You should take a look a "Roco Minitanks" kit number 576 "Maintenance Facility Accessories." It has a lot of shop equipment that could be useful and is not too expensive.
.
Not too bad on eBay ($15.00 USD with shipping), probably very difficult to find in a hobby shop unless there are a lot of wargamers in your area.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
last mountain & eastern hoggerA quick building tip for those type shelving units is to cut up pieces of those egg crate fixture covers off of old flouresence lights, or the ceiling panels for suspended ceilings below flouresence fixtures
Johnboy! Where were you when I needed you?!? That would have been far too easy!
Thanks,
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
hon30critter I want the roundhouse to look reasonably cluttered like some of the prototypes I have seen. I started with some shelf units: Don't look too close. They're not very precise. Next step after painting will be to figure out how to make them look reasonably full without having to make dozens and dozens of little bits. Frank and Ja Bear gave me some good suggestions on the WPF thread. Frank suggested using printed images which he has done quite effectively, and Bear suggested using bits of sprue to simulate cans and the like. Both good ideas. Any other suggestions would be much appreciated. That's where the project sits right now. Like I said, please don't expect ground breaking progress every day. I like to take my time. Regards, Dave
I want the roundhouse to look reasonably cluttered like some of the prototypes I have seen. I started with some shelf units:
Don't look too close. They're not very precise. Next step after painting will be to figure out how to make them look reasonably full without having to make dozens and dozens of little bits. Frank and Ja Bear gave me some good suggestions on the WPF thread. Frank suggested using printed images which he has done quite effectively, and Bear suggested using bits of sprue to simulate cans and the like. Both good ideas. Any other suggestions would be much appreciated.
That's where the project sits right now. Like I said, please don't expect ground breaking progress every day. I like to take my time.
Regards,
Hi Dave and others.
A quick building tip for those type shelving units is to cut up pieces of those egg crate fixture covers off of old flouresence lights, or the ceiling panels for suspended ceilings below flouresence fixtures, and they are precise although they might be slightly larger than you might want. But you can make them as long or as tall as you want. Just file or sand down the cut edges to smooth them, a little paint and you are done. They work for me.
At a train show a few years back, I saw some one had used those same panels to build a tall multi-floored building with some reflective foil on cardstock behind them. It looked very convincing as a modern concrete structure.
Johnboy out....................
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
Hi Ed:
Thanks for the link. It just cost me a fortune! Seriously, I ordered several items which I will use where they can be easily viewed. The other stuff I have made I will use in the background.
Good thing my wife makes lots of money!
Take care!
Dave,
Are you familiar with "Rusty Rail" resin details?
I have used several of their detailed workbench castings and junk piles.
http://www.rustyrail.com/CastingsHOScale.htm
After a coat of light gray primer and some painting with artist acrylics they look fantastic!
Have Fun! Ed
Well You really can't see them too well in the photo of the link, but there are bench vises, along with a bench grinder and self standing grinder in those details, but the price is sort of a turnoff for unpainted, just different color plastics.
Take Care!
Frank
Hey Frank,
Thanks for the suggestion. I have most of the stuff in the kit covered already. I'm going to make my own large machine shop tools. They won't be as finely detailed but they will be a couple of feet away from the viewer so I don't think that will matter too much. I found a set of eight oxy aceteline welding rigs on Shapeways and the price was pretty good considering the number of sets that I got. I believe that the red machines on wheels are portable compressors but I'm going to model stationary air hoses with the air lines on spools so that is covered too.
I still have to put backboards on some of the workbenches. That is where I will mount most of the hand tools.
Cheers!
Take a look at Preiser Workshop equipment #17185....I used them for many scenes. I got them yrs. ago though when they were cheaper. I believe they are a lot more now, but I believe they are still being made if interested. They are plastic.
Good job on the benches......The one in the pic' is Northeastern stripwood and styrene table top......it's behind Br. Lion on the ladder, with an exhaust pipe sitting on it.
EDIT: Here is a link to the Presier, it's out of stock at Walthers and it's also ten dollars more than what I paid for it...WOW.
https://www.walthers.com/workshop-equipment?ref=1
OK, we have work benches! Probably more than I will need in the roundhouse but I can use the extras in the machine shop.
Now to start making bench vises and grinders and the like to populate the benches. You can see a couple of early attempts in the background but they are too big. They need to be about half that size.
Hi Wayne:
What I'm really after is things like hand wrenches (especially big ones), screwdrivers, pliers, hacksaws, squares, drills etc. etc. Actually, tonight I lucked out big time. I found a source for laser cut hand tools which will be perfect for what I need. Here is the eBay listing. Note the excellent shipping costs!
