Several forums (fora?) ago, I did a thread on the Laser Modelers 3 Winchendon Machine Shop kit. That project stalled, in part because of "analysis paralysis", and in part because I was waiting for some parts to come in. So I've decided to dig this one out and continue work.
Here's what I'm starting from:
IMG_0815.jpeg
That's -4 boxes- of stuff. So the first order of business is to inventory what I have in each, and figure out which boxes have parts for the ground floor, which boxes have parts for the 2nd floor, which boxes have walls and roofs, which boxes have parts that I -might- want to use but don't have a specific purpose yet. The kit came in 2 flavors, just the building, and the building plus the machine tools & interior parts. I got the base kit and bought my own machine tools, engine, boiler, etc. One part I completed (more or less) was the boiler house, with a scratchbuilt boiler.
What I remember was that I had worked out the position for each machine tool on the ground floor, and the belt runs for those tools. As I recall, I think I was waiting for some figures to use as machine operators.
Stay tuned! (But don't expect daily updates... As someone else said, "Watching me model is like watching grass grow." In my case, it's more bursty. There'll be a lot of visible activity, and then quiet while I either get my mojo back, wait for parts, wait for glue/paint to dry, etc. >:( )
dave
I will be following this with interest.
I too started the project (quickly after I purchased the kit) and then ended up in "analysis paralysis", researching how machines would have been arranged etc.
After a while, I just installed machines to create an illusion that there would be a well organized machine shop behind the windows. My building is well lit, so it can be seen. It turned out to be a very rewarding project.
Curious what you will make with it
First, a photo from the kit instructions, to get a sense of the structure:
IMG_0817.jpeg
When I stopped, I had the ground floor and its framing done. Here's a laydown of the ground floor, with the 4 walls oriented. I put tape to show where doors, etc, were, i.e. where tools could NOT go. TRACK SIDE IS UP here.
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There's a hole in the upper left corner of the floor, that's where the steam engine will go. To the bottom right, there's a tool room and office.
Here's the layout I recorded the last time I worked on this:
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The steam engine is in the upper left corner. The tools are, left-to-right: Top row: large lathe, small lathe. Bottom row: large drill press, shaper, 2 small drill presses, 2 screw machines. These are a combination of SS Ltd, Rio Grande Models and (old!) Model Masterpieces kits.
I think this tool layout will work, but I'll want to go back and check it out again. Next step will be to understand and plan the belt runs. The shafts here run left-to-right above each row of tools. The steam engine will drive the top shaft, and a belt between the 2 shafts will complete the power transmission.
I'll also need to add shelving, tools, etc along the walls.
dave
Your post reminds me I have one of their kits for a coal business. I think the company itself has gone by the wayside. Looking forward to your build
Jeff
Dave,
I'll be following along as well. I almost bought one of their kits at one of the Expos.
Tom
Dave nice to see you've dug out the kit and looking forward seeing your twist on it; looks
like a nice kit. I think we all over think projects from time to time. Enjoy and have fun.
The first step here is to dig out the machines and recreate the layout I had in mind when I put this away. I have a piece of paper (printout) showing a layout but I can't find that on the computer. I went back to the 3-in-1, scanned the second story floor, printed it out at 100% (took 11x14 paper, it's slightly longer than will fit on regular letter paper), and now I'm trying to recreate that layout on the 100% template. I'm also selecting shelving units to place against the wall, and did some trimming on those to get them to fit.
The other thing I remember about both this kit and the Motrak "Bisgeier Building:" that goes on the other side, is how to make one wall removable. I remember looking at tiny magnets for that.
dave
Quote from: Zephyrus52246 on May 12, 2025, 03:27:34 PMYour post reminds me I have one of their kits for a coal business. I think the company itself has gone by the wayside. Looking forward to your build
Jeff
It looks like they're still in business, but only as custom model makers. https://www.lasermodeling3.com They got out of the kit business.
Based on the photos I took of the original construction, I started on this project in
2012!dave
Howdy Dave, nice start. The machines look terrific and will add a lot to the structure. I'm following along. Good luck and have fun, mike
Nice Kit!
Four score and seven years ago you scored a hell of a kit! 8)
Philip
Dave, it looks like this kit will keep you busy for a while.
Have fun with it and I'll be checking to see how you progress.
Dave, here's a couple of pics from their display at one of the Expos. I'm sure yours will look even better.
Jeff
Thanks, Jeff! That gives me a good idea how the structure looks all lit up. (Nice big windows...)
dave
I remember your original post; I thought about buying the kit for the prototypical look, but by that time my layout plan no longer had room for it. Note that the city in MA is Winchendon.
I remembered a Live Steam Magazine article about a surviving belt driven machine shop in California. Google won't tell me which issue it was in, but they know it as Knight Foundry in Sutter Creek, CA. Another surviving belt driven operation is the Soule Steam Feed Works in Meridian MS. Searching for Winchendon Machine Shop reveals the name of the actual prototype for the kit, via a picture of one machine shop's building. Sadly, Godspeed Machine had shut down sometime before April 2023 and while the blueprints of every machine they had ever manufactured were still in the building, they and the few remaining machines were to be ousted by a "rehab" of the building. Google claims it was at 133 Grove St., but Street View doesn't show either a building I can associate with the old photos or an obvious demolition/replacement.
The 133 Grove address appears to be whoever owned Godspeed Machine during liquidation. The prototype for the kit seems to have been at 15 Summer Dr. in Winchendon. Street View looking roughly North from Summer St. (G's car didn't go down Summer Dr.) shows the building with Godspeed Machine still visible on its walls. But G's car didn't cover all of Pond St. or any of Elm St. The building isn't visible in Street View of Central St. (US 202) but I don't find news stories about its demolition either. I'll try the HUB Division list...
Thanks, James. I remember seeing and hearing the machine shop at the Henry Ford museum. And I think there's a belt driven machine shop in Springfield VT that they occasionally run. If I ever got to the "sound detailing" stage, a recording of that would be cool to play underneath. (But then, I'd want to get similar recordings for my large cloth mill buildings. I've heard -1- loom run at the museum in Lowell, I can only imagine the racket made by a hall of 100 of them!)
dave
Well your off to a good start and haven't even had to build anything yet.
And I do believe you were waiting to find people for it??
Looks like a great kit to do.
Jerry
Since I want to do a full interior with the belt runs, there's A Lot of planning here. I need to work out the position of the tools, the belt runs, the pieces I need to add to the joists to hang the belt shafts, the location of the machine operators, and the weathering on the floor. Those are all inter-connected. I'm thinking I'll create a paper footprint template for each machine, to use in floor weathering. The other thing to consider is adding lighting, I'll need to work out the location of the LEDs and the wiring, making sure the 2nd story floor sits flat on the joists (probably means cutting little notches into the joists for the wiring.)
On the belt shafts, I need to decide if I'll add the shifter rods. This site has a bunch of great photos of belt-drive machine shops: https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2016/11/jack-shaft-and-leather-belts-revisited.html But none of them show the mechanism that moves a tool drive belt from the drive wheel to an idler wheel (so the belt down to the tool is not moving....) I've seen these, it's a lever that pivots to push the belt from a driven pulley to an idler pulley and vice versa. But studying those photos in that link, they weren't as common as I thought they were in the set of photos. I guess if nothing else, I should have a way to move the primary drive belt from the powered shaft. So some more research needed.
dave
I'm really looking forward to this. For this is my white whale of shelf orphans. I started this kit years ago, and there it sits, collecting dust. Can't wait to see how you tackle the machine placements and belt applications, your work should provide the kick start I need to finally finish this one up. Good luck, and thanks for posting. Mark
Quote from: craftsmankits on May 13, 2025, 06:53:33 PMI'm really looking forward to this. For this is my white whale of shelf orphans. I started this kit years ago, and there it sits, collecting dust. Can't wait to see how you tackle the machine placements and belt applications, your work should provide the kick start I need to finally finish this one up. Good luck, and thanks for posting. Mark
Mark, did you get the associated machine tool and boiler, etc, set? I did not, I assembled my own machine tools and kitbashed a boiler. A lot of the machine tools are the old long-gone Model Masterpieces machine tools. Also, some Rio Grande Models kits.
boilercolored.jpg
dave
Hi Dave,
Yeah, I purchased everything. I assembled the machines and painted them years ago. My father owned a steel office furniture company in Aurora Il. Bentson Industries, and they had punch presses galore, with trays of stamping equipment, complete tool shop, welding department, paint line, ovens, you name it, and I'll bet there are few if any pictures of the interior.
The building was torn down a few years ago, it stood in various forms for over one hundred years. Most of his machines were painted shades of green, some were built around 1912, many were from the 30's and 40's. They had their own motors, and many had huge fly wheels. I worked there in the summers, while I was attending college. I did various tasks including final assembly and working in the shipping area, and front office.
This kit is a real challenge, looking forward to seeing your efforts. Mark
Dave, if you want a recording of the Lowell National Historic Park weaving room, get it soon. A little bird told me their budget is being cut severely.
James, that's really sad to hear, although unfortunately it's not surprising. I wonder if I could "magnify" a recording of a single loom to create the racket of a mill full of them...
I went through my sets of belt drive hardware. I wish I had more Model Masterpieces sets. :( But Crow River sells shaft hangers and pulley wheels, so I've ordered a couple more of them. (SS Ltd also has these.) I need 9 hangers, 4 for one shaft, and 5 for the other. My inclination at this point would be to install the shaft and hangers first, with the pulleys loose on the shaft. Then as I position each tool, I can then glue the pulley into position. I still haven't decided if I'll do the 'belt shifters'.
SS Ltd's belt drive part set comes with a 'shifter', and instructions on how it's installed. That approach uses a single shifter (or "clutch") to handle all the tools on a single shaft. I'll need to look at that to see if I can work it into my setup.
add: I found this video which answers 3 obvious questions about belt drives: (1) how do you connect ends of the belt to make it continuous? (2) how do belt shifters work, to move the belt from driving a machine to running free?; (3) how do you keep the tension on the belt? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VXJwe-2244 The nice thing about this video is that it's a very simple shop, so there's no "clutter" to distract from their discussion of the topics.
dave
I initially obsessed with machine shop research and how machines would be arranged in the most logical way.
At some point, realizing that visibility of the interior would be severely limited by what you see through the windows, I gave up on exact machine placement and decided to implement something that creates the illusion of a working machine shop when the building is lit up. Since there is no realistic way to create a removable roof and make the interior visible anyway, unless one personally needs to absolutely know that the interior must be a working machine shop layout, I did not think there was a point to obsess over over exact placement of machines.
As a result, I ended up with what is shown in the picture below. This is before I toned down the colors of the backs of the "binders" in the shelving of the office.
I also made significant changes vs what is proposed in the instructions to the lighting. For the second floor, I pulled all wiring up into the roof, and then came back down to the second floor.
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It's great to see this, it helps me visualize some parts of the structure when it's assembled. How did you run the wires for the ground floor lighting? Did you cut notches in the ceiling joists?
