Bill and Tom's EXCELLENT ADVENTURE in Logging and Mining
- Thread starter Doctor G
- Start date
When I bent the end of the spring steel down to go into the throw bar between the points I had the points off to one side against the stock rail. before I hooked up the mechanism underneath the points acted like the were sprung like peco switches. I will have to experiment, but this might be an alternative to ground throws. I could take my finger, and push the point toward the opposite stock rail, and it would snap onver and stay. I may have to experiment with this over at the Cumberland #1 mine over at the end of the first peninsula.
I'm going to try to get to the club early tomorrow, and see if I can get the next two switches in the sawmill area working. Once they are working it will be time to build the long hidden sidding for empty flats, and start to wire this stuff up to see if it works. Since the DCC is down due to construction elsewher I might hotwire it to a transformer, so we can test it on DC, before we hook it on line with the DCC.
Bill Nelson
I'm going to try to get to the club early tomorrow, and see if I can get the next two switches in the sawmill area working. Once they are working it will be time to build the long hidden sidding for empty flats, and start to wire this stuff up to see if it works. Since the DCC is down due to construction elsewher I might hotwire it to a transformer, so we can test it on DC, before we hook it on line with the DCC.
Bill Nelson
In the last week we have had an exciting week in Clarksville Tn.; including the biggest flood since the historic 1937 flood. we missed the 1937 high water mark by just 3 feet.
I was a flood refugee for two days, unable to get home with both Cumberland river bridges closed.
At the train club today I got the remote manual control working on the third switch @ the Sawmill complex. I laid some track at the siding for the Company Store.
I did some surveying for the changes on the upper level above the sawmill. I thik I'm going to rework the benchwork so there is a full upper deck over the sawmill. this will give me room up above for a second log camp, and possibly deepen the sawmill scene to allow more sawmill in front of the backdrop. I'll try to get the camera there soon.
Bill Nelson
I was a flood refugee for two days, unable to get home with both Cumberland river bridges closed.
At the train club today I got the remote manual control working on the third switch @ the Sawmill complex. I laid some track at the siding for the Company Store.
I did some surveying for the changes on the upper level above the sawmill. I thik I'm going to rework the benchwork so there is a full upper deck over the sawmill. this will give me room up above for a second log camp, and possibly deepen the sawmill scene to allow more sawmill in front of the backdrop. I'll try to get the camera there soon.
Bill Nelson
kitbashes and trackworkI finally took my camera to the club here are some picks of the switches and the blue point manual controls. so there is a photo of a switch, the Blue point control, mouted sieways, and the cloathes hanger wire control rod
since I have the track built for the company store siding for the J. E. Patterson Coal and Lumber Co. I started the company store building, which also serves as the company's main office. This kit is built from three similar kits and one different kit. there is the farm house, an undertaker's, and a hardware store, all of which share parts, and there is a Micro Engineering hay and Grain store which I'm using for the front and back wall.
I have used the farm house as one of the company house designs on my home RR, so I have lots of pieces leftover.
also included is a photo of a girder bridge kitbashed from two Atlas kits, that were salvage from Dr Tom's old C & S, here used to make one longer span to support the Narrow gauge as it crossed the main line just past what is, I believe Cumberland Furnace.
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Good kit mingling
Bill,
Nice photos. THe kit mingling for the company store/Hdqtrs is particularly nice. It will build up to a nice structure with an interesting profile and roof line. Looking forward to more pics.
Doc Tom:mrgreen::thumb:
Bill,
Nice photos. THe kit mingling for the company store/Hdqtrs is particularly nice. It will build up to a nice structure with an interesting profile and roof line. Looking forward to more pics.
Doc Tom:mrgreen::thumb:
I have the end walls on.
after the glue dries I will paint it. it has a black foam core floor, and will probably get some interior walls.
I can't go much farther until I have tested it on site, to be sure there is room for loading dock on the back side, and room for a two story porch on the central gabled bump out , which might have to be modified if ther isndt enough space between the company store siding and the passing siding off the main.
after the glue dries I will paint it. it has a black foam core floor, and will probably get some interior walls.
I can't go much farther until I have tested it on site, to be sure there is room for loading dock on the back side, and room for a two story porch on the central gabled bump out , which might have to be modified if ther isndt enough space between the company store siding and the passing siding off the main.
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I have been out on the front porch with a pile of spray paint cans, giving the Company store the standard treatment.
The first enemy of realism in a plastic kit is translucence, and the second is that plastic sheen . The solution to this is to give the plastic structure two solid coats of flat black spray paint inside and out. the primary reason to do this is the building is no longer translucent. The secondary reason to do this is the surface is not shinny. the tetrary reason to do this is any little cracks that later lighter layers of paint might not cover will show up like a dark shadow if at all. Last but not least, the inside walls will be flat black, and you won't accidentally look in a window and see that Godawfull yellow color color plain as day.
