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Comments
I bought it thinking I could texture stripwood with it, but it's way too soft. However, I found it works great for smoothing out castings. It does a nice job getting rid of part lines and shining up the metal. That in turn helps the casting accept the Blacken-It better and faster. I used an old shop brush to dab on the Blacken-It and the chemical reaction was immediate in the areas that I polished. After drying, I buffed them a little directly on the roller areas using a regular felt buffing wheel.
Next on the "to do" list: castings! Lots of 'em! I've been anxious to try Kevin's techniques that I read about on RRL. I did a test with a couple benchs. First, I primed 'em with a light coat of Floquil Earth, then added chalk powders. I think this was the first time I truly understood "creating depth". It was like a light bulb went on. NOW I get it! These are 2 different castings but they make the point. The first is straight out of the box with only the flash removed and some grain scribed in. The second has the Earth and raw umber chalk applied, then A/I gently wicked into the cracks and depressions:
Using the less paint and more subtle colors for the rest of the areas, here's what one of the benchtops looks like:
And here's another that goes inside the boat house:
But what I really have to compliment you on is the work bench, it really looks amazing.... then I reminded myself that it was HO.
WOW!! that is some fantastic work and it shows so perfectly the effects that are acheivable, regardless of scale.
Very nice work indeed and I look forward to the rest.....
Karl.A
I cant believe they HO castings. Kevins technique works well.
You really continue to impress Bill.
Karl--have you gotten back to your stonework on the Railroad Camp? If you haven't already, I bet Kevin's chalk method would work for your grout lines. Use that # 408.5 and wick some A/I throughout and it'd probably hold the chalk while remaining separate from the stone colors.
As you know I got back to RRC this morning, before reading this thread!! The stone walls have actually been completed for some time so no chance to try out the chalk method, but it's a great idea I'll try out in the future. I did something similar on another build recently.
Considering castings arent your favorite you are doing them extremely well!!! Keep it up. Thanks for the idea!
Karl.
Working with the castings takes a toll on my eyes in a hurry. I can only focus on something that small for a brief time before I have to get up and walk away. Plus, there's a ton of them.
Thanks again for checking in on this one. It won't be too much longer and I'll have it wrapped up.
Woody:
Rusty:
and Blue:
Added random splotches of Windsor Newton water soluable oil (raw umber) and dusted on chalks with a light stabbing motion (in this case I used Gold Ochre).
Now comes the accident...err umm, magic! I thought I had too much chalk on at one point so I went to wipe it off. I licked my index finger and pinched the barrel causing the chalk and paint to blend together. Just a little spit on my finger, squeezee and release:
Same thing for the top of the barrel...add a light splotch of oil paint, dust on a light layer of chalk, spit on your finger and press:
By varrying the amount and color of chalks, the amount of saliva, and the way I pulled my wet finger away from the barrel, I found I could get a nice range of chip/rust effects and runs.
I can hardly wait to see what I screw up next!
So far that hasn't happened. I imagine if my finger wasn't wet enough or if there was too much chalk, fingerprints would show up more. With enough moisture, the chalk and paint will flow just a bit.
Perhaps the oil paint has an effect on it, too. I'm not 100% sure, but like I said I haven't had a problem on the 15 or 20 I've done so far.
Thanks indeed for sharing, now I just need to find some HO barrels to 'play' with.
Karl.A
Interesting way to discover a new method.
I’m new to the forum but have been following with great interest your ‘Twin Mills’ build along with a number of others, truly inspiring and I hope that one day I can produce models of similarly high standard.
There has been one thing niggling at me since seeing it on your post and I just wanted to share my observations and thoughts.
It relates to the images of a half sawn log on the headsaw carriage, and the technical correctness of this arrangement. If you consider this arrangement you will see that whilst the log is restrained on the top by dogs, only a very small area of the log is bearing on the headblock with no restraint; restraint can also include frictional force.
As the headsaw passes through the log, it (the log) could slip and bind against the sawblade. In fact, given the small bearing surface of the log on the headblock, that is a very probable outcome.
