For those of you who haven't read every word I've ever written, my whole recent foray into structure building started when I pulled Muir Models Nevada City Lumber Yard from the shelf. I got it as part of a "lot" on eBay and I was raring to go. Unfortunately, someone had already built that model and what I had in the box were the plans and the scraps.
That led me to scratch building my engine house, etc.
And I started out thinking I was going to scratch build this thing. But after looking at the plans, I decided I propably wasn't going to improve on what they'd done, and pretty much all the parts could be manufactured from popsicle sticks and coffee stirrers. I was still mising roofing materials, the sheets of board and batton for the side walls, and the flooring for the upper story. All of which I can come up with solutions for.
So this isn't strickly a scratch-build even though I spent all morning milling "lumber" to match their specifications. The one thing I couldn't quite get right were the 8x8 posts (3/32" x 3/32") that were the main part of the framing. Popsickle sticks are 1/12" thick. 3/32 = .0935 and 1/12 = .0833. So the posts aren't square, but I doubt anyone will really care.
Anyway, since it's not a scratch-build, your welcome to not follow this post.
Anyway, here's the picture on the cover of the box.
I'm thinking the only real change will be to move the office inside the walls and build a RR receiving platform in the back.
Since the beginning, I've had a naming problem. My layout, while called Rock Ridge, is operationally based on the Union Lumber Mill in Fort Bragg and to a lesser extent, the Ridge Mine. So when I think of Lumber Yard, I'm thinking of the 5 ft x 18 in section of my layout that is served by 4 yard tracks and a raised log dumping track. So I've decided for my own peace of mind I'm going to call this vintage Home Depot the lumber yard and the larger yard the mill yard.
Another change I considered was putting a floor on the lower level. It was originally dirt. But to floor it, I would have to cut 160 1x6 boards out of coffee stirrers then lay them. So, for two days labor, which is what I think it would take to lay the floor, the Lillipuetians can shop on dirt.
Another kink in my plans is that Tuesday is my daughter's birthday. She insists that I clear the dining room table for the festivities. So by the end of the day tomorrow, I have to have the table cleared.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
I cannot wait to see this project come together. Your Livery Stable project was gorgeous.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I'm going to start with a quote from the Muir Models Assembly Instructions.
Muir Models Assembly Instructions 1. This is an easy model to build but makes a good-looking structure.
The author is either a really good modeler, or (s)he has a heck of a sense of humor.
It's not that there is anything hard, unless you count getting the size right with a Chomper that cuts to the right. Nothing a little sanding and file won't solve. But it is starting to make me want to get a chop saw from Micro-Mark. Maybe for Christmas.
It's more like challenging. You have to build the thing and get everything straight and square. The longest piece of lumber they give you is 7" and the building is 10" long. So, each of the bases and each of the top plates have to be split into two boards. But I didn't get the lumber in the kit and I made these boards from popsickle sticks and they are only 4 3/4 inches long, so I had to divide them up into 3 pieces.
Tomorrow I will start by putting two braces on each posts along the three long walls. They have to be on the inside because there's a roofed extension on the front and back of the main structure and the braces would get in the way. Then I have to frame and build a stairway.
What was supposed to get for the floor of the second story was a sheet of wood pressed to look like boards. I don't have those so I'm going to have to deck it. I can get a scale 2x6 out of a coffee stirrer, but only one. They are 5.5 inches long so I only have to do two boards per row. But I do have to frame the floor. Three stingers lengthwise (the top of the first floor) is good enough for big sheets of wood, but not for 2x6 decking.
I doubt I will get farther than that.
SpaceMouseI doubt I will get farther than that.
Hi Chip,
Sorry, but I doubt your doubting! What you have done so far looks great, and I have never seen you defeated by a few (or maybe a couple hundred) coffee stirrers.
I liken projects like this to long drives. The trip to our old cottage was about 250 miles. After 25 miles (10% of the trip) I used to feel that we really had a long way to go, but we wouldn't get there if we stopped. After 200 miles (80% of the trip), I felt like we were almost there so there was no stopping. When we got to the marina, I was always happy to be there.
