Another coat of NATO Black tomorrow, then two coats of German Grey on the inside of the ore cars, and I'll have 11 cars on the track. Maritime Hobbies has a few more for me so I'll buy them tomorrow.
Newspaper was very wet so I changed the paper. May have dry ground cover for B3 sometime tomorrow.
Have an ideal motor with built-in gear box for azimuthal rotation of the crane on B1. The crane's body will be carved out of kindling.
Cars six through eleven all painted and will be hauling Nova Scotia gypsum on the track later this morning.
Gypsum unit train getting longer - 11 ore cars now. Bought two more from the hobby shop this morning.
Dyed sawdust ground cover is dry and readily sifted into grades just like my minerals as shown. From left to right the grades are as follows: >5.2 mm, 2.7-5.2 mm, 1.2-2.7 mm, 0.2-1.2 mm, and very fine particles <0.2 mm. Some wood's sawdust have their own natural colours like the red cocobolo shown.
Ground cover applied to B3 by brushing on Woodland Scenics' Scenic Cement and a using a sieve. When dry I'll remove the excess and see if more is required. Note, magnets will be hidden under the cover.
Ceramic disks were still showing so I added more sawdust cover over them.
The underside of a horse will be painted with Nova Scotia magnetite from Cape Blomidon and positioned over one of the ceramic disks. Since it is early spring at Nova Scotia latitudes, a sunny sky, and now I'll add around noon, appropriate shadows will be added to the ground cover, in this case, that of the horse.
By appropriate shadow I mean casting the shadow to the north with the correct shape and dimensions based on the object's outline and altitude of the sun. Note that the object's cast outline depends on the object's orientation with respect to the position of the sun.
Texture and colour matches our current neighbourhood lawns.
Two loose pieces of Nova Scotia magnetite are firmly attracted to the embedded ceramic magnets. In this way, accessories can be attached to B3 and changed anytime since they won be permanently attached to the scenery. Shadows will also be removable.
Using a flashlight at the correct sun's position, the horse's shadow is easily drawn.
Paper shadow is glued onto a piece of black plastic canvas.
Black paint applied to the shadow.
Back of the shadow filled with glue. Shape rough cut with striking knife.
Applied very fine dyed sawdust to the back of the shadow so it sits better on the slightly uneven ground.
The shado can be placed with the object if desired like this. Took the shaDow off B3 to let it dry then I'll touch it up to finish. All my shadows will be made this way.
Numbers 12 and 13 ore cars soaking in oven cleaner until tomorrow.
A rock pile has been glued together on a piece of paper for B3. The pile consists of shale from Walton, NS and three pieces of magnetite from Cape Blomidon, NS. The presence of magnetite in the pile will make it stick to the ceramic magnets embedded in B3. A shadow for the pile will be made once it dries.
The crane on B1 will be designed using my collection of technical Lego. Here you can see gears, universal joints, linkages, casings, clutches, axles, differentials, turntables, knob wheels, racks and more. The working Lego crane will be scaled to HO non-Lego when finished.
Excellent selection of pins and bushings.
I have a variety of motors, actuators, battery boxes, RC transmitter/receiver and associated gear.
My design will start with the main motor oriented horizontally. Here you see a two-way switch for changing crane azimuthal rotation direction, axle, worm gear, bushings, motor, and mountings.
Oven cleaner did a nice job stripping the paint off the two ore cars. They will be primed and painted today. Their undercarriages are already finished and on the track. Rock pile is dry. A little water and the paper rubs off. Applied a bit more glue on the underside for better support, then I'll also add some fine dyed sawdust like I did for the horse shadow.
Rock pile and it's shadow are finished. Last two ore cars (at this time) being painted, and acquired a Broadway Limited Imports brass construction CN Hi-Rail Pick-Up that runs on DC and DCC. This work vehicle will be used on the BOKR.
It's Tuesday and that means senior's discount at Value Village community recycling stores. First store, the smaller one had lots of toy vehicles for my parts collection. Already see a few items for the crane.
Plastic cylinders, valves and reservoirs are terribly uninteresting. They are not going back on my ore cars. Will do better than this.
To add details and more realism to the BOKR ore cars I made a field trip to Hantsport, NS this morning to examine the old gypsum hoppers in depth.
The old depot and surrounding yard have been designated a Provincial Heritage Property.