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Comments
Jerry
As always your work is just fantastic. The roof on the boathouse looks perfect.
Im really keen to see it glued to the deck and the deck weathered. Keep up the good work.
Thanks, Ted
Those are hand cut from thin sheets of cedar that I bought here:
http://www.sierrascalemodels.com/cedar.htm
(not affiliated with Sierra West)
The slab conveyor for the bin was real easy to assemble. It's just stripwood wraped around a specific piece of square stock (which already has the correct roof angle pre-cut, too.) After getting the stripwood on, I scribed light pencil marks to help locate the 2x4 braces. All four sides need to line up and I didn't trust myself to "eyeball" it.
The biggest challenge was getting the little operator's platform in place on the front underneath the chute:
With a little finagling, everything came together--and it's square! Woo hoo!
Everything that I've built so far on the 3'x3' diorama:
Pretty good, huh? Looks like I'm making a lot of progress and there's light at the end of the tunnel, right? Now, take a look at the pile of stripwood left:
And I'm probably gonna be short!!! I'm on page 49...there's still 72 pages MORE. I haven't even gotten to the section in the manual where Brett says "So, you've made it this far..." Cripes, I feel like I've given birth and I'm not up to the machinery part yet!
/whine
(make no mistake, I'm havin a blast!)
Yep, when we see it all there together you really have come a long way.... and it seems like in such a short time. You really are powering through this kit and doing an excedingly remarkable job of it.
This build is definately gonna stand out at the pinacle of modeling.
Really looking forward to the next update.......
Karl.A
Karl.A
Congratulations on the fine modeling Bill.
So...to create the bark texture I took the dowels and roughed them up using a nail board. This puts really deep, rough texture into the wood.
Then, using 150 grit sandpaper, I knocked down most of the fuzz and other loose stuff leaving just the deep grooves. Next, I applied a stain of thinned Floquil Grimy Black with a very tiny amount of Roof Brown. I don't know the exact proportions, but it was mostly Dio-sol and about a brush load of Grimy Black; then just the tip with some Roof Brown. REALLY thin stain. I kept dabbing it on until it got close to the edges.
See how little paint I used? The color remains mostly on the outer surface of the dowel:
That was key for the next step; tappering the edges of the logs. This is where I wanted to see that noticable color change from bark to sapwood (I think it's actually called the Cambium layer). I used a Stanley knife to whittle away that outer, dark layer exposing the lighter sapwood:
(BTW--that reddish spot in the middle log...that's my blood. Careful using the nailboard!) All of these little logs needed grooves so that they'd interlock with the longer logs (just like Lincoln Logs). I used one of those sandpaper tube things that come in a Dremel set. I don't know what the heck they're called...drum sander? Colonel Sander? Sander friggin thing?--this deal:
Anyway...chucked it into the drill press and it worked great. The short timbers that go on top of the brow were textured the same way that I textured the dry rollway--beat up, used and abused. Here's how it all came together:
At the speed you are working im starting to wonder what you will build next.
My next build? Let's see...here's the stack:
I've also got a Foss kit someplace, 2 more Sierra West kits on order and a Hunterline bridge all screaming to be built. Oh yeah, and a layout that's supposed to be coming together. Other than that, my plate is wide open!
Can you tell me the size of the shingles that you cut, and if they are the .011 or the .018 thick cedar shingles sheets.
Terry
I cut the shingles to about the same dimensions as the paper shingles in the kit--about a foot wide and 2 feet long (HO). But, I varried the widths up to as wide as 18" and down to 6" in spots where I needed to fill in. I used the standard thickness sheets (.018) and those seemed to work fine.
Thanks for checking in...post some pictures of your build when you're ready!
Bill
Here's the Log Deck & Haul Drive. I weathered it in spots where grease may have spun off the rotating parts and areas where the chain would have rubbed against the wood supports.
The Log Carriage was next. I'll be honest...I had a tough time putting this together. Getting everything to line up correctly and keeping it square posed the biggest challenge. I'll share some of the things I did along the way. First you build the wooden deck and add the wheels and axles underneath.
The knee guides and brass rod are added on top, then it's time to add the cut log and knees. To help locate the kness, I cut a log in half on a scroll saw. I held the cut log in position with a square like this:
With the log in place temporarily, I butted the knee up against the log and glued it in place with super glue. I also kept a cup with some accelerator on hand and dripped a tiny amount onto the glue joint.
After all 4 knees were in place, I added CA to the log at the points where it made contact with the knees and the knee guides and let everything dry. The tiny dog heads and dogs were added next. Again, tiny parts that took some finesse and patience to get into the correct position and keep straight. They attach to the sides of the knees.
One other thing...When you go to Petsmart to buy the bird perchs that are used for the logs, be prepared for when they ask you "What kind of bird are these for?" "Eagle" is not the correct answer.
Karl.A
( Pterodactyl )
Here's the husk saw...another cool detail in this kit. Assembly is pretty simple but adding the belts takes some patience and steady hands.
For the saw blades, I felt that they needed to be weathered somehow. I wanted them to look used, but not old and rusty. I took a look at my table saw blade and saw that it's got scuff marks and what looks like burn marks from where the wood got bound up. Blaken-it was out of the question because I believe the blades are aluminum and using echant seemed too risky. What I ended up doing was chucking the baldes into my Dremel and adding a coat of flat finish and chalk while they spun. I went back and forth trying to thin down the mixture with Dio-Sol, then adding more chalk (grays and a touch of black) and reapplying, etc. (this blade is part of the cutoff saw rather than the husk saw):
I got a nice "used" look in a steel color but found it impossible to repeat the pattern on the other blades (and the other sides). I couldn't find any prototype pictures for a double saw, but my guess is that they wouldn't bind or wear in the exact same way on the top and bottom. Here's how it turned out:
I read about the dremmel trick in thread By Kevin O Neal sometime ago. It really does work a treat. Your blades are a perfect testament to that.
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=32752
And if anyone missed it...Kevin's thread on detailing castings is another "must read":
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=33146