have been done for the Estate prior, so don't put those off until it's too late. I was busy caring for my Dad and trying to keep up with my business, add a pandemic, cancer and his treatment. I could write a full website about that. Yuck. But I've got models to build.

    I apologize for not answering emails or phone calls as I was moving around while in storage. Too many times wellmeaningly I promised deadlines that were never met. I'm looking forward to getting back on track and offering my Fine Hydrocal Casting and Kits shortly.

    I have been producing my Fine Hydrocal Casting and Kits for model railroaders since 1983. Hydrocal is a dense castable gypsum cement (similar to Plaster of Paris) in which I have artistically carved, scribed and cast masonry detail to very precise scale. From simple brick and stone scratch-building panels to complex multi-stall roundhouse, with much in between. Inside this site you'll find information on my castings and kits, and much much more.

    See  PRICE & AVAILABILITY   for current details.

    Besides just selling castings and kits I'll give you an inside look at how I do it. My way of giving back to the hobby, not just taking.

        On-Line Clinic Intro and List    

    First I should say I am not yet open for business. I started Builders In Scale up last fall and have struggled to get things going. It's still a work in progress. I'm also more aand more involved with the museum as we have more work than volunteers. And it's a lot of fun. One of their major fund raisers is Toy Train Christmas. I helped Doug with the Lionel layout in the baggage room. Besides a simple loop around the tree I haven't worked with Lionel trains since I was a kid, or visiting my Uncle Fred in Portland who had a basement full. Things have changed with DCC, on top of layers of (donated) vintage stuff. They tend to work better that the new. The layout was 30 x 15 inside the baggage room. The real reward was the smiles on the kids, and adults, as there were buttons to push which operated various accessories. But this took a lot of my time and energy this winter, and we are just finishing packing it and several others away until next October when we will do it all over again. The G-scale layout needs help so maybe I'll work on that one next year.

    Anyway, that and Builders kept me busy while setting things up. I learned that I'm not yet ready to start offering CCC castings and kits until more of the kinks are worked out. And then, besides those long promised I have several projects under way that need completions, as well as a wealth of new subjects here in Toppenish. Obviously, the 1910 depot and the freight house now engine house, along with local warehouses, factories, and commercial buildings. Yeah, no sweat.

    Well, one bite at a time is how you eat an elephant. Meanwhile, below is what I had been working on. Or should I take them all down and only show what I have available today? Okay, turn your computer off. Go build a model or two you have stashed away and when done, check here again.

    2nd RUN of the RIDGWAY ROUNDHOUSE
    and BRICK OFFICE BUILDING in HOn3.

    This is a major update to the original run. Check it out.

    There is a long list of these reserved years ago. I'm about halfway through doing so in batches and finishing up a batch now. My apologies but-- I did the best I could do.

   RIDGWAY ROUNDHOUSE INFO    

    DURANGO ROUNDHOUSE KIT in On3

Sidewall of my D&RGW Brick Roundhouse in Sn3
- CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO JUMP TO THAT PAGE -

    04/2025 - Another handful of full of 10-stall KITS are available!
Sorry I do not have any of the less than 10-stall so those must continue to wait along with the Gunnison version.

    The Durango roundhouse (and Gunnison) in O-scale. Brick detail inside and out. Laser-cut engine doors, windows, roof panels with rafter locating marks, and so on. Barely fits on a 4 x 4 foot space. A masterpiece that will be the highlight of your model building experience. Check it out:

   On3 ROUNDHOUSE KIT INFORMATION   

   PILOT MODEL CONSTRUCTION   

   2006 CONVENTION ALBUM   

    If you reserved a kit and have not heard from me recently please contact me: biscrow at outlook.com to reconfirm your order.

   ROUNDHOUSE KIT INFORMATION   

    You guys are going to freak-out when you see Glenn Farley's Gunnison roundhouse. It is truely an amazing model. Even we look at in amazement and wonder who did that? Glenn pushed me to produce not just one masterpiece but four, his Gunnison, Durango in original, "classic", with windowed engine doors, and late versions.

   MORE ON THE GUNNISON MODEL   

    DURANGO ROUNDHOUSE KIT in HOn3

    Much is completed but not in production any time soon. The doors and windows are done in white metal. I've not made molds of the brick walls yet but the O-scale laser files will be resized for the ultimate detail. Write to reserve.

    DURANGO and GUNNISON CAR BARN/SHOPS

    While I was in storage I developed both these unique models. They feature laser-cut walls etched on both sides I've branded as 2D2D. They are not in production yet but shall be in HO, S and O scale.

  BUILDERS IN SCALE  

Check out the many builders supplies and kits at my other web site.
It too will be shutdown for the move.

BEST TO USE E-MAIL TO CONTACT ME

E-MAIL:   C. C. Crow     biscrow@outlook.com

    SCRATCH-BUILDING STOCK PANELS    

    Just click on the title bar link and it will take you to those items.
  Links are different colors like this.  

    Press   Crow's Home   to take you to the top of my commercial home page from most of my navigation bars.

    Use the buttons below to jump to the various sections.

    Have fun and please come back often. I'll be adding new stuff all the time so mark this site as one of your favorites!

SHOPPING CART INFORMATION

ONCE I'M BACK -- If you would like to order direct, please feel free to do so via phone, e-mail, letter or use our shopping cart.

See  PRICE & AVAILABILITY   for full details.

C. C. CROW / BUILDERS IN SCALE
P. O. Box 149
Toppenish, WA   98948

Phone - (425) 355-5622 ask for "Clint"
This is now my mobile, so text and VM work. Not sure about me.
WEEKDAYS, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific, (GMT minus 8 hours)

COPYRIGHT C. C. CROW

    As an artist I must protect my creations and respect those of others. All my castings, kits, parts, illustrations, plans, and instructions are copyright C. C. Crow (or other legal terms for three-dimensional objects, but the same applies, I made them, please don't reproduce them without my permission).
Because of bad expericences in the past (you know who you are) I will not lisence or sell my patterns to others for commercial use. And I don't do custom work as I'm way behind on my own projects.