middleman Outstanding,Ray! Thanks for all the pictures. Mike
Outstanding,Ray! Thanks for all the pictures.
Mike
I agree! Excellent craftsmanship, Ray.
Wayne
Ray. I am new to the Forum and have just looked at a few pictures. Amazing is an understatement.
I was going to have a quiet weekend, but not now. I must read through this thread.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Took a break from modeling to do the videos from my Nevada trip. Now I finally have some modeling to report...
I wanted the second story of this building to be a silversmithing workshop. I only had one very tiny photo of my brother's workshop, which gave me a rough idea of how it should look. I also Googled some photos of similar workshops which helped me get a better idea of the details.
I started by making a bunch of tools and other items to hang on a simulated pegboard:
I also modeled a slab cutter, which is a special saw for cutting raw stone into slices. The largest part was made from a block of Sintra PVC, sanded to shape and skinned with .020" styrene:
Another machine I modeled is a combination trim saw and cabochon grinder/polisher:
I made a lot of other items, installed them in the room, and added lights:
A couple shots looking into the room from outside the window:
The last thing I did was make a pair of exterior lamps to light up the store front. After finishing the wiring the building was complete and I installed it on the layout:
.
Beautiful work!
On everything I've seen in this thread. Im thinking the word impressive may fall short
TF
Amazing work. Thanks for the pictures.
York1 John
I asked my doctor if I gave up delicious food and all alcohol, would I live longer? He said, "No, but it will seem longer."
Ray, Seeing your fantastic modeling is always a treat. Your work with 'Sintra' board is truly inspirational.
Thanks and regards, Peter
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Aw, c'mon, Ray...you're pullin' our leg, aren'tcha? Those pictures gotta be of real full-scale buildings and interiors, eh?
Beautiful work...I generally refrain from using this Emoji, but can't possibly click it enough times to reflect how impressive I find your work to be...
Hi Ray,
Absolutely sensational work!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Ray, that is absolutely amazing! Your work on the safe door resulted in an incredible model.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Amazing work, Ray. Thanks for letting us see your progress.
The project I've been working on recently is one with very significant personal meaning...
I finished the exterior of the stone building on the left in 2013:
I designed this building to represent a former bank building which has gone through many different occupants over the years, and is currently home to a custom jewelry shop. It was intended to be a tribute to my brother Jim and his wife Maggi.
After finishing the exterior, I built the removable boxes that form the two interior rooms. Here's the room for the ground floor:
That was as far as I got -- adding lights and details to the interiors got put on hold while I worked on getting some of the other Mineral Ridge buildings put together. After the untimely deaths of my brother and his wife in 2016, I wanted to go back and finish this up, but it was much too painful emotionally. Only in the last few months have I gotten to a place where I felt ready to take it on.
The first item to complete was the door of the bank's vault. It's loosely modeled after this vault door in the ruined Nye & Ormsby Bank in Manhattan, NV:
Several parts are missing on the prototype, so I also relied on photos of similar vault doors that I found via Google.
The door and doorframe were built up on a sheet of styrene:
After trimming off excess material around the door frame, I began adding hinges and locking hardware:
Once assembled, I painted the door in an era-appropriate style. I added a slight bit of weathering and scuffs to represent typical wear on a vault in an old building which has at times been virtually abandoned. Then I glued the door assembly to the wall:
Next I made some ceiling lamps, using three different styles of acrylic beads for each lamp:
Wider holes were drilled through two of the beads to accommodate an LED. The base was sprayed with black primer, then hand painted with brass paint:
The remaining two beads were glued together, then glued to the base. Holes were drilled in the ceiling and the lamps were glued in place:
Now I need to make a display case. The lower half of the case was built using sheet and strip styrene plus a couple pieces of Sintra PVC board:
The frame for the glass front was assembled from styrene strips, using a pair of machinist's blocks to keep everything square:
The rest won't be visible so it isn't fancy:
After I painted the case, I glued a tiny LED into the inside of the display area. The wire leads run through a hole and out the back:
I used slide cover glass for the top and front of the case. It was glued in place using clear silicone sealant.