Please don't quit! Put it aside for a while if you need to.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Chip:
This project is a lumberyard. Other than the directions, and you don't have the supplied material, who says you must use six inch boards. Use ones the width of your popscyle sticks. Eight, ten inches, who cares.
davidmurrayEight, ten inches, who cares.
Dave and David,
I'm not discouraged. In fact, getting everything straight and square was an intriging puzzle. When I said I doubted I'd get much further, I meant tomorrow. It will take as long as it takes, and I'm in for however long it takes.
But really, thanks both of you.
SpaceMouseI'm not discouraged. In fact, getting everything straight and square was an intriging puzzle. When I said I doubted I'd get much further, I meant tomorrow. It will take as long as it takes, and I'm in for however long it takes.
Thank you for explaining that! I was concerned by the sudden possible loss of interest. Sorry for doubting you!
I too have a lumber yard, but not that old. To replicate lumber sheets, I found Walmart sells project wooden sticks. They are perfect when glued together. I stack them up and plan to eventually wrap them to make loads.
kasskabooseTo replicate lumber sheets, I found Walmart sells project wooden sticks.
Wooden project sticks good for a lot of things. I'm about to run out of a bos of 1000.
I spent six hours today working on stairs and the framing that goes into it. A good part of that was was cutting out the stair jacks. Thankfully, they suggested that you attatch the stair jack to some masking tape so that if it breaks you can glue it back together.
Thing is, I'd guess 80% of the stairs broke off while cutting them. The reason is they were layed out at the factory across the grain. In real life, you cut a stair jack out of a 2x10 or a 2x12 and it's always with the grain. You don't cut boards sideways out of a tree. You risk splitting off the point of the stair jack, but they don't split down the middle like the cross grain model ones do. I spent pretty much the whole time I was working on the wondering why they would ever do it the most fragile way possible.
What I did was reinforce them with coffee stirrers. To make the second story, you needed to stair jacks on each side, so you have to joint them somehow. But that meant I not only had to cut out the stairs on four stair jacks with a single edge razor, I had to do it again to cut out the stairs on the coffee stirrers. My index finger on my right hand where I push down on the razor blade is really sore.
I tried to place the stairs where they put them on the plan, and they looked really good, but if you looked up or down the stairs, you could see that a Lilliputian would have to crawl on his belly to get up the stairs under the center floor support. So I had to adjust the upper floor framing to let them walk up the stairs. As near as I can tell, all lumber that goes up or down from the top storage racks, has to do so via the stairs. You can't just hand them up or down because the lower level has a roof extending out 12 feet both front and rear.
During periods where I had to let critical glue joint dry, I managed to frame for my decking.
No photo today because it really doesn't look that different than it did yesterday.
Short day today as it's my day to do the shopping for the family.
I made a change to the plan today. Instead of adding a roof and more area for lumber that won't be seen, I put in a loading dock. Meyer gets all his lumber from the Rock Ridge Mill, but it's delivered once or twice a week on a flatcar.
I spent an hour and a half ripping 150 scale 2x6 out of coffee stirrers. Sitting in an office chair hovering over a mini table saw is something that hurts my back more than I like.
Still, it's kinda fun to do. It's funny how ripping a coffee stirrer seems to take about the same amount of time as ripping an 8 foot board on a table saw in real life.
SpaceMousespent an hour and a half ripping 150 scale 2x6 out of coffee stirrers
Hey Chip, thought of you the other evening while watching 'The Birdman of Alcatraz' and seeing the cleverness in Burt's character as he scratch built an elaborate bird cage from a drawing and simple materials.
I sure do like how your hand crafting adds a unique down-home flavor to your models.
Thanks and regards, Peter
HO-VeloI sure do like how your hand crafting adds a unique down-home flavor to your models.
You forgot how cheap they are to build.
I finally got a picture for you to see.
