Working on the main chip grinder building. Not much to it. One note, if you don't know about or use Mr. Dissolved Putty (lower left of pic), get it. You'll be glad you did, as it is off the charts for filling tiny gaps; like the seams between corners. Available only online. More later. M
I grew up with the sound of a sawmill. Even worked there a short time, before it shut down. The odors are memorable. I wonder if somewhere on the 'Net there might be a sound track, which could be downloaded and used?
After a long weekend of work and only when the opportunity presented itself, it was nice to complete all three structures. Here are the other two, complete and ready for weathering then installation. The chip grinding shed: And the woodchip hopper loader: The Edwards & Bradford Lumber Co. is looking good. Here's the wide angle view: Only remaining item is the mothballed burner. Thanks for checking in. M
That loader looks almost exactly like the one at Olney, Montana. (Photo on my web site.) Did you copy a local prototype for yours?
Wish I could say I did Ken, I did check your site a while back, but this one came in the Walthers outbuildings kit.
Here we go with today's project, the wig-wam chip burner from Sidetrack Laser. Kit comes nicely packaged, but I would have preferred clearer photos in the directions and the website doesn't have an FAQ, so I'm on my own a bit here. It's easy to take out the shell and the splice from the wood sheet. But splicing the two sides together is quite a process. The directions clearly and correctly advise using a straight edge to assist the forming along the curve as the seam dries. Next you get to cut a gazillion 9/16th x 1-1/8th inch metal siding pieces. That's just the first of fives sheets to cut. It helps to use a small bottle to shape the metal siding prior to gluing. Next is the laborious process of adhering the siding. At this point I'm an hour into the process and have 6 pieces in place. That's it for now, I'll check back next year after I get all the siding cut and applied.
I'll be interesting to see how you weather this project. I well remember the one at the mill in my home town, still glowing at night from the heat. How tall will it be when finished?
Four hours in and the base level of siding is complete. I will say that the learning curve has finally been overcome and the last 8 or so panels went in much faster than all the rest. That's part one of the base in the background. More later. M
So I ran out of gas on metal siding, but did spend time completing the base of the unit. Here is what it looks like thus far. There is a lot left to do; finish the siding, adding the screen/roof structure and of course, prime, paint & weather. So far I'm happy with the results, albeit a bit slower than expected. M
Tonight's work party featured one project, the lumber mill. It was time to put down the dirt layer. We started early. Wain arrived in the afternoon and frankly, worked his butt off. He thoroughly sanded all the plaster areas and used a narrow shureform to rasp the wood between the rails to the proper height. He then airbrushed all of the rail areas using floquil rail brown. In this picture, Doug is placing 1/4 inch masking tape over the track openings so that the dirt will not find its way into the opening. As you can see from the unpainted areas, Wain's efforts are dramatic. One other step involved running a very slightly damp rag quickly over all plaster areas to pick up any sanding residue. Once the tape was down, we used paint brushes to spread undiluted white glue over all surfaces and immediately followed that with sprinkling on real dirt. While the glue was drying, we used a j-roller with very light pressure to tamp down the loose dirt. We left spaces for the roads, which may be a combination of gravel and asphalt, or just gravel. Haven't decided yet. Scott was also able to complete the hand laid track on the transfer table. Our next step will be to vacuum up the excess dirt and pull up the tape. We will then see if extra dirt is needed. We are not going to use the wet water and diluted glue process at this point as we want to assure the dirt layer is as thin as we can get it. Hope you're enjoying this project as much as the RGW crew is. Thanks for checking in. M
You guys are doing a great job. Thanks for the regular blow-by-blow progress reports. That is going to look superb, I am sure!
