I thought that I would get in on the fun of the Winter Challenge 2024. I'm waiting for delivery of a Jason Jenson Trains kit- Sonny Pruitt Truck Repair. This kit will go on a pie shaped area of my layout that I have wanted to improve upon for a while. This will not be a stand alone diorama, but instead the kit will be built on a styrene base that will fit the area on my layout.
Here is a picture of the area that the "diorama" will fit into.
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I will first have to clear the area and then scrape off any existing ground cover so that I will have a smooth base to work on. Can't wait to get started. That's it for now, more later.
Looking forward to your build Jeff.
Tom
Welcome to the Challenge Jeff, thanks for joining.
Jim
I'll be keeping an eye on this one as well! Should be fun!
Hello Tom, Jim and Bob, thanks for looking in. I've been on sort of a break from the hobby- real life has a way of butting in. I'm looking forward to getting the juices flowing again with the Winter Challenge and am looking forword to all of your builds as well.
I'll be looking in also Jeff..... :)
Hello Greg, thanks for looking in. I'm off to a slow start here while I'm waiting for the kit to arrive in the mail.
I got a text that my kit has shipped- that's good news. I better get started on the base.
After clearing the area and scraping up the ground cover , I cut some newspaper to the size of the space.
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The next step is to cut the sheet styrene to the size of the space. This will allow me to do the work on the workbench and then place the completed assembly onto the layout and then only have to blend the scenery around the edges.
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Now that the base sheet is on my bench I can begin to play around with the placement of the kit in the space. I cut a piece of paper to the footprint size of the kit per the website. The kit is 10x3.5 inches.
The base, with the 3 inch short side at the bottom, is 20 inches on the left, 19 inches across the top and 18 inches on the right. As you can see, the main kit structure will only take up a small portion of the space. I plan on a loading ramp to the siding on the left as well as at least one outbuiulding that I will scratchbuild.
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Most of the space will be a gravel parking area for trucks and construction equipment. I do plan on some concrete areas around the main structure. The indent on the bottom of the base in the above pictures is where the paved road ends at the entrance to the area. There will also be some fencing around the perimeter. I have lots of time to play around withg how everything will fit into the space.
That's it for now, more later.
Using the newspaper to fit the space is a great idea. I built my last diorama on 3/8 in gatorfoam and it's much better than trying to deal and detail at the workbench versus the layout. Hope your kit arrives soon.
Jeff
Its a decent sized area when you see it on your cutting mat, Jeff. Much bigger than it appears on your layout. I would imagine a styrene base that size will be quite flexible. Looking forward to the arrival of the kit.
Cheers, Mark.
Hello Jeff, I've been using styrene bases for my builds for quite some time now. It is much more convenient to work on the whole scene at the bench rather than on the layout. The rules of the Winter Challenge requiring us to build a diorama fit right into what I usually do.
Hello Mark, you're right, the base does look smaller when on the layout. I didn't realize it until you pointed it out. You are also correct about the size of the base being flexible. I haven't used this method on this large a base before- I guess we'll see what happens together. Usually when I glue the structure onto the base if firms the whole thing up. Since this time I will have a good portion of the scene as open parking space I'm not sure what will happen.
Waiting for kits to arrive in the mail is always nerve racking. The excitement of ordering the kit and then having to wait for it to arrive. We want them to be there the next day!
Jeff,
Looks like you have plenty of real estate for the truck repair. I'm looking forward to your build.
Tom
Hello Tom, thanks for looking in. Yes, I do have lots of space to work with. I was kind of surprised myself when I cleaned up the area and cut the styrene base. I have several ideas that I'm working on. I've started to scratch build an outbuilding while waiting for the main kit to arrive. Pictures soon, I hope.
Jeff,
I'm a fan of Jason's kits and am looking forward to watching you not only build the kit, but also pull the scene together.
Hello Jerry, this will be my first kit from Jason. I'm looking forward to the build.
Continuing on...
The kit hasn't arrived yet so I decided to start with one of the outbuildings that I plan for the scene.
Since the outbuilding will be a scratchbuild, I start as always with a scale drawing.
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I started with a wood foundation made from 3/32 stripwood. The structure will consist of three stalls- each end stall will have a wood floor and the middle will have a dirt floor.
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The wood floors are made of the same 3/32 stripwood.
