The first thing I built was a model of the model, years ago. The scale of the model is 1-1/2" = 1'. This version is 4' x 4' with the main radius at 21".
Here are a couple of the early photos showing the benchwork. I wanted this to be light weight and portable. Much of the layout is supported by lots of cardboard. Like a very heavy duty box. Took these a long time ago in the late 1990s (BDC before digital cameras). I have been working on this very slowly for some time. Too many other things going on, cars, kids, trips, work on the house...
The micro-engineering steel viaduct took me awhile to build. A little tricky with the curve. The non tower spans are also shortened. Here it is being installed.
I tried making pyramidal footings out of plaster and then embedding them into the hard-shell scenery. But I could not get that to work. So I ended up cutting out the scenery underneath. Then glued pine footings I cut on the table saw, to a segment of plywood also glued to the benchwork. Then, the scenery was redone.
Here is the bridge being epoxied to the footings showing how I kept the curve alignment and kept the top of the bridge even with the road bed.
The GPM&C celebrates its first inaugural run. The celebration was witnessed by some of the construction gang as a coach bringing in the dignitaries arrived at the future site Chrysolite Metals at Jobyna. Said one of the crew "we'll be old and drawing our pensions by the time this thing is done".
Micro-engineering bridge track. Central valley ties and curvable switch kits. Code 83 rails. Mat-board and card-stock road bed coated with varnish before ties installed.
Pretty slick.
Sean
HO Scale CSX Modeler
Erik,
that is an awesome little layout you are building. It is sure another demonstration of the fact, that the fun of model railroading has nothing to do with the size of a layout!
Keep those pics coming!
Thank you Sean and Ulrich,
Someday the room this is in now will be a full layout, part of an addition I built on my older house. But for now, there's too much junk in there! Meanwhile I want to see this one through, and see how it comes out. There is actually plenty of modeling for me to do!
Eric
Here is the mock up of the town of Jobyna (named after the silent movie actress Jobyna Ralston). The factory is Faraday Electric Motor Company. Maybe a bit too tall but I'm stuck with it.
What an amazing layout. It's a shame that Carl Arendt passed away. This would have been a great layout for his website.
__________________________________________________________________
Mike Kieran
Port Able Railway
I just do what the majority of the voices in my head vote on.
Thanks Mike.
Here is the control panel and a typical switch machine install. This transformer is the same one my dad bought in the 1970s. It was saved from the 11x17 layout he built, and I helped as a kid. We dismantled that layout in the 80s. The switch machines are also leftover from that and I have kept all these years, along with the DPDT toggle switches. Still work great. Old school! (actually these ore cars are from the 80s too, which I recently refurbished and put KayDees on)
The switch throw mechanism I make from the spring wire the machine comes with. After bending the "L" for the points, I pass the wire down through the hole, then bend it towards the switch machine. I then tape, using metal duct tape, a looped copper wire so the rotating mechanism will not bind. Seems to work ok. Anyway, that is what that odd looking metal duct tape is for.
The Basement of Faraday Electric Motor Co. I got some Bachmann workers as a gift and since, well, lets just say, they probably wont be too visible in the basement. There is an arc welder cluster of LEDs on the left corner (from modeltrainsoftware.com). There are some bass string parts, a boiler from a dowel, and a dynamo from a button battery, and a barrel and other junk. Warm white LEDs and resistors from ebay. Anyone care to identify the mysterious blue machine?
Wow, this is looking really nice.
Now I find out that I should have kept some of my old bass strings
Next I will find out that cardboard can be used in the making of mountains.
Ken G Price My N-Scale Layout
Digitrax Super Empire Builder Radio System. South Valley Texas Railroad. SVTRR
N-Scale out west. 1996-1998 or so! UP, SP, Missouri Pacific, C&NW.
Yeah those bass strings have those potentially useful brass thingys on the ends ;) Of course, old guitar strings are as useful like piano wire.
And the strange blue thing is an old operational amplifier shipping package. Kind of have cool fin looking things. Anyway, junk for the basement not very visible.
So here is the main floor of Faraday EM. We have a bit of a mix of eras of tools, some belt driven, some more modern but, oh well. The green lathe and drill press in the center of the production floor is from Roco and has nice detail I think. The floor is basswood scribed with a drafting pencil and stained. The walls are cardstock spray painted flat white. The file cabinets I made out of balsa wood and scribed with the pencil. Painted with brown acrylic. The chair and desk are cardstock. Artwork stolen from the internet and printed on the printer.
The main floor consists of an entry for workers (center), a reception area (right), the forman's office (behind reception with the desk), the stair well ( in the center), the bathrooms, and of course the main shop floor. Just trying to give an illusion that there is stuff inside the building.