After the flat black is dry I paint the outside walls with a dark gray flat paint, and then quickly before it dries dust it with white spray paint so the wet paint colors mix on the walls. this is seldom perfect on the first try, so I end up alternating dark gray and white paint till it is where I like it. then I dust it with a very light gray. the end result is very satisfying for a faded white paint on a wooden wall
these two photos were taken after I'm done with the process. due to the wonderful weirdness of digital photography they look quite different. the effect to the naked eye is about halfway between, with the paint looking like faded or peeling white paint.
The first enemy of realism in a plastic kit is translucence, and the second is that plastic sheen . The solution to this is to give the plastic structure two solid coats of flat black spray paint inside and out. the primary reason to do this is the building is no longer translucent. The secondary reason to do this is the surface is not shinny. the tetrary reason to do this is any little cracks that later lighter layers of paint might not cover will show up like a dark shadow if at all. Last but not least, the inside walls will be flat black, and you won't accidentally look in a window and see that Godawfull yellow color color plain as day.
After the flat black is dry I paint the outside walls with a dark gray flat paint, and then quickly before it dries dust it with white spray paint so the wet paint colors mix on the walls. this is seldom perfect on the first try, so I end up alternating dark gray and white paint till it is where I like it. then I dust it with a very light gray. the end result is very satisfying for a faded white paint on a wooden wall
these two photos were taken after I'm done with the process. due to the wonderful weirdness of digital photography they look quite different. the effect to the naked eye is about halfway between, with the paint looking like faded or peeling white paint.
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I'm putting in some very basic undetailed black foam core interior floors and walls to make the building look more solid.
Looking at the building you can see light through some windows on other walls, but some windows are dark. no looking in an upstairs window from above, and seeing out a downstairs window on the other side.
Looking at the building you can see light through some windows on other walls, but some windows are dark. no looking in an upstairs window from above, and seeing out a downstairs window on the other side.
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2nd floor int walls
I knocked out some second floor interior walls from black foam core. Very quick and easy with a sharp exacto knife.
The long wall with the freight doors is not glued on yet. my construction tolerances are so tight it will stay in place for now as a press fit.
Next time I go to the train club, I will test it's fit, and decide on a depth for the long freight dock that will run down the side with the freight doors and perhaps across the back as well. I have a warehouse building somewhere that I think was a part of a Walther's Grain elevator that will either go behind or across the tracks from this structure. Now I have to find it!
Bill Nelson
I knocked out some second floor interior walls from black foam core. Very quick and easy with a sharp exacto knife.
The long wall with the freight doors is not glued on yet. my construction tolerances are so tight it will stay in place for now as a press fit.
Next time I go to the train club, I will test it's fit, and decide on a depth for the long freight dock that will run down the side with the freight doors and perhaps across the back as well. I have a warehouse building somewhere that I think was a part of a Walther's Grain elevator that will either go behind or across the tracks from this structure. Now I have to find it!
Bill Nelson
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Bill,
This structure is beautiful!! It reminds me of the company store building at Cass W.Va. where they have the neat restaurant now. I like the technique you describe.The two coats of black should kill the translucency and shine of raw styrene.
This will be a welcome addition to the neat scene developing at the J.E. Patterson sawmill complex.
Thanks for your many talents!!!
Doc Tom:thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:
This structure is beautiful!! It reminds me of the company store building at Cass W.Va. where they have the neat restaurant now. I like the technique you describe.The two coats of black should kill the translucency and shine of raw styrene.
This will be a welcome addition to the neat scene developing at the J.E. Patterson sawmill complex.
Thanks for your many talents!!!
Doc Tom:thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:
test fit
On my way home from work this Am I swung by the club to test fit the company store. the little wing in the center was too long, and did not leave enough room for a loading dock in the back and a porch in the front.
This afternoon, while watching a hockey game on TV I removed the little wing, shortened, and reattached it, I still need to add in little pieces of floor, and give it a shot of paint to hide some tool damage done to the paint job while it was being dissembled.
I can work on the front porch, and adding windows ect. now. after the front porch is in I can test fit it again and design the freight dock.
Bill Nelson
On my way home from work this Am I swung by the club to test fit the company store. the little wing in the center was too long, and did not leave enough room for a loading dock in the back and a porch in the front.
This afternoon, while watching a hockey game on TV I removed the little wing, shortened, and reattached it, I still need to add in little pieces of floor, and give it a shot of paint to hide some tool damage done to the paint job while it was being dissembled.
I can work on the front porch, and adding windows ect. now. after the front porch is in I can test fit it again and design the freight dock.
Bill Nelson
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But I am seeing the dark side of my striving for continual improvement. each successful project makes it harder to get anything done..
This morning I have been poking around on the church, tweaking the interior walls, the wiring, and the roof, trying to control the last of the light leaks,by adding blocks of black foamcore at the corners of the roof. I have also done some work on the steeple.
I will probably work on the windows and doors of the company store later today. The strips of 3 led's would overpower any of the rooms in the office/store. I may dissassemble one and see how practicable it would be to add wiring to seperate out the LED's
Bill
I painted up a bunch of windows and doors.
