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Comments
Hey Al, nice to hear from you! Appreciate your take here and glad there is some support for the natural wood timber posts. I really like the combination of weathered lumber and real wood log posts.
The main piece of equipment that is located in the Staging Shed is the Eagle Model F Tractor Engine. This piece powers the saw and is a focal point of the operation. Brett designed an opening in the roof to allow the exhaust to be vented passively through the roof. I decided to take things a bit further and came up with a small exhaust hood that would be positioned over the exhaust stack of the engine to funnel the exhaust gases through the roof via a stove pipe This is similar to how a blacksmith forge would be vented. This is obviously overkill for a small operation but accomplishes two objectives for me; firstly, it adds an interesting detail for the inside of the open air Staging Shed. Having no walls and just four posts and a roof, any added details really trick up the structure! lol. Secondly it adds a stove pipe stack up through the roof giving an added level of visual interest to the roof, which is always a good thing. Remember, the roof(s) is the first thing a viewer will focus on. The stack will draw attention to take a look inside to find out what the stack is there for.
The planning ahead part is constructing the roof to allow an opening for the stack and building in legit bracing on the roof construction for the stove pipe. Everything had to be lined up so the Eagle engine exhaust stack was directly under the exhaust hood, and the exhaust hood stove pipe roof access and support farming was in line...lots of fiddling around to get this right.
Before I could position the Eagle engine I wanted to construct the timber support system for the engine. This would determine where the exhaust would be lined up. The kit manual has the engine support system as a fixed structure. I wanted to have a movable support in the form of a "sled" design that could be hooked to a truck or tractor and be drug to a new location and positioned.
Inspiration can come from the smallest of sources. In looking through the extensive supply of support 3D detail parts Brett supplies with the kit, I just loved the `beautifully detailed chain shackles (see photo below).
This awesome detail got me thinking how cool it would be to have a sled design for the Eagle engine with this detail as part of the towing mechanism...that started the whole thing!
I started working on the "sled" by following the manual for the location of the support timbers and simply having them fastened to runners rather than sit individually on the ground. The front of the skid runners were tapered, difficult to see in the pictures, to keep the runners from digging into the ground. This was followed by designing the hitch mechanism utilizing the chain shackle. I attached "heavy gauge sheet steel" to the end of a scale 2x6 to support the hole for the bolt that attaches the chain shackle. I then added "steel" corner braces for the upright timbers attached with NBWs. Weathered everything and done.
Completed Eagle engine "sled", note the awesome SWSMs chain shackle that was the basis for the project.
Beautifully designed and printed Eagle Manufacturing Model F Tractor engine positioned temporarily on the "sled"
Simply can't get enough of this beauty!!
This post is getting too long so I'll post the remainder of the images with comments later...Ken
Better close-up of the "sled"
So picking up where I left off working on the Staging Shed, I spotted the Eagle engine where it would be located in the shed so I could position the exhaust hood directly over the engine stack.
(SWSM 3D printed boiler top positioned over the Engine exhaust)
Once the position was confirmed I used a SierraWest Scale Models 3D print of a steam boiler and cut the top off. I painted and weathered the hood first with a base coat of Tamiya AS-22 Dark Earth spray paint. This was followed by several applications of pigments in rust, brown, black, etc. layered and then spritzed with dull coat as a fixative. The support brackets were cut from paper sprayed with the Tamiya spray paint and added the NBWs.
(The back edge of the hood was glued to the horizontal rafter, allowed to dry, then I added the support braces)
(Note the various colors achieved by the all important layering of the pigments. I'll darken the tip of the stack that is above the roof after it is installed on the model)
Once I had the hood stationed in the proper location I had to align the cut out in the roof to align with the stack. Once this location was confirmed, I built the framing. The cut out was lined with "sheet steel" with the spray painted paper and weathered with pigments.
(The roof panel staged to check alignment with the cut out and exhaust stack. This should give the roof an added piece of visual interest)
Once this work was completed I could finish the roof panels of both the Main Sawmill and Staging Shed. Note the following roof panel images are without the battens and other detailing which will be done with the roof panels fixed to the structures.
(Roof panels for the Main Sawmill. Note the subtile variation in color tone between boards. I used several different tones of pigments, fixed with alcohol, over the boards prior to installation)
(Ditto for the Staging Shed panels)
The structure work is now done. The next installment will be the detailing of all the 3D printed parts!...Dr. Grunge out.
feed-back and look forward to what you come up with.
Jerry
Well appreciate ya Jerry! Such a nice 3D print spent some time on this piece that's for sure.
It's about time I chime in here with the rest of the folks. Your work
on anything you do is fabulous. I've a lot of respect for those modelers who show it all.
I like the fact that you put your ideas into reality. And it shows. Thanks for sharing.
Rich
Thanks again for your thoughts Rich, appreciate it!
Ken, your posts (tutorials) are both illuminating and inspiring. My mind is overloaded with all the information you include in your posts. I truly appreciate the time you spend with photos and posts. That is a huge amount of extra time you take for the benefit of all of us.
I can only echo everyone's comments above of the level you model to showing your level of experience, dedication and keen eye that brings these models to an even higher level.
Rick