N scale "What's on your workbench?"

Mark Watson Oct 28, 2009

  1. Adrian Wintle

    Adrian Wintle TrainBoard Member

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    They are moulded on, but I think carving/sanding them off would be relatively easy. I don't think any filling would be needed.

    Adrian
     
  2. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Finally finished with all the small parts for the log decks and then built the green chain. Weathered all with diluted gray paint and then a wash of India Ink in alcohol when it was dry. Attached log deck to green chain and tested the fit to the saw bldg. I noticed that to my eyes there was something missing which was doors on either side of the green chain entering the bldg. so went back and installed one on each side from my parts box. Original did not call for them. All the wood bldgs. have now had a coat of India Ink in alcohol which has darkened the red down considerably. Also applied rust coating to all the sheet metal parts and bldgs. Loading dock for the lumber warehouse next to be assembled. Took two days and a little more to cut, fit, glue and weather the log decks and green chain.

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  3. Pete Nolan

    Pete Nolan TrainBoard Supporter

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    Finally finished the 560' Mobil Oil Tanker, except for decals and a few touch-ups. It's more than 45" long. I am not going to offer this as a kit, just an expensive built-up.

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  4. Eagle2

    Eagle2 Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Pete and John, both of those are simply outstanding models. Kudos are in order.
     
  5. JimJ

    JimJ Staff Member

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    Yes those are both very nice. Hard to believe that they are N scale. I really like the buildings' roof and all the fine railing on the ship.
     
  6. Pete Nolan

    Pete Nolan TrainBoard Supporter

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    Here's the port stern view.

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    The railings and stairways are for sale (as are the ships of course) in both N and Z. I drew them up and had them made when nothing else was available. This ship used at least 3500 scale feet of railings (about 22 real feet), but that was still only about $110.
     
  7. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Pete's work and my work are a night and day comparison. I'm working from a craftsman kit with all the templates and materials, well most of them anyway, while Pete's work is something that should be in the Smithsonian, it is that good and at that level, and most if not a lot of his stuff has been crafted from raw materials. No open a box full of instructions and templates and start assembling and cutting as I am doing.

    In comparing our work Pete's is the performance of a prima ballerina getting first place at a talent contest. While mine is that of a slightly paunchy balding short guy with a cigar, dressed in a pink polka dotted tutu with laced up combat boots, who is getting the booby prize for having just danced the happy happy hippo.

    In short I stand in awe at his level of work and craftsman skills. Photograph his work from the shore with a seascape background and you can't tell if it is real or a model. Photograph mine with a woods background and you can still tell it is a model.
     
  8. Pete Nolan

    Pete Nolan TrainBoard Supporter

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    John, and all Trainboarders,

    I've been blessed to take on this long journey in my retirement venture. Every morning, when I enter my workshop, I start up iTunes with Mark Knopfler's Beachcombing, and let the song list play until I leave for the day or night. Beachcombing has now played 414 times--about two years of work days that I started. Due to Kay's (and my own) health problems, the play list gets to 207 times at the four hour mark, meaning I've only been able to put in a half day about half of the time. But, by the time the play list gets to Queen, which is twelve hours from the beginning, it's about 115 times. It serves as my punch clock, to make sure I'm putting in an honest effort. (I am getting bored with Beachcombing.)

    It took me 16 months to get control of cutting .020" styrene--until February of this year, in fact. But once I got there, the whole venture changed. I think I've shown the pipe supports I'm cutting--they barely fill the tip of my sharpest tweezers. And I've learned what to build and what to buy--well, sometimes. I still dislike many of the marine 1:192 scale offerings as undersized and underdetailed, so I'm working on those.

    Thanks all, for your support and patience. No more new introductions this spring and summer, as I still have to build photo models of the N scale towboats and all four fire boats. Everything is cut, all the parts are here, but I haven't been able to build the photo models for the web site and, of course, the instructions. The fire boats come first, as i have orders for those; the year-long delayed Edna G. tug is next; then, maybe, the towboats. As I remarked over in Z scale, the towboats are drawing virtually no interest on my website, like 18 views, which is virtually zero.
     
