HO Scale Brass & Iron Foundry Official Forum Build

Karl.A · July 2018

Bill, I would like to echo your praises towards Ken for providing us his time in posting all of these valuable updates. Great modelling such as this itself takes time to accomplish.
To keep stopping and take pictures and then share them with us takes even more time.
As viewers we all appreciate that time taken and thrive on the images and descriptions.

Stranded wire is indeed a great option for a HO padlock, and the touch of solder is a great idea for the lock itself. I have used 'squashed' tubing for the lock, but, that was in 'O', I think your idea of solder is great for HO because it can also be squashed, and, then easily sanded to shape/scale.

Karl.A

brownbr · July 2018

Great progress. Everything looks so natural.

KKarns · July 2018

Thanks much Bryan...

KKarns · July 2018

Rounding the corner on the Pattern Shop Walls. I have installed the right, left, and rear freight doors and both the rear windows (the tilt in lower sash on both windows not installed yet but must be before the walls go together). All that remains is some detailing and the Pattern Shop walls can be assembled. My next post will be the finished structure minus the roof. (well...in reviewing the post I realized I forgot to install the track stops on either end of the track beam...made em...just forgot em...)

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Here is the rear freight access with those wonderful split track doors. You will notice on all three doors I installed a false floor that can be seen when peeking through the door openings. I discussed making this addition with Brett and he had explored the idea but found once the various roofs are installed and the inside is dark, these false floors will not be readily seen or not at all. I decided to just throw them in as they make for nice pictures before the walls go together...I also installed some very tiny bolt heads here and there...

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Note the false floor...even though I figure these floors won't be seen, I still gave some consideration as to the logistics of the floor. Note the floor planking ends are meeting the the threshold. I designed the planking to run from front to back in the long dimension. The right and left doors will show the planking running parallel to the thresholds...

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A little scale perspective...

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The right freight door with the roll up "garage" style door.

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Once again, note the floor planking running parallel.

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Left freight door. This one is barely cracked open, didn't want to hide much of this beautifully designed door!

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Walls up and then the roof...more later...Ken

vietnamseabee · July 2018

The false floor(s) are probably supported by blocking?....I think you might have talked about the hint of color earlier but is the coloring per the manual or your own thought process?

Wes · July 2018

Now you just showing off Ken. Flippen hell man. Every time I think it cant get any better you go and push it up another notch. Well done

Bill · July 2018

Simply stunning work, Ken! So well done.

I love the floors. False or not, it draws the viewer into the structure. Little details like this are the type that sell the illusion--that every expected element is in place. They assume theres a 100% furnished interior.

Couple questions:
-Did you do any dry brushing on the walls (posted in today's update)?
-where did you get that little tray (back on page 4)? Perfect little organizer!

KCSTrains · July 2018

Very nice Ken.

kebmo · July 2018

wow. i used to clean horse crap out of barn that looked just like that. awesome!

vietnamseabee · July 2018

Ah man...don’t give Ken any ideas....he’ll start adding odors to the weathering process ;-))
Terry

BILLR · July 2018

The floor is a great addition. In the future you'll be experimenting with adding a stack of old boxes, etc.

KKarns · July 2018

Terry, the coloring of the wood both in technique and color came straight out of Brett's manual. I did vary the percentage mix of the two colors on two of the doors for variety.

Wess, hey buddy, nice hearing from you and appreciate the kinds words. Lots of new and innovative stuff in this kit...

Bill, what up my good man?...thanks for your thoughts on things as you know how much I value your opinion. No dry brushing on the walls or doors. I picked up the tray, which came two to a package I believe, from Hobby Lobby. I liked it because it's really shallow and easy to pick little bits up with your fingers.

Thanks Phil.

Kevin...always a compliment when a model looks just like the real thing to someone, even if it is a barn full of manure!

Thank BillR, easy enough to do...

Robert.G · July 2018

Ken, those walls look super. Adding so much contrast in the boards makes them stay interesting and vivid. I'll keep on your track !!

KKarns · July 2018

You make sure you do that Robert...I appreciate you and your wisdom, thanks much.

KKarns · July 2018

As promised, I finished putting the walls together and they went up beautifully. As most of you know, Brett's walls, and particularly the corners, go up so well and seamlessly. It sits dead flat, dead straight, and dead square... I decided not to add the additional wall details yet as I want to see how the buildings will "feel" once staged together. This complex has the Pattern Shop you see here, attached Work Shop, which is my next project, and the Tempering Shed attached to the Work Shop. I'm working on the Pattern Shop roof as we speak...

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Niow that's a cool wall!...Has to be one of my favorite single walls I have ever done, the design is just wonderful. Note the addition of the tilt-in lower window sashes and the rail stops on the track, which I forgot to add in the previous post.

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And then the terrific roll-up style door, such a innovative design...

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The unsided portion is covered by the attached Work Shop.