Today I did more work on the belt runs and realized two of my proposed tool runs won't work, it would have two tools trying to connect to the -same- pulley. So I reworked those tools, so that won't be a problem. I also thought more about the pulleys and shifters. My current thought is to assemble each line shaft onto 'sticks' cut to length, then glue those 'sticks' to the ceiling joists. I have enough parts to finish the design, but will have to wait for some stuff I'll order to finish the assembly. And I think I can position the machines and operators while waiting for line shaft parts.
dave
For the first floor lighting, I also went via the roof, since due to the open floor plan on the first floor, it was not possible to come in from the bottom without having cables in plain view, and I could not accomplish to run leads through notches in the ceiling joist went.
In the picture below, you can see how I finally worked it out. You notice a set of wires to the left of the bookcase coming from the attic going through the floor, and another set hidden in the niche by the wall to the right. I covered them in dark grey paint to camouflage them as pipes.
The power comes up to the attic in a small space in the first floor office (not shown in this picture), and then I created a power distribution circuit in the attic. Unfortunately, I never took a picture of that.
I realize that the detailing would not hold up to scrutiny for an observer directly looking at the scene, but once everything is behind windows, even when lit, the scene looks pretty convincing.
PXL_20231120_003140291[1].jpg
That's some seriously impressive modeling on everyone's part! :o
Swisstrain that is outstanding.
Thanks for the kudos. Nevertheless, I really don't want to hijack Dave's thread, my posts were intended to support him with his interior layout. I can relate, I went through the same process.
I'm always very happy to see how others tackle the same kit or similar problems, so no worries from me about hijacking!
dave
A quick update today between Dr/Dentist appointments. I've ordered a couple sets of belt hangers as part of their belt drive kits from Crow River, some different belt pulleys from BEST Trains, and another copy of Gustafson's Sierra RR Machine Shop book. (I can't find my copy, I'm sure it'll show up after the replacement arrives.)
I also sent a message to the Henry Ford Museum asking 2 questions about their machine shop: (1) How do you start up the system? Is the drive shaft disconnected from the motor? If so, how do you do that? (2) does each machine have a belt shifter or other mechanism to disconnect it from the drive shaft?
In the meantime, I'm pondering how to do belt shifters, how to cut down cone pulleys (about half the machine tools need cone pulleys on the drive shaft to match the cone pulleys on the machine tool, and how to actually assemble the shafts. And I need to decide if I position the machine tools (and operators) first, or do the drive shafts first. I think it's the latter.
So once I'm home from the dentist this afternoon, I think I'll start work on the interior walls, adding the studs. That's something I can do independent of the work on the ground floor's contents.
dave
A question for Swisstrain: How hard would it be to build this so the roof is removable? I -think- after going over the instructions, that should be doable. It would be a somewhat tight fit with the eave returns on the gable ends, but I don't think there's any overhang. My thought is to make the roof removable so that one side could also be removed.
dave
Home Shop Machinist had some articles on belt driven machine tools. I think the most common method of starting a main shaft is to let the motor come up to speed with the shaft's drive belt slack, then apply a tension roller to accelerate the shaft. May have seen that in an article on someone's large home shop. I expect it would be visible in a video tour of the Lowell weaving room.
Seems to me you should be able to approximate a cone pulley with slices of telescoping brass tubing.
That makes sense to build up the momentum of the driveshafts and the flywheels before a load is applied to them via the machine clutches and belts.
I have some cone pulleys in the Crow River set. I was thinking "most of the tools have a 3-layer pulley, the pulleys on the shaft should match." But (a) that's a nit, (b) I could argue that the largest layer is just there as a flywheel ???
One interesting thing about the LM3 kit is that most of the wall stud pieces are -pre-cut-. Plan is to check the windows, assembling the double-windows (trimming and gluing 2 Tichy castings together), and then use those to double-check the stud locations that are laser-engraved on the wall panels. The laser cutting on this kit was done from the back, and there's very little laser scorching on the window openings, etc.
dave
In terms of removable, the issue that I faced was that even if I made the roof removable, that didn't really get me too much, since now I would have been just looking at the attic. I don't think just making the roof removable would be too much of a challenge, so that is definitely doable.
I think you are on the right track thinking about making one of the (long) sides removable. The challenge is to have the wall studs perfectly line up (or at least not interfering) with the framing that is carrying the first and the second floor (a bit of cursing will be in order when you try to line up the walls on each side).
The other issue is likely some warping, since those sidewalls are rather large, and the provided wall studs are not providing any bracing. I corrected the warping by adding some bracing (not foreseen in the instructions) that fit around the framing for the floors. If you want the wall to be removable, you would absolutely have to do that, I believe, to have a good fit for the wall to the building. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of my installed braces.
Urs
Urs, thanks! I find the instructions to be lacking in some significant details. A good kit, but definitely not a kit for beginners.
While digging through my boxes of parts, I found 3 bags of Rio Grande Models belt drive parts. VERY Nice stuff! I'll see if I can use these with some of the other parts I have on order.
For this kit, I need to glue together 2 Tichy window castings to fill the large double windows. I did a jig to hold the windows, and i'll glue a piece of Evergreen strip between them to hold them together. I need 17 pair of those.
dave
Yes, I agree, not for the beginner, and while generally, the fit of the parts is rather good, there is some interpretation needed when following the instructions. Also, I found that some of the framing breaks rather easily, same with the roof trusses.
But I think you are off to a great start, and once you have resolved how you want to layout the shop, you will make progress quickly.
The instructions call for trimming the sills and gluing the 2 window castings together. But I think it's stronger if you do a styrene center post. I constructed a set of windows with the .060 x .040 styrene strip center post, and did a test fit. (bottom) That fit fine, just a little sanding was needed to get a nice tight fit.
Since I needed to do 17 pair of glued-together windows, I built a little jig (top)
IMG_0831.jpeg
I trimmed the sill off one side of a window casting, scraped off the paint and lightly filed down to remove any crud, and did the same to the other side of the casting. I then put the two castings into the jig (face down), cut a piece of 0.60 x .040 styrene, and glued into place with MEK. I pushed the castings towards the bottom of the jig and together, the jig makes this process quick. What I SHOULD have done was constructed these windows BEFORE painting, and it would have gone a lot quicker...
I cut out the window and door openings. In a couple of cases, the window openings were too tall, so I glued some wood spacers at the bottom. I'll sand those down if needed to get a tight fit for the windows.
On the gable ends, there's a very thin, and very fragile, piece of clapboard between the two narrow window castings at the attic. I broke those off, and I'll do a similar deal gluing the window castings and a piece of probably .060 x .060 styrene as the center post. I also glued the truss to the two gable ends, and that's currently drying under weights.
Finally, since all the studs are pre-cut, I opened each bag and put the contents into its own container. That's about 20 different containers of itty-bitty pieces of wood.
Tomorrow I'll start the interior framing.
dave
Nice job Dave. And a nice little jig.
Jerry
You're starting to make good progress Dave.
Quote from: PRR Modeler on May 17, 2025, 04:19:28 PMYou're starting to make good progress Dave.
As Swisstrain pointed out, once you get into the actual kit assembly, things should go quickly. I don't know how LM3 cut all those tiny pieces of wood so cleanly. Each size was separately bagged up with an identity tag, I emptied each bag into a container for when I start assembly.
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dave
Nice work Dave!
Here's how I did the double windows at the top of the gable. I positioned the two window castings in the opening and measured the distance. I then went to my stash of Evergreen strips, and pulled out .040 x .125 (.125 is the gap.) I glued two window castings with the .125 wide piece between them. Then I flipped the assembly over, measured and filled the distance between the two window -frames-, which was .060. I did have to cut off the bottom sills to get that .060 square to fit.
Then I framed around the openings, using the window casting to make sure the framing pieces were correct.
Finally, I glued two pieces of wood 2x6 to the .125 strip center piece, to complete the window framing. For that, I used a bit of Testors Tube Glue, which works well for wood-to-styrene bonds. Here's the result, front and back.
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To assemble the interior framing, I lined up a thick straightedge, taping that to the workbench. I taped the material to the workbench, to keep it from moving. I glued the studs so they align to the straightedge, and used that small square to keep things vertical. (I got that from Lee Valley, its normal use is setting up saw cuts at 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 heights. But it works great as a small square.)
IMG_0835.jpeg
Then I started on the sides. At first, I thought "huh, I'm short studs." But then I realized that the studs on a single floor (ground floor or 2nd floor) are NOT ALWAYS the same length. Some are shorter, to clear the framing. What's annoying is that better labeling on the diagram would have made that clear. I may have to go back and cut some studs on the 2nd floor on the wall I assembled, where I cut more pieces of what I thought was the correct length and glued them into place. I caught this in time to not do that mistake on the ground floor, but that's where I said, "done for the day."
This is a complex kit, and it would have benefited greatly by having a modeler take the draft instructions, build the kit, and tell the maker where to add instructions.
dave
I'm late checking in, Dave. It looks like you have a tiger by the tail, but I'm sure you'll have the beast tamed before long. Remember that you're seeing the interior details through windows.
George
Nice looking job on the windows Dave.
George, my plan is to make the back wall removable, so I can see all the details.
dave
Very nicely done Dave. Good way to keep the studs straight.
And a nice idea on doing the windows that way.
But is the wife going to say when she goes to make muffins and you have up all the cups???? ;D
Jerry
Quote from: Jerry on May 19, 2025, 08:43:21 AMVery nicely done Dave. Good way to keep the studs straight.
And a nice idea on doing the windows that way.
But is the wife going to say when she goes to make muffins and you have up all the cups???? ;D
Jerry
She has her own (silicone) baking dishes... Those cups make great containers for mixing paint, or for holding little puddles of glue (when inverted). Even CA just flakes off when it's dry.
dave
This video is really helpful. It shows the full set of machines, the belt arrangement INCLUDING the various shifters, and near the end, it shows each machine running so you get a sense of the motion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2p_zroZszA
I think I want to add a ring roller... I can see how that would be very useful for oilfields...
dave
Dave, I loved that video! Great soundtrack at the end when he just lets everything all run.
Many years ago I visited an Amish chair shop in an old milk barn, he had a diesel engine in an attached shed out back of the building. It powered a long jackshaft that was situated in a trough in the floor. Great sounds, even with the diesel outside.
Howdy Dave, excellent craftsmanship. This kit build promises to be a lot of fun to watch. Have fun, mike
The studs, sills, etc are all glued:
IMG_0840.jpeg
Tomorrow, I'll do a final check of the windows and doors, then lock the small wood pieces into position with thin CA. Then I'll airbrush the wall interiors white.
dave
Nice job, Dave and excellent craftsmanship. I like your solution for the side-by-side windows.
In general, make sure that you are not exceeding the length of the engraved lines for the studs, since it will mean interference with the floor framing - if anything, go 1/32" shorter to make sure you have clearance. I found fitting the finished wall to the framing one of the more frustrating aspects of the kit, since I had several instances where I needed to go back and shorten the studs. And it was not always easy to identify exactly which stud was the culprit.
Urs
Quote from: swisstrain on May 21, 2025, 06:09:54 PMNice job, Dave and excellent craftsmanship. I like your solution for the side-by-side windows.