Lumber could be quarter-sawn from logs that had been quartered lengthwise, which your arrangement might suggest. However, more commonly cants were bastard-sawn (also referred to as flat-sawn), by the following process:
The headsaw carriage with a fresh log onboard would make a pass and a slab would be removed from the side of the log. Thereafter the log was rotated 90 degrees so it rested on the freshly sawn flat surface, and again the headsaw carriage made a pass and a second slab was removed.
As previously, the log was then rotated again 90 degrees so that the first cut face rested flat against the headblock knee while the second cut face rested flat against the headblock. Naturally the log was dogged during each one of the above cutting operations.
(Griffiths, 1998)
The headsaw carriage then made successive passes each time producing a cant of desired thickness, which subsequently went to the gang saw where it was ripped into boards.
Even if the mill was producing quarter-sawn lumber, an initial slab would have been removed from the log, and the log rotated 90 degrees so the flat cut surface rested on the headblock. This would provide a greater bearing surface and increased friction force to restrain the log during sawing.
I hope you don’t mind me sharing these observations, and I look forward to watching the build proceed.
Regards,
Chris
Ps. I also wanted to compliment you on those great saw blades, they look very realistic.
Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing this with me. I see what you're saying...the log would have a tendancy to roll off the carriage in the position I have it currently. The process sounds similar to the way a carpenter squares up a piece of rough stock.
I hadn't considered the things you mentioned and, truthfully, was thinking more about asthetics than prototype when I was putting it together. What you described above would probably make assembly easier too, since the log would snug up to the headblock and the knees.
At this point, it's such a fragile structure I'm tempted to leave it as constructed. BUT...it may be one of those things that continues to jump out at me and bug me to the point of re-doing it!
I'm curious how you figured this out...you must have some logging experience or something, right?
Thanks again for the info!
Bill
And for the transfer table, all the pieces were cut to length, then butted up against a guide and glued to each other:
In it's final location, the transfer table will sit below grade. It seemed to me that it would experience a lot more standing water and washout from the area around it, so I made it a darker color than the other decking material which sits on a platform. The base hasn't been cut away yet, but here's what the two look like:
For the places that the transfer car wheels come in contact with the transfer table, I took a wooden popsicle stick and ran it back and forth along the wooden rails. That gave me a small indentation and, when combined with the chalks, made some fairly convincing metal-on-wood wear marks:
In scanning over these pictures, it looks like I may need to add some chalk(s) to the outside of the rails, too. Probably a bit too clean.
I was going to mention rust outside the rails but you already have it in hand.
The darker coloured boards really will enhance the scene I think and tell the story.
Karl.A
Well done Bill.
I went pretty subtle and used a raw umber color rather than full-on rust on the outside. My fear was losing the "path of travel" look which helps define 6 separate stations.
Karl.A
Looks stunning
Wes..."obsessive" was my wife's word! (she doesn't get our hobby at all!)
Although my girlfriend has started to join me in building model cars. I guesss thats a good start. She refuses to touch the Structure building part though.
Here's one of my favorite castings in the kit. It's a cluster of leaky, corroded barrels and drums:
For the stack of split wood, I used Kevin's raw umber 485.5 with A/I idea and let everything dry. Then, I went back and dry brushed on some raw umber oil paint (water soluable). I also stabbed in some of the oil color here and there (full strength) and got a pretty believable bark look on the wood:
So here's the whole batch of castings:
Next, I put together the steam donkey. Including the support wires, there are about a dozen little parts that make up this unit. The boiler gets painted with a dark rust color. Then while still wet, you stab in dark rust colored chalk. You can see where I used a little of the gold ochre on the top funnel to get that lighter rust effect. I wasn't sure if the protype used rope or cable, so I went ahead and modeled it to look like metal cable. The string got an A/I staining, then I dusted on black chalk and "polished" it with a real soft brush. That removed some of the black chalk giving the thread a shiny steel look. I'm really pleased with the way this thing turned out:
The corroded barrel pile is a beauty.
Karl.A
Jerry