If the windows are cleanly done with no flash, and tiny spure connections I'll paint them on the sprue. these had flash, and the spures had curled, so parts overlapped other parts, so painting on the sprue was not an option.
Spray painting little parts doesn't work well, as the spray can blow the part away.
I use a work surface, in this case a scrap piece of sheet rock, on which I but some masking tape sticky side up I stick the windows onto that, and I can spray paint them without any flyaway pieces.
The roof material from the kits will not work, so it looks like the roof will be scratchbuilt, unless I can come up with a *****load of roofing material. this thing is big!
I have windows and doors glued in place now. two of the four kits I used were built or partially built, so some of the windows/doors are painted white. I will try to match the green of the rest of the windows by mixing acrylics, and then paint them in [lace by hand. that will be slow and tedious, but it must be done.
Next I need to paint the loading dock, which is not attached yet, and the elements of the front porch. I haven't built the store porch yet. I won't do that until after I have painted the sign on the false front. there will probably be a big sign across the top of the ridge line reading J. E. Patterson Coal and Lumber Company.
If the windows are cleanly done with no flash, and tiny spure connections I'll paint them on the sprue. these had flash, and the spures had curled, so parts overlapped other parts, so painting on the sprue was not an option.
Spray painting little parts doesn't work well, as the spray can blow the part away.
I use a work surface, in this case a scrap piece of sheet rock, on which I but some masking tape sticky side up I stick the windows onto that, and I can spray paint them without any flyaway pieces.
The roof material from the kits will not work, so it looks like the roof will be scratchbuilt, unless I can come up with a *****load of roofing material. this thing is big!
I have windows and doors glued in place now. two of the four kits I used were built or partially built, so some of the windows/doors are painted white. I will try to match the green of the rest of the windows by mixing acrylics, and then paint them in [lace by hand. that will be slow and tedious, but it must be done.
Next I need to paint the loading dock, which is not attached yet, and the elements of the front porch. I haven't built the store porch yet. I won't do that until after I have painted the sign on the false front. there will probably be a big sign across the top of the ridge line reading J. E. Patterson Coal and Lumber Company.
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Trainiac77
Member
Nice work! What a great kitbash. I would never of thought to use the blue tape like that, great technique! I think I'll use it on my next project.
Thanks Trainiac,
That is a very useful trick. This company store is a mirror image of the one in crooked creek on my home layout.
overtime I came to regret the placement of that store, with the loading dock facing the aisle, and the office entrance on the back side, and hard to see. no way to change that in the very developed scene on my RR; so this building for the club will be setting differently. It is almost the same building, but the walls came from completely different kits. the porch posts and railings are the same though.
Bill Nelson
That is a very useful trick. This company store is a mirror image of the one in crooked creek on my home layout.
overtime I came to regret the placement of that store, with the loading dock facing the aisle, and the office entrance on the back side, and hard to see. no way to change that in the very developed scene on my RR; so this building for the club will be setting differently. It is almost the same building, but the walls came from completely different kits. the porch posts and railings are the same though.
Bill Nelson
J. E .Patterson is a succesful and prosperous logging outfit.
Bill,
That is a very nice looking office and store for the logging show. It makes J.E Patterson look like a real prosperous outfit.
Here is a picture of the company warehouse and offices in Cass West Virginia. Your fine modeling reminds me of this impressive all wood structure.
Dr Tom:thumb::thumb::thumb:
Bill,
That is a very nice looking office and store for the logging show. It makes J.E Patterson look like a real prosperous outfit.
Here is a picture of the company warehouse and offices in Cass West Virginia. Your fine modeling reminds me of this impressive all wood structure.
Dr Tom:thumb::thumb::thumb:
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At the club tonight I got some foam stuffed between the subroadbed, so there is some ground for the store to sit on now. I took a photo. I'll post it tomorrow, it is nap time now.
I also carved some foam "rocks underneith that narrow gauge bridge I kitbashed the truss for.
I also did some tweaking on the switch to the company store's siding. which was intermittently balky By filing the ties under the points, I was able to free them up, and they are working very well.
Bill
I also carved some foam "rocks underneith that narrow gauge bridge I kitbashed the truss for.
I also did some tweaking on the switch to the company store's siding. which was intermittently balky By filing the ties under the points, I was able to free them up, and they are working very well.
Bill
the promised photos
Here is a photo of the company store in Patterson, setting in it's approximate location.
The gravestone mine, a half finished kitbash started from a built up, but damaged AHM old time mine.
The third picture is the carved foam rocks, I have added to get some ground under where the trestle end of the narrow gauge bridge over the mainline, so I can build the trestle bents to fit
Bill Nelson
Here is a photo of the company store in Patterson, setting in it's approximate location.
The gravestone mine, a half finished kitbash started from a built up, but damaged AHM old time mine.
The third picture is the carved foam rocks, I have added to get some ground under where the trestle end of the narrow gauge bridge over the mainline, so I can build the trestle bents to fit
Bill Nelson