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Here I've started on the rear wall. I placed the studs on 2 foot centers. I know that in the real world they should be on 16 inch centers, but for modeling sake the 2 foot centers look just fine to me.
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I'm using 2x10 stripwood for the wall cladding.
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Here is the rear wall with all of the cladding installed. I left an area with a broken piece of cladding near the bottom. I want this outbuilding to look functional, but well used.
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Here is the front wall. I used the 3/32 stripwood for the posts and beams and some of the 2x10 for the vertical areas. I left a scale 8 foot tall opening for the end stalls.
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Here I'm gluing the front and rear walls onto the base. I'm using a magnetic gluing tray from Micro Mark and some 1x2x3 blocks. I use the magnetic tray when assembling walls all the time now. It makes the process so much easier. The tray is not that expensive and it is worth every penny. The 1x2x3 blocks are a little pricey, but they are also worth the money. I use mine all the time since I got them.
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I got so involved in the build that I didn't take pictures of the side wall assembly process. Here's a picture of the shed with the end walls installed, the whole shed stained with my A&I solution and finall drybrushed with som red craft paint.
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The shed roof for my little outbuilding structure is cardboard with 3/8 inch red construction paper cut into 3/8 inch strips. In keeping with the well used theme, the roof has some damage. I glued some 2x8 stripwood on the underside of the cardboard for the exposed roof rafters. You can also see the damaged rear wall cladding.
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Here's a picture of the shed as complete as it will be at this stage. There will be more weathering and detailing later.
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I stopped working on the outbuilding because- the kit arrived !!!
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That's it for now, more later when we get started on the kit.
Jeff,
You're off to a great start. That shed has a lot of character. You've captured the look of an outbuilding that is still useful, but nearing the end of its life without some serious repairs.
Nice dilapidated shed Jeff.....looking forward to the rest of your build..... 8)
Jeff,
The shed looks terrible, as it should. Great job making it look rundown.
Tom
Great job on the shed, Jeff! It looks terrific. :)
Quote from: jerryrbeach on December 08, 2024, 08:54:40 AMJeff,
You're off to a great start. That shed has a lot of character. You've captured the look of an outbuilding that is still useful, but nearing the end of its life without some serious repairs.
Hello Jerry, thanks for the kind words
Quote from: GPdemayo on December 08, 2024, 09:36:50 AMNice dilapidated shed Jeff.....looking forward to the rest of your build..... 8)
Hello Greg, appreciate you looking in. I'm anxious to get started on the kit as well
Quote from: ACL1504 on December 08, 2024, 11:32:39 AMJeff,
The shed looks terrible, as it should. Great job making it look rundown.
Tom
Hello Tom, I tried to make the shed look well used. I've learned some of the techniques here on the forum from you and other fine modelers
Quote from: ReadingBob on December 09, 2024, 10:11:22 AMGreat job on the shed, Jeff! It looks terrific. :)
Hello Bob, sometimes the small little builds are the most fun
Here are the contents of the kit. I always check to make sure that everything is included. In this case I found that one small sheet of wood parts was missing. I contacted Jason and told him about the missing piece and he responded quickly and told me that the missing piece was on the way. It's nice when you can get good customer service.
There are two main structures in this kit that kind of fold into one another. One is a fiberboard or taskboard wall build with tab and slot style construction. The other is laser cut wood.
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Per the instructions I started out with the fiberboard wall structure. The parts fit together well. The short walls are the foundation for the wood wall structure.
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It seemed strange to me that the walls went together without any bracing. I figured that I could add it after the fact if necessary, but there was no warping at all. I sprayed the assembled structure with rattle can flat grey primer.
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This part of the build is supposed to have a stucco finish. I sponged on some of this chalk paint rather heavily to get the stucco look.
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Here is the structure after the chalk paint dried. I'm going to sand the walls lightly and then add some more "stucco" where needed. As the pictures show I have some small gaps at the tab and slot areas that need filling.
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I should note that this is not a kit for beginners. I think having some experience with craftsman kits is a plus here. The instructions, though well done, are not as detailed as they could be. Without having done previous kits the modeler might be left guessing what the next step should be. This is not meant as a criticism, just a warning. Personally, I'm am enjoying building this kit so far.
