Superior & Seattle Railroad Build (Volume 3) Started 7/27/19

[postalkarl]

John:

I really love that chicken coop.

Karl

[S&S RR]

Awesome pics, John!  Love the peacock and the landing bird on the implement.  Great farm scene. 

Jeff

Jeff


Thank you for kind encouraging words. Now, it's on to my next build.

[S&S RR]

You had to position that chopping block for all those poor birds to watch on? What a cruel maker you are!

Craig


Actually, when that chopping block is being used the chickens would all be in the coop. Especially after the farmer chased down the chicken heading for the dinner table.

[S&S RR]

John:

I really love that chicken coop.

Karl

Karl


Thank you, my friend. 

[S&S RR]

Update:  Life has been getting in the way of my modeling the past few weeks.  I have managed only a couple hours here and there.  I hope to get back at it later this week.

[Dennis Bourey]

Life does that my friend. It trows us curve ball's every now and then.

[Janbouli]

Hope you get back to modeling again soon John , mite be the bet way to loose your sorrows and take your mind elsewhere.

[S&S RR]

Life does that my friend. It trows us curve ball's every now and then.

Dennis


Yes it does, we need to power through them.

[S&S RR]

Hope you get back to modeling again soon John , mite be the bet way to loose your sorrows and take your mind elsewhere.

Jan


I hope to get back to the workbench tomorrow and I think it will really help me heal from the events of the past month. Thank you for following along.

[S&S RR]

I took the lid off the box and got started on my SRMW Sayles Mill build, today.  The first step is to complete the positioning of the base board on the layout and make the necessary changes.



Here is a picture of the site for this build on my layout.  The baseboard is built for option 1 in the Sayles Mill directions. As always, I will be making a few changes.  The biggest will be to add the landforms on this side of the mill pond. The structures that will go between the mill site and the mainline track also have to be planned before starting the build.  I will be doing some mockups to determine line of site etc. My first step is to markup some pictures on my iPad - a great project when I'm traveling.





I ended up the day with the baseboard on my workbench starting to do some dry wall section setups to establish build heights and final building arrangement.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Another great kit, John.

Should look fantastic against that backdrop.

Cheers, Mark.

[S&S RR]

Another great kit, John.

Should look fantastic against that backdrop.

Cheers, Mark.

Thank you, Mark. I'm currently working on a digital mockup on my iPad. The vision in my head has FSM's Baron Gould Tannery just upstream from the mill on the same level as the mill. Directly below the mill pond will be Duffy's Coal combined with the I.M. Dunn buildings.  There will probably be some negative elevation below the lower main line.
Right along the mountain side between the rocks and the river will be the main building from SRMW O. V. Hooker & son with the back stairway and bridge leading to a pathway along the hill side. This is all the back section of the town of Vansel. The footprints all fit nicely, but I need to work out the elevations so that it all looks right and there is a view of each of the buildings from the main aisle.


Continuing with the vision there will be an upper and lower level to Vansel with train access to the mainline and passing siding downstairs from the passenger station upstairs.  Picture the Franklin Station on the F&SM with and inside curve to the track instead of the outside curve.  I believe the original concept for this comes from John Allen. The station is going to be the GN station that C. C. Crow came out with as his second kit many years ago. I just recently got him to make me a set of castings. The station will be surrounded by many smaller buildings and businesses with some elevation to the town streets to make everything visible. I have spent many hours visualizing the town of Franklin on the F&SM and the town of Vansel will have many similar features. As I mentioned I'm trying to do the mockup digitally on my iPad, but if needed, I will build a clay and cardboard mockup.  I will post some drafts of the plan as I get something to look at. At this point it's all just in my head along with a lot of questions to be answered. As the ideas have been generated I have made cardboard footprints of the buildings for the kits mentioned above so I have a general plan with the footprints of each building worked out.  The key now is to get the elevations to work without crating view blocks.


 Another idea that will be tested in this area is to create a removable bridge, for me, where I can crawl over the buildings in the front of this scene and access the area in the back of the scene without damaging anything. Originally, there was a hatch in this area but it just got too complicated to continue with that plan with all the elevation changes that I want to create. This concept is not new, Micro Mart sells a creeper with legs that slide under the layout to support your weight.  I will be providing support with legs that have screw bases hidden in the scenery. I will be using the bridge to work in this area with only the track work to protect at first. This will be a good test for when I need to install it over the structures to do maintenance work that will be out of reach from the aisle.

[Judge]

John - the farmer will be very unhappy when he learns that peacocks are terrible.  They are big birds and their "leavings" are stinky.  Also, they screech at night and sound like a woman being attacked.  Additionally, they like to roost on pool screens or roofs.  They will come up next to your car and, upon seeing their reflection in the paint, will peck spots of paint off the area.  We had them in our neighborhood and it was a real problem getting rid of them. 

[postalkarl]

Hey John:

Looking good so far. I'll be following along.

Karl

[Mark Dalrymple]

Thanks for the mental picture, John.

I look forward to the iPad renderings.  It sounds like it will be a lot of fun to create.  My friend, Neil, has a home built creeper that sounds similar to what you are looking at building.

Cheers, Mark.