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

[J3a-614]

Sid, I too wish you luck on your surgery, hope it works out well.

And if you can't get Rivarossi skeleton flats, may I recommend Kadee's original versions from the late 1950s or early 1960s that are still in production.  They make a truss rod variation, too, and are the only source of disconnect log trucks in HO I know about.

Of course, I also have to put in a plug for Bachmann's own log flats, which are based on a Cass, W.Va. prototype!  Couldn't model logging in West Virginia without them!

[WoundedBear]

Wow......holy shmokers Batman....was this thread ever buried.....lol. Can't believe it was back in July that I last posted any updates to this thread.

Thanks for the concern regarding my surgery, fellas. I had the left side done late in October, and am happy to say that it has healed up well and is now pain free. Now for the right side. Unfortunately, it has more pain than the left, but I did the left first due to the lack of movement I had there. Now that it is strong and free, I should be able to recover from the right side replacement even quicker. That surgery is due sometime in late April if all goes to plan. Maybe, just maybe, I can try climbing back in the race car come September.

Anyhows.....back to the topic at hand here.....model trains and stuff.

First up is a Banta "Dallas Divide Section House" kit. This was the last thing I got built before getting laid up. Laser cut, with injection molded windows and doors, the kit also has a cast plaster foundation and white metal chimney castings. The kit is supplied with a tarpaper roof, but the Northeast shingles looked much better. This roof was a bear to do, row by row and planning the gap to be able to slip the separate back roof in and have it all look seamless. Weathering to follow. I prefer to get builds done then do a weathering of several items at once. Those powders can get into places you don't want them if you're careless with them.







Next up is a little cabin. I wish I knew who made these. I got two of them plus parts of a third at a swap meet. She measures about 11 X 23 scale feet....good shack for a couple of miners or hunters. This one is die-cut wood with white metal castings for the doors and windows and a plastic chimney. I used Krystal Kleer for the window glass and again replaced a tarpaper roof. The floor pops outta this one to replace a light bulb that's inside of it. Now to build one more.







I also popped open a little Woodland Scenics white metal kit called Tucker Brother's Machine shop. Although a simplistic kit from a builders viewpoint......it only has 6 or 7 parts that make up the main part of the building. All the detail is cast into the walls.....inside and out. This is a perfect project if you can't stand up....lmao. I shot a coat of grey primer on the inside and a coat of red primer on the outer surfaces. Then I grabbed a brush with about 5 hairs in it and got busy.....lol.

An aside here.....Testors has come out with a new line of enamel stains in their ModelMaster series of colours. I strongly endorse their use. Note....some experimentation required before attempting on a real model. You can't wash these off and try again like a powder or acrylic based wash.

Inside the Machine Shop kit is also a lathe, a drill press, a vertical mill, a workbench (covered in tools and parts), a bench grinder, a small forge and hood and an oxy-acetylene setup. Quite a value in my eyes for 25 bucks. Oh.....there's also an anvil mounted on a large wood block. This model is far from complete. There's a ton of painting still to do and a roof needs to be scratchbuilt.











Enjoy.

Sid

[WoundedBear]

OK...now that that is outta the way....here is the next thingamjigee I've been playing with.

I've had this MiniTrains Plymouth set sitting in a drawer for ages. I also an 18 X 36 inch wooden display case I had built years ago for some project and never used it. I decided to build a Carl Arendt inspired HOe micro-layout that can be incorporated into my main standard gauge layout as a scenery element. The concept is simple.....the little loco hauls ore from the mine to the ore dock.

I first laid out the plan on a computer program......I was able to tweak and shape the flex track down to a loco bending 4.5 inch minimum radius. With a printed copy of the track plan I started laying out buildings and after a few more track plan revisions, I was at last satisfied with the look of things.

I used extruded foam as a base and Woodland Scenics 4 percent incline starter ramps to change levels. The track is code 80 N gauge flex with Peco electro-frog turnouts. I soldered a length of flex to each of the legs of the turnouts, cut them roughly to length and attached it all to the cardstock roadbed with Lepage's Liquid No Nails. Wires have been tunneled into the foam and all connect at the rear of the layout.

