Master Creations Blandings and Gallard Cement Co

[Zephyrus52246]

Great coloring on the crane.  Nice job on the water tank as well.  Anxious to see how the whole scene comes together.

Jeff

[Jerry]

Steve a beautiful scene.  Nice work on those buildings and tank.

Jerry

[SteveCuster]

Thanks everyone

[postalkarl]

Hey Steve:

The whole build looks just beautiful. I really like the water tank. It adds great class to the structure.

Karl

[SteveCuster]

Thanks Karl

[PRR Modeler]

Great looking scene.

[SteveCuster]

Thanks Curt.

Todays update..

I started to get everything together but thought the scene was missing something in the area between the storage shed and the office building so I scratched up a little shed with some workbenches for small repairs to machines or vehicles.


I started by making some supports on top of graph paper. No complicated plans here I just made 2 of these with one being 1 ft higher for the roof pitch.

The open one will be the front. I wanted it to be pretty rough and simple so I just added some planks along the lower portion of the structure. I wanted them to be only just a little higher than the workbench.


Here it is starting to take shape.

I added a wood floor and the cross planks for the sides.

I planned on adding a workbench in this corner area but I knew I couldn't detail under it with it in place so I added some junk to the floor.

Installed the workbench. I think this workbench casting came with the kit.

I started to add some other details to fill out the scene.





I added some roof rafters and a little thread hose from the air compressor. I think I'm going to do a metal roof on this one.


While I waited for the shed glue to dry I installed the warehouse on the layout. The scenery is still wet in this photo and I haven't added any of the details around the building yet.


The small repair shed will fit between the 2 buildings.

Thanks for following along. Hopefully this weekend I'll finish the shed and start to work the rest of the base scenery down so I can start detailing. I'm going to attempt to build one of the trucks that came with the kit once I get all the buildings worked out. After the challenges I had with fitment of some of the building components I don't have a ton of confidence in how these vehicles will go together but I'm going to give it my best shot.

Good or bad I'll let you guys know how it works out.

-Steve

[Opa George]

Steve, really nice work all the way through. Can't wait to see some final "finished" shots. That "last minute" storage shed is top shelf work, too.
--George

[PRR Modeler]

Very nice work Steve.

[SteveCuster]

Thanks George, Thanks Curt

[SteveCuster]

Hello Everyone,

I built one of the Oldsmobile trucks and added some scenery to the diorama. The truck kit is every bit as difficult and frustrating as I was expecting. I took many photos of the subassemblies so this will be a little bit of a large update.


I added the scenery under the cement tank and I also added the piping that comes off the top. Originally it was designed to go into the rear of the right side of the building but I had no room so I redirected it into the side of the little bump out.


I installed the crane also. I made a little concrete base by spray painting a piece of wood light gray and weathering it with chalks.

Closer shot of the crane.

I added some junk around the little shed. The water stain down the concrete wall was not intentional, it's from the diluted white glue I used to secure the foliage at the top of the wall. I need to blend and cover it up some I think.


I filled the bins with 2 different types of stone. It's still wet in this photo.

I started to fill the scenery in this rear area also. I need to add some trees to the scene. It will also have a waterfall in the rear.

[SteveCuster]

These are all the parts for the Oldsmobile truck. The kit comes with enough parts to complete 3 trucks. I've never worked with photo-etched brass before so this will be a little different.

I blackened all the parts. Jaks Pewter Black was used for the lead parts and Brass Black for the brass.

The Brass Black gave the sheet a nice dark patina to work on.

Each side of the frame is made by sandwiching 3 brass frame pieces together.

I completed one side here. These pieces are so fragile and bendable it makes the older SS Ltd trucks with the lead frame rails seem sturdy and easy to work with.

This is the motor assembly.

This is the intake manifold assembly that glues to the top of the motor.

I painted the lower engine block red. I don't really know what color an engine this old.

I glued the upper intake on the top of the motor. The instructions call for adding a starter, coolant hoses, a radiator fan, shift linkage and spark plug wires to the motor. I wanted to see how the fit of the rest of the kit was before I went to the trouble to add all those things.


I added the radiator assembly, the center crossmember and the rear frame section to the kit.

Both sides of the frame are glued together. This is one of the most fragile assemblies I've ever dealt with.

I started working on the cab while the frame was drying. This piece was made by laminating a piece of clear acetate between 2 section of brass sheet.

The doors are made the same way.

I started gluing the rear wheels to the rear differential assembly. These actually fit together well. The rear drum brakes are dished and the axle assembly fits right in the dished area.

While that was drying I tried to get the cab together.

This was a pretty frustrating spot in the kit. Took me a few attempts and some fresh air breaks to get it together.

This is the interior of the cab. The seat is glued in place.

I painted the seat and added the steering wheel. The interior will not be visible so I didn't worry about the shift levers or brake linkage.

The hood is made from a straight sheet of brass bent to the profile of the radiator. You can probably imagine how easy ended up being.

Rear axle is in place. The axle assembly has some excellent detail. You can see the detail in the trailing arms and the driveshaft yoke.

The fenders do not come pre-bent. They give you a piece of brass that looks like this and it gets bent over the lead piece you can see in the background.

This is a better picture of the 2 pieces used to make the fender.

Here is my attempt at bending the fender. More on that later...

I glued the engine and transmission in place. Before I did that I sprayed the frame assembly with the wheels on it with dark gray spray paint. I also painted the wheels roof brown.

Trying to match the angle of the driveshaft between the transmission tailshaft and the rear axle yoke was very difficult. The engine/trans assembly is lead so it wants to roll while the glue is setting. I did my best here.

I made a driveshaft out of wire.

This my starting attempt at the fenders. The running boards need to be tweaked. This is all very hard to work with because it's very thin brass sheet and it bends when you touch it very easily.

I painted the cab green and glued the hood in place. I ended up using a paintbrush handle to bend the hood to the correct shape. The instructions call for bending some brass wire to support the running boards. I chose to make some running board supports out of thin strips of black paper. I didn't add the radiator hose or spark plug wires. I had to cut off the passenger side of the intake so the hood would fit in place. The doors are interesting and unique.

The kit doesn't come with a bed or anything. This is the complete kit.





This was one of the most challenging kits I've built and I think it came out ok. It's not going to be a foreground model but it'll look fine a few feet from the front. I'm not sure if I'll end up building the other 2 or using the parts to detail some scenes.


Thanks for following along.


-Steve

[Janbouli]

Great job Steve, the scene looks fantastic and the truck a great accomplishment .

[PRR Modeler]

Great layout scene. You're a better modeler than me building that truck. I would of ham handed it into the trash can.

[SteveCuster]

Thanks Jan, Thanks Curt.

Curt to be honest it almost made it's way in the trash a few times. I've replaced frames on real life trucks and it was easier and took less time.

-Steve