Campbell Scale Models Grain Elevator

Started by Oldguy, September 13, 2020, 08:25:57 PM

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Oldguy

On to the next big adventure.   While waiting for material to reorganize my paints, I need a project that wouldn't need a lot of paint.  So here I am with the Grain Elevator kit.  For those not all familiar, but back in the day, the last set of digits on the kit box was the retail price.  In this case a whole $17.95 or about %40 in today's dollars.

First the requisite box and contents.  Four bags of section specific parts, a bunch of strip wood, instructions, several pages of templates, and cardboard roof stock.  I won't be using the included sign, although they provide instructions on how one can hand paint it on instead.
Bob Dye
Livin large on a pond

Oldguy

It is always a good idea to read and re read these instructions and locate parts.  Here, I am working on identifying all bag A parts as they will need to be hit with A&I .  Considering the amount of bend most of these have, I hope me weighing them down afterwards will remove most of it.  The more astute observer will not the there aren't any tall parts for the elevator section.  They do provide 18 piece of siding, many of which need to be edged glued together.  This task should be easier thanks to Bob Parrish scratch building hints and tips on edge gluing.

Prior to the dunking, I notice a bunch of fuzz which required the use of steel wool.  I do a use nitrile glove to protect the old fingers.  It does make a heck of a mess.
So while bag A parts were drying, I might as well prime all the plastic parts.  These include the standard Campbell doors and windows.  They provide a single stair stringer to be cut in half or so and two pieces of "chimney" stock, also each to be cut in half to make a brick chimney.  If this is like their other kits, there will be an internal wood former to aid in eit together.

So, while the plastic parts are drying, it was on to identify bag B parts.  For each step, the list of material is listed.  So one knows that he/she need 2 pieces of B3 and their size is given.  I found it just as easy to pick out similar parts and then find which one it is.  I then right down on the back the number and orientation.  Some parts may vary by only 1/32", so pay close attention.  Unfortunately, I had problems positively identifying all parts.  In the photo, all the parts on the left are floor material and not an issue.  Those in the upper section have been positively identified.  What I have left are three parts and two are supposed to be the same.  All three are close, but no cigar.  I really won't know until the scale house is built to see what fits where.  I'll soak all in A&I anyway, knowing I might have to replace one or more of them.


It should be said that some of the illustrations are "see-through", so the parts seen are from the backside.  One has to really look at them to figure out which ones those are.
Bob Dye
Livin large on a pond

PRR Modeler

I'll be following Bob. Looks like an interesting kit.
Curt Webb
The Late Great Pennsylvania Railroad
Freelanced PRR Bellevue Subdivision

bparrish

You read the instructions ! ! ! !


You are not a true GUY.

But I am following along none the less.

thanx
Bob
Did you ever notice how many towns are named after their water towers ! ?

GPdemayo

I have a soft spot for Campbell kits, always wanted to do this one,.....they were the first wood kits I started out building. I'll be looking in Bob.  :)
Gregory P. DeMayo
General Construction Superintendent Emeritus
St. Louis & Denver Railroad
Longwood, FL

postalkarl

Hey Bob:

I actually have that kit in my stash. It's one of my favorite Campbell kits. I will be watching with great interest.

Karl

Mark Dalrymple

I'll be watching your progress with this one, Bob.

Cheers, Mark.

Oldguy

Quote from: bparrish on September 14, 2020, 03:10:27 AM
You read the instructions ! ! ! !


You are not a true GUY.

But I am following along none the less.

thanx
Bob
Yeah, well Normally one can get a general idea how everything is supposed to go or just look at all the pretty photos.  This thing has way to many small bits for that.
Bob Dye
Livin large on a pond

Oldguy

Bag A parts have dried, but many were still curled.  I had to switch gears on the edge gluing and use a magnetic jig to hold everything in place.  The upper peak wasn't the same back to back.  It looked like the die cut was a bit off and one sheet was fed face up and the other face down.  It was off by 1/16"  Soooo, I did a bit of trimming.  Can't wait to see how that will bite me later one. They do tell you to glue all the pieces together face down as not all wood have the same thickness.  And they were right.  I used a PBL brass weathering brush to remove any excess glue.  so far so good.


