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

[ollevon]

starting to look really great Mike, keep the pictures coming, just awesome
  Sam

[postalkarl]

Hi Mike:

Your walls and castings look great.

Karl.

[Mike Engler]

Thanks Dustin- let's see how you did the walls. And thanks for the comments from Sam and Karl. Karl, I imagine you are not going to the narrow gauge convention in Houston. Maybe next year in Maine. I still can't believe I missed you in Scranton. You must really have done a "drive-by".

I've finished all four walls and now it's time to make all of the windows and doors. None of those easy-peasy plastic window castings that are thick and clunky. These will be made from several layers of laser board that is a resin impregnated paper board that is as thin as the prototype but very strong and easy to work with, and also is easily stained with alcohol and chalk powder.

Each window is made up of seven pieces, and include spraying the mylar "glass" that gets sandwiched between two frame pieces, after they are stained with alcohol and Rembrandt chalk. Just like a real window. Adding a couple of small pieces of channel here would allow the lower sash to be raised and lowered. Even if you don't do that you can model them open, closed, or anywhere in-between.

Cracks, holes, shards, and missing panes are easily added and Brett includes a template to help do these effects neatly. There are seven pieces that make up each window and the best thing about the finished product is that they don't look like plastic windows. All the other major large kit suppliers- George, Doug, Bob VG, etc all use Grandt or Tichy plastic windows to my knowledge. Photos of the finished models that include the plastic windows are almost as much of a dead give-away that the scene is not real as it would be if Little People were included.

Brett's laser-board is great to work with, and he uses an incredible self-adhesive that actually self-adheres. I still used a dot of canopy glue or ACC gel to make sure it all held together. This is not a big structure as it only has seven windows and three doors, and a hoist cable opening. Oh, and the doors have two-part plates and door-knobs on both sides of the doors.

Working with chalk and alcohol can cause some build-up on things like window mullion frames. Use a magnifier or take some close-up photos like these to identify where you will want to clean-up here and there with the tip of a No. 11 blade.

So on to the hoist house floor and the diorama base. I'm still behind Dustin as I think he has already decorated all of the castings. First some pics of the finished windows and doors. The first one is using a stripwood guide to make aligning perfectly square. Brett teaches you to do this often, with various stages of the construction.

[postalkarl]

Hi Mike:

Like I said the walls look great. Even better as you finish them up.

Karl

[Mike Engler]

Thanks Karl. What are you building these days? Don't tell me you are taking a couple of weeks off.


I'm plugging away, and always a nice diversion with one of Brett's creations are the many white metal and beautiful resin castings. And nothing smells better than resin in the morning with the possible exception of resin being drilled with your Dremel. Again, no room for short-cuts here. These resin castings rarely need any cleaning, and washing them is wasted time- simply not necessary. The ones that are wood, like wooden kegs, benches, cabinets, and crates get a light primer coat of Krylon Camo Khaki, and the ones representing metal like steel barrels and trash cans get Flat Black, also a Krylon rattle can.


Before spraying the round castings are drilled from the bottom to accept a round wooden toothpick with one of the points snipped off. Put the tooth-pick holders in a chunk of foam so that you can spray them. As we will see later this will allow us to paint the tiny bands on the barrels by holding a very small brush steady and rotating the barrel by twirling the tooth pick slowly. You keep your hands joined together on your work surface- this sounds awkward but you quickly get the hang of it and gets great results.


The best thing about Starbucks is their free wooden stir sticks. You can put 7 or 8 flat on your work surface, and then put a five inch strip of 2" wide carpet tape length-wise on them. Then cut the sticks apart with your X-acto knife, and now you have several sticks that you can attach many boxes, crates, shelves, workbenches to. Wear a plastic glove and spray all your castings, and after they dry the fun begins. We will decorate with chalk and alcohol, so the primer will give the casting some "teeth" to hold the decorating.

[ACL1504]

Mike,

Ditto to what Karl said on the walls. They look fantastic.

Tom

[Mike Engler]

Thanks Tom- I appreciate the atta-boy and I know that thumb will heal fast and you will be at the bench in no time.


There are several rather large interior details for the hoist house, and they are kind of kits within the kit. I'm usually not big on building Jordan vehicles and the like as I am out of my element when I get beyond basswood and card stock, or anything that requires more than white glue to hold it together. So while waiting for the primer to dry a little bit, I decided to see what a Stationary Horizontal Steam Boiler and a Double Cylinder Mine Hoist were all about. Well, they were a ball. Once you start you don't want to stop- you have to force yourself to let the five-minute epoxy get good and dry after you join a couple of pieces, before moving on.


