Free Again 
"From the Great State of Maine"
October
2008
  "A Re-Introduction of the "Hart's Limited-Run Kit"...

 Just before leaving for the "Narrow Gauge Convention" in Portland, Oregon, we issued a"Moose" with information about the upcoming "Hart's Transfer" limited-run kit.  The timing was awkward, the day following the last issue of the "Moose" myself and much of the Bar Mills staff were on our way to the Narrow Gauge convention, and now that I've been on the "left-coast" for about three weeks I've had a chance to hear from many of you in regards to our using a "PDF" as the sole source of information on the limited-run offering.
It seems many of you like the PDF format, but many of you have had trouble with it.  We've noticed on this end that the photos weren't of the same quality you'd see in a regular Daily Moose so have decided to distribute them once again in this newsletter.  Sorry for any redundancy, thanks for your time.  In the future we'll resort to our older & more traditional ways of sending out the "Moose" to all of you.

Art Fahie, Jim Mooney,
& the crew at Bar Mills.
Email us at: barmillsmodels@yahoo.com, or call 207-929-3400.  We accept Visa/MC & PayPal

Coming This December...



As usual, we've tried to make this kit "unusual" !
The kit consists of 4-5-or 6 structures (depending how you're looking at it)
The concept of the scene started with "Old Man Hart" and his original transfer company, he started it in the early 1900's on a shoe-string budget.
Even the back of the building has it's own look.  We've included special laser-cut cedar shakes, rafter tails, and fencing to help make this structure stand-out on its own.
 This "original" part of the diorama depicts old-man Hart's earliest efforts.  From the tin-roof on the overhang, tar-paper roofing, and board-on-board building base this building was "born old" !  When his grandson's got hold of the business they left it standing, today it's just used for storage and for housing whatever chooses to live inside of it.

The "Main Structure"....

The primary look of the kit comes from it's main structure(s).  This larger building actually consists of two separate building adjoined by an overhead "bridge".  Attached to the rear building is also a small office/mercantile where the "business of business" would take place.  There are only a few windows in this construction, most of the wall openings contain freight doors ! 
As with many of our kits we had to make a decision as to which side of the structure to feature on the diorama, we don't tend to leave any walls with a lack of detail so any side of the structures will work for a scene... it just depends which view you like best !
We placed a track in the scene, a roadway would work as well... just use your imagination.  The arrangement of these buildings is almost endless, the "footprint" as as flexible as you'd like it to be.

We've taken some unusual "pains" to make this kit as friendly as possible.  The loading dock is an outstanding feature that goes together much more easilt that you might think !  The planked surface, stone sides, & wooden sides of the platform are cast into resin.  The building resides on the top of a resin casting as well.  While these larger castings are expensive to produce they insure a wealth of detail without all of the labor that would normally be associated with it !
The main building also features our new (and not-yet-released) slate roofing shingles to give the building yet another "different" kind of look (for us anyway!).  Keep in mind that the loading dock shown is a prototype and will vary slightly from the production-run of the kit.

As with any craftsman-type kit we can't skip the details.  This overhead shot of the completed diorama may help give you an idea of how we approached this project.


Another view of the loading dock area.  Figures are not included, but assorted details are always an important part of any craftsman kit.


This photo probably has the best view of the "office" on the backside of the building.  The stone walls are part of the resin-building-base included with the kit.


Everything from the watchmans shanty, to the crossbucks, grade crossings, and water tower are included with the kit.  The water tower will differ slightly in design from the one pictured, we've designed one especially for the kit and it is undergoing tooling & injection molding this month in preparation for kit release.


The "original" Hart's is located on the waterfront of our "Wharf Street" Sn2 layout.  We've adopted it for land use in the kit, but it can be used either way !
 As we've only decided to release a kit of this "intensity" every other year it was important to us that it was more than just a take-off on buildings we've done in the past.  We'll be spending the next two months manufacturing the components, laser-cutting the walls & roofing, spin-casting white metal components, awaiting the arrival the injected molded water tank and resin castings (we don't do these in-house), and drawing diagrams, photographing the model, and then compiling this information into full-blown instructions.

The process is a long one, but with only 375 kits planned for this run it should go more quickly than our previously sold-out kits of 450 (Raglan Road & Gritty McDuff's).

Living up to the expectations of other modelers is always a challenge we look forward to.  Give us a call at 207-929-3400 if you'd like to order a kit.  The price is $265.00 + $10 shipping.  YES... these will be shipped in our custom wooden boxes.. would you expect less ??? 

Our preferred payment is through PayPal... just use our e-mail address... "barmillsmodels@yahoo.com".

Expect this kit to ship before Christmas via UPS.  Shipping costs on international orders will vary depending upon your location.