I should also note that Jason has done an exceptional video on assembling this kit on his You-Tube channel if you are interseted.
That's it for now, more later.
Jeff,
Great start and I agree not all manufacturer instructions are adequate for the average modeler.
I've purchased kits in the past and, if I was a beginner it would stay on the shelf - FOREVER! 8)
I'll catch the video when time permits.
For everyone's convenience here is the link to Janson's video. It is 46 minutes long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDK_IZTYEmk
Tom
Hello Tom, thanks for looking in and also for posting the link to Jason's video build of this kit. I'd have done it myself, but my limited technical skills prevented me.
Continuing on...
Per the diagram in the instructions I braced the walls. Jason advises placing the bracing horizontally because of the vertical cuts in the siding pieces. I also added some additional bracing, because I always do.
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Next I stained the walls with my A&I solution. You can also see that I stained the stripwood for the building's trim.
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I drybrushed a coat of Cocoa Bean, a light brown, on the walls and followed that with an even lighter coat of Antique Gold. I like the natural wood look that this combination gives me.
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This picture shows the top wall piece with the brown and gold colors applied and the bottom pieces with just the brown.
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I sprayed the sheet with the doors and windows with a dark grey primer and then sponged on a Heritage Brick red color. I followed the red with a light coat of a light grey craft paint for the peeled paint look.
I then glued in the doors and windows. This is an area of the instructions that is a little bit lacking. The instructions just say to glue the doors and windows in- that's it. If these were plastic Tichy type doors and windows that would be enough, but these are three or four part units with the door and window frames fitting inside the opening in the wall piece.
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Because I've done several of this type of kit before, I knew to cut an oversize piece of acetate and glue that on the inside surface of the wall. The acetate provided with the kit was a thin, flexible material so I decided to go another way. I used part of the clear plastic container that the kit came in since it is thicker and stronger. This gives me a firmer base to glue the window frame into. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to glue the window frame into the opening by applying glue to the sides of the frame and hoping that it would adhere to the sides of the wall opening. By gluing the acetate to the inside wall surface you can then apply glue to the back of the frame and then place it into the opening onto the surface of the acetate.
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I used some colored paper that I had on hand for the window shades.
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That's it for now, more later.
Post-it notes makes a nice yellow window shade color, and I've found it will fade prototypically over time :-)
dave
Looks like a good start on the structure. I like the color scheme.
Jeff
Looking good Jeff..... 8)
Quote from: deemery on December 13, 2024, 02:25:39 PMPost-it notes makes a nice yellow window shade color, and I've found it will fade prototypically over time :-)
dave
Hello Dave, you're right, I've used yellow post-it notes for window shades in the past.
Quote from: Zephyrus52246 on December 13, 2024, 04:30:36 PMLooks like a good start on the structure. I like the color scheme.
Jeff
Hello Jeff, thanks for looking in. I'm having fun with this build, Jason has done a great job with the design.
Quote from: GPdemayo on December 14, 2024, 08:09:56 AMLooking good Jeff..... 8)
Hello Greg, appreciate the kind words.
Great start Jeff. The shed really came out nice.
Jerry
Hello Jerry, thanks for looking in and for the kind words
Continuing on...
The large entry door to the stucco building comes in two parts- four if you count the man door that inserts into the door opening in the large door. The parts were first sprayed with a flat red primer and then sponged with a light grey and a bittersweet chocolate for a rust effect. I then added a few small signs.
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I also added a few signs to the front of the wood building
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Next I started to glue the walls together using the lines on my cutting mat to keep things square.
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The walls fit together well. I thought that I might have problems fitting everything together with the odd shape of the walls, but things went together easily.
A look at the rear wall of the wood building. More detail will be added later in the build.
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The last wood wall is the short one with three windows that fits between the front and rear walls at the second story level. Again, everything fit together easily.
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The two buildings have been glued together. All fit well except for the left side wall overhang on the foundation. I'm not sure if this was my error or not.The tabs on the top of the wood walls fit into the slots on the stucco walls as they should have and the foundation is square under the wood walls. It's not a problem because my plan for the loading dock will cover this area.
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Two of the roof cards with rolled roofing material added are shown here and the large sliding door has been glued in place. I wanted to leave this door open to show an interior space. I used a piece of 1/16 plywood for the floor and painted it with a grey chalk paint. I then added some weathering chalks for oil spills and tire marks. I also added a couple of interior details just to give the appearance of a busy interior.
