DM&IR Hill City Sub: Johnson's Produce

Tracy McKibben Mar 3, 2011

  1. Tracy McKibben

    Tracy McKibben TrainBoard Member

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    I've posted all of my previous progress updates in the Winter Layout Party thread. Since that thread has ended, I'm starting a seperate construction thread for new updates. To read my previous content, see the Winter Layout Party thread, or my blog (click the logo in my signature).
     
  2. Tracy McKibben

    Tracy McKibben TrainBoard Member

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    Built To Be Topless

    From day one, my intent was to have a removable roof on the produce warehouse. The "plan" is to be able to take off the roof and one of the end walls, exposing a fully detailed interior. Over the past three evenings, I've finished the rafter assembly, putting the final touches on it tonight. That assembly consists of 9 rafters, with four support beams linking them together. Each rafter and beam are notched, allowing them to interlock together (permanently glued, of course).

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    (continued in next post)...
     
  3. Tracy McKibben

    Tracy McKibben TrainBoard Member

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    Built To Be Topless (continued)

    This entire assembly is removable:
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    The whole thing sits flush on top of the warehouse walls. The clapboard siding completely hides the "seam" where the end rafters meet the end walls.
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    Up next - the roof itself, also removable, which will sit on top of the rafter assembly.
     
  4. ratled

    ratled TrainBoard Supporter

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    GREAT WORK! Thanks for letting us tag along as you go.

    Steve
     
  5. Wolfgang Dudler

    Wolfgang Dudler Passed away August 25, 2012 TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    Great work and idea with the removable roof!

    Wolfgang
     
  6. mikelhh

    mikelhh TrainBoard Member

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    This is a very good building already! Nice work. Looking forward to more.

    Mike
     
  7. Komachi

    Komachi TrainBoard Member

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    Words cannot accurately describe the level of awesomeness that is your accomplishment thus far...
     
  8. Tracy McKibben

    Tracy McKibben TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks guys... It's been a challenge, but I'm loving the results. Hopefully this weekend I'll get the roof finished, and get started building the doors.
     
  9. Tracy McKibben

    Tracy McKibben TrainBoard Member

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    When Is A Door Not A Door?

    In this case, the answer is, when it's a pile of basswood strips waiting to be assembled. As with everything else on this structure, I decided to build the doors from scratch. Using the nifty chopping device that I bought earlier, I was able to quickly cut all of the pieces for the freight doors, each identical in size:

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    Assembling them was incredibly easy:

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    Within an hour, all five doors were assembled:

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  10. Tracy McKibben

    Tracy McKibben TrainBoard Member

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    Instant Aging Cream

    The ultimate "look" that I want for the produce warehouse is that of an aging, well-used structure that has been exposed to year after year of northern Minnesota weather. Much like my house, I want to see peeling paint, warped and cracked boards, the dull gray of rot and age. I've been experimenting for weeks with various blends of India ink and isopropyl alchohol, trying to find the right shade of "age" for the wood that I'm using. I finally settled on one, and this morning, took the plunge and applied it to the produce warehouse. It was truly an "Oh, WOW!" moment. Even my wife offered up a compliment, something more than "Yes, that's nice dear".

    Enough from me, I'll let the pictures do the talking....

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  11. Tracy McKibben

    Tracy McKibben TrainBoard Member

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    The Perfect Paint Job

    As I stated earlier, I wanted this building to look worn out. In particular, I wanted the look of peeling paint. At a recent NMRA division meeting, Bruce Monroe (Monroe Models) offered a tip for getting that look. Starting with a stained surface (see my previous post), apply random patches of rubber cement to the surface. After the cement has dried, paint the surface with the desired paint color. After that paint has dried, gently rub the entire surface with a rubber pencil eraser. The eraser will peel off the rubber cement (along with the paint that covers it), exposing the stained surface underneath. Exactly what happens when the paint peels off of a real structure.

    The results speak for themselves:

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    The "track" that the doors are attached to is a piece of L-shaped styrene, painted Grimy Black, then drybrushed with Rust.