My goal for today was to deck the second floor and dock with two-by-sixes. I took one look at it and decided I better do something with the exposed frame-work before I close it in.
The instructions said that the first floor sat in the dirt and was unpainted. So my goal was to make it look like raw wood has been sitting in the dirt for 4 years. The base plate sits on the dirt and doubles as a rack for the lumber. I applied some sitting in the dirt treatment.
So anyway, I did a couple of washes--black and gray. Then I decided I should probably put in the stairs to the dock before it gets closed in.
Then I decked the dock.
I started to deck the second floor, but decided I needed to side the walls first. That's all the further I got.
My goal for the day was to deck the second floor. Sound familiar?
I got 3/4 of the way done after sanding the top of the walls to get ready for it.
The stairwell opening was a pain in the petutti. There were decking boards to the right of the stairwell that were 3/32" long. I was worried about filing the edges straight, and my wife came to the rescue with an emory board. took about 5 minutes to do both sides of the stairwell.
Tomorrow I'm going to finish the second floor floor. (Take that MS Word.)
After that, I haven't decided.
SpaceMouseMy goal for the day was to deck the second floor. Sound familiar?
Wanna guess what's coming next?
My goal for the day was to deck the second floor and see what happens.
What happened was that after I finisned the deck--it only took an hour--I started sanding. I looked at the bottom of the dock and noticed one of the legs was crooked. I was tired of the posts always getting knocked off and so I spent the morning reinforcing things.
In the afternoon, I sanded and stained the deck and dock.
The only thing of note is that after staining, I took the model outdoors and sprayed Dull Cote on the underside of the decks and the backs of the walls. A gust of wind came up and knocked my model off the fence. It broke some of the framework. I found all the pieces so it will be an easy fix.
Note to self: Secure model before spraying.
Today I got the upper floor framed and was about to start siding when I had a realization. The wood in the frame is redwood. Redwood is the key to the whole economy. The Mill is creating lumber from the massive redwood trees a few miles towards the coast. Not only is redwood significantly cheaper for the townspeople, it resists rot and termites.
It was a slap yourself in the forehead with your palm sort of moment.
Not that Rock Ridge Mill doesn't cut Douglas Fir, it's they're second most profitable trees and they are mixed in with the Redwoods in places.
What that means is that I have been staining the framework as if it was bare Douglas Fir, which gradually turns grey. Redwood starts out redish then the sun and air turn the high percentage of tannins black. If it is shaded they turn brown mixed with gray.
So, I gotta start over on treating the frame. I figure I'll spend pretty much all day tomorrow working on it.
I changed the wood color to redwood and sided the upper story.
Some of the "stain" seeped through the walls. Not to worry. They were always going to be a solid color.
Fridays are the day I drive off to Cottonwood and Wally World for the weekly shopping trip. I'll get maybe 2-3 hours in. I'll try to tackle the roofs.
This lumber yard really needs some horse drawn lumber wagons. Maybe an orange sign like Home Depot, "Rent me for 19¢ a day!"
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
MisterBeasley This lumber yard really needs some horse drawn lumber wagons. Maybe an orange sign like Home Depot, "Rent me for 19¢ a day!"
LOL!
You do bring up a point I had been thinking about. Most wagons can handle only short pieces of lumber, say 8-10 ft. Maybe 12 if it hangs out the back. I might have to bash a longer wagon and offer a delivery service. Or a 19 cents a day rental.
First, I have a confession. Rare bird sightings have been getting in the way of things. If you want to get a look at them, you got to drop everything and go.
Birding is like playing Pokemon. You have to get them all.
Ahem, I got what I call the "Poorman's Board and Batton" done. Well, three of four walls. I can't do the last wall until I finish the office. Bassically, I'm using 1/32"x1/32" cut from coffee stirrers. Then I'm sanding them down to between 1/64" and 3/128" (I know, I'm getting crazy) so they look somewhat like 1x3" battons on 1"x12" boards. The time it took to do this was not worth what it would have cost to buy premade board and batton. I'll do that next time I want board and batton.