The mine is a Grandt line kit. The supply house is an Alexander kit and the shacks are venerable Atlas trackside shanties. I think they will eventually be replaced by those miners shacks. I placed a wood floor in the mine house and added in a Bachmann HO log skidder to work as the steam hoist.

Here's a few pics of the progression of the layout and at the end is a quick vid I posted recently to youtube of the layout finally making laps. The thing is working well on DC now, and as the loco wears in a little, it's performance is smoothing out as well. Speaking of power......my ultimate plan is to be able to control this from my main DCC system once it is in place on the main layout. The loco itself has absolutely zero space for a decoder, nor am I willing to re-engineer the whole shebang to isoate a motor. My plan is to place a large scale decoder between the bus lines of my main layout and the feeder lines of the micro layout. If I connect the input of the decoder to the bus lines and the output to the micro layout's feeder lines it should work. Preliminary testing is proving positive.











And finally the video link.............

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjzxcCJEgJE

Enjoy!!!

Sid

[jbrock27]

Great work, as always!

[jonathan]

Shnickey's, Sid!  Great stuff!

Thanks for getting back into the mix and showing us your stupendous work.

Regards,

Jonathan

[Doneldon]

Sid-

Great work and excellent photography. Thank you for showing us your work.

                                                                                                        -- D

[WoundedBear]

Thanks guys.....glad you like my craziness.

Sid

[Jerrys HO]

Awesome work as usual Sid.

[rogertra]

Looking good Sid, keep it coming.

Cheers

Roger.

[ryeguyisme]

I've been wanting to do an HOn3 Mining portion for my redesign layout for my future blackstone K-36's I had the same idea for a coal dock as well, I definitely like where you went with this mini layout concept and how you made it 3 dimensional

[WoundedBear]

Wow How time flies when you're not having fun. I can't believe it's almost a year since I've posted anything about my layout. Since the last update, I did manage to get two new hips installed and I'm happy to report that I'm pretty much pain free and can spend a day on my feet without it killing me. No more pain meds......got rid of those totally two weeks after surgery. Doc says cold turkey on those after the many years on them, probably wasn't such a good move when it comes to my depression problem, but he's ok with my other way of coping.......cough cough.....LOL. Speaking of smoking.....I haven't touched tobacco in a year and a half now...so that's a good thing.

But a year of stuck in the house, not being able to get out, gets old real fast. This is where I was glad to have the modelling studio downstairs to work off some frustration. I even got a few automotive model projects completed. I look back on the year, and can't believe just how much I managed to accomplish.....but then again, I was dedicating 4 to 6 hours a day to model building, some days more than that. AC/DC or Flogging Molly blaring outta the stereo constantly......always amazed that I could focus on shingles and headbang at the same time.....lmao.

Anyhow.....enough yakking, let's get on with the pictures.

Back on page 5 I think it was.....I had shown the start of the mine in the back corner. Back then we had a snow white plaster hill. I really should have taken more photos than I did, especially of the progress stages of a project. So to refresh, first a shot of the mock up process of getting the mine floor level with the adit.



Then I did a bunch of stuff and the mountain turned green....lol. This is where the more pictures thing comes in. The rocks were painted with the same technique I use to paint castings. First I paint everything a dark almost black color of gray. Raw Umber works well in a pinch. I use just cheapo craft acrylics. Once the black base coat dries, I put a bit of white, yellow ochre, brown and gray on a pallet and using a dry brush I slowly build up the color into the rock. My first attempt resulted in rather dark rocks, so I went back and very easily, lightened them up a bit. If worse comes to worse, you could repaint the base and just start over.



For the ground cover, I tried Truescene's Fusion Fiber and I'm hooked. No plaster mess and you have days of working time. WS and Bmann foam and ballast products are then added in layers to the fiber. Google Fusion Fiber Truescene. There's still a ton of detail to be worked into this scene, but it's progress from where I was.








