Yeah, I'm definitely on coast. I really want this thing to heal, so I'm taking it easy. One thing I will be concentrating on is a new adventure in teaching online for a couple of weeks. After that comes spring break and hopefully by then I'll be able to do something.
Here are some renderings from Fusion 360 of what I've been working on the past few weeks when we have mostly been out of town. I've added a lot of windows and trim and other details to the building area above the tracks and beyond them that doesn't show in the older rendering of that area. I did finish the last of the buildings for the mine about a week ago. The ones down in the foreground with one angled to the rest of the mine. That building butts against a retaining wall to the left what will have a large rock wall behind it. That is where the unloaded train will disappear to. The image above shows how a loaded train will enter the mine from a hidden track and exits and the empty train will enter at the same time and exit bottom left. Another view above of the track work. There will be coal cars parked on the other main track also. This past few days I've been working on a coaling tower where trucks can be loaded. The coaling tower will be placed as above. I still need some more bracing on it and a building on the top with a conveyor belt to it. So far I've generated over 1000 files as I keep saving parts in the design. Getting close to starting the 3D printer up. Still need the walls under the building that is above the track. Here is a link to the coal mine build on my site.... http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/Coal Mine/Coal Mine-Index.html Sumner
Lots happening since my last Progress Report on 2/2: While on a week long vacation out of state, I received the editor's comments on my first draft for the steel mill modelers article, so my first week back home was spent working on my 2nd draft. I submitted that and this past week have finally made some headway on the OHF...which I am upgrading so I can get better pics for the article: I cut the new (taller) foam board walls, and glued all but a 1"x3" extension around a doorway for track on the north end of the OHF. The final version of Evans Design Model Builder "skin" for the OHF south wall has been glued on. South end of the OHF with new skin on the taller foam board walls by ppuinn posted Feb 20, 2022 at 1:20 AM The "skin" has been added to the entire east wall of the OHF and the upgraded lean-to Mold Shed on the east side of the OHF has new skin, repainted girders, and a new roof. New skin on the OHF East Wall and Mold Shed by ppuinn posted Feb 20, 2022 at 1:20 AM The north door way and roof need to be done before I can take pics. The west wall "skin" doesn't need to be done for the article pics. I've also been working on other's layouts. Put in a Walthers turntable, finished some spurs, and started on scenery on one friend's new HO layout (no pics), and finished some grade crossings and a gravel road on another friend's layout. I added the rock retaining wall in this first pic to his layout 2 years ago. I finished the wooden grade crossings in January this year (there are 5 all together, and this pic shows the first and part of the second). Rock retaining wall, wooden grade crossings by ppuinn posted Feb 20, 2022 at 2:38 AM This is the fifth wooden grade crossing and part of the gravel road that I worked on this week. Wooden grade crossing and gravel road by ppuinn posted Feb 20, 2022 at 2:38 AM This is the rest of the new gravel road past the icing platform and some of the cardboard building mock-ups that I re-taped this week. Gravel road and Cardboard Building Mock-ups by ppuinn posted Feb 20, 2022 at 2:38 AM Saturday evening I attended our NMRA Division's Winter Potluck Dinner, and today (Sunday) I'm going set up my hands-on Ingelnook switching puzzle modules for kids 5 yrs old to 105 yrs old at a train fair.
Got the yard office almost finished, just needs a few more details and some light weathering. And got some base scenery down around the fire station and the houses. During the layout party I have been trying to do as much as possible on the layout itself and establishing the locations of structures was part of that. Later I can work on each of these scenes at the work bench and re-install them in their established locations. I also got the road painted. It is a new technique and materials I am trying so still learning.
Continuing with work on the coal trestle ramp. Testing the location with the coal trestle. I mixed a runny solution of plaster of Paris and soaked paper towels in the mixture. I then lace them over the ramp. Here is the forgotten photos of the weathered office building For the walls I used Woodland Scenics Timber Walls. I cut the walls to size and lined them up to make sure everything fit. I painted the walls and weathered them. Next I glued them in place.