In general, make sure that you are not exceeding the length of the engraved lines for the studs, since it will mean interference with the floor framing - if anything, go 1/32" shorter to make sure you have clearance. I found fitting the finished wall to the framing one of the more frustrating aspects of the kit, since I had several instances where I needed to go back and shorten the studs. And it was not always easy to identify exactly which stud was the culprit.
Urs
I've checked the studs against the ground floor, and did have to adjust a couple of stud lengths. I should do that for the 2nd floor, too. I wonder if I can/should glue the heavy framing to the 2nd floor piece, to get the same rigid testability I'm getting from the ground floor.
dave
Dave great job so far and like what you did with the windows.
Tedious work. Looks great!
Good progress. I think attaching the framing early is a good idea for sub-assemblies you expect to handle a lot, or with critical interactions with other sub-assemblies.
Very nice Dave. And very great cutting those studs.
Jerry
I would agree that it may be a good idea to attach the second floor framing now. The more you can do up front to ensure the studded walls fit cleanly and with no interference .with the framing at this stage, the better off you will be at time of assembly.
Urs
The main framing for the 2nd floor is very fragile. I suspect in part that's because the wood has dried out more in the last dozen years. I have several framing members that broke where the glue is drying to put them back together. Maybe later today I'll try to do the framing members to each other and the floor.
I also dug out the 2nd story partition pieces, to decide where to put them. This is another case where the instructions say "see the photos", but the photos didn't help much. This is definitely a kit where I have to take breaks during the assembly process, to avoid too much frustration... :P
dave
I hear you on the fragility of that framing. I had several of those break, even a few years ago. While the age (and dryness) may have something to do with it and may exacerbate the situation, they were fragile to begin with.
I'm slowly adding the framing to the 2nd story floor. I'm using thinned yellow carpenter's glue for strength. I do one piece, let it set up for an hour or so, and move onto the next. The kit comes with a partition to separate an office area from the larger open space. That partition has horizontal siding above and vertical siding (wainscoting) below, with a belt rail. I decided it would be "funky" to have that fancy partition but not to have a similar treatment for the office along the exterior walls. So I've glued together .020 scribed siding and a piece of styrene strip, and I'll construct and glue the partitions to the exterior walls in the office space.
IMG_0842.jpeg
My "Sierra Railroad Machine Shop" (replacement) book arrived yesterday. This has the kind of detail and explanation needed to construct the belt drive.
(If I were interested in NMRA achievement program, I bet I'll have "pimped out" this kit enough to qualify for a merit award...)
dave
Dave looks like you're going right to town on your Shop. I've never seen one done with the second story before; I'll have to check in now & then to see your progress. Brett does have a great way of explaining stuff. Enjoy.
Great looking progress Dave.
All the post assemblies are glued into position, along with the central beam. Things are notched so the attic floor/2nd story roof sits flush on the assembly, so all those weights help hold things correctly.
IMG_0844.jpeg
Tomorrow I'll add the other two beam assemblies, that go along the outside edges. Once all three are glued into position, the assembly should be pretty strong.
dave
Looks good. My email asking the HUB Division list about Godspeed Machine hasn't gotten any answers. I'll try a couple of FB groups.
8) Great work!
Today's task is to add the 'fancy walls' to the office section, and to trim the window frames to fit the 2nd story framing. There's a surprising amount of corners I have to trim down to make the wall fit flush against the framing. Now the fit of the 'fancy walls' is not very good, frankly, so 'no merit award' for me... But it'll look fine through the windows. My goal is to get this done, then lock the studs with CA on all 4 walls. Then I can spray paint maybe late today or tomorrow.
IMG_0845.jpeg
add: (I admit to being a bit burnt out on this right now, but not so bad it'll go back on the shelf...)
dave
Progress is progress. Do you have any small files with smooth narrow sides? One could even up the bottoms of the fancy interior walls in place. I have a 4" knife file with a blank back edge that I use that way.
Quote from: jbvb on May 25, 2025, 07:05:53 PMProgress is progress. Do you have any small files with smooth narrow sides? One could even up the bottoms of the fancy interior walls in place. I have a 4" knife file with a blank back edge that I use that way.
Nail files are that way, and I think my paint paddle sandpaper files would also fit. They have a blind edge just for that reason. I don't think this will be too noticeable through the windows, but we'll see how it looks when the walls are painted.
dave
I went back over the studs, etc, with CA to lock them in place, and then spray painted both sides. The 'fancy finished' office looks pretty good, although the spray paint filled in the vertical scribed siding. That's OK, it won't be a big deal through the windows.
IMG_0846.jpeg
There's a bit of warping (long edge) on the walls, I hope sitting under weights will pull that out. It'll be a particular issue if I do try to make one wall removable.
dave
They look fine Dave nice job.
Jerry
Very nice job Dave.
Nice job, Dave.
I had problems too with warping of the walls, but unfortunately, there is no real way to add any bracing, since it would interfere with the framing for the floors. I did some along the walls where I observed warping, but was limited to short sections. Unfortunately, as you note, this will make construction of a removable wall difficult.
Nevertheless, good progress!
Quote from: swisstrain on May 27, 2025, 10:27:18 AMNice job, Dave.
I had problems too with warping of the walls, but unfortunately, there is no real way to add any bracing, since it would interfere with the framing for the floors. I did some along the walls where I observed warping, but was limited to short sections. Unfortunately, as you note, this will make construction of a removable wall difficult.
Nevertheless, good progress!
On the track side, the full length loading dock provides an opportunity for an outside full-length brace. I'm thinking about a way to add some trim on the other side to accomplish the same thing, using a strip of painted brass. Goal for today and tomorrow ill be to paint the gable windows that I bashed up, and do some weathering/treatment on the outside walls (which are right now a way-too-clean white....) I can probably spray a coat of alcohol & ink to start, and maybe some Pan Pastels...
(my usual treatment, where I don't have to worry about warping, would be to do a coat of an alcohol stain like HunterLine or Vetero, and then do a thin coat of paint over that. But both those approaches would cause warping.)
dave
These are both excellent ideas for bracing outside, Dave.
Looking for ward to seeing how you will implement either one or both of them.
Warping would add character and shows signs of a neglected roof or wall treatment. Straight would be better.
I had a good idea this morning on how to brace the long walls. I'll print out new signs that run the entire length of the building, and laminate those to (painted) brass strip. Then I'll epoxy the brass strip to the outside walls.
dave
Howdy Dave,
The shop is progressing well. That's a clever trick using brass hidden by a sign to reinforce the wall. Nice work.
Have fun,
mike
The brass strip sounds like a great idea, Dave.
George
Hello Dave, I really like what you are doing with this build and can't wait to what you come up with for the interior.
The white spray paint has cured, so I can look at weathering the walls, both inside and outside. For the outside, I did MIG pigments, using a 'blusher' soft make-up brush, to put some black pigment starting from the bottom working up. That worked well. I tried that on the inside walls, and wasn't happy with the effect. So for the inside, I masked off the 2nd floor, and then sprayed dark grey and neutral grey weathering colors to try to get close to the effect I got on the interior partitions.
IMG_0851.jpeg
It's a start, but I'm not quite happy with the total effect. I don't have a great match between the partition and internal walls, the internal walls are a bit too uniform. I did try to concentrate the weathering, particularly the black, on the engine side of the walls.
dave
Well, I tried to produce a large 5 spoke handwheel for the large pipe threader. Between the CA not quickly setting and the little pieces of brass tubing flying off the tweezers to God-Knows-Where, I gave up on that particular frustration. I've ordered some O scale brake wheels, that I think I can rework into the desired shape. I also did a bit of work on the tool itself, that went better, and I thought about ways I'll do the rest of the tool. So not much to show, but not a complete loss of the day.
I also swapped some emails with Bernie Kempinski, who sent me some drawings and photos of his work-in-progress on his O scale Civil War era machine shop. His work is always inspiring.
dave
Dave, I've been sitting quietly on the sidelines watching you work away on this kit.
Despite some of the challenges you're doing good to overcome them.
It looks really good Dave.
Another kinda frustrating day, where everything stuck to my fingers rather than to what it was supposed to. I did make a simulated "worm gear" for the large pipe threader and some legs for the bench. Once I get my 'long handles', we'll see if this all pulls together.
Another frustration came when I discovered the inexpensive thin 'magnetic sheets' don't stick to each other the way I expected. So I've ordered a small piece of steel that is supposed to be magnetic. If the magnet sheets stick to that, I'll be OK. (Little 1/8" square glued to the wall, and then a 1/8" square piece of magnetic sheet glued to something on the framing.) But until I get the steel sheet (due Monday), I won't be able to test the strength of the magnetic sheets. I want something that has a bit of tack, but where removing the wall doesn't also pull the magnet from the framing (so not too much magnetic strength....)
And I spent an hour or so watching more "Iron Jonsey" videos on his machine tool restoration projects. Watching how he uses period tools to restore other period tools is both informative and inspiring. One of today's video was on using molasses! to remove rust. To summarize, "It works. It's much cheaper than the commercial products. It's slow. And it stinks. You have to clean the parts thoroughly, in between treatments and when you're done."
dave
Hi Dave,
Good to see you back at it. I expect it will be a beauty.
Mike
Last couple of days haven't produced much progress. I dug out and started painting the workers around the machine tools. I spray painted the brass strips and did an initial sign. And most importantly, I cleaned up the train room, putting the various size of wood and styrene strips -back into the correct packages- and consolidating the -5- boxes that have kit parts for this project into 3 boxes. Looking at this, it's amazing how much LM3 packed into the original box. And I realize just how much stuff I've accumulated for this kit, particularly machine tools, belt drive parts, and detail castings.
dave
Howdy Dave, congrats on the organizing. Having stuff in the right spot can save hours searching for errant bits. ~mike
It is looking great Dave!
Oh no organization ;)
Something I'm unable to achieve.
Today's project, Dudes! (My brother's kid, when he was little, called his action figures his 'dudes'.)
IMG_0859.jpeg
I still need to finish face, hair and shoes, and maybe redo hats. But the clothing is done.
dave
They look really nice Dave!
Jerry
It's nice to know I still have that fine motor skill.....
dave
Excellent job on the little people Dave.
Progress on my scratchbuilt pipe threader:
IMG_0861.jpeg
One problem is the step pulley is heavy, making this lopsided. I'll need to add some weight on the near side to keep this from flopping over once I put the legs on it. I also need to add some more details. The brass hand wheel is an O Scale brake wheel. This will handle 6" diameter pipe, which is not bad for an oil country repair shop.
dave
Howdy Dave,
The little people are looking good. That's tedious work well rewarded. The pipe threader is amazing. I can't wait to see it finished.
Have fun,
mike
I still need to do a bit of clean-up and add back a missing handwheel, but this should be done:
IMG_0866.jpeg
The legs are heavier than I originally wanted, but they're necessary to keep this from tipping over. Even with the lead strip counterbalances and the lighter/smaller cone pulley, this still tends to lean to that side.
dave
It looks very good Dave.
Keep up the good work. I've been following along. Looking forward to seeing the machines set in place along with the belt drives and assorted details. Mark
The pipe threader is done. I reworked the stand, building a jig to assemble it.