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Here's a look at the rear walls after the buildings were glued together.
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That's it for now, more later.
Jeff,
The truck service is looking good.
Tom
Hello Tom, I appreciate you looking in, also I'm really enjoying your build thread.
Continuing on...
The three main roof cards have been glued on. The holes in the right hand side roof are for a skylight which will be added later. I used some different colored paper for some of the roofing to give the large roof area a little variety. It is meant to show that the roof was patched in some areas.
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Here's a closer look at the front wall. The small holes in the wood wall are for some roof support brackets for a small roof over the front loading dock. The corner trim pieces have been added as well as some 2x4 stripwood at the top of the walls at the roof line.
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The kit is coming along nicely. The juxtaposition of the two buildings is what drew me to this kit in the first place. In this picture you can really see the overhang of the left side wall on the foundation. I'm still not sure what caused this, but as you will see shortly I plan on extending the loading dock area to cover this area.
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The kit comes with a loading dock that fits along the front of the wood building wall. I decided to make my loading dock a bit larger, so that means a scratchbuilt one. As with all of my scratchbuilds, the first step is a scale drawing. You can see the outlines of my new, larger loading dock in the picture.
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I started my loading dock build with some 3/32 square stripwood as a frame. I built right on top of my drawing to insure that the dock would fit properly against the building.
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Next I used some 2x8 stripwood for the loading dock floor. I distressed each board slightly to show normal wear and tear of a used daily work space. The metal square was used to make sure that the boards lined up evenly where they will abut the building.
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The boards have all been glued on the frame. I built the larger loading dock for several reasons. First, because I have a lot of space for this build I had the room for a larger dock and it covers the wall overhang on the foundation. Secondly, it gives me more room for detail castings, which is always a good thing.
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Next it was time to flip the dock over and begin the underside portion of the scratchbuild. I used the same 3/32 square stripwood for the dock's legs as I used for the frame.
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Thtat's it for now, more later.
Continuing on...
The next step in the construction of the loading dock was to add bracing between the legs. I used 2x4 stripwood for this. It's a lot of measuring and cutting of small pieces, but I think that it's worth it.
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A little closer look at the bottom of the loading dock.
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Getting back to the main building, it was time to place the skylight in place. The skylight, as it comes in the kit, is a three piece part.
First a bottom frame, then the acetate and finally the top frame. All the parts were first sprayed with flat grey primer. I then sponged on the red trim color that I have used throughout the build. I again used a piece of the kit container top for the "glass".
After everything was glued in place, I felt that a wood frame around the skylight would improve the overall look of the part. I used some of the trim stripwood that came with the kit for this.
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On the right side of the main building is an open work bay. The four metal roof trusses were sprayed with the red primer and then sponged with some bittersweet chocolate for a rust look.
You can see the mounting holes in the side of the main building wall and also the concrete strip for the bottom of the truss legs.
I decided not to assemble this part of the kit until I have mounted it on the diorama base. I figured that I would just break it if I did it now.
You can also see in this picture a row of vertical pipes mounted in a concrete base whose purpose is to protect the large sliding metal door. This is a nicely designed detail that comes with the kit.
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The last part of the open work bay is the roof. The roof card comes scribed with some lines on which to glue some thin fiberboard strips meant to mimic a standing seam metal roof. In his video, Jason made this a copper roof and I decided to do the same thing. I had some copper paint that I brushed on the roof card. I then drybrushed on some light green craft paint for the copper weathering look and some more of the bittersweet chocolate for a rust effect.
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Because I liked the look of the open work bay that came with the kit, I decided that a similiar looking stand alone structure would fit right into my diorama. I used some styrene roof trusses from another kit and some styrene shape pieces for the wall framing.
As with all my scratchbuilds, I first drew a scale plan for the structure.
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While building the open work bay, I made it a little shorter than the drawing and also changed the wall bracing.
The piece in front of the assembled work bay is the framework for an overhead crane.
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The work bay framework has been assembled and the overhead crane has been glued in place. I sprayed the whole thing with a flat red primer, then sponged on some rust and finally drybrushed the whole thing with a silver craft paint to highlight the edges of the pieces.
