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/
Finally set the mine / mill complex!
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.
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.
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.
Regards,
eric
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
regards John
-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."
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.
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.
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.
-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.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
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.
EC,
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!
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!
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.
LEDs installed.
Cardboard structural support. Boxing for setting the building and the scenery. The result is fairly strong, lightweight, and the materials are free.
Last of the interior equipment.
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.
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.
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 ;)
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".
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.
Water based acrylic, easy to clean but pain in in the warp.
The bigger walls needed bracing. You know the drill.
Here is the equipment painted and installed in the mill. The handrailing and stairs were from Central Valley.
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.
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.
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.
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.