IMG_0869.jpeg
John Siekirk complained there was no support for the cone pulley. That actually made sense to me.
IMG_0872.jpeg
I added a handle on the large (brass) hand wheel. It's a busy day tomorrow, so Tuesday this should go into the paint shop.
The end result isn't as delicate as I would have wanted, particularly the stand. It was the usual compromise between size and strength...
dave
Dave, little people look good.
That's some good fabrication work on that pipe threader.
I'm calling the pipe threader "done".
IMG_0875.jpeg
IMG_0876.jpeg
It's a bit crude viewed this closely, but at normal viewing distance in the machine shop, it should look fine. Now since that detour is done, I should get back to the rest of the building.
dave
For HO I think it looks pretty dam good Dave!
Jerry
The machine looks great. :o
That looks very good Dave.
Dude did great work on the pipe threader! 8) Figures look great.
I showed it to a guy who said, "My grandfather had one of those for his plumbing/machine shop business." So that made me feel really good, that he thought it was a good representation of a tool he knew.
dave
Very cool, Dave.
Current thinking on tool layout.
IMG_0878.jpeg
Top row, the 2 lathes.
Bottom row (l to r): drill press, bolt cutter, grinder (sitting on its side in the photo), planer, pipe threader, another drill press. I'm thinking about 'blocking off' one of the doors to add a small forge/blacksmith location.
dave
Looks very good Dave.
Dave,
This build is looking good. The pipe threader turned out great.
Tom
Howdy Dave,
The threader came out terrific. The new stand is perfect for the threader. Did you use a workflow to layout the machines?
Have fun,
mike
Quote from: friscomike on June 15, 2025, 07:51:38 PMHowdy Dave,
The threader came out terrific. The new stand is perfect for the threader. Did you use a workflow to layout the machines?
Have fun,
mike
No 'workflow', because I figure this is a shop doing whatever repair comes up. But I'm trying to figure out how a group of machinists can use the machines without getting into each other's way.
dave
Dave
This was one of those kits I let go by the wayside. :-\ se la vie
Looks like you've made some strides on this. And it looks very good.
And thanks again
--Rich
Quote from: Still_RichBeau on June 22, 2025, 12:50:51 PMDave
This was one of those kits I let go by the wayside. :-\ se la vie
Looks like you've made some strides on this. And it looks very good.
And thanks again
--Rich
Oh my God he's alive!!! About time you showed up!! ;D
Hope your going to stay with us RichB!!
Jerry
Well, when I went to study this, I realized some of the tools didn't have the pulleys aligned with the expected shaft direction. So I fixed that, and I think this will be the final orientation. I could add another drill press.
IMG_0887.jpeg
I'll do a small forge at the bottom left corner.
Machinists and bosses:
IMG_0888.jpeg
dave
Good progress, Dave.
Quote from: Jerry on June 22, 2025, 06:29:31 PMOh my God he's alive!!! About time you showed up!! ;D
Hope your going to stay with us RichB!!
Jerry
Thanks for the welcome LOL Jerry
Many things have changed and many others prevented me from getting back in... Dave Emery helped with that.
In any case I'll hang around. Maybe even post a few things.
--Rich
Very nice Dave.
Jerry
Dave,
It's looking good.
Do you have all the pulleys etc. that you need? I have extra.
Mike
Coming along nicely, Dave! Love the workers and bosses. They'll add so much to the effect.
Quote from: Michael Hohn on June 24, 2025, 07:40:37 AMDave,
It's looking good.
Do you have all the pulleys etc. that you need? I have extra.
Mike
Today's project will be to lay out the shafts and inventory the pulleys, hangers, etc. The one thing I'm concerned about is cone pulleys, I need 5 that should all be about the same size. (Of course, if I had a lathe, I'd just turn them :-) :-) ) Over the years, I've collected a lot of sets of pulley parts, Model Masterpieces, Rio Grande Models, SS Ltd, Sheepscot, BESTTrains, etc.
dave
Howdy Dave,
The shop is coming along well. The machine placement is excellent. I can't wait to see all those pulleys and belts. Good to see you have lots of folks to run the shop.
Have fun,
mike
Dave,
The figures look good and will add more realism to the model. Looking good.
Tom
I did a little bit of work today. I inventoried my sets of belt drive parts. The 'limiting resource' is cone pulleys. I think I have enough, but if I could get one more package of the Rio Grande Models part set I'd be in good shape. Similarly, I could use more RGM belt shifters from the same parts package. But shifters are easier to do than cone pulleys (unless I run out and buy a lathe ;D )
I also set up the hoses, etc, for a new compressor to drive an air gun that takes a bit more flow than my Scorpion provides. I'm very much impressed with the 1 gallon Fortress from Harbor Freight. It's quite quiet (but not as quiet as my Scorpion.) The issue there is getting the hose chain (compressor -> regulator/water trap -> brush) to be all 1/4" hoses, rather than the mix of 1/8 and 1/4 hoses I have for my current airbrush.
dave
https://www.crowriverproducts.com/product_info.php?cPath=25_28&products_id=85&osCsid=jbo43bn87d47eu8af4jkopc1o7
Philip one time I made a block of tower levers with a thick strip of strip wood drilled holes and inserted painted toothpicks. Of course was in HO.
Quote from: Philip on June 26, 2025, 06:23:08 PMhttps://www.crowriverproducts.com/product_info.php?cPath=25_28&products_id=85&osCsid=jbo43bn87d47eu8af4jkopc1o7
I have some of those. They're really O scale, the cone pulleys in particular are MUCH bigger than the corresponding pulleys on my tools.
dave
Some thoughts on planning the belt shafts. Each machine needs 2 things: (1) drive pulley that matches the machine (particularly important for machines with cone pulleys.) (2) A way to turn the belt off for that machine. #2 is where I'm concentrating right now. If each machine has its own drive shaft, I can pair idler and drive pulleys on that shaft, for the belt that connects the machine's drive shaft to the main shaft. But my layout, and I think most machine shop layouts, do have a lot of machines running more-or-less parallel spaced to the drive shaft. Consider the 2 lathes: A simple way to model this would be a single drive shaft for each machine, with a pair of pulleys on the drive shaft and a belt shifter for each machine. But I'd have to wink-and-nod at the fact that the single drive shaft would be over-driven when both pulleys are engaged. What I'd expect for the prototype was some sort of paired pillow block, to separate the two shafts.
dave
Cone pulleys... At the top is the large lathe, a Model Masterpieces kit. From left-to-right, Crow River, Rio Grande Models, and I'm pretty sure SS Ltd.
IMG_0892.jpeg
Remember, the tool's pulleys should exactly match the shaft's pulleys (oriented the other way), so the length of the belt is preserved.
The Crow River pully is much larger. It also takes a larger diameter shaft. But it's pre-drilled. The RGM pulley looks the closest to the tool. There are some indents on the casting to drill for the shaft on either side (I wouldn't want to try to drill through this and expect to get it right.) The cone on the right is probably a good match for some of the other tools. It has a pre-cast shaft on one side, so either I'd have to cut that off and drill a new hole for the shaft, or try to arrange pillow blocks on both sides, accepting the chance that the cast-on shaft is larger diameter than the rod I'm using.
Decisions! Decisions!
dave
I can print some for you if you share the dimensions in mm.
Quote from: Philip on June 27, 2025, 04:40:36 PMI can print some for you if you share the dimensions in mm.
I think I have enough, but if not, I'll definitely take you up on that.
dave
8) Roger that!
The main shaft should be more-or-less above the main drive wheel on the engine. By the way, I discovered I can swap that drive wheel with the (not installed) flywheel. Putting the flywheel against the wall is probably a better design.
IMG_0894.jpeg
Anyway, part of the problem are those diagonal braces. Without those, it would be simple to run the main shaft, it should be pretty much where the diagonal hits the horizontal joist. I -really want- to be able to assemble the main shaft as a single assembly, same thing for each of the machine auxiliary shafts.
Here's a look at my set of shaft hangers:
IMG_0895.jpeg
The top row has both regular hangers, and hangers that include brackets for the belt shifters (top right.) The bottom center has these nice open hangers. The largest drive pulley I have has a radius of about .200, and the shaft hangers are slightly deeper, so that works OK.
Each tool auxiliary shaft needs its tool drive pulley (mostly, but not always a cone pulley), a pair of pulleys that match those on the drive shaft (one as a driven pulley, the other as the idler pulley), and a shifter. So that's 6 sets all told, 5 of those with cones.
Cogitation continues :-)
add: I had a realization today. I can mount the brackets along the diagonals, and use the beam that will need to run above the shaft to control the height of the brackets that aren't on the diagonals.
IMG_0899.jpeg
So a bit more detailed design to do, but this should work! One other point: The pulleys along the main drive shaft are all cored, so I can thread the shaft while adding the pulleys, locking them into position (CA) after the shaft has been fully threaded and the pulleys are lined up with the auxiliary shafts. I couldn't do that with the per-tool auxiliary shafts, because I can't run the shaft through the cone pulleys. Instead, those pieces of shaft will have to be cut to length on either side of the cone pulley. So that means I'll assemble each machine's auxiliary shaft on its own beam, then position that into place. Once the aux shafts are located, I can glue the main shaft pulleys. That will work! There's still a bit of detailed planning for the shaft depth down from the bottom of the joists, I might need to add a bit of bracing between the main shaft bracket and those diagonal braces to put the main shaft where I want it.
dave
Looking good, Dave. All those details ought to keep you busy for a while.
George
Looks great so far Dave.
Hello Dave, I've been watching and learning as you go through your process on this build. It's going to look great when you're done. I just hope that all of the details will be visible when you are finished.
8) Nice work!
I ordered some Badger Stynylrez "Metal" primer for the belt drive hangers, etc. It'll be interesting to see how that stuff works on the pewter castings.
Now I know I've put a lot of discussion and detail in this thread. But I suspect many of you might be interested in a machine shop model, so I wanted to let you-all know the kinds of challenges I've run into on this project. It's definitely been a marathon, with lots more to go.
add: There's a great segment on cutting and installing a belt on this video starting about 11:40 or so: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5TCh0jRX1k One thing I realized after watching this is that you can use two pulleys on one shaft, one idler and one driven, with a double width pulley on the other shaft. Here's an image from the video that shows 2 pulleys on one side and a double-wide on the other.
Screenshot 2025-06-30 at 18.05.58.jpeg
In the video, watch how the belt moves from the driven to the idler wheel by the gentle application of the crescent wrench as a shifter.
another add: I measured my RGM pulleys. The large thick wheels are 8" wide, each step on the cone pulleys are 4" and the intermediate size wheels are 6". So that says my belt width should be 4" or about .046. That should work OK.
dave
I haven't been able to check in in a while - your build is coming along nicely.
Your shop floor is much better researched in terms of placement of machines and to create a logical work arrangements. I really hope that the removable wall ends up working out, considering all the thought that you are putting into this project.
Will continue to follow.
Urs
Great progress on the build Dave, excellent details on the machines and power delivery system..... 8)
Well, I got some steam built back up for this. One problem, how to drill holes in the step pulleys for the shafts. I don't need through holes, but I want holes deep and tight enough to hold the shaft rods. I built a little jig to hold them, using my cheap numbered drill bit set. The bottom hole is the diameter of the smallest pulley in the cone, the top hole is the diameter of the largest pulley. You can see to the right a hole from the next larger bit that was too big.