Micheal Faraday is one of my favorite scientists. Not from a well off family (you typically had to be well off to get educated and do science in those days), he educated himself and in a roundabout way, ended up working for a chemist in his laboratory. He went on to develop the theory of the electromagnetic field, diamagnetism, induction, and the laws of electrolysis. He invented the electric motor. So for this I named the company, Faraday Electric Motors.
Here we see progress on the masonry. Borrowing a little from the techniques of Bob Brendle ( "Brick Walls With Character" , Railroad Model Craftsman, Vol 69, no 2, July 2000) I did not do near as good a job as he did! After spraying the interior walls black (to absorb interior lights) then some white, the outside was airbrushed with oxide red acrylic. Then, random bricks are painted with either lightened red, and darkened red. I think doing this alone does quite a bit for the building.
Bob uses a different technique for the mortar than I did. I diluted some acrylic white with isopropyl alcohol (2-propanol) :) and dabbed it on. Mostly, the white settles into the mortar lines. Here you can see the difference between a treated and untreated wall.
After the mortar treatment everything gets a mist of cheap flat black spray paint.
The basement for Faraday EM is cut in. Construction of the south east side of granite peak. The profiles are glued in with adhesive caulk.
Plaster work.
I like this little stainless steel spatula tool (below) you can get from science supply companies (Fisher or Cynmar). The square end is great for making the sharper edges of rocks. Small enough to make lots of little random details. Then I use an old paint brush for stippling and blending while the plaster is still wet. After the plaster sets I use the x acto knife to trim and further carve in rock like shapes.
Mostly done with the background plaster colors and textures. Getting ready to set the building.
Setting the bridge abutment for the future roadway overpass. Aligned with the street center line.
Bad engineering on my part. I should have used a full plywood X spanning the legs. Instead, most of the weight is transferred to the centers of the 1x2 rails. The 1x2 s are now sagging under the weight.
Tightened things up a little with some plywood ribs. Still enough clearance to get the N scale layout out from underneath.
Good job! Looking forward to further updates.
Lone Geep
\
really great work!
Thanks, I appreciate that.
eric
Finished the majority of the last switch. This time I built my own frog. Not real pretty but it works. My circular layout design really required me to hand lay my own turnouts but I wasn't confident I could do it. So, I chose the CVT turnouts because they are at least partially curvable if you follow the instructions and not cut all the webs. So, the track flow isnt quite as elegant as I imagined in my track plan. But I think after building a few of these kits, I could hand lay any switch now or at least modify the CVT switch to do about anything I want. Maybe on the next layout LOL.
The coke and limestone receiving bins for Chrysolite Metals.
I have about finalized the plans for Chrysolite Metals (mine, mill, and smelter) which will be scratch built. Here is the plan view.
Front Elevation
Side Elevations
And the Interior:
The mine is a typical shaft. The Mill design very roughly follows that of the Mayflower Mill Located west of Silverton Colorado, just in flow scheme only. That mill produced lead, copper, zinc, silver, and gold. The smelting section is generic and includes a rotary roaster to convert sulfides to oxides with the SO2 going to the future acid plant (Apex Chemicals). Then there is a reverbatory and blast furnace to smelt the concentrates. Not unheard of, but not very common to have a mine mill and smelter all in one complex. Also of course, its very selectively compressed.
The street was originally going to go down hill and cross the tracks on the ground. But that was too steep. So now, its going to go up over an overpass. Here is the cardboard rework.
I tried to put a radius on the transitions on the profiles and scribed the cardboard sub base to bend with the radius.
Its going to be tricky right turn onto that ramp for truck drivers in model land!
Cardboard profiles for the outer edge. Thinking of adding a chemical storage tank next to the building. Maybe out of this former caulk tube. I wonder, looks ok? Taller? No Tank?
The cardboard from my new mountain bike came in handy.
When Hobby Lobby cleared out their train stuff, I bought all their retaining walls they had left for cheap. I had some parts leftover from the bridge abutment so, thought I would break up this side a little with a culvert for the town's drainage system. Also, brought out some old cars from my teens that I had weathered with wood stain (which I wouldnt recommend becuase they look like they are covered in oil :).
Got the new rock work in. Beginning the coloring, ground cover, and ballast. I need to move my background sheet a little I think.
Scenery progress. More old buildings from years ago, temporary.
Got the highway overpass and ramp roughed in!
Under natural lighting from tube skylights.
I plan on starting work on the mine mill smelter next. Probably the town streets at the same time.
Just stumbled upon you thread. Amazing little layout you are working on. The level to detail is inspiring to me as I have begun my new "temporary layout". I will be following along.
Best Regards, Big John
Kiva Valley Railway- Freelanced road in central Arizona. Visit the link to see my MR forum thread on The Building of the Whitton Branch on the Kiva Valley Railway
Thanks canazar. Greetings from the four corners! I used to live in Tempe when I went to ASU...