Nice wall. It looks real. Infact it looks like the retainer/sound barrier between my street and US41. Two stories high.
Slow, but steady progress. I've got the Model Builder "skin" on 3 sides of the OHF, so the background of all the pictures for the article will show decently modeled steel mill structures. I'll be able to take pictures of the ingot mold buggies being inspected in the nicely detailed Mold Inspection area, and prepped in the upgraded Mold Preparation Shed before being filled with molten metal on Teeming Floor of the OHF. Now, all I have to do before taking the pictures, is finish scratch building two more of the ingot mold buggies. This pic shows the finished south wall of the OHF, bridge from the ramp into the upper level Charging Floor, lower level door into the Teeming Floor, and the Brick Shed's new dock and two new supports for the upgraded/reinforced roof. Brick Shed dock finished, South end of OHF done by ppuinn posted Feb 25, 2022 at 2:01 AM This is a pic of the prototype brick shed that I took in 2005. Note the protection built around the columns to keep the forklift from damaging the roof supports. Rather than four pipes protecting each column, I put a tube around them. My palletized bricks are printed on cardstock, folded, and glued. Brick Shed 1 2005 by ppuinn posted Feb 25, 2022 at 2:01 AM This is the upgraded Mold Shed. I'd made a plastic replacement for the warped cardboard, but wasn't happy with the size and position of the 5 openings, so I did extensive reinforcing of the original cardboard shed, replaced the gussets and re-painted the girders in the openings, put on a new roof and new roof "skin", added new siding "skin" to the walls, and now have a squared up Mold Shed. Mold Shed done; all of OHF East Wall done. by ppuinn posted Feb 25, 2022 at 2:01 AM The hoist that I'd put in the mold inspection area wasn't located well, and didn't have the right kind of hook for lifting ingot molds, so I fashioned J hooks and re-positioned the hoist so damaged molds could be transferred from the ingot mold buggies directly into a gondola for later delivery to the Drop Curve where (eventually...maybe this summer) an animated crane will drop a wrecking ball weight onto the damaged molds to break them into pieces small enough to remelt in the OHF or EAF. Ingot Mold Inspection Area hoist finished, damaged molds in gondola. by ppuinn posted Feb 25, 2022 at 2:01 AM I've been working on others' layouts too, this week. Tuesday on Ken's layout, I worked some more on the gravel road (pics in my last progress report) and pulled a switch with a broken throwbar. Later today, I'll take some signs printed from the internet and scratch built gas pumps to add to a gas station on Rod's layout and we'll continue working on scenery (trees, grass). I grabbed a building and some vehicles from my HO switching layout and took this picture of them on a sheet of gray foam board with the sign and pump that will go to Rod's layout. DX gas station pump and sign for friend's layout by ppuinn posted Feb 25, 2022 at 2:01 AM
Finished the last structure for the coal mine, the coal loading tower. This will be for truck loading and the coal train loading will be to the right of it under the building there that is only a small part of the mine building and loading facility. I only have retaining and support walls that still need to be designed. Another day of a little cleanup work on the print files and hopefully I'm on to what was suppose to be one of my main goals of the party, getting the race car out of the shop to make room for the main layout. With that in mind I guess this is my last 'party' post but will update when I have room to start the main layout build. Following are what I've been working on the last few days. I finished the building that is at the top of the coaling tower.... Adding detail such as the walkway between the buildings can turnout to be more time intensive vs. say making the building to the left at the top of the coal tower. I'd say I have about 6-8 hours total into the walkway, steps, building doors, railings and such as an example. Likewise getting the conveyor belt enclosure designed and going into both building with accompanying trim and angled building openings was another couple days. The building to the right is a small part of the total mine building complex. I'm glad I stayed with this the past month or so as it would of been confusing to come back to at a later date. I did print .... the horizontal bracing under the walkway yesterday just to see how it would come out. Also printed out the bracing that makes up the sides of the coaling tower. I can now start long prints on the different parts of the mine. I thought that my printer went south two days ago so ordered another one which should be here tomorrow. Then somehow, don't ask me how I got the printer going again but don't have a lot of confidence that it is fixed. Two printers will be a big help though with the print files as there is going to be a lot of hours printing. Sumner
Made signs for the fire station and the yard office. And finished the locations for all of the structures that will be along the road and am working on base scenery around the structure locations and along the back. Still no ballast from Arizona Rock & Mineral.
