Hello Rich, to get the rust colored look I first use a rattle can dark brown camo color as a primer. I posted a picture of the Rix Products sprues after this step just a few posts back.
I then dry brush a dark chocolate craft paint color rather heavily.
Next I sponge on a little orange and then dark red colors, but very lightly.
After all of this dries, I then lightly dry brush a silver craft paint color.
If it looks right to me at this point, I'm done. If not I might sponge on a little more color and then dry brush some more silver.
Thanks for asking, I hope this makes some sort of sense to you.

Hello Vagel, thanks for giving us such a nice tour of your layout. I too really like the bridge scene, it must be nice to watch a train travel through that area.

Hello Tom, wonderful work on the dirt roads and thanks for the tips on how to do them.

Hello Kyle, I'm very impressed with the way that you are blending the colors of the backdrop into the colors of the foreground scenery. Beautiful modeling and artistry.

Quote from: Larry C on September 14, 2025, 02:51:32 PMJeff that is a very nice looking structure and the elevators gives it more of a massive look.

Hello Larry, thank you for the kind words. I'm pleased with how the addition of the elevator looks behind the mill.

Quote from: friscomike on September 15, 2025, 08:37:00 AMHowdy Jeff,

Nice work on the mill and elevator.  The clever elevator construction looks perfect for the mill.

Have fun,
mike

Hello Mike, thank you for the nice comments. I'm happy with how the elevator came out and I'm definitely having fun.

Quote from: Rick on September 15, 2025, 09:41:54 AMJeff, that's a good addition to the scene.

Hello Rick, thank you sir. I think that the addition of the elevator helps tell the story of the mill's operation.

Quote from: Jerry on September 15, 2025, 09:50:58 AMJeff grreat addition.  Beautiful modeling.

Jerry

Hello Jerry, thank you for looking in and for the kind words.

Quote from: Mark Dalrymple on September 15, 2025, 04:18:52 PMThe elevators look great, Jeff.

Cheers, Mark.

Hello Mark, thank you for the nice comment.

Hello Larry, thank you for taking the time to comment on my layout. I'm glad that you have enjoyed the detail and mini-scenes. I put a lot of effort into the little areas of a layout that tell a story to people looking at them. I too remember the milkman coming to the house.

Hello Tom, things are really looking refreshed on your layout. I appreciate the tips on upgrading scenery- some of the older areas of scenery on my layout probably need a similar treatment.

Here's how the grain leg looked after all of the paint and glue dried.



And here it is in place at the rear of the mill building.



I built another vertical conveyor structure at the left side of the unloading area. It connects to the angled enclosed conveyor that sits above the covered way. I used some clapboard and strip wood pieces for this as well and painted it to match the barn structure also.



The mill complex is as about complete as it can be at this stage of the build. After attaching the mill complex to a larger homosote base I can install the overhead pipes from the top of the grain leg to the tops of the silos and I can also install a conveyor system from the bottom of the silos to the smaller lift to get the grain into the mill.



I'm very pleased with the grain leg and I think that I have shown how grain is moved around the mill area in my modeling. I said before that I was modernizing Craig's original mill concept to fit my 1940's time frame and I think that I have accomplished that goal.



That's it for now, more later.

Continuing on with the mill complex...

Continuing on with modeling how the grain is moved around the mill area, I decided that a grain leg, or grain elevator, was needed to get excess grain from the mill to the storage silos, now that I have two of them. The location of the grain leg was going to be along the rear wall of the mill building. I had to trim the roof of the mill slightly.



I ordered some grain bin parts from Rix Products, which shipped and arrived very quickly, I might add. I sprayed the parts with a rattle can dark brown primer.



I made a platform for the top of the grain leg using the Rix parts and rusted them using some craft paints.



I decided that I wanted a man ladder on the outside of the grain leg. I had this from a Walthers kit and I painted and rusted this as well.



I wanted my grain leg to be different from the typical kit seen on many grain elevator pictures, so I decided to make mine wood framed. I used a 3/4 inch square piece of hardwood for the core and cut some clapboard and strip wood pieces for the outside surfaces. I didn't have any prototype photos for what I wanted, so I just sort of built something that, to my eye, looked right. After assembly, I stained it all with my A&I solution and then dry brushed it to match the colors I used on the barn structure in front of the stone mill building.

Hello Jerry, thank you for the kind words. I'm very happy with how the silos came out.

Hello Mike, your casting details look great, can't wait to see the finished product.

Hello Kyle, the backdrop just keeps getting better and better. Very nice work.

Quote from: GPdemayo on September 07, 2025, 12:53:39 PMBeautiful scene Jeff, well done.....

Hello Greg, thank you sir.

Quote from: ACL1504 on September 07, 2025, 07:44:43 PMJeff,

I agree, well done.

Tom

Hello Tom, thank you for taking the time to look in, I appreciate the kind words

Quote from: Pennman on September 07, 2025, 11:22:04 PMJeff,

Very nice looking models.
Rich

Hello Rich, thank you for the nice comments

Quote from: friscomike on September 08, 2025, 04:33:19 PMHowdy Jeff,

Excellent work.  The structure planting was a success; it looks fantastic.  Good luck with installing it on the layout. 

Have fun,
mike

Hello Mike, I still have a ways to go with the large mill scene portion of the diorama, but I'm getting there and I'm definitely still having fun.

Hello Vagel, thank you for the very kind words. I appreciate the feedback.

It seems that I have finally finished all of the structures and sub-assemblies and that now it is time to get them ready for planting on my layout.

I usually glue the structures that I build to a styrene base large enough for the structure and some adjacent details. I find that it is easier to do this on the workbench. An example is the general store that was one of the first parts of this kit that I built.



Because this kit is part of a large diorama that will go onto the layout, the next step was to glue the structure with it's styrene base to a larger piece of homosote that was cut to fit the available space on the layout. Doing it this way allows me to do some more scenery work done on the workbench and also place the low profile details such as fences and walls done in a more convenient way.



Blending the scenery around the perimeter of the styrene base is a simple matter of spreading some sifted dirt and then drizzling on some mod podge and water to fix everything in place.



After I place this larger piece on the layout I will again blend the scenery around the edges. Then there will be more details added such as power poles, vehicles, figures and trees.



This last picture is of the back of the scene which will not be seen as it faces the backdrop on the layout. I do not typically add a lot of details to areas like this.



The general store part of the diorama is now set to be planted on the layout. Next up is the larger mill scene part of the diorama. That's it for now, more later.