I noticed something about myself when I decided my layout was temporary (even though its been basically permanent, LOL). It gives me a license in a way, to go for it, and not worry so much about messing something up.
Regards,
e
?????How big is this table? I know it said 4x4. But WoW it looks a lot bigger.
Hi wilson.
The track plan shown in post #1 is the current plan. It is 4'-6" x 4'-6" and has a 24" main line radius.
I think thats great you say it seems larger than it is. Perhaps its the exaggerated vertical dimensions?
I rescued some cabinets and a counter top from a remodel I recently went through.
My work space went from this:
To this!
this is some fine modelling!
the work space looks great too...
Hi -E-C-Mills
Thats it I quit a layout the same size as mine a temporary one at that.
And ten times better than my permanent one
Keep it up this is very interesting.and informative
Are those roundhouse freight car kits?? haven't seen any of those for years.
regards John
Thanks 304 and John.
No way! You cant quit!
Yeah, I have some model railroad cars and kits all the way back from the 50s. Some of those old wood and metal car kits my dad built (and freinds have given me). I recently bought the roundhouse kits off ebay, a couple of 36' box cars. Also the accurail kit. Trying to build up the shorter and 1910s - 1930s era stuff.
Yup, its mostly old stock and fairly low budget for me!
Hi -E-C -Mills.
It's low budget yes but a very High quality build.
Who made the tractor flat cars I rather like those.
You do realize that your going to have to do a John Allen and in 3 layouts time each geting bigger .
That this little gem will have to be in it somewhere
Faridays tank question answer yes it wants one well I think so ,and it would probably have PCB in it would not be permitted today but back then yes it would be used.
John Allen was awesome! I wish I had a basement!
Ok, tank or tanks it is. Full of all kinds of nasty stuff!
The flats are some of my newer rolling stock, from roundhouse, ready to run with those nice metal wheels and kadee style couplers. About 30 or 32 feet long. I do like them too. My only complaint is that there is permanent casting on the tops for holding the tractors in place. So if you take the tractors off, the holding blocks, stay. I was more interested in the flat cars themselves than the tractors. But still, kind of cool.
Ive noticed in the fall, the rabbit brush (of which there is an endless supply of around here) turns to seed. The flowers on them pop open and I thought, hey, I wonder if those would make good weeds?
Chrysothamnus nauseosus, chamisa, rabbit brush
Here is a flower. I sprayed it with hairspray.
At first I was more interested in the seeds, maybe they could be used like grass tufts. But after pulling them apart, the thing that holds the seeds in looks more interesting.
Here is one of the holders (I dont know what to call it) and a couple seeds to the left. Both unpainted in the natural morning sunlight.
I tried to paint some with acrylic but that looked real bad! I had some old leftover cheap green spray paint in the garage, glossy even! Would probably look better with flat.
They are a little delicate to remove from the painting board. Tweezers can crush them. At first I drilled holes in the plaster and planted them with their little base stem. But then, it was easier to break off the stem (they were coming off anyway) dab a little white glue on the very base and just place it on the layout.
Building the foundation for Chrysolite Metals mine mill and smelter.
I did a little research on concrete and found, from the Gates Forms Company, that 4x8 plywood forms did not come into use until after WW II. Since this complex was supposed to be built using 1920s to 1930s technology, 8" planks were used to make forms. I scribed 12" plank lines into the basswood to mimic this. The 4x8 scribes below were not deep enough to really be seen.
To try to mimic concrete using wood, I did some experimenting with basswood scrap. Here is the result.
1) Scribe forms lines. 2) Smooth any corners and joints using spackle. 3) Prime with cheap indoor wall paint primer. 4) Paint with WS Concrete Top Coat.
Primer
Top Coat (and weathering)
Got the elevator shaft glued in. The sheave is assembled. Ordered a drum hoist. The hoist house and headframe is about ready for assembly.
E-C-Mills
Your layout is looking great! It's amazing what can be done with such a small space. I love the little weeds that you made from the seed holders. They look remarkably like some type of fleshy shrub or desert/arid plant.
In my opinion, the glossy paint on the seed holders is more realistic than flat paint would be because the gloss looks more like the sheen on the leaves of fleshy plants.
S&S
Modeling the Pennsy and loving it!
I guess that is true, plants are kind of glossy. They almost look a little like skunk cabbage. The kind that grows in the mountains around here.
I so much struggle with paint! After looking at this photo of the Camp Bird Mine, I had to repaint the first walls and the paint on them is starting to get too thick.
I'm pretty limited on paint. All we have here in town is some hardware stores and a Hobby Lobby. But, I think I have come pretty close.
Finally some walls going up.
The transfer and drying house. This is where the coke and limestone are hauled in and where the concentrates are stored and dried. The second floor will house a repair shop through which the mine tailings track will go.
A test fit on the layout.
The building is looking great! It's going to be a very impressive scene once it is installed.
