FOS Bandits Roost

Started by Opa George, October 14, 2019, 08:05:32 PM

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Mark Dalrymple

Looking forward to your progress, Jerry.

Cheers, Mark.

postalkarl

Hey George:

It's looking more and more like a building. Great job so far.

Karl

Opa George

Thanks Jerry, Mark and Karl!  I appreciate it.

Holiday preparations have kept us busy lately, but yesterday and today I got some work done.  The road from Cold Bottom to Bandit's Roost is laid out and has a sub layer of cardboard. The wood shops will have vehicle access at the top, with stairs, decks and hoists providing access to the lower levels. See the overall birds-eye-view below.


Although I have spent most of my time in figuring out and constructing the narrow, hilly road, I did have time to get back to some detailing on the buildings.  They still lack porches, rain gutters and downspouts, chimneys, vents, etc, etc.  Lots of detail to go on yet.  But now that I have the nagging terrain questions mostly worked out, I can return to the actual kit.

Below is a closeup of the covered alley that runs beneath the shops.  The road surface is Chooch cobblestones, and the rest of the roadway will probably continue in that material.  I needed to cover the road surface first before building the timber supports that hold up the shops.  This is definitely a "low clearance" area, made originally for wagons. It has a ton of detailing possibilities.  Also visible is the carboard tube that makes up the culvert interior.  This size tube matches the Woodland Scenics culvert perfectly. Once scenicked, only the interior of the tube will be visible. But as this will be close to eye level, you will be able to see all the way under the factory complex to the industrial pond on the other side.


It is "coming along."
--George

jerryrbeach

George,

Very innovative approach.  I really like the idea of an alley beneath the shops.  Looking forward to your continued progress. 
Jerry

Mark Dalrymple

Looking good, Jerry.

As the door is at floor level you'll need joists and bearers to support the structure.  If the bearers are timber they will need to be pretty substantial.  I would think at least 6"x2" joists and 12"x2" bearers. 

I found a photo I took of a Baldwin street sign a few years back - thought it might be of some interest.

Cheers, Mark.


Opa George

Thanks, Jerry, and thanks, Mark, particularly for the bracing advice.  I have some 6" x 2" stock for joists, and am thinking of using 1/8" square strip wood for the bearers--but really weather, scribe and chew it up to resemble really old rough-cut timbers. This will cut my headroom down by about 3/16 inch, but it should still be enough to make it a believable underpass.  ("Low bridge, everybody down!").

George

JimF

Hi Mark. He's being too polite to mention it, but it is George who is doing the build, not Jerry. Jerry is just the head cheerleader :) (just teasing, Jerry)

George, looking really, really cool. Nice work around to reduce the steepness, but still glad my old legs don't have to hike it lol

Looking forward to your further progress.

Jim

postalkarl

Hey George:

Looking good. Can't wait to see more.

Karl

Mark Dalrymple

So sorry George!  Looking tremendous!

Cheers, Mark.

Opa George

Thanks, Jim, Karl and Mark.  And no worries, Mark. Call me anything but late for dinner.

So I have begun filling in the skeleton of the hill around the mill work shops. No photos, much of it is hard to see anyway. I expect I won't be able to begin the next structure in this kit, the 5-story factory, until after Christmas.

I did start adding the support beams underneath the covered alleyway. It's a bit of reverse engineering and kind of like building a ship in a bottle, but that's my fault. The idea to make a covered alley did not occur to me until after the structure was glued to the base.

I did have time to design a new sign for the shops.  Since I used woodworking machines for the interior, I needed to change it from a machine shop to a wood working operation, and thus needed a new sign.  I found some examples online and created the two signs below in MS Word. The random black shape outside of the border will be trimmed off when I cut them out to apply.


George

rpdylan

its looking really good-- that is pretty steep up from the gas station, almost like you could run another switchback up to where the road makes that sharp left (the upper switchback), put a set of concrete stairs in from the gas station to the second building...  its really interesting visually what you are doing!
Bob C.

Opa George

Bob, thanks for your comments. I pretty much agreed with everyone that the first part of the road was too steep, so I lessened the grade from the gas station to the alley. I like the overall appearance of the road more, now.  Today (after a week off from modeling for work and holiday preparations) I began laying the cobblestone road from Cold Bottom, the town at the bottom of the hill, to the summit town of Bandit's Roost. I am using Chooch cobblestone streets for this. Below is an overall view.



I think if my roads were nice and straight, my pieced together edges would look more seamless.  But this road is angled every which way, and I can see I have some work ahead of me in hiding some seams with weeds and dirt. No problem.



I ran out of cobblestone roadway, so finishing the top will need to wait until I can purchase some more. But I have plenty to do in the meantime with constructing the various decks and stairs to give access to the middle two sections of the mill. That, and still lots of detail to add to the mill before moving on to the showpiece of the kit, the 5-story factory.

I thought I would be further along about  now, as the big "part two" of this build is putting the Rust Rock Falls complex on the summit next to Bandit's Roost.  Rust Rock Falls is arriving via Santa Claus tonight, so I am clearly behind schedule.  Ah, well--it's nice to be blessed with lots of modeling work ahead of me.

--George

jerryrbeach

George,

I like the roads with the switchback.  The grade change seemed extreme to me when I first saw the structures, but you have done a masterful job of designing the road in a believable way.  This is already exciting, and I am really looking forward to how Rust Rock Falls fits into the scene.
Jerry

PRR Modeler

Great modeling George.  I really like the elevation in this build.
Curt Webb
The Late Great Pennsylvania Railroad
Freelanced PRR Bellevue Subdivision

rpdylan

Hi George!
    Looking good!

      the road in front of the rope store looks a lot better in your latest photos, extending the road out where the gas station makes it look much more do-able for driving a car up it! the bottom of that upper switch-back (the upper left corner of the photos)... is it the angle of the camera/photo?.... it looks as if the bottom of that last hill could be leveled off just a bit more?..... or maybe you are still working on the road underlayment?.....

    Its really coming along nicely, lots of character and interest--- great job!
Bob C.

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