The Lye, Stihl and Djheet Rwy. (Layout updates)

[NMWTRR]

Mr. Bear

First of all I had not seen this post before so was amazed at your craftsmanship!

Second I have one question regarding your snow plow. I have the same kit sitting in my to do box.

Are you planning to power the rotary blades?  If so what method/ motor/ bearing arrangement are you planning to use?

Lastly good luck on the track with the awesome dragster.

NMWTRR

[jonathan]

Sid,

Once again, thanks-a-million for sharing your true craftsmanship.  Great talent.  Get out of those cars before you hurt yourself. 

Regards,

Jonathan

[WoundedBear]

NMWTRR........

Motorizing the model went through my head, but my electrical skills aren't quite there yet. I built the pivot assembly pretty much as MDC suggests, and once the holes are bushed with slices of aluminum tubing, I suppose one could manage to get it to spin quite freely. This one turns with a nudge from a toothpick once it's in place.

But I'm adding the oil fired boiler and steam cylinder inside the model, and that doesn't leave a lot of room for electronics. I thought of a motor with a decoder and lighting control. A guy could go wild if you chose not to do an interior...one could even add in a speaker in the tender and download the proper sounds for the plow.

And thank you both for the compliments on my craftsmanship. I try hard

Sid

[WoundedBear]

wow.....it's been a while since I've posted any updates here.

I guess that comes from spending more time building something, than spending time talking about building something....lol. But I think we're all guilty of that from time to time.

A lot of the photos I'm going to post are stored as higher resolution images than the forums allow....so...just click on each photo to view the full sized original.

Anyhow....on with the show. I see I last left off with the rotary plow still in bare plastic. It is a finished model now, and ready to do battle with the fiercest of drifts. These images are only 640x480.







As an aside here..........the often scorned Atlas turntable does indeed have a prototype....despite the, commonly heard, urban legend to the contrary.

OK....what next? Oh yeah...this..........

The first station to be erected for the LS&D was the one at Djheet Run. This is an old Suydham kit, that believe it or not, I picked up at my LHS not too long ago. These cardstock kits present a whole new set of problems and are a steep learning curve. I found they offer little room for error. The instructions must be followed to the letter at times. The kit also includes the interior.

I am nowhere near the detailing stages on the layout yet, so for now, she sits as an empty and lonely shell.











Enjoy!

Sid

[WoundedBear]

The next thing to get done, was a fire truck for the good folks of Djheet Run. This is a Jordan Highway Miniatures kit of the 1913 Model T Fire Truck. There are 41 parts to the all styrene kit and I added a few metal watch parts as detail items here and there.







And then one of the mines was crying for some new equipment...........



After those got completed, I turned my attention back to another station, this time in Lye Flats. After all, the stations were at the heart of most small towns.

This is a Muir Models kit....again an oldie. I did change the roof and put Campell shingles on it. This one is all wood but lacks any interior. What makes this one stand out is the scratchbuilt curved platform. She snuggles up nicely to a 22 inch radius.





Enjoy....more to come.

Sid

[WoundedBear]

Now....there was more.

The layout needed an ashpit or two. The first, went in at Stihl Yards. This is the busy hub of the layout. The kit is a Walther's Cornerstone. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of this kit, given the sheer disappointment I've found in other Walther's products. I built it on a piece of 1 inch extruded foam then installed that up from below the benchwork. The opening had been cut when the layout was first constructed.





I have a passion for taking below-average and oft-maligned kits and seeing if I can bring out the best in them.

The first challenge was an Atlas Lumberyard kit. We've all seen these, and if built unpainted and following their instructions, can be a total monstrosity. I still need to stack the racks with product but the first boxcar load is arriving as we speak. The signs still need to be done. I added a little sifted sawdust under the power saw. Everything you have seen is painted using nothing but rattle cans. I can't stand the effort of the airbrush, but I do know how to use one Rattle cans are easier.

The final shading is all done with powders and chalks.





Next in my "sow's ear to a silk purse" category, is the venerable Model Power Old Coal Mine. This is another widely criticized kit based on a Jack Works article in MR from the 60's. And, like the Atlas turntable, a lot of folks think this is a totally fictional structure with no prototype. Wrong, again.

Once I figured out the proper track arrangement, things fll into place. This will occupy a back corner near the staging entrance. I built the mountain from stacked pieces of extruded foam and covered it with using the usual plaster method. The mine adit is scratchbuilt from wood as are the retaining walls. You can see the walls wrapped in tin foil to keep them clean as the plaster sets in behind them. I have not got to any painting or ground cover yet, still in winter mode.









And that's it for now.

Drag racing season is soon upon us here....I just got baby back from the dyno. Put a fresh bottom end in her and a roller lifter/camshaft setup. She made 523 HP and just over 505 lb/ft of torque. I can't wait....c,mon spring time.



Sid

[jonathan]

Wow, Sid!

I'd almost forgotten about your great craftsmanship.  I am always impressed and jealous.  That's some kind of skill, sir!

I notice your structure color of choice is somewhat close to depot buff... a B&O color.  Intentional? One wonders... 