Just finished painting the 3rd and 4th scratch-built ingot mold buggies and will go to bed after posting this and the "last call" for the Layout Party. In the morning (Sunday), I'll put the trucks on, weather all four ingot mold buggies, finish some minor detailing on my Keystone locomotives, and do a general pick-up of the area around the Open Hearth Furnace and the Blooming Mill to get ready for taking the pictures for my article. The text for the 3rd draft of the article has been ready for a week or so, and I'll get the pictures taken Sunday afternoon or evening and everything emailed to the editor on Monday. DX gas station pump and sign for friend's layout by ppuinn posted Feb 25, 2022 at 2:01 AM More information about the last pic in my Progress Report a few days ago: The metal building and the vehicles in the staged picture above normally reside on my HO switching layout. The sign was found online, resized to fit on an HO layout, printed out several times on cardstock, and glued together back to back to make tall sigsn for Rod's layout. The picture of a DX gas pump was also found online. I printed several in HO scale, trimmed them to fit and glued them on opposite sides of a 1/4 inch square tube from Evergreen Plastics, glued a square of plastic on top of the pump, and drilled 2 holes on the side for the hose (24 gauge black telephone wire with a silver nozzle painted on one end).
Last Call, Folks! It's time to wrap up the 14th Annual International Winter Layout Party! Put together your final Progress Report in the next few days, and post pics of your accomplishments. Before and After pics are welcome...and sometimes show dramatic changes in just 10 weeks. What goals did you reach, and what will you be working on next? Tell about any goals that were dropped, revised smaller or expanded larger, or are still in progress. Share any high points or low points, if you want. For those of you who visited but were not able to post about your own layout, what did you see this year that caught your attention, inspired you, taught you something? What did you see at this year's Party that you are going to add to your own layout?
Goals Review: A: Upper Level benchwork substantially completed. B: Classification Yard is about 75% done, I need 4 or 5 more switches and we’re there. C: Lighting completed for the lower level and activated. D: Trackwork for the upper level started with the Bulltown Branch Staging and some subroadbed installed nearby. It was a successful winter layout party this year. Hopefully, next year will be scenery goals! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You all made some great progress this year! Congrats! My endeavors didn't go as I had hoped. Got off to a slow start and it stayed slow and a few weeks back, it got to the point that I just didn't have the time or energy to make any party progress. I had hoped to at least have one last photo update but alas, I somehow flipped the template for a concrete pad I was making for the Port-A-Toilet company and when I went to install it a little earlier, I discovered it was backwards. Rats! Oh well, there's always next year!
On this last day of the party I added another layer of scenery materials in some of the areas that already had a base layer. I normally don't do this until I have added the ballast because I have found the 50/50 glue mix I use to attach the ballast darkens the nearby scenery. I am still waiting for ballast to arrive from Arizona Rock & Mineral so I went ahead with this step now and will touch up later if needed. And I added 2 shorter sections of fascia, one on each side of the control panel. Dave had suggested before and after photos. So this is where I started on December 9th. I was laying track in the yard. And this is what the same area looks like today. So this is how I did compared to the goals I had planned. 1 - All track work completed including painting and ballasting (Track installed and painted but no ballast) 2 - All wiring completed including a display / control panel (Yes, this all got done) 3 - Finalize layout of roads and structures (Yes, the road through town and the placement of structures is set) 4 - Complete as least base scenery (Yes, got base scenery in area of work and a bit more) 5 - Start as least some of the structures, this will help with goal #3 (Yes, finished one structure and a second one almost done) One thing that I have not been doing lately is running trains and I miss that. This section of the layout is one the largest that I have built in the middle of the room and now the most of the layout in on both sides of the room I found that things have been a bit tight. This can be seen in the photo below. So I think next week I may set this section aside and take a break from it. I will clean up the room and the layout and can work on finishing all those structures at the work bench while happily running some trains. I also have the other small section to start doing track and wiring on. It is much smaller and can be worked on at the end of the room. Had a great time doing this again this winter. Thanks everyone for your encouragement and sharing your own work.