My biggest problem was not knowing the nomenclature of all the parts, but that is another big reason why I love doing Brett's kits- the educational factor. When his manual says "make sure the crosshead guides, connecting rods, and crank discs fit together and are quartered", I'm doing a lot of back and forth from model to photos. High level of satisfaction when you can assemble and weather one of these little critters, especially when you build it in HO. A lot of 5-minute epoxy, some ACC, and occasionally Formula 560 Canopy glue are used to join resin, copper and brass wire, pewter, and styrene.


The third photo is the finished Stationary Horizontal Boiler, the Double Cylinder Mine Hoist, and the Mill Engine and Blower. The weathering is chalk, A/C (alcohol and chalk), and dry brushing Reaper and Vallejo acrylic metalic-colored paints. The assembled boiler was sprayed with flat black Krylon, and most metal parts were treated with A-West BLACKEN-IT- yeah I found another bottle.


Inspired by Bill Obenauf's work with signing wooden crates, I made a few up. After priming all the epoxy castings, and weathering them with various shades of chalk and alcohol, I applied a few signs, and I think they will be serviceable. Several are shown in the last photo.I have thousands of signs but I am going to have to resize some of them to HO crate size, which is pretty small. Back to decorating castings.

[deemery]

Looks good!  One thing I'd suggest is doing something different to the smokebox part of the boiler casting.  That's because the smokebox got hotter than the rest of the boiler, and it would weather differently.  Think about photos of steam locos, e.g. the silver/graphite color. 


One thought would be to make it a lighter grey and then put a heavier coating of rust on that part.  Here's some inspiration from the smoker part of my smoker/BBQ:


dave

[Mike Engler]

Thanks Dave. Thanks for the suggestion, and I agree the smokebox should have more white-gray. I've spent some time looking at Google images for some ideas. I probably won't do more rust as Brett cautions in his instructions about not depicting much rust, as you would't find many workers willing to work near rusty boilers in the mines. Same thing applies to steam donkeys in logging operations. Anybody else got any data, or interesting opinions?


I've applied the first scenery layer to the diorama base, and have cut, stained, and glued some ties in place. I've cut a few pieces of code 55 rail but will have to wait to lay the rail until I get a second HOn3 track gauge. I've also cut some code 40 rail for the ore cars.


Before I glue the elements in place I have to verify the spacing and alignment. The photo shows a rod that indicates where the cable will go. The rod rests on the top of the sheave, and goes through the center of the hoist door, and rests on the diorama base centered where the hoist will go.

[coors2u]

I love it Mike! She sure looks good sitting there with some track. I need to get on the ball with mine. Kids sure do cut build time. In a good way though. I have tow walls boarded and starting on the others. Keep up the great work sir.

[deemery]

That's a good point about 'rusty boilers as safety hazard'!  I think toning the smokebox to a lighter grey would probably be OK.  (And a rusty smokebox is probably nowhere near the safety risk as the water part of the boiler.)


dave

[Mike Engler]

Thanks Dave and Dustin. Dustin, I gave up modeling for many years while the kids were growing up, playing sports and involved in many activities. I did a lot of coaching football, hockey, and baseball as well as playing a lot of golf. I admire you hanging with the model building to the extent that you are, but it only gets tougher as they get older.


I'm starting the detailing which i consider the dessert phase of the diorama. This one is on a 11 X 14 frame board from the local Dick Blick store- Brett said I was crazy for trusting it not to warp. It is gesso-coated and the label said it was warp-proof. I even called a Blick product manager and got his assurance as well. I did use mostly alcohol instead of water to mist prior to using a reduced amount of water mixed with white glue to adhere everything.


The pics show you which castings to tone down with A/I, chalk, or dry-brushing. I have some additional dirt to put around foundations, doors to fix, and various touch-up work.


I make the casting placement and detail work last by only doing them for an hour or so at a time for several reasons. Give some thought to placement and resist the urge to finish. The last ten per-cent is the most important part of diorama building. They really are never finished- you can always make them better.


I still have some roofs to do. I have placed walk boards in several places including in front of the doors.

[Mike Engler]

Sorry for the generally bad photography in the above four. I do study them and make notes as I do to make a punch list of the dozens of things that need to be fixed. Note in the third photo above a neat detail that Brett suggests you add- cut some very thin strips of paper that you have stained with chalk, and glue them in place as straps to hold the piping in place. Here is one more that shows some brightly colored castings that are screaming to be toned down.

[Janbouli]

  Love all the details and the weathering.

[cuse]

Just great Mike. Your work holds up even under "magnifying glass" scrutiny. Amazing.


I hope I'll see some of your work in Houston.


John