My wife doesn't like the color. She won't come out and say why. My daughter says it looks like a metal building. She also says that after I weather it, it will probably look okay. Both of them are artists. My wife professionally. My daughter has a following on social media. I'm beginning to see the suckiness of it. It looked better in my head.
The answer of course, is to paint it white. People were all the time whitewashing redwood. And the lumber yard would have been cheap about it.
You can go ahead and say what you feel about the color. Just be gentle.
I've been beginning to get frustrated. I'm anxious to get to laying track. My goal is to get at least a working mainline this season. And the weather is getting where I could work 6-7 hours before the heat would set in. I want to get this project done first.
And I have to repair a sizable portion of the exterior stucco before it rains. I won't do it until it's cool enough. The secion is a parapet above the garage. The garage has a white roof that reflects 95% of the heat (that's what it says on the can.) I get heat something and get dizzy.
But it's coming up.
Now, something has caught up with me that is adding to the frustration. This model is brittle. Do anything and pieces break off. The trouble is, you have to handle the model firmly when you work on it. If you sand, tape off or paint, pieces come off. Today, I broke two pieces gluing a piece back on. I can't wait to get this on the layout and cemented into the landscape.
Tomorrow, if there are no more rare bird sightings, I'll get back on it. Starting with whitewashing.
Since we last spoke. I painted everything white, well not everything, just the parts I previously painted "Pool Bottom Green." I framed the suports for the front roof. I put the roofing and facia on the upper story and I glued the two floors together.
I got the hard half of the railing done. The part where you figure out how to do it through trial and error. The hard half is one of those things you either know or don't. No amout of explaining will make any differnce.
I got the stair railing, the front second story railing, and the key posts are set, square and will be rock-solid tomorrow. What I have left is the back and two sides, plus the return around the stairs.
Then I just have finishing the front roof framing and roofing it. If I decide to do it. I'm thinking it must be nuts to have a roof there.
Now supposedly, Muir Models copied a real lumber yard. That includes having only three feet of walkway in tront of the lumber. You loose half a foot with the rail, and another half foot of lumber hanging over. Invariably, a customer or worker isn't going to get the lumber pushed back all the way, you are working in an obstacle course.
Now suppose you're on the second floor and a customer wants 50 2x4s 16 feet long. Now what you do is grab three of them, balance them on your shoulder, helicopter them around, and thread your way through the obstacle course, around the corner and to the stairs. You helicopter the board 180, balance them further back on your shoulder so you can go down the stairs, and stack them in your delivery wagon. Now you only 16 more trips.
If the roof was gone, you would slide them out of the stack and guide them to the ground. You pull out 50, go down and stack your wagon and be back before the other guy made 5 trips down the stairs.
That settles it.
So finish the railing, skip the front roof, build the office, put battons on the last wall, then stack it full of lumber.
Then clean up and pull out the Fast Tracks jig.
Sorry no picture today. I ran out of space in my hosting plan. I need to sort that out too. I have other places, but changing all the image posts over is a project I'm not looking forward to.
I spent most of today building lumber stacks from my scrap wood. I got the top section's lumber--the Douglas Fir--done, and have the materials ready for most of the lower--Redwood--section ready. I got the back hand rail done and the cap for the sides.
I've always thought that otherwise decent-looking lumber yards are spoiled by stacks of crappy looking lumber.
I thought I might finish tomorrow, but Friday is more likely. This has been a long project.
It's looking good.
It's funny that you describe how that lumber is moved from an upper floor. I just got some 2x4s from a local lumber yard. Their upper level has a walkway that is only about three feet wide. They did exactly what you said -- the boards went over the railing and set on end on the floor, where I got them and loaded them into the truck.
Your stacks of lumber look good.
York1 John
York1Your stacks of lumber look good.
Ditto!! I hate fake looking lumber stacks. Yours look very real.
What are you using to cut the lumber?
