The Curmudgeon (Mike) and the Punk (Dustin) Build the SWSM Deer Creek Mine

[nextceo]

The Tower looks good Mike!

Alan

[Mike Engler]

Thanks Alan for the kind word.

I've been working on the head frame detailing. There are several white metal castings, the key ones being the ore skip, the large sheave, and the pillow blocks for the same. I've weathered this type of castings several ways over the years, usually starting with A-West Blacken-it. This dependable product is now gone from the shelves due to the untimely death of the manufacturer, and since I'm about out of it I decided to try something different.


I have several modeling heroes but probably at the top of the list is Chuck Doan. I have long admired his models on forums such as this and on his Fotki site and more recently his FB page. I was fortunate to have met Chuck a few years ago at a National Narrow Gauge Convention in Pasadena, and to have spent a little time with he and his father observing several models in the contest room.


Chuck has been kind to all of us by sharing some of his secrets on Fotki and Facebook, and recently posted a method he has used that produced great results. When I first read this I thought that each successive layer merely covered up the previous, but was happy to find they not only blended nicely but produced a nice weathered rust, oil, and grease effect. Check out how Chuck did it on FB, and though his results were way better than mine in his 1/16 scale, my HO effort was adequate. I changed his materials somewhat to utilize what was on hand, so here are my layers:


1) Sprayed with Krylon flat black rattle can spray.
2) Applied a thin coat of Poly Scale Grimy Black.
3) Applied a thin coat of a mixture of three Vallejo acrylics of rust, black, and tan.
4) Then a mix of two Winsor & Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oil Colours (how's that
Karl?) raw and burnt umbers and a little black.
5) Finally added a little Rembrandt chalks using several umbers and siennas.


My photography doesn't do justice to the results but you get the idea. Some progress shots.

[cuse]

Thanks for the recipe. That's really beautiful work on the castings and the wood! Perfect!


John

[Vilius]

Mike,

Very convincing rust. The grease is a nice touch too. Are you modeling working mine or abandoned? If working then are you planning on making part of the wheel where cable runs shiny?

Vilius

[Mike Engler]

A comment on another forum liked the rough used ends on the upper beams of the mine. Here is the response:



Thanks Michael. Getting the "used look" for timbers and beams is my "modeling secret No. 12". There are many types of stripwood available and a lot of manufacturers use Northeastern (basswood) or Mt. Albert (basswood, eastern white pine, sugar pine (don't use much as it is too spendy). I think the wood suppliers cut them to custom lengths for kit manufacturers. There are many more; Midwest, etc


The key is when they are cut in bulk lengths to ship to consumers or hobby shops, or to manufacturers to include in kits, look for the rough cut ends. See the bundle photo. In a structure like this one, most of the cuts will be for interior timbers, legs, cross pieces, etc. where the nice clean cut you get with a Chopper ll is desirable. But there are several beams on the top and elsewhere where you want the nice rough cut that the wood manufacturers get when they cut the stripwood at their factory. I asked a couple and was told it is a result of bulk cutting, a coarser, duller, slower saw, etc.


I just know it's tough to duplicate. I've been know to splice two pieces together to get two "good ends" for an exposed board, usually when the splice can be hidden by some detail part. I've tried using several different razor saws, fine and coarse, sharp and dull, with my old wooden mitre box, and I can't duplicate those nice rough cuts of the wood suppliers


The key tool of the trade for rough ends for larger stripwood (⅛" x ⅛" or larger is this file card (some call it a card file), available at the plumbing dept, of Home Despot or Ace Hardwares.. You can do some real violence to your wood, especially the softer varieties like eastern white pine, It makes for some great graining patterns, especially in the larger scales, as well as the larger HO scale sizes. Also use it to knock a little off the corners so they look a little worn. Vary your effects just as you have color variations.


Remember the close-up of the structure here is magnified about 35 times and won't represent what you will see with the naked eye from even a close viewing distance.

[nextceo]

Hey Mike,

   Thanks for the tip on the card file for the larger pieces of wood. Do you have something special you use on the smaller pieces of wood? When I use a wire brush on them, it tends to "smooth" out the edges instead of roughing them up. I usually have to take a razor blade or and exacto knife and put little slices in the wood on those smaller pieces to get that rough look...but wanted to see what you used.

Thanks again for sharing!
Alan

[bparrish]

Mike...

This stuff is great.

You absolutely nailed the wet oily look on the bearing and the grunge below.

Thanx
Bob

[Janbouli]

Thanks a heap Mike

[Mike Engler]

Thanks John, Jan, Bob, and Bob. Very nice comments. Alan, I do what you do on the smaller stuff, but also have some success using the card file very lightly.


Thanks Vilius- good question; since it is a working silver mine I will need to have the sheave look used. I have a color chart of all my metallic colors in acrylics and I am leaning toward Vallejo "Oily steel" or PS "Gun metal" for the inside groove where the cable has shined it up. Also, the cable will have deposited a good amount of dirt from underground. I'm having trouble finding any color prototype pics of what I'm trying to depict.

[Vilius]

Pencil lead could be good match. Don't take my word for it though. Try first and see if you like it.

Vilius

[ReadingBob]

Uhh....wow!  I'm at a loss for words.  Beautiful work.  (That doesn't seem to do it justice though).   

[deemery]

Check out Model Masters "Jet Exhaust" for another option for weathered/worn metal.


dave

[S&S RR]

Mike and Dustin


Great detail work - I'm watching with great interest - and taking notes.

[Mike Engler]

Thanks Vilius, Bob, John, and Dave. Vilius I tried it and I liked it, and Dave I will get some "Jet Exhaust" this weekend at the LHS. Do you know if it is available in acrylic and oil-based versions?



I've finished the head frame and played around with mocking up a diorama that will be airplane portable. I envision a few more compatible structures. I did want to see these first two in line before I am too far into the hoist house (a more traditional structure).


There were quite a few NBWs on the head frame, over fifty, and most of the ones I used were Brett's two-part die-cut nut/washers in three sizes. I did substitute some old Tichy styrene freight car truss rod castings for use backing up the truss rods on this model.


This build has really been fun to this point, and now I get to try some of Bill O.'s new castings tricks which if you haven't seen you should check out on Brett's forum on Bill's mine thread. I'll post one of his pics if he says OK- during the summer he is pretty much a river rat (competitive water skiing with his family)


I want to quick post before I get any discussions going. I thought Dustin was going to join us but apparently he has gone over to the Dark Side now that he has seen his O Scale kits.

[coors2u]

Okay, okay, okay! I am here. I have not gone to the dark side completely. I will admit I have acquired a few O scale offerings of late. Mostly for competition reasons. With that said it has been a busy summer in the beer biz. Plus I vacationed with the boss lady.


The head frame was next on my list. Lots of wood! The templates that are provided make this complex but simple. There is even extra wood in case cuts don't line up. It looks like a mini Jenga tower.