I made a small, round table using bits from an old robot model I bought years ago, plus a styrene rod and some styrene sheet material. The display bust was made of thin Sintra with styrene details.
Another display was made by cutting down a plastic cake pillar and capping the ends with thin pieces of Sintra:
Here is the finished interior:
I used real photos of my brother's jewelry for the frame photo displays on the walls. The jewelry inside the display case was made by reducing photos of his work and adding a black background. This was printed onto self-adhesive vinyl, then sprayed with flat clear coat. Then I used a very fine brush to carefully apply artist's gloss medium to each of the items, making them stand out from the flat background.
That's all on this for now, more later.
Thanks! All of the buildings in those photos have warm-white LEDs. Some of my earlier buildings used grain of rice bulbs, but they kept burning out. So I've been gradually replacing them when I do maintenance on the older buildings.
Great work Ray!
Are you using LEDs or bulbs? The colours look good.
Excellent work Ray!
Mike.
My You Tube
Ray! Good to see an update! I've missed them.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
Ray, Your mill is remarkable.
Thank you for posting the pictures. I love your railroad.
That mill looks great!
Rob Spangler
It's been a while since I posted anything here. I recently finished adding some interior details and lighting to the Mineral Ridge Mill, on my 1/24th scale In-ko-pah Railroad. Here are a few pics:
A view of the sorting house interior with the newly added lights:
As darkness falls, the lights bring the mill to life:
Looking through some of the windows:
Looking up the street towards the ore bin, sorting house, and trestles:
Enjoy
Yes. There is a path across the middle level; it's designed to be invisible from normal viewing positions.
Cool Ray!
Did you actually let guests walk through the railway?
On September 15, my In-ko-pah Railroad was host to several visitors, as part of a regional layout tour held by the San Diego Division of the National Model Railroad Association. I shot the event using time-lapse photography.
Music by Eric Matyas
www.soundimage.org
https://youtu.be/iHXdhL85-r0
Enjoy!
As a suggestion, if the hollow vinyl posts are sunk into concrete, you could put smaller steel posts inside them and cement around them in the bottom to reinforce them. If that's the main concern. The tops do come off, I'd hope.Then drill your hand rail mount bolt holes in the vinyl and steel posts.
Or, pre-drill the steel on a drill press, put inside the vinyl. Then drill the vinyl. Bolt 'em together. Then fill the concrete in. Easier that way.
The work you did at the bottom of the stairs looks pretty solid and nice. Dan
A brief "infrastructure" update...
I finished that small retaining wall that was needed after the old fence was taken out. It goes down about two and half feet, and extends under the bottom step of the concrete stairs:
Another bit of recent fence work...I had an opening put into the wrought iron fence along the front of the layout. Now there are two entries to the layout, one at each end. This is much more convenient, and will also alleviate the bottleneck that forms when we have large groups come to visit:
In the background you can see the new vinyl fence going up the hill. I used to have a handrail mounted to the posts of the old wooden fence. I need to figure the best way to mount the handrail to this new fence, since the posts are hollow PVC.
Super job on everything, Ray. It all blends in so naturally. 'Course, being outdoors adds considerably.
I have wondered what the advantage of two crankshafts opposite each other would be, but FM made 'em.
Dave, Regarding a prototype for everything... if I built a corrugated structure model where the corrugations ran horizontally on the roof, and posted it, I'd expect to get flamed by about a half a dozen members.
But there is just such a building like that visible from highway 97 here in Bend Oregon. It can even be seen on google satelite too.
58 SE Aune St, you can probably Google map it. Dan
Really excellent Ray!!!
I'll take back a bit of what I said about corrugated steel. Obviously there is a prototype for everything. Thanks for the example Southgate.
Far out, Ray! Thanks for sharing, regards, Peter