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#304 O Scale BlueSky Company. Karl.A

edited July 2021 in O Scale Builds
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So, whats in the box ???

Opening and unpacking the main box is no small project in itself. The box is jam full of all the exquisite SierraWest goodies that makes Brett the best in the business.
Working down through the layers reveals one great component after another, I thought I was at the end when I reached the manual at the bottom of the box, but no, there was still more to come underneath, roofing paper, view blocks, subroofs.......

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The main barn and warehouse walls are built over lasercut stud walls, these look awesome and are great to work with.

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The cookhouse, WOW!! that is one large chunk of resin....

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The cookhouse is just one of over 170 indivdual resin castings in this kit, Brett never was skimpy on his castings before but this takes it to a whole new level....

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As well as all the resin there are also of course a few metal castings... Five bags of them!!
There are probably more metal detail parts than resin but I was too tired to count. Brett has separated out some of the metal parts which make up certain items, this not only looks great when you are unpacking but will make things so much easier during assembly of these components. Thanks Brett.

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The miscellaneous metal bag.

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Components for building the Tractor under repair, this is a mini kit in itself!! Cool!!

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Well thats some of whats in the box,
obviously there is also.....plans, manual, templates, a bunch of laser cut jigs, stripwood, subwalls ,signs, chain, brass and styrene, corrugated roofing....it just goes on and on.

Well I'm off for a lay down after all that 'exercise' and excitement., maybe more later....

Karl.A
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Comments

  • Having the pre-assembled /cut stud walls is a great help, I never mind building the board on board part, but I always got tired of building the framing. This is a great idea and makes the thought of building a larger kit like this more attractive. Looks like a fun build.

    I am currently working on an older sawmill kit ( I bought it before the Twin Mills Kit was available and I am building/kitbashing on it to give it more size) from another kit producer, While it's nice in it's own way, I have spent a huge amount of time cleaning up flash and mold lines and Brett's castings are so much cleaner and detailed and their are so many more of them. Having the castings in their own individual bag is nice too. Man if I had a gold mine I would have a special wing on my house just for all these kits.

    Todd
  • edited June 2011
    Thanks for the post Todd,
    the laser cut studs are certainly a time saver and a great innovation.

    Spent some time working on the siding for the main barn. Deep graining and tooth pick knots.
    I put knots in 1/3 of the boards and I will mix these in with regular weathered boards randomly as they are applied over the framing.

    The result will hopefully be knotty, but not over powering.

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    Karl.A
  • That siding is just fantastic Karl. Did you do all the graining with a wire brush?
  • Thanks very much Wes,
    yes, all the graining was done with a couple of different wire brushes.

    Karl.A
  • YM, the siding looks great!!! How the h.... do you do that again?
    KOM
  • WesWes
    edited October 2011
    Hi

    Ive been busy with this kit over the last couple of weeks and here are some progress pictures.
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    I look forward to your comments. As always im always open to suggestions.
  • edited October 2011
    Wow! Your brick work is geat, Wes! "Red" brick isn't only red...there's usually many shades of red. (I guess that can be said of all brick colors, for that matter.) I can see you've got some bright reds, some on the orange-ish side, and some deep reds that look like thoise bricks that baked too long. It's such a nice casting and I think you nailed it. Do you have any of the other sides finished?

    Your wood has a nice range of colors and I like the way you did the "Shelby's" lettering.

    The only suggestion I would make (and this is pretty minor) is on the wood walls. You may want to darken the bottoms of the walls to suggest some water damage. This picture isn't the best example since the wood has been painted, but I think it shows how a building is affected by the elements:

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    At the top, you can see that almost all the white paint is present, but at the bottom there's none and the wood appears to be damaged. On your model, you can touch the bottom edges with a little A/I and let it wick upward:

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    Looking forward to more!
    Bill
  • Looking real nice Wes, thanks for keeping us updated.

    I found a bundle of scrap boards today that I plan to use as practice boards for coloring/weathering before I dive into my first SW kit. Hopefully I can start to experiment some tomorrow.
  • Great looking brickwork Wes, you really captured and showed off the depth and character of the casting nicely.

    have fun with the practising JT, you'll see how easy it is. Post any questions you may have as there are plenty of great modelers here willing to assist.

    Karl.A
  • WesWes
    edited October 2011
    Thank you guys. Much appreciated.

    Bill I will definately add some AI to the bottom of the walls. Thanks for that ref picture. It sure is helpfull.

    Ive completed all 3 sides of the brick structure.

    Jt go mad with the practice boards. You will be amazed at how easy you get great results. You cant go wrong with Bretts instructions.