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A couple more pictures of the metal framed work bay.
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I plan on adding a few more deatils to this little structure, such as some chain hanging down from the overhead crane and some detail castings when it is glued onto the diorama base.
That's it for now, more later.
Jeff,
You are moving right along on this one. The small extra shed you built looks great. Well done.
Tom
Jeff, had to check jasonjensentrains.com to see a photo of your kit that you are working on. Did not know that he had a large selection available. Like it because it has different lines....Tommy
Quote from: ACL1504 on December 28, 2024, 01:31:32 PMJeff,
You are moving right along on this one. The small extra shed you built looks great. Well done.
Tom
Hello Tom, thanks for looking in and for the nice words about my little shed. I'm having a lot of fun with this diorama build. I wanted the outbuildings to have some relation to the main kit building and I think that this open bay structure fits in well with the open bay work area on the end of the main building.
Quote from: tom.boyd.125 on January 01, 2025, 05:50:24 PMJeff, had to check jasonjensentrains.com to see a photo of your kit that you are working on. Did not know that he had a large selection available. Like it because it has different lines....Tommy
Hello Tommy, I agree with you, the different lines of the structure and the way the two main components of the kit fit together is the main reason I was drawn to the kit. Jason has done a great job with the design of this one.
Continuing on...
Along with truck repairs, this business also deals with heavy equipment. I have built several pieces of heavy equipment from metal kits and enjoyed doing them. So, I needed a place to put them on the layout. In my little world the heavy equipment is moved around on trains, of course, and so the business needed a way to get the equipment onto a train car. Hence the ramp. I had previously built a quick and easy ramp and decided to upgrade it for this diorama build. Here I've started to cover the ramp's surface with 2x12 stripwood.
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Using full strength white glue the 2x12 boards went on easily. I roughed up the boards with my #11 blade to weather them.
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I brushed on some of my A&I solution to darken the boards. This is as far as I will go with the ramp until it has been placed on the diorama on the layout. I need to position it close to the tracks and I can't do that until the diorama is in it's permanent position on the layout.
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Now that all of the sub-assemblies have been done, it's time to work on the diorama base. I used a thin piece of sheet styrene for the base cut to the size of the area on my layout. Also, since the Winter Challenge is for dioramas I needed to do it this way to conform to the contest rules.
Here the footprints of the main kit building and the other scratchbuilt out buildings have been outlined with blue painters tape. This allows me to get the first layers of scenery done on the base on my workbench and also insures that the structures have a clean surface for gluing them onto the base.
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Here I've started to apply the scenery layers. I first brush on some brown craft paint. I then sprinkle on some sifted dirt from my yard for the first layer of scenery. I then position some ground foam texture to the areas where appropriate. In this case, I also glued a casting from Downtown Deco of a pile of junk in the corner. I then dribble on a mixture of Mod Podge and water to hold everything in place.
This process allows me to have scenery right up to the edge of the structures before the structures are placed on the base and I am able to do all of this on my workbench. After the structures have been glued on a little touch up is usually necessary to fill in any gaps that are visible.
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As the pictures show I do the scenery in small areas at a time. When the benchwork scenery is done, I pull off the painters tape to expose the white sheet styrene below which gives me a clean gluing surface for the structures.
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The first layers of scenery are done. The next step is to glue down the structures. I can add more scenery after the base has been placed on the layout. Scenic features such as fences and power and light poles are easier to figure out when the structures are in place.
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The first out building, the work shed is in place. I've glued a few detail castings inside the covered bays and placed a truck in the middle work bay. I've also started to place some detail castings around the outside of the structure.
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Here are a couple of pictures of the open metal framed work structure in it's place on the diorama. As you can see, I've placed some castings inside and around the structure. Some metal chains have been added to the overhead crane.
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I'm pleased with the progress of this build so far. Jason's kit was a good starting point for my overall diorama.
That's it for now, more later.
Jeff,
The build and overall scene is looking great. I really like the job you did on the scratch built shed.
Tom
Looking good, Jeff.
Loving those trusses!
Cheers, Mark.
Great looking structures!
Quote from: ACL1504 on January 08, 2025, 03:37:29 PMJeff,
The build and overall scene is looking great. I really like the job you did on the scratch built shed.
Tom
Hello Tom, thank you for the kind words. I'm having a lot of fun with this diorama build.