Needless to say , bracing (not included) is a must.  Each of these sides have 8 pieces.  So far.
The other, and flat side was built similarly, but each has two sections that are made separately.
Bob Dye
Livin large on a pond

WigWag Workshop

These old Cambells look like a ton of fun, and the  types a kits I would like to build. Looking forward to this build coming together.


-Steven
A BIG Thanks to all the folks who share their knowledge, and for giving me the inspiration to push the limits in this great hobby!

ACL1504

Bob,

I'm a real guy and I read all the kit directions even though I usually don't follow them. I don't read them for the instructions as much as I just want to familiarize myself with the kit.

Back in the 60's and 70's, Campbell Scale Models was my go to kit preference. I loved opening the box and smelling the freshly cut sugar pine Leo used for construction.

Nice start on this one.

Tom ;D
"If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed."
Thomas Jefferson

Tom Langford
telsr1@aol.com

Oldguy

I managed to select the color, Antique Iron.  Campbell suggested a red or white.

As long as I was coloring parts, I decided to jump to Bag B parts to see what needed to be colored.  First up was the four parts that had windows.  Did the old painters tape on the back and cut out the holes.  Well, batting 50%.  The track side sliding doors decided to try my patience.  And they won.  Okay, I want to think that somewhere I heard tat one can hit the backside of wood parts to keep the broken bits together.  Apparently, my remembery was wrong.  Then I noticed that the window cut outs were different.  Same size, but different heights.  Time to start over.

So, I went through my inventory and found that I don't have wide scribed siding, but I have car siding and 1x4 material.  I now noticed that I build them for hinges and not for sliding.  I'll fix them tomorrow.

So the next hunt for soon-to-be-red parts went after the scale house parts.  I managed to slowly find various parts and get them glued up, and wound up at the end sections.  Remember when I needed four pieces and only had three and none of them matched?  Well, here we are again.  The peaked pieces are okay, as are the side pieces.  But what's off are the two horizontal rectangular pieces one on each end.  I could rob the lower right one and fiddle and split the shortfall under the left sloped piece, but then I now wold be be two pieces short.  I do not have any 6" clapboard.  I got some 3", no 6" and I'd still be futzing to get parts to fit.  So, I'll see how long it'll take Northeast Scale Lumber to get me some clapboard material.  And just work around this part.
Bob Dye
Livin large on a pond

ReadingBob

Quite a project Bob!  I'm following along with interest.  I still have a few Campbell kits in the stash but haven't built one in over 30, maybe 40 years.   ::)  :o
Bob Butts
robertbutts1@att.net

There's a fine line between Hobby and Mental Illness.

Jerry

Bob your doing a fine job on this one.


I'll follow along also.


Jerry
"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." A. Lincoln

Oldguy

Thanks all for the comments.

Now it was time to apply the ubiquitous Campbell corner pieces. Since the walls still have a slight bow, I had to do this front side down and add either a weight or strong magnet until the glue caught.

One thing to pay attention to is the corner bevels needed for the elevator shoulders.  I was a simple matter of extending the slope line and cut carefully so as not to go all the way through.  Just the outer corner.
With glue drying, I painted the plastic bits.  I had a window that came with a broken mullion that couldn't be fixed.  So it would give me the oppotrunity to have a broken window.  This kit , as with most of their older ones, does not come with any window material.  So on to the clear plastic folder.Found a strip and come to find out, I could make a long thin strip and it would fit all openings.  I just couldn't get the hank of making a "broken" window pane, so I just removed the affected section.  I used a thin strip from a wood carrier sheet from the grain mill kit and used it to make it look like the window was boarded up.  I would love to show it, but I just can't seem to find it.  Sounds weird, but it simply vanished.

I did get the new sliding doors to look like sliding doors with appropriate bracing.

There isn't much I could do until tomorrow, so I thought I'd share some of the templates that came with the kit.  Most normal, people would have tacked these down on a flat board.  In the past I used an old drafting board, but the templates are printed on both sides, so that was out.  You might notice some illustrations without any surface detail.  That is because, these are from the inside out.  Those showing clapboard or scribed detail are external views.  This can get rather confusing at time and required flipping the large illustration sheets many times.  And since these were done before the days of computers, it is a testiment to the skill of the draft person to keep everything correct.


There is one sheet for the foundation and floors.  Even here they show the parts represented.
Bob Dye
Livin large on a pond

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