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  12. mtaylor

    mtaylor Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Tracy that looks amazing. I still have to get to one of those meeetings sometime....if my schedule ever permits.
     
  13. Tracy McKibben

    Tracy McKibben TrainBoard Member

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    Tin Roof Sunday

    Wow, it's been almost two weeks since my last post. During the first of those two weeks, I took a break from modeling to participate in a Polar Bear Plunge event to benefit the Special Olympics. Raised a lot of money, had a lot of fun, and made a video commemorating the event. If you're interested, it's on YouTube.

    Work on the warehouse resumed on Sunday, with the focus on the tin roof. It's been a busy week at work, but I managed to get the entire roof covered, and part of it weathered.

    The key to making a convincing tin roof is a ribbon cable from a computer hard drive.

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    What does that have to do with a tin roof? I'll show you. We start with a piece of common aluminum foil, cut to the proper size for a scale piece of corrugated tin roofing.

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    That piece of foil is placed on the ribbon cable, aligned with the grooves in the cable. By rubbing firmly with a fingertip, the foil picks up the impression of the grooves.

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  14. Tracy McKibben

    Tracy McKibben TrainBoard Member

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    Tin Roof Sunday (continued)

    We now have a scaled down piece of tin roofing, ready to be placed onto the roof of our building.

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    Repeat about a million times, and we end up with something like this:

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    Notice in that last photo that there is a slight "patchwork" look to the roof. Common aluminum foil, like that used in the kitchen, typically has one shiny side and one dull side. To get this patchwork effect, I purposely placed some pieces with the shiny side up, totally at random. It gives the appearance that some of the panels are newer than the others.
     
  15. jpwisc

    jpwisc TrainBoard Member

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    Nice work Tracy, your time is certainly paying off on this one!
     
  16. Triplex

    Triplex TrainBoard Member

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    One of those serendipitous techniques I like to see.
     
  17. Tracy McKibben

    Tracy McKibben TrainBoard Member

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    Chalk On A Hot Tin Roof

    Today I reached a milestone on the produce warehouse - the roof is DONE, 100% finished. In my previous post, I showed you how I made the corrugated tin panels which make up the roof surface. Bright, shiny, aluminum foil pieces. Pretty, but not exactly what you want for a realistic looking roof. So, over the last couple of days, I've made it dirty, very dirty.

    I started by drybrushing some streaks of Rust over the entire roof, followed by a dusting of a rust-colored chalk. This photo shows one half dusted with the chalk, the other only has the drybrushing finished:

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    To me, this looks a little too red, so I darkened it considerably by adding a layer of brown and a layer of black chalk dust:

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    Much better! A little more work, and the entire roof is done:

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  18. Tracy McKibben

    Tracy McKibben TrainBoard Member

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    Doorknobs And Cardboard

    One of the last exterior details missing from the warehouse is the "man doors", the smaller hinged doors used for human entry and exit. I've been waffling on just how I wanted to do these. I finally settled on a simple combination of cardboard (from a cereal box), paper, and a small wire brad. The result is simply perfect for what I wanted.

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  19. Komachi

    Komachi TrainBoard Member

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    ** Sound of jaw hitting floor **

    Very nice effect, Tracy! Can't wait to see it installed on the layout!


    KEEP UP THE EXCELLENT WORK!!!
     
  20. Tracy McKibben

    Tracy McKibben TrainBoard Member

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    Harvest Time!

    (written yesterday, forgot to post here) :tb-embarrassed:

    You simply can't beat today's weather for bringing in the harvest. Clear, blue skies, brilliant sunshine, and warm temperatures make the work almost enjoyable.

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    Ok, so maybe I embellished a little. The reality is that today brought four inches of heavy, wet, sloppy snow, and opened the door for a week of freezing temperatures. Not exactly harvest weather. I do, however, have a variety of vegetables in my possession, courtesy of the UPS man. Sure, they're a little small, but they're exactly what I wanted. Potatoes and onions and cabbage, oh my! Throw in a few pumpkins for good measure, and I have just what I need to start stocking my produce warehouse.

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