I was looking back over the thread, and I noticed that the flower that you picked and dried looks kind of like the whole plant in the photo you posted. With a little bit of trimming along the "branches" to remove the spikes (dried sepals?), the dried flower would make an almost perfect match.
S&S : LOL yeah how about that. Using rabbit brush to model rabbit brush!
The latest progress
The single drum cable hoist is a kit made by Railway Engineering Agency. Its a steam era hoist but I updated it with a Plastruct motor M3. I used rust colored thread for cable as suggested by the kit instructions.
The jaw crusher was made from a mechanical pencil lead refill container lid. A flywheel from .040 styrene, and a simple motor shape from Plastruct MR-250 rod. The rod and ball mills were made from Plastruct TB-28 tubing (appx 6' dia in HO), .040 styrene end peices, and MR-250 rod outlets. The spiral classifier was made with wood and .030 styrene half circles.
Hi EC Mills
WOW!! the layout really has come along in leaps and bounds since I saw it last.
You have well and truly proved that no space is no excuse for no railroad.
And an HO one at that.
I am going to have to keep a better eye on this thread.
Thank you John.
Here is some more slow progress to post for now. Here is one of three floatation cell banks. Made from basswood and basswood angle 16' long by 2'4" wide. The frother wheels are .030 styrene disks made using the hole punch shown. The motors are from Plastruct MR 125 rod. The H beam legs are from plastruct HFS 2.
Here is some more scratch built equipment. The grey tall thing is a caricature of a jig from wood (primed and sanded to smooth) and similar styrene parts as the jaw crusher. A gold jig tank made from a tungsten rod shipper tube (which is clear but looks silver in the photo) and .030 styrene disk. We then have a crude deister table made from basswood parts. The round objects are crude representations of thickeners made from celophane tape rolls, evergreen #273 .100 I beam, and plastruct MR 125 rod motors.
Here is the equipment painted and installed in the mill. The handrailing and stairs were from Central Valley.
Water based acrylic, easy to clean but pain in in the warp.
The bigger walls needed bracing. You know the drill.
Paint recipe is:
Inside; Rustoleum white primer, flollowed by Amercana camel.
Outside; Rustoleum grey primer, then Americana burnt sienna, then Americana tuscan red. I brush the red on over the brown leaving the brown exposed in some areas suggesting the paint is coming off.
Here is one brown wall against a finished wall. I have gotten better at hiding the grey primer with thinner paint to get into the scribe lines.
The transfer house internal bridge base was made from scribed basswood (HO 8" thick). Stained with Minwax golden oak. The mine tracks are from an old guitar string (a G string :). Mine track spacing set at HO 18".
Gluing the transfer bridge walls. Also in this shot is the unstained concentrate bin walls on the floor.
The guitar string is quite stiff and was a little difficult to get to lay straight. Oh well. I'll disguise things with some dirt and more weathering later (or maybe not ;)
I decided to delete the smelter function of this model. The orginal smelter area will now be the final filtering and concentrate storage area. The lower part of the transfer house will be the boiler room with a coal delivery by rail from the outside bin. The upper part of the transfer house shown here will be for bringing in ore from other mines to be processed. Much more realistic situation than before.
Here are the zinc, copper, and lead concentrate storage bins.
Here is the last of the major interior equipment; the large disk filters. Concentrate from the thickeners is brought in to the troughs. The filter disks on the real deal rotate and have vacuum applied to filter the concentrate from the water in the slurry. They rotate through the slurry and then have a sector where compressed air blows the filtrate off which is then conveyed to storage.
The troughs are ripped 3/4" pine. The filter filter disks are .040 styrene formed using a hollow punch, then cut in half using a center square. The motor is again Plastruct MR-250. The larger cylinders are the vacuum reservoirs / separators made from Plastruct TB-28 capped with .030 styrene. The blue tubes are the compressed air reservoirs made from old dried out Sheaffer Skrip ink cartriges.
Last of the interior equipment.
Cardboard structural support. Boxing for setting the building and the scenery. The result is fairly strong, lightweight, and the materials are free.
LEDs installed.
EC,
Mighty fine work there, a truly impressive build!
I really like large mining buildings and have a few of my own. Eventually want to go back and redo them in more detail, including interior work. Your progress is an inspiration. The LEDs are icing on a very delicious cake.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Thanks Mike. I very much enjoy your posts on your layout, the mountains, mines, mills, stations, and lighting; great work. The places you model are right in my backyard. I live just south of Durango in Farmington and spend quite a bit of time in Colorado. My avatar is from the Farmington branch just south of Durango and the tank is still there.
Wouldnt it be great to get ahold of vintage equipment engineering drawings and 3D print the interior equipment? I guess we are just going to have to visit all those mine and mill museums again and draw up those files ourselves!