I started this year's Party with 9 goals related to upgrading my scrap yards and scrap iron recycling center to get better pictures for a clinic on making scrap iron loads to be presented at a Steel Mill Modelers virtual meeting sometime later this year, and 7 goals related to upgrading my Open Hearth Furnace and Blooming Mill to get better pictures to include in an article I'm writing for the Steel Mill Modelers quarterly Journal on using Thermochromic Paint (paint formulated to turn into a different color at a specific temperature) to model molten yellow hot ingots cooling to red hot ingots that are solid enough to remove from their molds. Because the article deadline is soon and no date has been set, yet, for the clinic, I've only worked on goals for the steel mill upgrades, and not much at all on goals for upgrades of the scrap yards. Goals related to the ingot mold article: Mold Shed 10. Ballast all the reconfigured track arrangement near the Open Hearth Furnace and Billet Blooming Building. Done. Brick Shed and Ramp from Charging Yard to Upper Level Charging Floor by ppuinn posted Feb 28, 2022 at 12:11 AM I also refurbished the track ballast and scenery on the nearby hill from the Charging Yard up to the Upper level door to the Charging Floor of the OHF. 11. Replace the warped cardboard walls and roof of the Mold Shed with sheet plastic and resize the replacement to accommodate the reconfigured tracks. Done, but length and height of the plastic replacement did not turn out as I'd hoped, so I straightened/reinforced the warped cardboard walls, and repaired and repainted the girders showing in the 5 openings on the long wall of the shed. Reinforced/Straightened Mold Shed by ppuinn posted Feb 28, 2022 at 12:11 AM 12. Modify the existing file in Evans Design Model Builder to print out siding and roofing for the Resized Mold Shed, and secure it to the walls and roof. Done Heater Box 13. Trim the height of the Heater Box so the removable roof of the OHF fits all the way down on the walls again. Done, and also adjusted the openings on the ends of the Heater Box to improve clearance for the loco and ingot mold buggies. The Brick Shed sits just outside the south entrance to the OHF and sometimes is in the background for pics of the Mold Shed and OHF. Although this 3rd version is only a year or so old and is the best one yet, the cardboard and card stock has warped. 14. Shore up/straighten the warped cardboard walls and card stock roof of the Brick Shed with plastic or replace them with plastic. Done Push Prepared ingot Molds oton Teeming Floor of OHF by ppuinn posted Feb 27, 2022 at 6:11 PM 15. Add a ramp for the forklift from ground level up to the boxcar floor height of the Brick Shed floor. Done, and the floor of the shed was extended toward the track so there is now a dock across the entire front of the shed. Ingot Mold Buggies In December, I had 2 scratch built ingot molds that I was able to use, and set a goal of making 4 more, but it turned out that only 2 more were made (and if I'd thought it through a little better in December, I probably could have gotten all the pics I needed by making just one more.) So, the revised goal of making enough mold buggies for pics was Done 16. Develop some jigs so I can streamline the ingot mold buggy scratch building process. I didn't develop any jigs, per se, but I did fashion some supports that made adding the skirting around each buggy MUCH easier. I used my Chopper more often than I had on the first two buggies, but plan to use it even more often when I do the remaining 8 ingot mold buggies. OHF To improve the appearance of the OHF, the foam board structure was replaced with a taller building on (about) the same footprint, and Evan Design Model Builder was used to create corrugated metal siding on the South, East, and North sides of the building. The West side is not in any of the pictures for the article, so I'll put the skin on the West side after I get my pictures done for the article...probably later this week. The article for the Steel Mill Modelers Journal is about modeling hot and cold ingots with thermochromic paint. Thermochromic paint is formulated to change color at a certain temperature. The ingots are painted with two layers of color changing paint: a bottom layer that is red and turns yellow at 88 degrees F and a top layer that is black at room temperature and turns clear at 77 degrees F. When the ingots