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/152407210709
Dave, Tichy offers some hand tools and shop details in styrene.
Wayne
trainnut1250Don't forget the possibilities with interior lights:
Sorry Guy, but I am way ahead of you on that! I have several hundred LEDs on hand and I intend to make full use of them in the roundhouse. I have to order some more industrial lamp shades, and I have a plan for using the SMD resistors to stimulate junction boxes for the wiring. I've also already made up yard lights for the surrounding area and I will install wall lighting over the exterior side doors. I am a lighting addict!
Thanks again for your suggestions!
Good looking machines! Don't forget the possibilities with interior lights:
Have fun,
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
Hey Guy!
Thank you for all the suggested sources. I have some SS Ltd hand tools already but they were out of the packages so I couldn't remember where they came from. I'm going to make my own large machine shop tools. I have done some lighter duty tools already and they came out OK. I have been looking at examples of larger tools so the next batch will be a little heftier than these:
Ditto with the workbenches. I already have a box of the Tichy oil drums.
trainnut1250Will this structure be at eye level?
I understand your caution about spending a lot of time on details that can't be seen. The front of the roundhouse will be on about a 45 degree angle to the viewer. I'm going to make at least part of the roof removable, and the roundhouse won't be so high in the air that an adult couldn't see inside it, so some detail is desirable. There are also two other factors. One is the need to have enough detail for photography purposes. The other is simply the enjoyment of scratch building. I'm not going to place a masterpiece where it is totally out of sight, but I do want reasonable facsimilies where viewers can get a glimpse of them.
Thanks again.
Will this structure be at eye level? Many of these details take tons of time to be buried in a structure that will be viewed mainly from above…..
I have two engine house structures on my layout. The one on the upper deck has all the goodies/details because you can see in it at eye level…The one on the bottom deck has interior framing but little else as you can’t easily see into the structure…
Hi Kevin:
I checked the entire Bowser site but didn't find any hand tools other than shovels and brooms which I already have. However, what I did find were a whole bunch of details that I can use to occupy the work benches and shelves and the floor in the roundhouse. I bought locomotive components such as compressors, globe valves, pipe unions, number boards etc. as well as floor jacks and stands and the like. It also inspired me to make up a pipe rack. Thanks for suggesting that I have a look there.
One thing I will say is that Bowser tells you right up front whether or not an item is in stock. Yesterday I ordered some Preiser hand tool sets from Reynaulds and only after I had placed the order was I told that they were backordered. That's dirty pool.
hon30critterI didn't find anything in the way of wrenches and pliers in HO.
I believe Detail Associates or someone makes etched brass HO hand tools like you are looking for.
Anytime I have needed these, I just cut them from heavy cardstock and painted them gray.
I just went down and looked at my roundhouse. The doors do touch each other, but due to the angle of the doors, there does appear to be a small space. However, there is plenty of clearance, and I have never had a loco clip the door.
Rich
Alton Junction
A question for those who have built the Walthers roundhouse: How do you get the doors to open as far as shown in the picture on the box? The picture shows the doors in adjacent stalls actually touching each other in the open position. On mine the open doors are about an eight of an inch apart, so the doors are at best parallel to the track. Sometimes they scrape along the sides of locos and tenders. Once a door clipped the valve gear on an engine.
Grinnell
Instead of buying an "add-on" stall kit, you could get one more complete roundhouse kit and use the leftover walls for interiors, trimmed to fit, of course.
Just be glad you don't have to press "2" for English.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ_ALEdDUB8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hqFS1GZL4s
http://s73.photobucket.com/user/steemtrayn/media/MovingcoalontheDCM.mp4.html?sort=3&o=27
Rich:
richhotrainI was merely referring to printing the brick walls on some form of heavy stock as Mr. Beasley has done.
OK, that makes much more sense! I assumed that you were talking about actual 3D printing. I couldn't grasp the value of using 3D printing for images of plain concrete walls. Now I understand what you meant.
Have a great day!
Perhaps I used the wrong term when I referred to my suggestion as 3D printing. I was merely referring to printing the brick walls on some form of heavy stock as Mr. Beasley has done. Easy to cut and trim, and easy to color and weather.
Further to Rich's suggestion about using 3D printing, I just spent some time searching Shapeways website for HO scale tools. I found a set of eight oxy-aceteline welding tanks which I thought were priced competitively with the Juneco metal kits so I ordered them. I found some HO fire extinguishers but they were too pricey. I also found some machine shop tools but I declined them because I can make perfectly acceptable models out of styrene and wire. I didn't find anything in the way of wrenches and pliers in HO. Maybe I wasn't searching properly.