I am a little envious you live in the 'hood. Beautiful country, but never quite swung the job situation to move there myself.
Thanks for the comments about my work. I've got everything looking good exterior-wise these days, but am just starting on interiors. Gotta do it now that things are all lit up, though.
I know there's a Yahoo email group out there on Western mining because some of my narrowgauge buddies belong to it. I work mainly from books and memories of my many trips to the San Juan Mtns/Four Corners area. Will Meyerriecks' "Drills and Mills: Precious Metal Mining and Milling Methods of the Frontier West" and Beth and Bill Sagstetter's "The Mining Camps Speak" are espacially good if you haven't seen them.
Looking forward to seeing more of your excellent Little Line!
Mike: I have that book "Drills and Mills" too, a great book I like very much. Will keep an eye out for Mining Camps Speak, thanks. I have some old chemical engineering and mineral dressing handbooks that I've somehow come across over the years that has lots of process flow and equipment (yeah there must be something wrong with me :). The yahoo group reminds me of http://www.westernmininghistory.com which you might like.... Regards.
-E-C-MillsThe yahoo group reminds me of http://www.westernmininghistory.com which you might like....
Yes, that's the one. I'm on a moratorium for joining new groups until I get my diss done, but maybe will join after that.
If you ever get these in the mail... Keep them. Pretty good stuff for model projects. They are some kind of coated paper board, about .030" thick. Almost like sheet styrene, but free!
Used these for the roof. Made bracing on the inside for the longer spans. Glued down with removable WS Scenic Accents Glue just in case I have to get back inside the building.
I did not model any of the rafters, just the end facia trim.
Probably somebody already figured this out but I never saw it written down anywhere. Here is how I cut the Campbell corrugated metal roofing material. I use these tools: a little hammer, a single edged razor blade, and this epoxy chem top counter top sample (a fairly tough solid surface).
I bought the 8' long Campbell Aluminum Corrugation material. Although officially (historically?), corrugated metal sheeting is about 2 feet wide, I cut them at 4 feet wide. To cut along the corrugations, slide the razor blade and rest in the corrugation at the mark. Then a tap or two on the hammer shears it off. A lot quicker and more square accurate than using an xacto knife.
To cut shorter lengths, I use a template to mark the piece square.
Then tap with the razor blade and hammer. Tape keeps the pieces from flying all over.
Complex shapes can easily be cut after test fitting with paper templates. Use the template to line up the blade. A tap or two and its cut.
The ridge cap is made from aluminum duct tape cut to a scale 12" width using the classic xacto knife and ruler. Use a straight edge to pre bend the peak. This will reveal 6" on each side of the roof peak. Its a bit tricky to install. You only get one shot because its real sticky. You also dont want to radically bend the piece or there will be a gnarly kink in it.
The corrugated metal is glued with WS Scenic Accents Glue.
-E-C-MillsIf you ever get these in the mail... Keep them.
What a nifty use of junk mail. I like free!!!!
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Hi E-C-Mills
WOW! thats brilliant you can allmost smell the chemicals used to seperate the gold from the ore.
Well it looks like a gold mine to me with those spiral thingies.
I can picture that with the gold squad paying a courtisy vist to check security or taking away some one who was dumb enough to try gold stealing.
Perhaps you should look for a second hand Jailbox car redecorated perhaps it could take the preciouse cargo to a secure vault some where??
Just my thoughts on a fantastic model
JaBear: After reading your comment I was thinking yes, free to you and me but, alas, nothing is free right? So here we have model parts courtesy of those who pay the bank! But in the end, its waste not want not :)
John: I really didnt think about how to haul the precious metal out! Probably going to need some armed guards! That might make an interesting scene to model for WPF: guys loading a strong box with guards. The Mayflour (SG) Mill in Silverton did have what they called the gold room. It was a secured area separate from the rest of the mill. It was where they used mercury to amalgamate the gold out of the concentrate, then cast the gold into bars. I also have a gold room in my model (its through the door off to the side of the deister table) but I did not detail the interior there.
And now, more scenery work. The building will be mounted to the cardboard profiles which is secured to the rest of the carboard and wood frame network using adhesive caulk. To keep things aligned and level, I carefully measured and cut the cardboard using a straight edge and utility knife. The bridging structure was necessary to access the wires to the building.
I cover the profiles with masking tape.
Since space is fairly constriced here, I did not use any rock molds on this section.
Colors and texture: I have been using old Color-Rite paint pigments my dad bought back in the 1970s. Also, slate grey and black from Woodland Scenics. Been experimenting and nothing really comes out the same! Kind of settled on the recipe recommended by WS: 1) slate grey, 2) raw sienna, 3) burnt sienna, 4) burnt umber, 5) black.