Then I opened a kit called Our House by WS. For a styrene kit, I was surprised by how much was in the kit. The freakin flower stems are individual stems....talk about a test of tweezer skills. She's painted entirely with rattle cans and a brush. The finish coat of weathering is done with Doc O'Briens powders from Micro-Mark. The tree is a natural armature with WS fine leaf foliage added and all planted on a chunk of 1/2 inch plywood for stability.











Sid

[WoundedBear]

Next up was a "prove I can do it" kind of project more than anything. I had an old Mehano Camelback (box was dated 1997) and a spare MRC sound decoder in the pile. Guess what happens next? Yup. Even got rid of the NEM coupler on the tender and managed to get a Kadee mounted in the pilot too. I learned about speaker mounting, wiring and LEDs with this project. While I was at it, I painted it up for the Lye, Stihl and Djheet. It runs not bad....not what a Spectrum model is, but not bad. First is a pic of the out-of-box loco then a few pics down the line.









Here's a couple of pics of the LS & D's fleet out front of the engine house. Up front is a Spectrum 4-6-0, then a Mantua 2-6-6-2 then the Camelback.





Then I got my hands on a Spectrum 0-6-0T for really cheap. DCC on board too. Promptly tore it to pieces and lettered it up for the Stihl Brothers Minerals Company. This is going to be the switcher for the mine in the corner. It's a good thing I energized my frogs, cause this little guy almost stalls on a #4. There was another project in the past year.....I energized 19 of my frogs








Sid

More to come.................................

[WoundedBear]

Here's a Muir kit called Moonshine Whiskey Barrel Works. I rearranged the floorplan and built a new wall or two, so it's kind of a mirrored/set back version of the original. The platform was another one of those patience testing events. Again I'm amazed that I can focus on a task like that and bang my head to the rock and roll at the same time. I had to take the loupe off my optivisor because I kept shaking it loose and it would spin around. Annoying as hell....lol.



The shingles are Muir's die cut strips, and after spray painting them with red/gray/black primer, they got applied row by row by row by row by row by.......good thing I got ways to beat stress......lol. Then I took a knife blade and went pick pick pick pick pick pick and stood random shingles up. My friends think I'm nuts. Eventually there'll be lights and an interior and a rope hoist for the little dude at the attic doorway.














Wow....this is taking a long time to post. And I hate typing at best of times.

Anyhow....more pics....next is a hoist house for that little HOe mini layout I had got started on. That whole 18 X 36 is getting incorporated into my main layout's scenery as a lift out element. This is a Grandt Line Wentamuck Mine kit with a Bachmann log skidder minus the skid as a steam hoist and some WS figures and details. This building is also lit.









Enjoy

Sid

Every good mine needs good housing. I got started on the hill that will lead up to the mine and have a row of company houses facing a narrow road and overlooking Lye Flats Station. The houses are City Classics kits. The three lighter blue homes are colored with weathering powders only over top a base coat of white primer. The darker blue home is one that recently got repainted and they decided to go with a darker blue this time around in hopes it would stay looking fresh a little longer than the earlier powder blue did.









OK....I think that's it for now. If I find more I'll post again. Maybe now that surgery is over I won't be waiting so long between postings. Now I can look forward to summer and getting back to racing too. I missed all of last season. That didn't help the depression either. But for now, we got 3 more moths of snow to contend with, which means I got three more months of building ahead of me. See ya all again soon.

Enjoy the pics.

Sid

[Doneldon]

Sid-

Nice work, and a ton of it, too. It's hard to know where to begin the accolades. For me it would be the Queen Anne for
the mine president or its contrast with the row of much less remarkable workers' houses. And the kicked out / rusted
out tipple is pretty neat, too.
                                            -- D

[jonathan]

Sid,

I am beside myself with envy.  Your modeling is some of the most beautiful work I've seen.  I want to come run my trains on your layout.

Your posts are certainly spread out some...  , but they sure are worth the wait.  Thanks for letting us see your work.

Regards,

Jonathan