Quote from: Mark Dalrymple on January 14, 2025, 06:40:24 PMLooking good, Jeff.
Loving those trusses!
Cheers, Mark.
Hello Mark, glad that you like my build thread. I can't take full credit for the trusses. I did not scratch build them. They came from a Walthers kit that I dis-assembled.
Quote from: Philip on January 14, 2025, 07:18:14 PMGreat looking structures!
Hello Phillip, thanks for looking in. I enjoy scratch building and the small structures always seem to be the most fun to build.
Continuing on...
The main building has been glued to the base as well as the expanded loading dock and the open work bay.
Here's a view of the front of the scratchbuilt expanded loading dock with a few detail castings added. The roof-top sign is also visible here. The sign is a nicely designed detail and I got a few tips on it's assembly from the video that Jason did on this kit.
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And a view of the side of the loading dock
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A look at the rear wall. I didn't do much detail work here because this side won't be seen when I place the diorama on thge layout.
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The open bay work area has been glued in place. Jason did a great job with the design and making of the many pieces that make up this part of the kit. Everything fit together well and I am very pleased with how it looks.
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A view of the front of the open work bay and the line of safety posts in front of the large sliding metal door. This was another little detail that was well designed and fit together easily.
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That's it for now, more later.
Jeff,
Your build and diorama are coming along very nicely. Love all the details.
Great job so far.
Tom
Outstanding modeling Jeff.
Nice work with ton's of details!
Howdy Jeff, nice work on the structure. You've complemented it well with details, too. Congrats. Have fun, mike
Jeff, you're doing a fantastic job building this diorama.
Some good tips and tricks included along the way.
Nice painting and weathering on everything.
Quote from: ACL1504 on January 19, 2025, 12:12:48 PMJeff,
Your build and diorama are coming along very nicely. Love all the details.
Great job so far.
Tom
Hello Tom, sorry for the late reply. Thanks for looking in and for the kind words and I'm really enjoying your build thread as well.
Quote from: PRR Modeler on February 08, 2025, 01:46:23 PMOutstanding modeling Jeff.
Hello Curt, thank you so much and as far as outstanding modeling goes- right back at you. Your mine build thread is great.
Quote from: Philip on February 08, 2025, 05:26:50 PMNice work with ton's of details!
Hello Phillip, thank you for looking in on my build thread. I like to add lots of details- they make the builds come alive.
Quote from: friscomike on February 09, 2025, 10:03:39 AMHowdy Jeff, nice work on the structure. You've complemented it well with details, too. Congrats. Have fun, mike
Hello Mike, I am having fun with this build. It's what our hobby is all about. If it's not fun, why do it.
Quote from: Rick on February 09, 2025, 10:10:32 AMJeff, you're doing a fantastic job building this diorama.
Some good tips and tricks included along the way.
Nice painting and weathering on everything.
Hello Rick, thank you for the nice compliments. I have seen many great build threads here on the forum and I try to follow suit with my builds as to sharing any ideas and techniques that I think others may enjoy and learn from. That's what this forum is all about.
I've been working on my diorama and have some pictures to share and catch everybody up on my build. Posts coming soon, I hope. I hate it when real life intrudes on my hobby time.
Continuing on...
The first layers of scenery have been laid down on the diorama base and the structures have been glued on the base as well.
Here are some pictures of the four sides of the diorama before it is planted on the layout.
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The main building , which is a kit from Jason Jenson, went together well and I would definitely recommend his kits to other modelers that have experience in craftsman kits. His kits are not for beginners. The only kit bashing I did here was to make the loading dock quite a bit larger.
I scratch built the other structures on the diorama. The shed with the damaged roof is made from stripwood and the open work bay is made from styrene shapes. The junkpile in the corner of the diorama is a cast plaster piece from Downtown Deco.
The wood ramp has not been glued down to the base yet. I have to wait until the base is placed on the layout so that I can line up the ramp with the adjoining track.
That's it for now, more later.
Don't let the town building code inspectors find out that the wall studs are on 24" centers instead of 16"
They might withhold the certificate of accupancy!
Dave
On the icey North Coast
That's a nice looking building.
Jeff,
Very nice diorama and structures.
Tom
Outstanding!
