Flotation mine 2022 build challenge

[Bernd]

Great progress Mark. Looking very good.

Bernd

[Mark Dalrymple]

Truly impressive build.

Thanks, Bob.

It will certainly be an impressive complex when finished.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Great progress Mark. Looking very good.

Thanks, Bernd.

I'm making slow progress.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Well I got the last of the three suspended rooms together yesterday.  I still need to add the window.

Photo 1 - shows the room from the front.  This one has a single door - per the plans.  I opted for a door without a window.  Jock put in a door with a 4-pane window.

Photo 2 - shows the room from underneath showing the neat fit I got by trimming away those battens.

Photo 3 - shows the room clamped to the gable wall, gluing.

More soon, cheers, Mark.

[S&S RR]

Mark


It looks great! You are making good progress, these big builds always seem to go slow.

[Mark Dalrymple]

It looks great! You are making good progress, these big builds always seem to go slow.

Thanks so much, John.

I was pleased to get that main sub-assembly together and see all my gable walls lining up!  I had to attach a piece of 6x2 on its flat up one of the rakes, but when painted to match the cladding and the roof is overhanging it will never be seen.  I have to remind myself I have worked on roofs in 1:1 scale that are worse than this (we took over about 3 houses that had been half built by a cowboy once - horrible, horrible work).  When you are scratchbuilding you have to make up the instructions as you go.  there is no-one telling you what order is best or not to forget 'this' or 'that' before you do the next step.  I like this a lot - but I do find you need to get your head into things before you continue.  The smaller sub-assemblies are much easier.

Thanks for looking in and for your many thoughtful comments.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

I've been working on the next sub-assembly.

Photo 1 - shows the overall assembly.  I'm still working on the end two walls.

Photo 2 - shows the sub-assembly off the sub-assembly.  For this little suspended room I first measured and cut out a fold up room from a cereal box.  I checked fit and then unfolded and cut the door opening.  I first reduced my doors height by a couple of millimeters to better suit the room size per the plan.  The door was glued into position and then the room folded up and glued together.  When dry I covered the bottom, sides and front in masking tape which I painted Floquil weathered black.  I dry brushed this with unbleached titanium.  I added a piece of 4x2 painted unbleached titanium as a sill and I added 2x4 battens and trimmed and then made up a roof section.  I glued the room to the wall (which I had previously braced) and then glued on the roof.  I then added masking tape to the roof, carefully trimming and folding over the edges.  I cut a strip for the back and added this as a flashing, embossing it around the battens with a skewer.  The roof was also painted weathered black - but is yet to be dry brushed.

More soon, cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

A nice afternoon modeling with my good friend, Neil yesterday.  Thursday is usually my favourite day of the week because of these sessions.  Below is my progress.

Photo 1 - shows the quick plan I drew up.  I drew this up on a cereal box and then cut out the gable wall to use as a template.  The piece missing is where I changed my mind on the height of the wall.  After I cut in my window and door openings I decided they looked too low when compared to the photo.  I have no plan of this barn - only two photos of Jock's model.  I also discovered that I had used one of my 4/4 windows on the main sub-assembly (where I was supposed to use a 6 pane window).  I decided I wanted both windows to be 4/4 windows on the barn, so will have to prime and paint one more.  I had to cut the window and door opening to the left of the barn on the main sub-assembly in after the structure was assembled, as I missed them earlier.  I'm pleased I don't do that too often!  And just to rub salt into the wound, its been so long since I was doing all these openings that I forgot what I had decided.  I could remove the window and patch below, but I'm a little worried I'll unnecessarily cause damage - and I know if I do I'll be really peeved - telling myself "I told you so!  You didn't need to do that!"  But I do think a 6 pane will look better...  Tomorrow is a brave new day...

Photo 2 - shows the three barn walls cut out and stained.  I have braced the two side walls.

Photo 3 - shows the back of the weird wall.  I decided I wanted the main roof of the lower level on the main sub-assembly to run all the way through as though the barn could have been a later addition.  I didn't make it this way on the mock-up.  You can see the wall is braced and spliced together,

Photo 4 - shows the weird wall sitting in position.  There will be rock running up steeply at this point.   I might add some spackle to the styrene walls at this point to resemble plaster over concrete.  There is an aerial walkway and set of steps running from the front of the barn, up and along the side of the barn (past the door) and then up to a deck in front of the door and window on the main sub-assembly.

I also grained and stained some 8x8, 10x8 and 10x10 for bearers, posts and joists for the barn.  Already I'm needing more stripwood!

More soon, cheers, Mark.

[PRR Modeler]

Great looking progress Mark.

[Oldguy]

Superb work.

[S&S RR]

Mark


Looking great, starting to really take shape.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

Thanks for checking in and your words of encouragement, Curt, Bob and John.  As always, they are very much appreciated.

I decided I need to get the supports for the barn done at this stage.  The two photos I had of the barn were either at the wrong angle or too lower quality to really see what was going on.  I checked out a few photos of local coal barns from some of my NZ books and drew up a quick plan on some masking tape that I affixed to my cutting mat.  I covered this in lunch paper and then went to work on the two support walls.  I used 10x10's and 10x8's.  I opted for three posts with a lower dwang and cross bracing between.  With my last Tichy Train order I bought some rivet plate sheets and so I cut this up to represent nail plates to strengthen the wall design and add a bit of neat detail.  I went all out and made enough for both sides of both walls.  I also cleaned up some footings left over from a Campbell water tower.

I cut a hole in the underside of the barn floor and added what I think is some window security bars in their frame to represent a grizzly through which the pure ore is loaded into the wagons.  (please let me know if I have my terminology wrong here).   I doubt this will ever be seen - but I felt the need to do something here.  I primed this and then gave it a shot of some tan paint before gluing it in position.  I added 10x8 joists to the floor.  I may add some 8x2 to cover the edge of the grizzly.

Photos below are pretty self explanatory.

More soon, cheers, Mark.

[PRR Modeler]

The tie plates are a nice detail.

[darrylhuffman]

I built this model when Gil Melle first published the drawings.

I was surprised how large the building is.

Joc Oliphant's version was beautiful.

I learned not to use masking tape for tar paper roofing as the tape peeled off years later.

My model was destroyed in a move.

Enjoying your progress.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Thanks, Darryl.

Hopefully the glue on masking tape has improved - but we will see - or not, eventually.  I did use good quality, high tack tape from a good art supply store...

Yep - it sure is a statement of a structure.  Those flotation tanks look very cool at the different levels, too.

Thanks for checking in, cheers, Mark.