are heated by light bulbs in a heater box inside the Open Hearth Furnace building, the black turns clear at 77 degrees revealing the red paint below, and as the temperature rises above 88 degrees, the red layer of paint turns yellow. These are some of the pics I'll use in the article: 1. Pulling the yellow hot ingot molds from the OHF after they've been heated above 88 degrees F. The yellow simulates recently poured molten steel. Pull the yellow hot ingot molds from the OHF by ppuinn posted Feb 27, 2022 at 6:29 PM The ingot molds are set out on the Cooling Track to cool and solidify enough that the mold can be removed from the ingot without causing a dangerous mess. Set out the yellow hot ingot molds on the Cooling track outside the Stripper Room of the Blooming MIll. by ppuinn posted Feb 27, 2022 at 6:29 PM After about 5 minutes, the ingot molds cool down toward 88 degrees and the color changes to a yellow-orange. While the loco switches other areas of the mill, the yellow hot ingots cool and turn yellow-orange by ppuinn posted Feb 27, 2022 at 6:29 PM At about 10 minutes, when the ingot temperature falls below 88 degrees F, the lower layer of paint turns to red. After about 15 minutes, when the temperature falls below 77 degrees F, the upper layer of clear paint turns to black, making the lower layer paint (the yellow paint that has turned to red below 88 degrees F) harder to see. Eventually, when it is dark red/black (simulating the molten metal has cooled and stiffened enough to retain its shape when the mold is stripped from the ingot), the loco pulls the ingot molds from the Cooling Track... The dark red/black (slightly cooled) ingot molds are pulled from the Cooling Track. by ppuinn posted Feb 27, 2022 at 6:29 PM ...and pushes them into hidden staging in the Stripper Room of the Blooming Mill. The slightly cooled ingots molds are pushed onto Stripper Room Track 2 of the Blooming Mill by ppuinn posted Feb 27, 2022 at 6:29 PM In the prototype Stripper Room, the molds will be stripped from the ingots and the ingots will be lowered into soaking pits (furnaces where the ingots are reheated until hot enough to be rolled into 3" x 5" x 50 ft billets, but not so hot that they lose their shape.) Many steel mill modelers will paint their ingots yellow or orange or red to simulate the molten, stiffening, or ready-to-be-rolled temperatures, but the Steel Mill Modelers Journal editor, says she has never seen them painted with color-changing paint.
It is going to take a couple or three posts for me to catch up and post my final results since I fell behind. After drying sand the plaster. You can see some of the track weathering. Weathered Third Track at the station. Painting the ramp and surrounding pink foam. A test train. I know its boxcars not hoppers but that is what I had at easy reach. Starting the track laying on the ramp
I added some patches and cracks to the "concrete" yard. I also used an Xacto knife to cut expansion joints in the concrete. You can't see them too well in these shots. Next I used a Raw Umber wash to weather the concrete. You can see the expansion joints better in these photos Using the leftover wall sections from the ramp I created the wall behind the coal trestle. A couple of pics with the buildings and the wall Next I will paint and weather the wall sections and attach them to the layout. While the walls are drying I will attach the coal trestle and the track to the trestle. I need to figure out something to help create the piles under the trestle. I plan on having coal, gravel, and sand.
I got the track attached to the ramp and the coal trestle and weathered the track. I painted and weathered the back wall pieces and attached them to the layout. I began adding coal, gravel (ballast), and sand to make piles. At this point I realized the walls needed some kind of backing. I shaped a couple of 2 inch foam pieces from the old layout for this purpose and attached them. Not only will they provide support for the walls I will be able to add scenery above the walls.
I finished the piles under the trestle. Added some leftover coal and gravel to the top of the trestle. Began ballasting Painted the foam behind the walls Next will be more ballasting and placing ground cover on the ramp and above the walls. This concludes my progress in the Layout Party. I am considering continuing my posting my progress in another thread. I just need to figure out where.