JohnIt's funny that you describe how that lumber is moved from an upper floor. I just got some 2x4s from a local lumber yard. Their upper level has a walkway that is only about three feet wide. They did exactly what you said -- the boards went over the railing and set on end on the floor, where I got them and loaded them into the truck.
I was a general contractor in California for 15 years. One thing I know about is carrying lumber. I just looked at the situation and imagined scenarios.
I can't believe that prototype would have put the roof on the front.
Dave What are you using to cut the lumber?
It comes from the Rock Ridge Mill that way.
Seriously, the lumber is made from the scraps and rejects from these "popsickle sticks and coffee stirrers" projects. I didn't mill any of them for this. I used an NWSL Chomper with their built in jig to cut to size.
Previously though I ripped the ps and cs pieces with a mini table saw from Micro Mark. I forget the name.
Today I got the lumber stacks built for the first floor. This is the redwood area, except for one problem--they're still white. I expected the lumber stacks to take a while, but I didn't expect it to take two days.
I did get the railing done. I stacked lumber while I took a break from the rail. The railing didn't take long, but it was easier to do it in small chunks to let the glue dry.
I still have the office and the battons on the right wall. It'll be touch and go if I finish. But Friday is shopping day and that is always a wildcard. I've been almost 3 weeks on this thing.
Got the Redwood colored and installed. All that's left is the office.
THe redwood came out pretty well, I think.
Chip, Yeah it did, good lookin' redwood. Considering your era it must be 'old growth' too. Thought I broke the bank last time I bought a couple sticks of clear redwood.
Regards, Peter
Chip,
Your patience was rewarded and now you have a custom structure that will look great on your layout. My layout will also include a lumberyard but, lacking your patience, I will probably go with a kit. BTW, did you bag your neotropical or was it a late migrant?
Tim
Late to the model railroad party but playing catch-up.....
PeterConsidering your era it must be 'old growth' too.
Nothing but clear heartwood--at a price that would bring tears to your eyes.
TimBTW, did you bag your neotropical or was it a late migrant?
It was a Red Phalarope and since it is deep water ocean bird, it shouldn't have been in Arizona at all. It stayed 3 days here, but I only heard about it on the thrid day and it was gone before I arrived.
I could have finished today, but I didn't. It would have made for a long day, and I don't like rushing at the end. I might not do something that I otherwise would have if I had taken the time to look.
I should be done by noon. Maybe all my modeling stuff will be off the table and my Fast Track stuff out and ready.
Done finally.
I'm going to re-quote from the Muir Models Assembly Instructions.
Man, there wasn't anything easy about this model except breaking things off. It was 3 weeks and one day of neggly work, where you had to figure out how you were going the get piece in your tweezers where it had to go and breaking two other pieces off in the process. And I mean it was three seven-day weeks between 5 and 9 hours per day.
I had to take 20 minute breaks every hour toward the end just to keep going.
On the other hand, the best part of the job was getting the redwood right. The good news is I made enough stain to do most of the mill lumber yard. And it is going to make a nice addition to my industries.
Well, let's do some show and tell.
So, the question is, what would I do differently.
Certainly, I wouldn't make the board and batton out of wood, unless it was laser-cut. The problem is the battons should have been 1/256" x 1/64" to be scale lumber. Even at 1/32" x 3/64" I was tweezer launching just about every other one--or so it seemed. Installing the battons was one of my least favorite jobs. I had to take a lot of breaks.
And the 1/32" thick pieces look ginormous. Oh, well, it doesn't command that much attention (I hope.) I could always say it was a precursor to Art Deco Architecture.
Then next thing I would do is brace everything. One of the biggest sources of frustration was breakage. I could curtail that a lot by using cross-bracing instead of the asthetically pleasing little triangles in the corners. And I wouldn't attach the dock until absolutely necessary. That goes for the stairs as well.
And I wouldn't paint the wall white. It was okay until weathering. The contrast between the dust and white walls was too much. I think I'd go with Barn Red. In fact, I still haven't put everything away...
I may paint them in the morning before I clean up.