Howdy Jeff,
The diorama looks fantastic. Nice work scratchbuilding and kitbashing.
Have fun,
mike
Jeff very nice. Great building , detailed and scenery!!
Jerry
Quote from: Dave Buchholz on February 16, 2025, 08:24:22 AMDon't let the town building code inspectors find out that the wall studs are on 24" centers instead of 16"
They might withhold the certificate of accupancy!
Dave
On the icey North Coast
Hello Dave, I'm not to worried about the local building inspector. The shed will probably fall down before he gets to it.
Quote from: KentuckySouthern on February 16, 2025, 08:38:07 AMThat's a nice looking building.
Hello KS, thanks for looking in and for the nice words. Jason did a great job on the design of this kit.
Quote from: ACL1504 on February 16, 2025, 09:13:31 AMJeff,
Very nice diorama and structures.
Tom
Hello Tom, thank you.
Quote from: Rick on February 16, 2025, 09:46:03 AMOutstanding!
Hello Rick, thank you as well.
Quote from: friscomike on February 16, 2025, 10:32:21 AMHowdy Jeff,
The diorama looks fantastic. Nice work scratchbuilding and kitbashing.
Have fun,
mike
Hello Mike, thank you. I enjoy building craftsman kits, but I really enjoy kitbashing the kits and I especially enjoy scratchbuilding structures.
Quote from: Jerry on February 16, 2025, 01:25:52 PMJeff very nice. Great building , detailed and scenery!!
Jerry
Hello Jerry, I had a lot of fun with this diorama. Next up is to get it onto the layout.
A while back I discovered Woodland Scenics Scenic Details line of metal vehicle kits. I first tried the bulldozer kit and liked it so much I ordered another one as well as the road grader and the back hoe. These little kits offer a lot of entertainment and good results to the modeler. They come with minimal flash and they go together fairly easily using super glue. I first sprayed the parts with rattle can grey primer after cleaning them up of course. I then used craft paints for the final colors.
My favorite was the back hoe. Here are a few pics of my version. I used some brass wire instead of the black thread that comes with the kit.
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You can see pictures of the bulldozer and road grader kits in my diorama pictures.
Next time, the diorama lands on the layout.
Sorry Jeff but I can't see the photos.
Hello Curt, try looking again. I think that you posted just after I did. Sometimes that happens. I see them on the overall thread just fine.
I like that backhoe!
dave
That's a nicely detailed kit and I see why you like them.
Nice job putting it together.
Great looking backhoe..... 8)
There Curt put your glasses back on! :)
Jeff that's a nice looking backhoe.
Jerry
I guess I need to clean my glasses. 8) The backhoe looks great Jeff.
Hello Curt, Dave, Rick, Greg and Jerry. I'm glad that you all liked the backhoe. It was a fun little kit to work on. The other kits- the bulldozer and road grader were also of the same quality and reasonably priced. I recommend the Scenic Details kits to all. And Curt, I'm glad that you finally got to see the pics.
Continuing on....
The diorama has made it to the layout. I guess this means that it's not a diorama any longer- just another scene on the layout.
Here are a couple of drone views. The ramp has finally been glued into place along the siding. This means that the heavy equipment can now be loaded onto a flatcar for transport throughout my little world. I'm not sure how prototypical this is, but it seems to make sense to me and I am going to invoke Rule #1 if it isn't.
My whole heavy equipment fleet is pictured here. Both bulldozers, the road grader and of course the backhoe. I'm glad that they all now have a permanent home on the layout.
The siding is a busy place with boxcars coming and going for the pallet and crate company and the flatcars for transporting the heavy equipment.
The truck repair company fills the space right to the edges. This is a crowded industrial corner on the layout and I am very pleased with the overall look. I am planning on some more detailing for the alley behind the buildings to the right.
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As you can see here I had to cut the top edge of the ramp at a bit of an angle to fit the curve of the track in the siding.
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Here's a closer look over the top of the ramp. This view shows why I made the loading dock for the main building larger. The way the building is situated, the end of the building faces the aisle where most people will see it. I wanted this end of the building to be busier with more to look at.
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I had to stretch my arm over the layout to get a shot of the front of the main building. I think that the new scene fits in rather well with the rest of the buildings in this area. The underside of my upper level is visible at the top left.
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That's it for now, more later.
