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.
regards John
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!