All my dirt and rip rap comes from recovered plaster which has set. I had been breaking and grinding it up using a chisel and muffin tin. But I recently bought this mortar and pestle which is much easier. You can sift out the larger chunks for boulders if desired. I color the dirt in the mortar using the same pigments. Nothing ever comes out the same twice. Which might be a good thing. I dont know.
Finally set the mine / mill complex!
Not too terribly far off in shape and design
Utah Copper Company Mill, Utah
Bi-Metallic Mill, Montana
Spiral classifier and ball mill, Mayflour (SG) mill Silverton CO.
http://www.westernmininghistory.com/special/stamp+mills/4948/
My micro version of "The Palisades"
Inspiration found here:
http://www.narrowgauge.org/ngc/graphics/tkierscey/dspp/dspp0022.jpg
Plaster rock castings placed and blended in ready for color.
A buck watches over his doe unphased by a rumbling train overhead. Colors and ground cover in. Waiting for trees to grow. Experimenting with lighting and camera settings.
Just read the whole thread beginning to end. Simply superb!! You have great modeling skills. Have fun!
Thanks Santa Fe all the way. I appreciate the kind words. Contributing to the forum helps keep me motivated!
Welded pipe railing was cut from Central Valley Fencing. I test fit and cut to size for the model. Sanded evenly.
For some reason, I seem to like photos of stuff clamped, how things are built.
I set the railings upside down, positioned, and held with my metal and trophy squares. Glued the bottom 2 rails with CA (or from top down in the photo). After the CA set, flip the rails back up and glue the top rail. Do this so you dont glue the delicate railing to the glass.
A couple of miners enjoy the view while waiting for the elevator to take them down to work. Here is the railing installed and completed ground cover on this side of the building.
Its going to be a grocery store. Here we are making the roof out of advert cardstock.
Making the road to Chrysolite Metals out of 30 year old mat board.
And filling in with "Redi-Spack-Lite" after a sealing coat of varnish.
Former D&S standard gauge 2-8-0, recently purchased by the GPM&C, pushes newly acquired flat cars and a caboose over the peak.
Eric,
Just catching up with things. The mill is coming along impressively, as are several other aspects of your stunning, yet compact layout.
Thank you kindly Mike! By the way, in that last shot, the background panaramic photo of the Wilsons range has Lizard Head peak, but its hidden behind the forground mountain. I took the photo several years ago, northwesterly of Durango Mountain Resort. I messed around trying to make it show up in the photo but it didnt look right having the background mountains so high up in the photo. Anyways, thought you of all people might appreciate that, being so familiar with the area. That spot is a beautiful view.
Regards, Eric
A shot of how the interior was made for Ralston's Grocery Store made from DPMs Roberts Dry Goods. LEDs installed. The Ralstons Grocery sign was made in word. That and the other artwork was ink jet printed on photo paper.
Ready for install. The poeple that live upstairs got a Marylin Monroe poster from the future.
The interior cardstock was a bit delicate. I'm going to make the next interior a little more stout.
This is a handy large compass with a hobby knife for making curves. The street is made from garage sale signs.
Here is the last of the street base installed. The main concrete color is Rustoleum fine textured sandstone dusted with some HomeShades grey primer and a little Valspar flat black.
Building Nina's Cafe. Here's the interior plan; a simple kitchen on the main floor, and three apartments sharing a bathroom on the second floor. Also, black and white tile flooring which was printed on photo paper.
Airbrushed the brick using a Badger Patriot airbrush which I am very pleased with. The recipe was 80% Model Master tan, 5% Model Master sand, and 15% DI water. I attempted to mask off the trim. I then airbrushed Polly Scale light blue.
The masking tape took some of the paint off which had to be retouched by hand. The rest of the trim was hand painted. Random bricks were hand painted various shades of tan lightened (with sand) and darkend (with black and red). Getting ready to paint some selected seated Model Power figures and standing Preiser figures. Putting together the Preiser tables and chairs.
Have not looked in for a while.
Wow!! you have been busy and quality stuff to.
Uhm just when do you find time to earn a living?? some of that must take ages to do.
The new cafe looks great. I always have a soft spot for buildings with the entrance at one corner.
Last of the glazing going in. I'm really liking using Testors Clear Parts Cement & Window Maker. Just lay the window material where you want it, dab the cement at the edges, and the cement wicks in. It dries clear so if you over do it, no worries. Also, here, the cafe people are primed and ready for hand painting.
Building Nina's Other Corner Cafe by Eric Miller, on Flickr
I pulled out just about every one of the good paints I have in my "collection" for painting the cook, waitress, and customers for Nina's Cafe. I Followed the articles by Sam Swanson, "Modifying and Painting Figures", Model Railroader, Dec, 2005, and particularly, David Popp, "Figure Painting 101", Model Railroader, Sep, 2009. These gave me some direction to try painting figures for the first time myself.