Thanks for posting your updates.

Regards,

Jonathan

[WoundedBear]

Depot Buff??!!??

B&O??!!?? 

LMAO.....I'm a model builder and basically know diddely dick all about real railroads.

I chose that color for two reasons.....

1....I had a bunch of it left over from my automotive modeling days

2....I liked the yellow.

To me it's known as Viper or Daytona Yellow...lol.

Color is color, man, and that's all it is. Rogetra made a comment on color and how the magazines hype these "railroad" colors for every damn project they do. And I agree. If a color is right for a project, then use it. Too many modelers get focused on the color name rather than looking at the actual color itself......then wind up frustrated.

Sid

[Thomas1911]

Great looking layout, Sid. Top-notch work.  Will be waiting to see more.

Gook luck with the motor.  Don't want to get your thread off-track, but what CI is it?  496?  502?  I'm a gear head myself.  Built a 347 for my Mustang last winter.

[WoundedBear]

Thanks Thomas.

She's a 468 cubic incher with 10.8:1 compression ratio. She did the 520 horse on pump gas....wheeeeeeee.

Sid

[Thomas1911]

Very cool, impressive numbers.

My best friend has a '91 Chevy short-wide with a 496.  He hasn't really been able to drive it yet, was having some electrical issues then had a cam go flat.

Hoping to dyno my 347 pretty soon.  Ought to be a 350-375-ish HP motor.  Has AFR heads, custom billet roller cam, 10.5:1 C/R.  Still doing some tweaking on it.  Makes a fun street driver.



Sorry to get your thread off-topic.

[WoundedBear]

Hi again guys. Well another month and some has passed......the race car is back together, now if it would just quit snowing. We had snow most of the day yesterday and today I don't think we're getting above freezing. So much for playing hotrods today, so I took a few more pics of things I did around the layout.

The first building is one of Walthers cardstock kits made for them by GC Laser Kits. At first glance, I was a little disappointed when I opened the kit, but as I read the instructions and started to get a picture in my mind, my opinion changed.

If the directions are adhered to, this is a clever little model. I really liked the positionable windows, as delicate as they are. Everything is tan cardstock and white paper, except the chimney and the door knobs. To top it off I added some Bar Mills shakes to the roof instead of the simple tarpaper that Walthers supplied. All the coloring (paint) is done with weathering powders and chalks. I find paper really responds nicely to this method of coloring. No overcoat of dullcoat needed either, the colors adhere permanently.

I stuck a couple of figures inside, one in a suit the other in overalls. The floor pops out and a light will be added before it gets "planted". A black view block keeps the focus on the figures in front and keeps the light from getting lost, so to speak.

As always....click on the pics themselves to view full sized versions.

Sid

[WoundedBear]

Next pictures are a couple of locomotives that have been painted for the layout.

First is a Mantua 2-6-6-2 with tender that has been painted up as No.66 of the Lye, Stihl & Djheet Railway Company. This started life as a black unlettered version that was DCC ready. This loco is the biggest power on my layout. It is responsible for bringing the bi-weekly freight drag in and out of LS&D

She first got ripped down to her basic parts and then a few things were done. I added extra pickups on the tender for better continuity and also tossed an MRC universal steam decoder in while I was at it. The MRC decoder is nice.....I like it's ability to mimic the sound of a mallet properly.

A quick coat of corporate green and some homemade decals went on the tender and cab, etc. I use the Testors decal system and so far have had good success. A photo printer helps too. I added glazing cut from a piece of packaging plastic, and the smaller cab windows just got glazed with Krystal-Kleer.......which is way easier than cutting out microscopic windows

The boiler got a coat of black and graphite and all the detail parts were painted. Most of the weathering is done with the drybrush technique. I actually used very little powder on this model. I added nothing to the loco other than the junk on the tender deck.......I just painted and detailed the crap outta everything that Mantua supplied. She turned out to be a nice runner and because the model is as small as it is, it cruises around my 18" radii curves quite happily.

[WoundedBear]

As I was photographing No. 66, one of Lye Flats Lumber Company's Shays happened to amble by. Pulling a Kadee bobber 'boose, LFLC's No.22, affectionately known as Laura to the crew, is on her way back to camp from a hard day in the bush.

This is a stock Bachmann model with Tsunami sound. Very nice runner. These and the Climax models are Bachmann's jewels. Damn shame about the gear problems though. This one has had the NWSL steel gear upgrade done, and what an improvement!!

Again we have some home made decals and some subtle weathering again done mostly with powders. The Shays are a little difficult to get apart, and you really need to watch exactly where that powder is going. Some precison masking is needed in spots to keep junk out while working. One area to watch is the speaker opening.

With some junk added to the tender deck, and a crew inside, she looks like a well cared for, hard working loco.

Will update again soon.

Sid

[electrical whiz kid]

Wounded Bear;
I was half-reading the post about putting extrra pickups on the tender and it went through my cheese " putting extra pickups on my fender" and I woke up two lines downstream...  Been playing guitar waaaaaay too long.
RIch C.