IMG_0908.jpeg
Then I needed a way to hold the part while driling. I drilled a hole to the next larger size in a piece of scrap wood and used that to hold the part vertical while drilling (Proxxon/MicroMark drill press, #67 bit.)
IMG_0909.jpeg
The next problem, one I mentioned yesterday, is getting the soft white metal belt shifter into the #67 hole in the shifter bracket:
IMG_0910.jpeg
I asked over at MRH forum if anyone had a suggestion, I got some but no "obviously this is how to do it." So my approach will be to carefully scrape and file the shaft to fit. Here's the RGM instruction, you can see the shifter on the right.
IMG_0912.jpeg
Finally, I got Tamiya "Black iron" paint, and ran that through the Iwata airbrush to paint the brackets. The challenge is keeping them from getting blown away. I used Green Frog tape, but 2 came loose, so I put a piece of double stick tape (bottom right), repositioned them (tweezers) and finished spraying. This looks like a good color.
IMG_0911.jpeg
I'm still pondering a small forge for one corner of the building, found some good picturses on the 'Net that I printed out for inspiration. But frankly, what I need to do now is a round of pick-up/put-away!
dave
Howdy Dave,
Nice work on the pulleys, brackets, and shafts. I like the way you held the parts for drilling.
Have fun,
mike
Quote from: friscomike on July 06, 2025, 01:30:50 PMHowdy Dave,
Nice work on the pulleys, brackets, and shafts. I like the way you held the parts for drilling.
Have fun,
mike
I've watched a lot of 'historic machine shop' videos and learned some good tips, as well as learning the technology.
dave
Great job on the shaft parts. I really look forward to seeing it put together.
Nice job Dave. And a clever jig to hold them.
Jerry
Nice jig and progress!
Since I'm going to attach the drive shaft to the 45 degree braces (probably not the best prototypical approach, but it works well), I decided the easiest way to do this would be to tilt the structure so those braces are parallel to the ground:
IMG_0916.jpeg
Then after pondering shifters some more, including the fact that the shifter control arm would also need to fit on the white metal shaft, I decided that it's better to "give up" and create new shifters from pieces of styrene. Here's a mock-up, not quite oriented correctly. But you can see the shifters, the arm, and the 2 wheels on the auxiliary shaft. For The Real Thing, the aux shaft will be cut into 2 pieces, to go onto either side of the cone pulley. But with this, I can work out the wood framing that I'll glue each aux shaft/shifter assembly to.
IMG_0918.jpeg
Finally, particularly the paired wheels need to be perpendicular to the draft shaft. So I did a jig to drill out their center hole:
IMG_0919.jpeg
Any comparison between this and a 4-piece chuck is deliberate ;D Something I learned from watching all those machine tool videos.
dave
Dave beautifully done!!
Jerry
I agree with Jerry Dave. Are you going to blacken the shafts?
Quote from: PRR Modeler on July 09, 2025, 05:30:07 PMI agree with Jerry Dave. Are you going to blacken the shafts?
I got some steel wire for shafts (arrived late today.) The mock-ups use some different stuff. Looking at videos of machine shops, the shafts tend to be lightly weathered steel. So in short, I probably won't weather/paint/color the steel wire shafts. From an Iron_Jonsey video:
Screenshot 2025-07-09 at 17.46.32.jpg
Since I need to do 12 paddles, I'll think about a jig to cut them to the same size and drill the hole.
dave
Hello Dave, it's coming along really nicely and I'm learning quite a bit about steam powered shops. Good job Sir
Quote from: nycjeff on July 09, 2025, 07:51:35 PMHello Dave, it's coming along really nicely and I'm learning quite a bit about steam powered shops. Good job Sir
Yeah, I find this kind of "in depth research into something I knew nothing about" to be my favorite part of the hobby.
dave
I got the main line shaft hangers installed (I did it so the shaft is removable.) I used thick CA and accelerator. These will take a bit of stress particularly when I go to install the belts, so I wanted a tight bond.
The paints I wanted for the pulleys arrived, so I painted them, too. This is the "Green Stuff World" Steel & Silver metallic set. Frankly, I was disappointed with those paints, there was a lot of gunk in the bottle even after 2 full 2-minute sessions on the Vortex mixer. It did spray OK. The color I wanted has a "tin" sense to it, which is close to the pulley color on the Iron_Joney video pulleys. Tomorrow, I'll probably test out those pulleys on the main shaft. Gluing the pulleys into position will have to wait until I get the auxiliary shafts constructed and installed.
dave
Main drive shaft brackets are installed, and the shaft with its pulleys is test-fitted.
IMG_0922.jpeg
A mock-up of the shifter on the workbench:
IMG_0923.jpeg
And that mock-up moved to position over a tool:
IMG_0924.jpeg
I have a lot of detail work to do to position the auxiliary shaft and its pulleys precisely over each tool's pulley, but this is moving right along...
(p.s. the cone pulley has holes on either end, the shaft doesn't go all the way through, so those are 2 pieces of shaft, Fortunately, that doesn't show...)
dave
Now that's what I call an excellent job Dave!
Jerry
Outstanding Dave.
8) Looking great!
Howdy Dave, the overhead drive system looks terrific. It is delicate work done well. Have fun, mike
Hello Dave, the overhead system looks great so far. I'm looking forward to see what you do with all of the drive belts.
The alignment of the tool and of the aux drive shaft are critical. I need to align the cones, allow space for the idler pulley, figure out where the shifter handle goes, and how the wood that holds the aux drive shaft and shifter is connected to the ceiling joists. Plus I need to mark the location of the tool once I make that decision, and then remove the tool so I can flip the model upside down and glue the pre-assembled aux shaft & shifter to the ceiling joists. And I need to do the per-tool weathering/staining on the floor. Once ALL the aux shafts are located, I can think about gluing the tools into position along with the operator figures. Once the tools are glued, I won't be able to flip the first floor assembly upside down any more.
So my plan is for each machine tool, determine the approximate location of the aux shaft, cut the two pieces of wood that hold the shaft into position to the correct length, and then mark the location for the pulleys (cone and idler) and shifter arm. Then I can go back to the workbench and assemble those parts. I'll go back with the assembly and confirm and mark the tool location on the floor.
dave
Delicate work, looks good.
KS
Awesome job, Dave. You take this to a whole other level!
Urs
Outstanding work. I bought this kit years ago; and later sold it. I don't think I have the eyes or hands to tackle that kind of build now. I regret selling my kit.
After a couple of days of not feeling well, I got back to the machine shop. I started work on a second pulley/shifter assembly. Since that's fiddly work and I burn out on it, I also dug out my "small blacksmith set" from Sierra West Scale Models. These are 3d castings, and the size is perfect for the space. But the bellows need to be mounted above the forge hood, so that's some picky design work. I'll have to run the smokestack through the 2nd floor and then the 3rd floor and roof.
The casting set was expensive, but as you'd expect, the quality is superb...
Pictures once I get stuff figured out...
dave
I forgot to take my meds this morning and mowed all day. Wondering why I was light headed and not feeling right in this 103° heat....
Take care!
Dave, you attention to detail on this project has very insightful for me.
I still have a roundhouse machine shop I need to complete.
So you are teaching me a lot of things when it comes to the inner workings of one.
Keep up the great work!
Greg
Greg, I'm glad you're finding the detailed narration of interest, that was my hope for anyone contemplating a machine shop project.
Today's big accomplishment was doing the pad for the forge area. I found some nice looking weathered brick texture on the internet, printed it to about the same size as the bricks in the forge, glued that to thin styrene, touched up the edges, and then glued that to the floor where the forge will go. Then I primed and painted the forge piece itself (except for the iron grate, I'll do that tomorrow.)
The kit has laser cut ceiling joists, but I'm seriously considering omitting them. It's a detail that just won't be visible, and those pieces are really fragile.
dave
Well, I discovered another issue today. Here's the Rio Grande Models instruction sheet showing the layout of the shifters (look on the right drawing.)
rgm belt drive.jpeg
The belt to be shifted on the RGM drawing is the belt from a drive shaft DOWN TO THE TOOL. There are two problems with this: (1) that would require an idler pulley on the tool (that's the diameter of the smallest tool pulley on the tool's cone, so -2- pulleys that size, but that's not how the cones are done.) (2) that wasn't how I had planned it. My plan was to have the belt shifter work on the belt from the main drive shaft to the per-tool drive shaft, with a pair of pulleys (idler and driven) on the tool drive shaft. For that, the main drive shaft has a wide pulley, and there are 2 equal size pulleys on the tool shaft. The one closest to the cone is the drive pulley, and the other is the idler. The shifted belt would move from driven to idler on the tool shaft, and just move over a bit on the double-wide main shaft pulley.
Now studying the RGM diagram more, it seems the shifter is not to disengage the tool from the main drive shaft, but only to shift along the cones to change tool speed. But watching videos of machine shops, the machinist can do that shifting pretty easily ("Iron_Jonesey" uses a Crescent Wrench in one video I watched.)
So what to do? Options so far:
(1) Install the shifters per the RGM diagram and ignore the "turn off the tool" problem.
(2) Rework the shifters and shifter lever so the shifters are between the main drive shaft and tool shaft. The shifter arms really aren't positioned for that option very well.
(3) Forget about the shifters altogether (That's very tempting, given how much hassle they've been so far...)
(4) Mount the arms but not the shifter paddles.
(5) Come up with an alternate design for shifter and shifter paddles altogether.
sigh...
dave
Hello Dave, I'm starting to get a headache just by following along with your process. I can't imagine what you are going through. But, it will look great when you're done- just keep telling yourself that.
Howdy Dave,
Unless you are making a museum model that must be perfect, I'd go for option 3. Otherwise, you might reach the point of diminishing returns for all that work.
That said, if emulating the real mechanisms is what you like to do, then the other options make sense.
Have fun,
mike
Dave have you looked at pictures of how Brian Nolan & Chuck Doan did there's?
And have you looked at how Brett's booklet on the machine shop shows how they were done?
Jerry
I just viewed that Jonesy video and when you compare the Rio model photo the shifter are in the wrong position. The inside radius should be placed over the top of the pulley in order to shift the belts. Just my take and I really doubt if Rio models actually researched the businesses that had this set-up. Do your best Dave. The video I viewed he used a file handle to change belt location.
I also read shifters (Guardrails) were used on flat pulley's to keep the belt from walking off unlike the glorious crown type pulley
Also watched https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxK8iYtgD5A So your headaches are just starting. Interesting stuff. 8)
The important thing is to have fun.
Philip
Fortunately, nothing in my machine shop has to turn.... ;D I went back and looked at Bernie Kempinski's machine shop. He has only 1 tool with a cone pulley. Those without a cone can be driven from the main shaft, but generally he uses an aux shaft with the 'on-off' shifter on the aux shaft.
dave
I located the paper I want to use for the leather belts. I cut one strip with a Fiskars rotary cutter, but I need to replace the cutter and cutting pad underneath. But that one strip should work to test out my installation approach on a drill press that has an internal belt.
dave
Dave nice work so far. Belt lines can be fiddly so take your time with them. Also as a FYI, I use strips of Tyvek, USPS envelope, to make belts and it works great for me.