Wow, Jeff. It's perfect. Have fun, mike
Looks terrific, Jeff.
I really like the view from your stretched arm!
Cheers, Mark.
Jeff, that's a very good looking scene with all the details and vehicles.
Excellent layout scenes Jeff.
Just catching up on your build Jeff. The diorama looks stunning and you have blended it in perfectly with the surrounding layout.
I've been following Jason for a number of years now, but first time I've seen someone else build one of his kits. Seems you had a couple of hiccups, but they got sorted.
I see you mentioned that his instructions are not quite as detailed as some other manufacturers.
I think that's because he also does instructional YT build videos of all his structures, so folks can follow along with those too.
The backhoe looks really nice too.
Hello Mike, Mark, Rick and Curt, thank you all for looking in and for the kind words. I'm very pleased with how the diorama has fit into my layout
Quote from: robert goslin on February 19, 2025, 04:03:13 AMJust catching up on your build Jeff. The diorama looks stunning and you have blended it in perfectly with the surrounding layout.
I've been following Jason for a number of years now, but first time I've seen someone else build one of his kits. Seems you had a couple of hiccups, but they got sorted.
I see you mentioned that his instructions are not quite as detailed as some other manufacturers.
I think that's because he also does instructional YT build videos of all his structures, so folks can follow along with those too.
The backhoe looks really nice too.
Hello Robert, I appreciate your comments regarding my truck repair build. I had a lot of fun with Jason's kit. I too have followed his videos for a while now and have enjoyed learning from them. His video of this particular kit was a big help to me while I was building it.
Continuing on...
Here are a couple more pictures of the overall area where my diorama fit into my layout
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And one final picture with a closer look
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This does it for this build thread. I'd like to thank all who looked in and commented. The feedback means a lot.
Overall I would definitely recommend Jason's kits to any modeler out there who enjoys building craftsman kits.
Until the next one.
Great work on the diorama. Just enough detail and wonderful finishes. And fits perfectly into the site.
Jeff
Curios minds want to know what's next!
WOW!! That diorama sure fits in nicely with the layout!
Jerry
Quote from: Zephyrus52246 on February 19, 2025, 01:22:07 PMGreat work on the diorama. Just enough detail and wonderful finishes. And fits perfectly into the site.
Jeff
Hello Jeff, thank you for the nice compliments. I had a lot of fun on this diorama build.
Quote from: Dave Buchholz on February 19, 2025, 05:23:15 PMCurios minds want to know what's next!
Hello Dave, there's always something to do on the layout. As you know, they are never finished. I think that next I have to update my Layout Tour thread. After that I'm sure that I can find a new wonderful kit that I just have to build or I can imagine something to scratch build.
Quote from: Jerry on February 20, 2025, 09:40:23 AMWOW!! That diorama sure fits in nicely with the layout!
Jerry
Hello Jerry, I made the diorama on a large styrene base to fit into the whole space that I had cleared for it on the layout. And, if you meant that it fits in nicely with the surrounding area on the layout- I agree. I'm very pleased with how it all came out.
You have an awesome looking layout Jeff.
That's a nice looking scene, Jeff. I've built the Woodland Scenics excavator and dozer as well, they are indeed nice, entertaining little projects. Well done.
Karl
Impressive scene impressive layout, thanks Jeff.
Jim
Congratulations Jeff! 8)
Quote from: PRR Modeler on February 20, 2025, 06:31:30 PMYou have an awesome looking layout Jeff.
Hello Curt, sorry for the late reply. Thank you for the nice comment and may I add that you too have an awesome looking layout as well.
Quote from: KentuckySouthern on February 23, 2025, 11:24:56 AMThat's a nice looking scene, Jeff. I've built the Woodland Scenics excavator and dozer as well, they are indeed nice, entertaining little projects. Well done.
Karl
hello Karl, thanks for looking in and for the kind words. I'm surprised that we don't see more of the Woodland Scenics equipment in layout pictures. They are fun to build and they look great in a scene.
Quote from: Jim Donovan on April 12, 2025, 09:59:19 AMImpressive scene impressive layout, thanks Jeff.
Jim
Hello Jim, thank you for the kind words.
Quote from: Philip on April 25, 2025, 02:33:54 PMCongratulations Jeff! 8)
Hello Philip, thank you very much.