Nina's People by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Hello Ladies by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Heres the interior of the main floor restuarant. Made the coal fired stove from card stock and brass tube. Prieser tables and chairs. Printed marble counter top and cabinets over card stock.
Interior of Ninas Cafe
Ninas Cafe New Patrons
Making the LED lights and runs. The telephone wire was free and it works great in supporting itself and the LED. However, running it through the model is a pain. Kind of stiff.
Ninas LEDs
Ninas Light Paths
Here's the interior structure complete and lighted. Had to cantiliver the upper floor so that posts would not be visible by the front. The outer shell lifts on and off.
LED Installation for Ninas Cafe
Printed the sign on semi gloss photo paper including the anchor straps. After gluing together, bent the straps to 45 degrees.
Making Ninas Sign
Making Nias Sign
About done with this one.
Ninas Cafe Before Install
Ninas Cafe at Night
Mike
Thank you W.L.R. Looks like I'm on the 20 year plan. Next post, next year! ;)
Outsanding work, Eric. That checkerboard floor really sets things off in Nina's. Impressive job with the lighting, too!
Thanks Mike. A bright cheery place to eat with a nice view of the mountains. Its going to be popular spot with the tourists in 50 years ;)
I'm switching back over to the mine/mill to finish that scene. I've been invited to give a presentation on it at the NMRA Silver San Juan Division meeting in Farmington April 29. So I would like to have that finally finished.
The water tank for the mill was made from tape dispenser rolls and a garage sale sign. Scribe lines for representing the metal plates were made using the circle lines and the angle weight as a guide.
The access hatch made from styrene parts and a scrap ladder rung for a handle.
The tank was airbrushed with Model Master flat black with some grey mixed in. The supply pipe, from water pumped out of the mine, was made from brass tube and painted with Model Master steel. No weathering yet, brand new /sarc.
Nice modeling, but I feel like I should point this out...
Erm.....
DavidH66, I don't get what your trying to point out? What am I missing?
My You Tube
Yeah its been like that for awhile. I have no idea why or how.
All long threads seem to get that way. But it doesn;t really cause any problems in reading, you can jump to the last page with no problem.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
A final check just to make sure it might look ok.
Making indents on the back side of the gusset plates to create rivet detail.
A finished truss. Doubled up 2x8 mains, with 1" tension rods made from guitar string.
The tailings bridge ties and stringers. Stringers are 8x8 with 6x6 ties.
The tailings bents are 8x8 with 2x8 and 2x4 cross members
The bridge was stained golden oak, dark walnut, and grey.
Surveying for placing the bents square to the building.
Chrysolite Metals Mine and Mill.
-E-C-Mills:
Nice work on the tailing bridge!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Thank you Dave.
And thanks everyone for the comments and visiting this thread.
Enjoy!
And now a little side project. I got tired of dragging my airbrush stuff to the garage and so built this paint booth out of cardboard, duct tape, and a USB fan. Here is the back. Cut the circle out so the screws of the fan could hold it in place.
Paint Booth 1 by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Here is the back side showing the fan screws and the routing of the USB power cord
Paint Booth 2 by Eric Miller, on Flickr
All taped together.
Paint Booth 3 by Eric Miller, on Flickr
The angles help the light from the desk lamp to get in.
Paint Booth 4 by Eric Miller, on Flickr
The exhaust duct is made from some heavy card stock paper rolled to fit the USB fan.
Paint Booth 5 by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Seems to work good enough. I only airbrush acrylics in small amounts and the USB fan is low voltage so there should be little chance of any fires. Spent about $10 bucks. (actually the fan was just laying around) The first use was to airbrush a Model A Ford.
Paint Booth 6 by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Mandy poses with her new 1928 Ford Model A truck. My first Jordan Highway Miniatures model.
Street scene starting to come together.
Eric Miller, on Flickr
Good work on the Jordan pick-em-up. Sure wish that Jordan would get back in production.
Thanks Mike. Yeah me too. There's not much available for the 10s-30s era.
Newly acquired GN 121 is caught working the interchange at Jobyna.
Working the GPM&C by Eric Miller, on Flickr
After the last photo the layout needs more life. So I decided to make a static grass applicator. First I tried the $2 one from Harbor Freight. However, when I got it all together it was dead. I forgot to test it before I did the work on it.
I then upgraded to the Black Flag 2,750 V bug zapper for $8. It tested good. I then did the modifications as shown here. I used a largish pill bottle for the hopper screen bin. I wanted it small to get into tight spaces. The ground pin is a peice of house wire filed to a point. I just hold it to the ground.
Black Flag DIY Grass Applicator 1 by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Black Flag DIY Grass Applicator 2 by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Black Flag DIY Grass Applicator 3 by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Test using NOCH 07073 Master Grass Blend 6mm. The patch on the left was the previous failure.
Static Grass Test by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Now we have a little more texture.