Well, I got some progress on the machine shafts. That's awfully finicky work, even before the belts. I also did a bit of work on the forge stack, which I now realize will pass through the boiler house. That's actually reasonable for the forge.
dave
I got 2 more aux drive assemblies done today. It seems "2" is the limit of my patience for that picky work! But I've used 2 tools I got a couple years ago that are perfect for this work. One is a set of small diameter reamers, and the other is flush-cutting wire cutters. The latter are I think an orthodontist's tool. I should finish the shafts tomorrow. The plan from there is to tack glue the belts to the aux shaft pulleys, and then glue the aux shaft assemblies into position. That requires me to invert the whole assembly. When that's done, I should be able to do the aux shaft to main drive shaft belts, which will be much easier than the aux shafts down to each tool.
add: Here's the reamers and the orthodontist flush cutter:
IMG_0950.jpeg
The way that cutter works is that the wire is held tightly on the 3/8" left side. Then you squeeze, and that 1/32 offset on the right side shears. You do have to worry about the piece of wire being cut off flying away. Here's the set I got: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XSNRCQZ
dave
Here's some of the machine shafts above their tools:
IMG_0953.jpeg
These are currently sitting on top of the ceiling joists, they will be glued to the bottom. So think of those as hanging lower. But first I need to add the belts to each joint shaft, then I can glue them into location.
dave
That looks awesome Dave.
Hello Dave, it just keeps getting better and better. I have no idea how you are going to get all of the belts in their proper place. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress. Your machine shop work and Larry's sawmill work are raising the bar for all of us. Good job sir.
One thing I recall seeing somewhere (maybe the Lowell NHP spinning room, maybe an old Home Shop Machinist article) has power on/power off controlled by a tensioner roller - push the roller over to tension the belt and start the machine, pull it back to stop it. Belt is still over the drive pulley, so dangerous, but that's how things were before there were safety laws and owners' liability.
The tool shafts with the belts: (Here the tool shaft is Upside Down.)
IMG_0954.jpeg
One belt is horizontal, that will be attached to the drive shaft. The other is vertical and will go to the cone pulley on the tool.) Now the theory here is that I'll test-fit and trim the belt, then put some CA on the pulley, and carefully attach the belt to the pulley (such that the joint is on the underside of the pulley.) The reality will probably require substantial amounts of profanity to work ;D Oh, and I'll have to glue the tools into position first.
I think I'll get some fresh thick CA, the stuff I've been using doesn't have quite as much initial tack as I want.
dave
You're making good progress for such a complex setup.
Dang, this is looking good. Nice progress. Please keep us updated, and if possible, more photos. Thanks, Mark
Looks good.
Dave, you're making steady progress on the shafts and belts.
Coming together nicely.
Hello Dave, the belts look great. This is definitely a forefront model I hope. There is so much detail to look at.
Well, I figured out how to add the drill press. It'll be run off the main drive shaft, with 2 pulleys on that shaft and a shifter lever. But when I was touching up paint on the shifter lever, I knocked over a bottle of paint onto the work desk. Nothing serious was "repainted," but it was a mess to clean up, particularly washing the paint off of tools. So after I cleaned that up, I stopped work for the day, and ran the vacuum cleaner (the floor was a mess.)
So I'll try again tomorrow. I need to add the belt to one of the 2 pulleys on the drive shaft, and also reglue some belts that came loose. As I mentioned, my CA was old and not holding very well, so tomorrow I'll start with a new small tube of fresh CA gel.
dave
Looking great Dave!
This morning I glued (wood Flamingo Glue) the shaft assemblies into place on the roof rafters, with the model turned upside down (the assemblies glue to the underside of the ceiling joists.) That was tricky, the belts fought me and it was hard to make sure the supports were in proper alignment. This afternoon, I'll flip the model back over, check alignment, and probably lock things into place with CA from above. I'll connect the tool shaft belts to the main shaft pulleys. Then I'll need to glue the tools into position, and start connecting the belts down to the tools. That should take the rest of the week (and I'm sure many naughty words) to get everything hooked up....
add: The tool shafts are in place. This is starting to look like a real belt drive machine shop.
IMG_0964.jpeg
dave
Howdy Dave, The shaft assemblies look fantastic. Your attention to the details is really paying off. BTW, the masking tape is not prototypical. ;) Have fun, mike
The masking tape marks the doorways, so I don't put machines there. Think of those as the prototype's placemats :-) :-)
dave
"This is starting to look like a real belt drive machine shop."
Yes it is.
Very nice work Dave!
Jerry
For some reason, the medium viscosity CA was not sticking the belts to the pulleys very well. That's extremely frustrating (and I tried -3- different brands, 2 of them were new bottles.)
But anyway, I got the belts from the tool shafts to the main shaft installed yesterday:
IMG_0965.jpeg
Today I'll test fit the tools and decide if I want to add workbenches between the tools down the middle of the shop. Once the tools are glued into position, there'll be no access there. I should also cut notches to run the lighting wires. Slow progress...
dave
Looks good Dave!
Jerry
Howdy Dave, congratulations on the belt installation. That looks like tedious work. Persist! ~mike
I ordered some pre-wired SMD warm white LEDs. My current thinking is to hang one in every other bay along the central joist. Looking carefully at the existing structure, there's gaps along that central backbone that should hold the wires. I'll check that once I get the LEDs with their presumably long and thin wire. I also mocked up 2 of the tools, to think through the assembly process. Tomorrow, I'll go through my detail parts collections and look for table tops. I'll make table leg sets from styrene (easier to glue)
davve
Dave nice job; things are coming along. I answered your question in my build thread in case you didn't see it.
Belt lines and belts are quite tedious so do some and take breaks along the way.
Good job keeping installing them taut. Mine are loose....and....defeated. Was reading a post over at Westlake publishing and a fellow made his belts from thin brass strips soldered together. Of course they are over the top there... :o
I worked on the downstairs office:
IMG_0967.jpeg
One thing to notice is that left corner, where I put a piece of wood angle to cover the existing hole for running wires down through the floor.
My pre-wired SMD LEDs arrived today, and I played with them a bit. If I understand correctly, the current limiter 'eats' about 3 volts, so with a 12v source, I can light 4 LEDs. It appears, from working with a 9v battery and 3 LEDs, the result is dimmer than it would be with fewer bulbs. I guess that makes sense.
dave
Looking good Dave. Did that workbench come with the kit? I don't remember seeing it before, it appears to be a FSM white metal casting, but I never purchased an FSM kit that carried that specific type of workbench. Keep up the good work, Mark.
I'm not sure whose casting that is. It's very well done, quite sharp detail. I have a large number of assorted casting details that I've collected over the decades.
Looking at that piece of wood angle I added, it would make a good closet if I added a door...
dave
Hello Dave, it's really starting to come together. The belts you have done so far look great and I like the tool bench as well.
Some detail/castings work today:
IMG_0976.jpeg
Some of these are glued into position, others are just set in place.
IMG_0974.jpeg
I admit to being really proud of the coffee cup on the desk...
On the lighting front: I think I finally understand both the rules and the specifics of my lighting installation. I'm waiting for the cheap multimeter to arrive tomorrow to measure the voltage drop on my LEDs, and then I can assemble the string of LEDs (2 different sizes), test them, and install them.
dave
Dave there some nice details. The desk is well done.
Jerry
Great details Dave.
(They won't be visible, but I'll know they're there.)
dave
Continuing to follow your build. You are really going "all out" on that machine shop.
Excellent work!
I swapped emails with Deluxe Materials on the belt attachment. They suggested epoxy. That's a very interesting idea. It certainly has good initial tack. I ordered some long cure epoxy (all I had was 5 minutes, but I wanted more working time.)
dave
8) Hope the new epoxy works out.
Hello Dave, the interior details look great, nice job. I hope that you work out your belt attachment problems.
My primary accomplishment this afternoon was practicing soldering really fine wire for LEDs. My soldering skills tend to be quite perishable...
add: and I realized I can test a string of LEDs with my LED tester, by testing 2 or even 3 at a time. That's A Good Thing, when soldering together a longer string of LEDs without having to fiddle with resistors, etc.
another add: The lights are soldered together, i just need to confirm my calculations and add the appropriate resistor. Then I can glue those onto the machine shop joists. Those are Warm White LEDs with Tamiya Clear Yellow painted over top. That gives a good old-timey color, I think. The bottom right LED is the smaller LED for the office area, the other 3 go over the machine shop itself.
IMG_0978.jpeg
dave
Here's the position for the LEDs:
IMG_0980.jpeg
The little office LED goes where the arrow points. Once these have been fully checked out, they'll be glued underneath the ceiling joists in those positions.
dave
Hello Dave, you're moving right along with the lights. Can't wait to see them all working inside the shop.
Dave,
This kit sure seems to have it own challenges and you are doing a great job at solving the issues.
I came very close to buying this kit when I saw the pilot model at one of the Expos. Just didn't think I needed it at that time.
Looking forward to your completed model and following along on this journey.
Tom
It's a nice kit. They did include lighting, but those were big bulky things and I thought I could do better. The big effort is in doing the machine shop interior. They offered an interior kit of tools, etc, but I don't think that really included the full set of belt drive stuff. Plus I think it was a woodworking shop, rather than metalworking shop. The instructions are OK, they really do require experience to fill in the gaps.
I'm sorry they got out of the kit business. They had a nice niche for large prototype kits, but the market for those was probably limited. Not many people have room for full-size coal dealers, like their first kit. They still do custom models for architects, etc.
dave
My resistor set arrived last night. The 1k resistor is hooked up, I cranked up the amperage, and the lights remain lit (no magic smoke.) I'll let them burn for the rest of the day, just to be sure.
There's a hole in the floor (behind a closet I built) to run the wires down underneath the floor. But the 1w resistor is too big to fit through the original hole. I drilled a larger hole. I'm sure a 1w is overkill, but another thing I'll check during the burn-in is how hot that resistor gets. It would be A Bad Thing for a hot resistor underneath the model to cause a fire...
In the meantime, I painted some BESTTrains workbench tops and built some legs for them. Right now the A&I over top of the paint is drying, I've learned to let that dry thoroughly because it softens the acrylic underneath. Then I'll glue the legs onto the benchtops.
IMG_0995.jpeg
dave
Nice job on the details Dave.
Details look great Dave!!
Jerry
The power dissipated is is current squared times voltage across the resistor. In your circuit, that's the voltage left after the 4 LEDs.
The resistor will try to dissipate the same amount of heat whether it's 1W or 1/4 W. The 1W resistor has more surface area to transfer heat into the air around it, though. You could leave your test rig on for a while, then check the surface temperature of the resistor - easiest if you have a remote-reading IR thermometer (you could borrow mine). If the resistor in free air is much above the air temperature, you could leave it outside the building. Maybe hanging under the foundation/baseboard?