I wonder if it might be possible to convince one of the designers to create the program(s) and then sell the tools under their name?
MisterBeasley Nobody can see inside this roundhouse.
I choose to disagree! I'm seeing inside it right now and it looks pretty good! The block walls are very convincing.
Thanks for sharing.
I printed cinder-block walls for the interior of my Atlas roundhouse.
I didn't do much research, so I built a plank floor out of coffee stirrers. The walls of an Atlas roundhouse are very thin, so I'm glad I used the printed interior (on card stock) because it eliminates "glow through" from interior lights.
Do you want to know the truth? Nobody can see inside this roundhouse. The orientation is such that you need to lean way over across the layout to see inside, and with engines inside there's just no visibility at all.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Hey Rich:
richhotrainWith regard to interior brick walls, have you considered using a 3D printer?
The Plastruct sheets are on their way so I'm kind of committed to using them. Using a 3D printer to make simple brick sheets that had to be cut to fit would be a waste of time and money, and doing all the calculations and programming to create fitted walls would take longer than cutting and fitting the Plastruct sheets, at least for me anyhow. If I make a mistake with the Plastruct sheets I know it instantly and I can correct it in minutes. If I make a mistake with the 3D specs I won't know if I messed up the calculations until the parts arrive in the mail. Besides, I enjoy hand crafting things as much as any other part of the hobby.
I appreciate what 3D printing is capable of and I have seen some amazing stuff. Where I would definitely use 3D printing is to make detail parts that are too fine to create easily and accurately by hand. One example that springs to mind is a gas pump nozzle with handle. I have tried to make them from scratch and I actually came up with one that looked pretty good, except it was about 2.5 scale feet long. Making it smaller defied me, and I couldn't find a cast metal one. Besides, I hate cleaning up metal castings anyhow. Right now I am gathering hand tools for the roundhouse. The castings are acceptable but they could be done so much better with 3D.
Thanks for the suggestion though.
Dave, I have a 9-stall Walthers roundhouse on my layout along with the Walthers non-DCC 130' turntable.
The roundhouse was one of my very first structures back in 2004 when I was brand new to HO scale modeling. I didn't even paint the parts before gluing the roundhouse together. No interior details, no nothing. So, I admire your attention to detail. I may eventually paint mine, although that would be difficult at this point.
Like another poster mentioned, my roundhouse is set back on the layout, so the absence of detail is not really all that noticeable. The space required to model a 9-stall roundhouse and 130' turntable is relatively enormous. It takes up a 6' x 6' section of my layout, plus an area to accommodate a pop up hole to access the roundhouse for maintenance purposes.
With regard to interior brick walls, have you considered using a 3D printer?
SeeYou190Those industrial tracks are not "Pre-Towmotor" at all.
I'm sorry—I stand corrected.
Thank you for your enlightenment...
Ed
I hadn't thought about modelling them inside of the roundhouse because, as you said, space is limited. However, I do have a few buildings like machine shops that are not attached to the roundhouse but which would send stuff to the roundhouse on a constant basis. The HOn2 track would be ideal even if it only runs a short distance between buildings. Modeling a static mule that hauls a couple of narrow gauge carts from one building to the other would be neat. Having the mule actually emerge from one building and disappear into another would be really cool even if it is only seen for a couple of inches.
Understand that I am totally speculating here. I'm just exploring possibilities, some of which may not be feasible (maybe most won't be, to be honest), but some may actually work out. I won't know until I try.
I have to say that I am very glad that I started my roundhouse construction thread when I did. The fact is that I have barely started the project but I have received many helpful suggestions on how to do things. Had I completed the roundhouse before starting the thread I would have missed out on all the great suggestions, more of which I'm sure will come.
Many thanks to all the contributors past and future!!
gmpullman I thought you might consider this "Pre-Towmotor" material handling tram
Those industrial tracks are not "Pre-Towmotor" at all. There are dozens of them still in use around this area, and I am sure we are not unusual.
The thing is... they are almost all inside huge industrial buildings, so no one ever sees them, and there is almost no reason to model them.
I know of them inside newspaper printing facilities, hospitals, water treatment plants, and automobile shredders.
I wonder about roundhouses. With floor space so limited in these buildings, how much of this trackage would be used? All the installations I have seen for them is where the same basic items (newspaper rolls, chlorine tanks, boiler equipment, etc.) moves within a captive area.