  9. BCR 570

    BCR 570 TrainBoard Member

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    My three MLW M-630 locomotives reached completion last week and have now officially joined the roster. I selected one unit from each of the three orders received by the PGE/BCR. 708 is a repainted PGE unit with 20" BCR logogram, 710 remains in the original PGE map logogram, and 717 is as delivered with the 16" BCR logogram. Paint and weathering by Jeff Briggs, decoders and lights by Dave Mac Kinnon:

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    The M-630 carbody offers an interesting comparison with the earlier C-630M carbody:

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    On the road, with lights on:

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    Tim
     
  10. wsboyette

    wsboyette New Member

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    I just completed scratchbuilding my North Carolina tobacco barns and a pull-behind harvester; just drew some scale templates from my memory and used them to build structures of simple basswood covered with scribed cardstock.

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  11. wsboyette

    wsboyette New Member

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    Now I have to assemble & paint this pewter farm tractor kit from GHQ Models....
    Never attempted anything this tiny, much less in pewter !

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  12. Pete Nolan

    Pete Nolan TrainBoard Supporter

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    You might want to use masking tape to hold the parts when pre-painting them.
     
  13. Pete Nolan

    Pete Nolan TrainBoard Supporter

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    I am building almost everything from scratch these days. Or I've commissioned N scale parts to be built by others. I just bought a bunch of different 1:192 winches that I didn't like at all, so I'll be building them in the future. I have found that searchlights, big anchors, turned gun barrels, and propellers are satisfactory, though expensive!
     
  14. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    I have found that a lot of the commercial parts are either lacking in details. poorly cast, or out of scale trying to build my few small vessels for my coastal fleet. I also have had to resort to cobble together some of my own parts.

    As far as Little' Lumber goes I am finally getting close to a finish and once again came up short of lumber in the size I needed and had to resort to my wood drawer. Now laying out the lumber warehouse portion of the mill's loading dock and its accompanying roof over the dock.
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  15. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Last bldg. component of the lumber mill is finally done. Finished the loading dock and it's roof and attached same to the warehouse. That tall silver thing is the chip conveyor tower which has yet to be final fitted. Now all I have to do is to assemble the various sections into one sawmill.
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  16. arbomambo

    arbomambo TrainBoard Member

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    Hello all...
    rainy April day on the Alabama coast, so working at the desk in 'The Turquoise Room'....

    painted and decaled the two Skytop Models REA reefers from converted troop sleepers...added BLMA 18"grab irons and faded to reporting marks and bottom of REA emblem per prototype pics...

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    Also started the detailing process for the L-A-B portion of my ATSF Freight F unit set (C is already done)-masked and painted the grill area ATSF yellow before the decal 'car body openings' are applied.

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    Thanks for looking,
    ~Bruce
     
  17. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Completed and assembled all the components of Little's Lumber a wood craftsman kit. First shot is looking over the chip loader at the sawmill.
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    Next shot is looking at it from the power house end. The sawdust and wood chip conveyors can be cut to place the loader closer to the bldg. But it was nice having enough material to located it further out to accommodate tracks. This will be adjusted one it get placed on the layout and the track arrangements are decided on.
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    Last shot is from the log deck and green chain end. I don't know if I will use the crane from this position or not. I may use it for stacking the cold deck of logs in a semi circle and another one to feed the log deck. My last thing before this goes into storage for awhile is to use some Bragdon powders to apply some older rust to the metal areas, some wood dust around the chip tower, and a touch of green representing a little moss on the tarpaper roofs.
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    I compare this to what Walthers markets and find this is a much better sawmill. It is more in proportion and has more features than the Walthers version. I get the impression that they basically copied their HO model and in the shrink down got it too large and out of proportion. Also with their model you don't have the ancillary structures in N like they do in HO.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 7, 2014
  18. fifer

    fifer TrainBoard Supporter Advertiser

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    I love the results John . Mike
     
  19. JimJ

    JimJ Staff Member

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    That's going to look very impressive on your layout with scenery and track. Nice project!
     
  20. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Thanks Guys. I really like this kit over some of the plastic ones out there and it's 9X14 inch footprint that can be adjusted a little smaller makes it a good fit without eating up a lot of space. I needed something to challenge me to see if I could handle this level post stroke and help me define my limits. So it has been a challenge but now I know my limits. Also getting away from having a log pond in favor of a cold deck concept has been another space saver. Now I need to find a smaller wood chip burner and another crane for log handling besides what I have. The chip burner will be modeled as abandoned now that the wood chips have become a valuable commodity.
     

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