Quote from: jbvb on August 17, 2025, 05:32:09 PMThe power dissipated is is current squared times voltage across the resistor. In your circuit, that's the voltage left after the 4 LEDs.
The resistor will try to dissipate the same amount of heat whether it's 1W or 1/4 W. The 1W resistor has more surface area to transfer heat into the air around it, though. You could leave your test rig on for a while, then check the surface temperature of the resistor - easiest if you have a remote-reading IR thermometer (you could borrow mine). If the resistor in free air is much above the air temperature, you could leave it outside the building. Maybe hanging under the foundation/baseboard?
I think it's less than 1v of 'excess' voltage from the 4 LEDs, and current is about 0.012a or less. The resistor was on most of the day and doesn't feel warm to the touch (feels about room temperature,) so I think I'm OK.
dave
I wanted a 'safe' glue to attach the LEDs to the underside of the ceiling joists. I tested Deluxe Materials Tacky Glue, and this should work quite well. Here's the test:
1. Glue a small part of a long piece of styrene to a piece of wood:
IMG_0996.jpeg
Then suspend this so the length of styrene places torque on the joint:
IMG_0998.jpeg
After an hour to cure, the joint is quite strong.
add: Well, it took a couple of curses, but I have the 4 LEDs glued to the ceiling joists. The problem is getting them placed squarely, when there's no space for your fingers... Tomorrow, after the glue is cured, I'll do another lighting test, then add a bit of CA to lock them into position. That's just in case there's a bad glue joint with the Tacky Glue.
dave
Looking good Dave. I just remembered that there are two floors to this kit. That's a lot of work. Watching your progress. Thanks for reminding me about B.E.S.T. I'll have to give them another look. It's been a while since I visited their site and made a purchase, but they have some really nice details. Mark
For quite a few years, B.E.S.T. has had a large booth at the Amherst Club's January West Springfield MA (BigE) show. I can't say if they have every part in the catalog at their booth, but a lot of New England modelers go home with a bag or two full of details, roof shingles etc.
Quote from: jbvb on August 18, 2025, 10:48:24 PMFor quite a few years, B.E.S.T. has had a large booth at the Amherst Club's January West Springfield MA (BigE) show. I can't say if they have every part in the catalog at their booth, but a lot of New England modelers go home with a bag or two full of details, roof shingles etc.
And Jill & Brian are really great people, too. I got a nice little note from Jill in my package of castings that arrived a couple days ago.
dave
Lights test out:
IMG_0999.jpeg
I'll lock them in place with CA, then finish fishing the wires.
add: Running the wires turned out to be more frustrating than I expected, but that's done. So next step: install the machines and connect the belts.
dave
Well done David.
Nice job Dave. You seem to have mastered it.
Jerry
Howdy David,
Congrats on the lighting success. Burning in the LEDs before mounting is a clever idea. I'll add it to my routine.
Have fun,
mike
Quote from: deemery on August 19, 2025, 02:34:48 PMadd: Running the wires turned out to be more frustrating than I expected, but that's done. So next step: install the machines and connect the belts.
dave
Note that in your era the building might have had steam heat. Wires you couldn't easily hide could be painted black and mounted like they were steam heat pipes.
Quote from: jbvb on August 20, 2025, 08:38:12 PMQuote from: deemery on August 19, 2025, 02:34:48 PMadd: Running the wires turned out to be more frustrating than I expected, but that's done. So next step: install the machines and connect the belts.
dave
Note that in your era the building might have had steam heat. Wires you couldn't easily hide could be painted black and mounted like they were steam heat pipes.
The kit came with steam radiators ;) The wire is mostly really thin magnet wire, except for the solder joints where I put heat shrink tubing over the joints. But it's all fished now along the ceiling joists, although I did have to carve a trough in one or two to fit the tubing.
dave
Yesterday, I didn't have a lot of time, but I did an experiment. I took an unused cone pulley casting, and tried 2 different glues to attach the paper belts. Surprisingly, epoxy didn't have enough tack. But Deluxe Materials Tacky Glue worked well. I can thin that a bit, which will make it easier to apply to the pulleys. I'll still use the 30 minute epoxy to glue the tools to the floor, but the Tacky Glue to glue the belts to the pulleys. I'll try installing the first tool later today.
dave
Dave,
The lighting looks great. Can't wait to see the machines in place.
First machine almost hooked up:
IMG_1006.jpeg
The process: 1. Locate the tool. 2. trim the back part of the belt. 3. glue the tool into position (epoxy) and let the epoxy dry thoroughly (after triple-checking tool alignment, of course....) 4. using a microbrush, apply some tacky glue to the back of the pulley. then using tweezers, maneuver the belt into position. Then apply a bit more glue to the bottom, and push the belt along the pulley. 5. Do the same for the front belt. The photo shows the front belt attached to the pulley, tomorrow I'll finish this off by adding more glue at the bottom and pushing the belt into position.
And then I'll start on another tool. My 30 minute epoxy took about an hour to fully cure.
Any glue drips on the floor will be covered when I weather the floor (oil drips, maybe some metal chips.)
dave
Great beginning with the tools Dave.
Second tool hooked up, third tool glued into position.
IMG_1015.jpeg
dave
Dave the belts look perfectly aligned.
I'm impressed and doing it in 1:87 scale is outstanding.
Jerry
Outstanding Dave.
Howdy Dave,
The tools look terrific. It's fun seeing the machines connected to power. Congrats on an excellent build.
Have fun,
mike
I didn't finish all the machines. The big lathe needs the front half of the belt glued, and then I need to add the small lathe and drill press. But I found the perfect tool to hold the belts into position on the pulleys while the glue dries, bent tip normally closed soldering tweezers.
IMG_1019.jpeg
dave
That looks excellent Dave.
Dave, the belts look excellent.
Dave,
I agree with Ron. I'm sorry now I didn't get this kit and happy that I didn't. 8)
Tom
The machine tools are all installed and belted:
IMG_1022.jpeg
IMG_1021.jpeg
I need to add the steam engine and connect the belt to the drive shaft (top left hole), the forge and blacksmith stuff (bottom left on the brick pad) and the operators. But first I need to weather the floor under the machines (in part to hide epoxy stains from positioning the tools >:(
But this has been A LONG TIME coming.
dave
That is top-notch modeling Dave. Will the walls or the roof come off to see this?
Quote from: PRR Modeler on August 25, 2025, 04:37:10 PMThat is top-notch modeling Dave. Will the walls or the roof come off to see this?
This is a 2 story building, so there's a second story to be glued to this. You can see that in one of the LED test photos (previous page.) But I'm still pondering either making a wall removable, or maybe doing a wall in clear styrene. After I finish the ground floor, I'll start on the 2nd floor's interior. This should go A Lot quicker, mostly I'll be building the kit interior as designed.
dave
Steam engine and its belt installed:
IMG_1025.jpeg
I'm pretty sure that's the Rio Grande Models kit. It's a beaut!
The foundry goes behind the steam engine, I'll start on that part next, while waiting for my 'oil staining products' to arrive. I need a good Blacksmith figure, any suggestions?
dave
The steam engine is very cool.
Here's my latest thought on making the machine tools visible: Laser Modelers 3 is still in business, as a custom architectural models firm. I sent them an email asking if they could cut the trackside (viewer side) wall from clear Plexiglass.
dave
Howdy Dave,
The mill is looking fantastic. That shop is going to be one noisy place. ;D I hope you have a good place on the layout to show off the mill.
Have fun,
mike
Great stuff Dave!
Where I've commented on other people's builds of machine shops, roundhouses, even lumber mills, I've often commented "the floors are too clean and monochrome." i watched a video on armor modeling using 3 MIG products for oil and grease stains, and bought them to play with. I put a drop of each on a piece of wood (since I'm working on wood floors, rather than styrene "armor.")
IMG_1029.jpeg
The 'fresh engine oil' stain is very thin, as you can see. 'Engine Grime' was thicker, but still thin compared to regular paints. These are enamels, not acrylics, so you'll want some paint thinner to work with them and clean the brushes afterwards.
IMG_1030.jpeg
There were some shiny blobs of epoxy exposed from when I was positioning the tools. That's not a total catastrophe, but I need to color them correctly. I started with Engine Grime, making sure to get a good coat on the epoxy blobs, and generally working that around the tools. Then I went back with a brush dipped into paint thinner, and spread that out a bit.
I used 'Fuel Stains' next, working closer into the tool, and also along the length of the main drive shaft.
Finally, I used Fresh Engine Oil, applying that to the tool and engine surfaces where machine oil would be applied. I also applied a thinned wash of Engine Grime over the brick foundry floor. That brick looked too bright to me, and I think the result blends better into the structure.
Overall I'm happy with the result. Next step will be to add the workers, and to position the forge parts.
dave
Well Dave that came out pretty dam well!!!!
Jerry
Excellent color choices Dave.
Dave fantastic job on the overhead system. That came out very well; congrats.
Dave,
That came out looking great, not often you see overhead belt systems modeled with that much detail.
Hello Dave, the shop interior with all of the the machines and steam engine and all of the belts look great. First rate modeling sir.
Coming along just fine! 8)
Work-in-progress: Here's the bellows sitting on top of the joists. I'm checking alignment for the pipe that comes out of the bellows and plugs into the forge underneath the hood. The bellows will actually be glued underneath the light colored wood joists.
IMG_1032.jpeg
The forge parts are from the Sierra West kit. Their arrangement is with the bellows to the right of the forge on the ground, so actually my bellows casting is upside down compared to the intended fit. I cut off the nubbin from the bellows, sanded and then drilled #67. I'll do the pipe from #20 solid wire, stripping insulation to expose the copper to go into that hole on the bellows and the hole on the forge itself.
The wall with the hood attached is propped up against the bracing for the test. I need to finish the coloring on the forge (I added coal, painted in "fire glow", and will add some ashes around the fire), glue that into position, and then start the test-fit and adjust cycle for the pipe from the bellows to the forge. I also need to attach the pull cord for the bellows, yesterday I added a eye onto the bellows, and today I'll glue the pull cord after I check the length. A Presier blacksmith is on order, should arrive by the end of the week.
The other hole I have to cut into that wall is for the pipe from the boiler to the steam engine. That'll require me to dig out the boiler and work through how the steam line should run.
dave
That looks awesome Dave.
Forge and bellows are installed.
To get the fire in the forge, I added 'coal' (black aquarium sand, the gloss looks good as coal in small amounts) to the forge 3D casting, and locked it into position with Deluxe Materials ballast glue. That stuff spreads very well to lock the grains into position. Then I added a drop of a bright red airbrush paint, which then dissipated through the ballast cement. When that dried, I brushed around the active fire area with white pigment (ashes), then added another drop of the red 'fire' paint. I blotted that so it didn't puddle on the coal.
IMG_1034.jpeg
I glued the bellows to the wood joists, and then started to test-fit the piece of wire that serves as the pipe from the bellows to the forge. Once I got that shaped OK, I airbrushed that with Badger dark grey primer, and then glued it into position between the bellows and the forge.
IMG_1037.jpeg
And another view, the bellows pull cord shows up well here.
