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.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
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.
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.
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.
Hi Chip,
Thank you for explaining that! I was concerned by the sudden possible loss of interest. Sorry for doubting you!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
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.
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.
SpaceMouseI doubt I will get farther than that.
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.
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.
I cannot wait to see this project come together. Your Livery Stable project was gorgeous.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
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.