    Karl your beautifully carved casting made it a pleasure to work with.
  • Karl,

    You are absolutely right! This kit looks fantastic, and your castings ARE definitely the best.
    The brickwork on the Cookhouse is the best brickwork I have seen in any scale model. Beautiful work! Brett, I'm chomping at the bit !

    Jim
  • edited October 2011
    Thanks Jim, the castings are all Brett's, and yes, they are unquestionably the best.

    I was fortunate enough to be able to help out with the cookhouse, I'm glad that you like it and it makes me proud to have a small contribution in such a great kit.

    Karl.A
  • Karl,

    I love your knothole technique and have been experimenting with it. To vary the sizes of the knots are you poking the toothpicks in from both sides?
  • vary the size of the hole made and how far the tapered toothpick is inserted - no need to go at it from both sides...
  • WesWes
    edited November 2011
    Hi everyone

    I continue to work slowly through this build. Dont you just hate it when you dying to build something, but 1:1 things get in the way?[:-banghead][:-banghead]

    Anyway, i have completed the stair case that is used to gain access to the top floor of the main barn. the one set of pillars on the bottom landing is a bit off, but that will be fixed.
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    The main loading dock infront of the barn is also complete. Somehow a smudge of green paint ended up on the front of it. Ill try remove that tonight, or otherwise use an old tyre as a bumper to try and hide it.
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    Some further weathering will be added later on when i start putting the buildings together.

    As always, all critique and suggestions are welcome.
  • that stairway looks so cool as a standalone - great job so far!
  • Thanks Brett. Much appreciated.
  • Looking great so far Wes, the staircase really does look cool, one of my favourite parts of the build.

    Looking forward to your next update.

    Karl.A
  • Thanks Karl

    Busy with the shed at the moment and hope to post pictures tomorrow.
  • Finally got going on my BlueSky Warehouse. What did I do, opened the kit and dove into the castings. Man, those things are addictive. I saw Chris had installed a floor in his railroad camp warehouse, and I just had to try it. I will install the main doors later. If I don’t like the interior, I can always close the doors…… Toooo many distractions this time of year. Wife seems to be more concerned with the Christmas lights.
    Wes, what you did with the smokehouse is great.
    imageimageimageimageimageimage
  • edited November 2011
    great looking dawine!!!! Love the interior shots

    looking forwrd to more...

    Wes - any progress on the shed?

  • Looks great Dwaine, I also plan on doing the interior of the barn, yours came out really well.
    Colour on the siding came out really nicely.

    Where's the updates Wes, you're getting to be as slow as me!!

    Karl.A
  • Good to see someone else jump in on this one Dwaine. Looking good so far.

    Summer has hit us quickly over the last couple of weeks so ive been surfing or mountain biking till late most evenings and therefore the building has taken a back seat. I will get my butt back into gear tonight hopefully and get something done.
  • where do u surf... I used to drink quite a few gallons off the carlsbad coast in socal in the late 80's... i know so africa has some great spots... been to hawaii too but chicken to try any of the famous spots like waimea bay
  • Yeah we have some wonderful waves here in South Africa. I surf the spots here in Cape Town the most often. Ive also surfed along the whole coast of our country aswell as Namibia and Mozambique. next year my girlfriend and I are off to Indonesia for a two week surf trip. Hopefully i will get to surf Hawaii soon. The waves look like lots of fun there.
  • Ok guys. Im back in gear and Built the tractor shed lastnight. This will be a bit more rundown than the rest of the buildings with lots of splits in the walls and a nice rusty roof. I havn`t glued the centre wall in yet. Will do that tonight.

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    Let me know what you think.
  • I love the coloration and graining.. the splits and cracks look natural. This will look terrific with the way you have colored and weathered the main bldg and cookhouse.
  • Ok work continues on the build. Ive completed the main barn roof eventually. The thing is huge. It took me 2 evenings to complete. I love the result though.
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    Let me know your thoughts.
  • Looks awesome Wes, really nice job. The colour definition between the boards is well defined but subtle.

    I was reluctant to put the roof on mine the first time as it looked so cool with the studs and everthing when the walls were glued together, then when I finally put the roof on it looked even better, just like yours.

    If you think its big now just wait till you get the rest of it built and put together!!! ha ha.

    Great work, keep having fun and keep posting this great progress.

    Karl.A
  • Wes, your barn looks great along with your work/machine shop shed.
    Are you using chalks to color your wood or are you staining it?
    The colors really look good. And you don't seem to be having the fuzzies like i am......
    Doing good,
    Dwaine
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