IMG_1041.jpeg
This went as expected, so today was a success. What's left now is to add figures and details, and a bit of 'dirtifying' around the forge.
dave
Howdy Dave,
Thanks for sharing a photo of the grime and grease paints on wood. The forge build is excellent. That's going to be one hot shop in the summer. Nice work.
Have fun,
mike
Another great addition Dave.
Nice job on the forge Dave.
Jerry
Dave,
Great job on the interior of this very large machine shop.
Tom
That forge is awesome, Dave.
I hope you do find a way to easily make the wall removable, so that all those details in your machine shop will be visible.
The Preiser blacksmith looks pretty good in the forge. The paint on that figure is good, I didn't need to do any touch-up.
IMG_1048.jpeg
The next step on this build is to glue the figures into position. Maybe tomorrow...
dave
Looks great Dave, that figure fits perfect. I would suggest more clutter. My father's old machine shop was so littered you barely had room to pass another coworker. I don't know how his guys found anything. It's all gone now. The factory was torn down a few years ago. Stuff was everywhere, under machines, hanging on the walls, from the ceiling.
Great start to this kit. Mark
Hello Dave, the forge and blacksmith add another touch of realism to your very fine machine shop build. Very nice modeling.
I just got an email from LaserModelers3. They cut a wall for me from clear acrylic!
dave
I painted a couple more machine shop figures, including 2 sitting figures. Tomorrow, the plan is to install all of them. I'll use long setting (30 min) epoxy, so I have good tack and a permanent bond after plenty of positioning time.
dave
Quote from: deemery on September 10, 2025, 12:15:24 PMI just got an email from LaserModelers3. They cut a wall for me from clear acrylic!
dave
Like button.
Dave any update?
Quote from: PRR Modeler on September 18, 2025, 06:39:58 AMDave any update?
I should start installing the operators in the machine shop today. When that's done, I'll post a photo. And I'm waiting for the clear acrylic wall to arrive from LM3. I'm really excited to see how well that works.
update: Staffing is fully underway at the shop:
IMG_1077.jpeg
IMG_1078.jpeg
I broke the chair when trying to glue the shift manager to it (area on the right side.) I'll construct another chair and add that tomorrow.
dave
Really looking great Dave!
Broken chair maybe he needs to go on diet?? ;D
Jerry
Quote from: Jerry on September 18, 2025, 05:20:00 PMReally looking great Dave!
Broken chair maybe he needs to go on diet?? ;D
Jerry
Well, those chairs are pretty flimsy, they're laser cut from thin cardboard. So they're to scale.
I worked up 2 sitting figures. One is a worker/supervisor, and the other is a boss (wearing a 3 piece suit.) The latter is heavier :o He'll go on an office chair when I do the 2nd floor interior.
dave
Outstanding Dave
I agree with Curt. The interior of the shop looks fantastic.
Great job on the coloring of the machinery.
Tom
Well, getting the chair and the guy to sit in it was quite difficult:
IMG_1081.jpeg
You can see how delicate the chair parts are.
IMG_1082.jpeg
But he's in place now. I just hope there's enough epoxy on the stair legs to hold that part in place.
add: Here's the view on the other side:
IMG_1083.jpeg
dave
Great addition Dave. I was going to suggest a white metal chair if yours didn't work.
A quick test of the Plexiglass wall, which arrived today:
IMG_1084.jpeg
This is going to work well!
dave
Dave,
The machine shop is looking rather busy.
Is it your intention to have a see through wall so the interior can be appreciated fully or is it just the foundation for the final wall finish?
Quote from: elwoodblues on September 19, 2025, 09:52:23 PMDave,
The machine shop is looking rather busy.
Is it your intention to have a see through wall so the interior can be appreciated fully or is it just the foundation for the final wall finish?
That's the "final wall". I'll mount the window and door castings into the acrylic. There was too much work in the interior to not be able to see it. LM3 custom-printed the trackside (viewer side) wall for me.
dave
Dave, I can imagine building that tiny chair was a challenge.
Plexiglass wall is an excellent idea.
Dave the Machine Shop looks fabulous!! Brilliant idea using the Plexi wall. You must have a lot of patience to make a chair that small.
How I did the chair: (1) I glued the 2 parts of the seat together with wood glue. (2) I then put the seat upside-down on a piece of double-stick tape on the workbench. (3) I put a dab of wood glue into each of the 4 leg holes. (4) I positioned the legs into the holes, made sure they were perpendicular (or equally slanted...) (5) I then added thin CA to where the legs fit into the holes. I did a small puddle of CA for each to get a strong joint. (6) When that was set, I went back and coated the legs with thin CA for added strength. (7) Then I flipped the chair over, put wood glue where the back attaches to the seat. I checked the position of the figure, and then added a bit more wood glue on the back to lock the seat back into position. (8) Finally, I glued the butt into the seat, and put dabs of 30 min epoxy on the leg bases and the figure's feet, and positioned it on the model.
So a rather involved process!
dave
Dave great idea with the plexiglass looks great.
This is really coming out nice. Can't wait to see what you do upstairs.
Jerry
Howdy Dave,
The plexiglass wall is most clever. It will look terrific. Congrats on the chair build; it looks great.
Have fun,
mike
A better mock-up of the clear wall:
IMG_1086.jpeg
I'm still pondering what to do for the freight doors. But with the plexiglass, you can see much of the belt drive parts, and That's A Good Thing, considering the effort that went into them. I guess I should hook up the juice and take a picture with the LEDs lit up.
dave
It looks great Dave.
Today is one of those days where the only thing the glue will stick to is my fingers! I need to find a new wood glue. My NESL Flamingo Glue has gotten old (and they don't sell it any more.) The thinned yellow carpenter glue wasn't working for me today, either.
And then I organized the drawer underneath the airbrush hood, and put some stuff away in the lahyout room, so I could get to the area where Lamson & Goodnow goes. I need to do the scenery behind that before I tackle the scenery in the hole for the factory. Doing some scenery will be a good break from Winchendon for a couple of days.
dave
I'm still building fiddly laser-cut wood furniture. Fortunately, the kit came with plenty of each. I gave up on the overly fragile drafting table bracket, but I've been successful assembling the chairs. Work continues...
dave
For a 1950s drafting table, I'd try bending the support frame out of .012 or .015 wire, then soldering a few points together to stabilize it. I doubt there were steel frames in the 1890s, when everyone was using up old-growth wood like they'd be gone before it ran out (accurately, alas).
Looks great~!
Quote from: jbvb on September 25, 2025, 06:01:17 PMFor a 1950s drafting table, I'd try bending the support frame out of .012 or .015 wire, then soldering a few points together to stabilize it. I doubt there were steel frames in the 1890s, when everyone was using up old-growth wood like they'd be gone before it ran out (accurately, alas).
I have several older/antique drafting tables (including my father's student table, that I had to fight my brother the architect for.) They all follow this pattern, a pair of cast iron arches, cast iron handles, and threaded rods to set the arch, and vertical slides with cast iron parts to set the elevation.
(https://foter.com/photos/title/antique-drafting-tables.jpg)
And the wood is always oak. My wife has one new table (from her days as a graphic designer) that is lighter wood, but still has a central pivot for the table.
I have seen this style, too:
(https://a.1stdibscdn.com/vintage-drafting-table-for-sale-picture-3/f_8299/f_304421921663268714870/Stacor_DT_3_master.jpg)
Early 1900s General Electric drafting room:
Screenshot 2025-09-25 at 18.51.37.jpg
dave
I've been assembling the kit's shelving units, that takes some time to let the glue set up on a partial assembly, before I can finish it. There are 6 shelve units to build, so by now I've got the process down. I consulted with my brother the architect on some drafting room layout questions, and then scratch built a blueprint cabinet. And I started on a set of filing cabinets.
No pictures, I'll post when I'm done.
add Some pictures, structure on location. The office furniture (no chairs, they're too fragile for 'quick snappies')
IMG_1098.jpeg
And a larger view:
IMG_1099.jpeg
I should add power for the lights, and mock up the sides in a future photo.
dave
Dave,
You are doing such excellent work! What will you put on the bookcases? Books? ;)
Have fun,
mike
Quote from: friscomike on September 27, 2025, 06:41:04 PMDave,
You are doing such excellent work! What will you put on the bookcases? Books? ;)
Have fun,
mike
I need to come up with a way to make this look like lots of parts. My concept is the supply part of the "Oil Well Supply Company" facilities. I also need to make small probably tilt-out parts bins for screws, washers, etc. The rest of the space will be boxes and related oil well 'junk'.
dave
Dave those desks look difficult to assemble being soooo small; nice job.
Fantastic!
Quote from: friscomike on September 27, 2025, 06:41:04 PMDave,
You are doing such excellent work! What will you put on the bookcases? Books? ;)
Have fun,
mike
In Dave's era, bookcases with large shelves would have been mostly for ledgers, survey documents, maps etc.
Oak furniture for the drafting room and storage area. I'm using Green Frog tape because it has really good tack, I don't want the parts to fly away when airbrushing!
IMG_1107.jpeg
The chairs, in particular, are very fragile, and had that dark laser burn that I wanted to work out. So first I primed with thinned Badger neutral yellow primer, sprayed at about 15 PSI (down from my usual 20-25 PSI). That provided a uniform color over the laser-cut parts (tops and edges.) Then after that dried, I went back with Liquitext fluid acrylic raw sienna, again thinned about 50% with Liquitex airbrush thinner and sprayed at about 12 PSI. I wanted a light transparent layer.
The result came out pretty good, I think.
add I added papers to the tables/desks:
IMG_1108.jpeg
dave
8)
Howdy Dave, nice work on the color and desktops. I especially like the drafting table. Have fun, mike
Very nice Dave.
Quote from: friscomike on October 03, 2025, 06:23:13 PMHowdy Dave, nice work on the color and desktops. I especially like the drafting table. Have fun, mike
All but the large counter came with the kit.
dave
Dave,
Fragile or not, you did a great job on the chairs.
Tom
Populating the shelves... I found a good head-on photo of generic hardware store shelves (said it was AI generated, there's a watermark but for what I'm doing, that won't be visible.) I figured out how to scale it to the shelf height, and then printed the image. I cut pieces of styrene (1/8x1/8 or 1/8x3/16) to put behind it, having everything at the same depth helps preserve the sense of depth.
IMG_1113.jpeg
One shelf unit finished (done smaller so it looks like it does 'to scale' in the shop.)
IMG_1114-smaller.jpeg
dave
Pretty neat idea. Looks great.
B~
Dave, that is the approach I took for the interiors of my N Scale stores on my modules, I was very pleased with the results.
Looks good from any human-eye viewing distance.
Outstanding Dave.
Howdy Dave,
Nice work on the shelving. They look terrific.
Have fun,
mike
Dave,
great idea to fill the shelves.
Today's big accomplishment was finding my 'box of boxes.' I pulled out some stuff to add to the storage room, primed it, and did some initial lay-out. It looks good, but I need more stuff. ;D I also found a Mine Mount Miniatures pipe rack, which I'll adapt and add to the storage room. So it's coming together. I do need to work on the lighting, before I actually glue all the stuff to the floor.
dave
Very nice Dave.
Jerry
Last installment looks great! Boxes should be clear ;)