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This is how the rotted area looks with the walls joined. This is the only area that you can easily see the wall all the way to the ground as the remainder of the lower walls are covered by the various concrete and wood docks.

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Back around to the large single freight door, another beautifully designed door...

More Later...Ken

BrianM · July 2018

Your rendition of the Pattern Shop is looking great, Ken. It really brings out the age and re-purposing of the original blacksmith structure. Hopefully you can create a sufficiently different perception of structure age on the adjoining and much newer workshop addition while still making it merge into the overall scene.

I also really like the various "personal" touches that you have added to this structure together with the associated "why and how to" descriptions.

Looking forward to the next installment!

BrianM

BILLR · July 2018

Those four walls combine into a wonderful "historic" building that yells that it probably is decades older than most of the latter "additions". There is one future part of this building that may be out of step so I'm waiting to see how Ken handles it. {It only occurred to me when I looked at Brett's colored photo where each building is labeled.} The ROOF intended for this rustic masterpiece seemed too clean and lacks the expected historic partially-shingled or rusted corrugated roofing effect that would now be expected on such a weathered building. It will be interesting to see how the "master" weaves it all together in his upcoming performances. Having seen parts of this magic show I'm sure he'll deliver!

Jerry · July 2018

"Stunning"

Jerry

MuddyCreekRR · July 2018

Outstanding work....I love the coloring of the wood and the distress that you always do so well. I too like to put in the false floors ( I did so on O'Neills)...it avoids that "oh look....no floors" comment from someone that just might look really really close....makes waiting for the "O" scale version even harder....

Joel · July 2018

Fantastic work Ken. I can look at these photo over and over. A true master.

nextceo · July 2018

Looks fantastic man!

Robert.G · July 2018

I can only repeat what has been said by everybody already, just awesome... The more for me because it is HO .....

brownbr · July 2018

I like it a lot. It sure tells a story.

Did you consider replacing one of the big sliding door panels with a patch? I ask because everyone's door patches on O'Neills looked so good and I wondered how it would look on these doors.

KKarns · July 2018

Thanks Brian, and the plan is to have the Work Shop appear as a slightly newer structure with less obvious weathering and deterioration...I only hope I don't get carried away with DR. Grunge persona! That's one of the things I love about kit building, the personal touch each builder imparts on their model.

BillR, you bring up a great point and one I have angst about while contemplating my roof construction for the Pattern Shop and one that is appropriate to discuss now and will carry over for the remainder of the build.

For me to construct a roof that is significantly dilapitated, which is beyond what Brett designed the roof to be as the Pattern Shop would have kept the roof in good repair to protect the valuable materials inside, I would be deviating quite significantly from the manual and the original intent. This is the "official forum build" and my goal is to follow the manual in the constructiuon process and impart my personal modeling style where I see it complimenting the build. A good example would be the excellent color choice of the Pattern Shop. I detailed and weathered the wood to my style but the color follows the manual. Had I changed the color, that would change the entire look and feel of the diorama and believe me, Brett spends countless hours researching the combination of colors, texture, arrangement, composition, etc...following the manual will result in a superior model. So I plan to weather the roof within the materials provided and I love challenging myself to see how I can impart my modeling style on the various materials.

Thanks for your kind words and intuitive insight on the build Bill. It's folks like you that make this so enjoyable. It's not just a model...it's the planning, the process, and the people.

Jerry, I'll take a one word compliment anytime! Thanks my man.

Thanks Muddy, right the color Brett came up with is perfect for this guy.

Hey Joel, I appreciate that my friend...

Alan, what's up in your world?...thanks for the note and wondering what your working on?

Robert, you are right, I have resisted the temptation to try O Scale and find my nitch in 1:87 and enjoy seeing how much detail I can squeeze out of it. Thanks for the support.

SteveCuster · July 2018

Fantastic work as usual Ken.

-Steve

BILLR · July 2018

Ken, Thanks for the reminder about the intent of the "Official forum build". By intent you should live within the contents of the "box", and I neglected to state that's why your later magic will be interesting to watch.
Others in the forum may see that Brett also designs in a bit of flexibility so a kit owner has a chance to add some individual touches. I believe that this wonderful, old, weathered blacksmith shop is one of those spots. The roof needs to be weather-proof but it also could utilize other equally aged and weathered materials from the hobbyist's own supply drawer. That opportunity for creativity is why this is such an interesting hobby.

KKarns · July 2018

Bill, well stated...and see below and let me know what you think.

Right Ed...glad we got that straight....ha.

KKarns · July 2018

Hopefully nobody is tired of seeing the Pattern Shop, but I am now ready to move on to the Repair Shop. The roof is done...so not to be redundant, most of the pictures are just the roof. The front left corner of the roof has damage and rot but no on the inside just through the overhang. This area is directly above the rot on the bottom of the front wall as you may recall.

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