Layout Static Grass Test 1 by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Sunshine Music and Radio
Eric M, on Flickr
The crew says hello!
Mini Palisades by Eric Miller, on Flickr
I've been pretty busy starting a modular group and my local NMRA Silver San Juan Division, so the GPM&C has been somewhat on hold. However getting involved with the NMRA has motivated me to work on some rolling stock for my Golden Spike Acheivement Certificate. I have everything required completed but 6 items of modified or enhanced rolling stock. This has to be more than just putting couplers on a kit. The cars shown below were given to me except the Rio Grande box which I bought for a couple bucks. So I decided the two flats, the gon, and the RG box would get a coupler conversion (although not those mate o matics), metal wheel conversion, decals, and weathering.
For the other two I pulled out a couple Athearn chemical tank cars I built years ago. These will get a coupler conversion, some piping, and weathering.
These particluar tank cars did not have a separate coupler box. The coupler box is incorporated into the tank frame. So the horn hook couplers were near permanent when the frame was glued together.
Fortunately I did not glue the heck out of everything and coupler box cover could be sawed open.
I purchase a variety of small screws from Amazon that seemed to be a good fit for trucks and couplers. I drilled the post at a small diameter and the cover a larger diameter according to the chosen screw.
The larger hole on the cover allowed for some adjustment of the cover. And here is the result after graphite lubing the moving parts of the coupler.
One of the flats is a Rivarossi and the other a Tycho but they look otherwise identical. They were those piggy back flats with the two trailers. I removed the rather unrealistic looking trailer hold downs. The trucks pop out. I removed the wheels and cut off the coupler housing and coupler with sprue cutters.
I used Inkscape to make a vector graphic for relettering the cars. Printed out at as high resolution my epson printer would go 720 dpi. Test fit with paper first.
I used the white decal paper from MicroMark. The inkjet results, not so great. Coated with clear gloss. Used Microscale Microset and Microsol according to instructions. Also painted the decks with Testors wood. You can see quite a difference this alone makes.
Trucks were tuned with MicroMark truck tuner. KayDee metal wheels installed with graphite lube. Kadee #5s with couple boxes mounted without any shimming needed. Couplers passing coupler height and clearances testing.
And now the freebie BN 40' gondola. Pop the trucks off. Remove the wheels.
Saw the horn hook couplers off.
The Kadee #5 coupler box was shimmed with styrene spray painted with some green I have laying around. Not real concerned about the bottoms of these cars. It was nice that the outer lower portion of the car, with box, is the correct hight which was tested by a coupler hight check tool. Trucks tuned. Metal wheels installed. Everything graphite lubed. Weathering discussed later.
The black $3 boxcar was an undecorated model somebody tried to put Rio Grande decals on. I removed the trucks and couplers. I stripped the decals off with fingernail polish remover. Before painting, wash everything with some dishwashing detergent and an old paint brush on the stiff side.
Sprayed the car with Model Master boxcar red diluted 20% with an acrylic paint thinner formla modified from Joe Fugate recommendations. My version of the cheap thinner is: 30% DI Water, 30% Anhydrous Ethanol, 30% Armor All Glass Cleaner Clear, and 5-10% Vellejo Acrylic Retarder Medium. This worked great!
I made a GPM&C herald using the vector graphics program Inkscape and printed on MicroMark decal paper at 720 dpi. In order to hide the white edges, chopped the graphic using a razor blade and hammer.
At the end of the various weathering of the cars road dust was applied to the lower parts of the cars by spraying diluted 50/50 Model Master raw sienna while rolling the car by the stationalry air brush. All cars were sealed with diluted 50/50 Model Master flat clear.
And now the final results. You might be able to see the added air piping under the tank. Corrosive chemical placards from the 1960s were ink jet printed and applied.
The tanks were first weathered with some diluted 50/50 Model Master light grey and made to streak down the sides. Dribled over the hatch making spots. Lightly applied and fanned down the rest of the tank. Also diluted 50/50 Model Master grimy black was fanned vertically down the tank. Very subtle hard to tell in the photos. Some Bragdon powder rust was also applied over rivets and trucks.
The two flats. These got the Bragdon powders and some of the grimy black wash.
The gon was weathered with Bragdon powders light and medium rust. The clear sealer blew out some of the powder inside the gon and also tones down the outside so, some repitition may be necessary.
For decals apply microset on the surface, place, and allow to dry. Apply microsol over the decal while soaking up the excess with paper towel. Too much and the decal can curl and be ruined. Repeat over rivets and braces to settle.Boxcar data and lettering was Woodland Scenics dry transfer RR Gothic. Weathering with grimy black 50/50 wash applied with car upright to settle into cracks naturally. Some Bragdon powders. All cars recieved 50/50 raw sienna sprayed low and sealed with flat clear.
Thats it for Intermediate Modelling 202 ;)
Thanks kindly Bear!