Lamson bash

[Jerry]

Hey Dave

I must have missed it what color did you use for the brick???

It's looking really good with thw wash.

Jerry

[ACL1504]

A challenge:  Look at my picture and figure out how I screwed up    It's not obvious (thankfully), so I probably won't fix it.

dave

Dave,

I've looked and like you said, "It's not obvious". I don't see anything that looks to me out of order.

Tom 

[deemery]

My default brick color is Vallejo German Red Brown primer.  Using that across the layout will add to the idea that everyone bought their bricks from the J. Tull Brickworks on the layout.  https://acrylicosvallejo.com/en/product/hobby/primers-en/german-red-brown-70605/  And of course, as a primer it covers and adheres well to plaster, styrene, etc.  

And a couple of the double-hung windows on the first wall are upside-down    But it really is not noticeable, so I won't fix it.  

dave

[deemery]

Roof trimmed.  I have a bit more touch-up to do, plus paint the eaves underneath the shingles.


dave

[tom.boyd.125]

 Dave, your version of the Lamson & Sons complex is coming together nicely. Take your time and it will turn out to be something special as all the Southriver Modelworks kits are that get built...Tommy

[GPdemayo]

Excellent work Dave, I especially like the copper valleys.....

[deemery]

I did a bit of work today, laying out the front of the large mill structure:


This allowed me to measure and cut a .050 styrene piece as the backer for the parts that make up the front.  I'll probably have to trim the two tower sides to fit flush against the styrene.  This includes taking into consideration the 1/4" corner posts I'm using to reinforce/brace the corners.


Finally, having finished the boiler house, I did a quick test on the layout:

The smoke stack I reworked is behind the boiler house.  

dave

[deemery]

Today's project was the main wall of the large mill building.  This consists of 2 side panels and 3 piece that make up the tower (left, right, and front), and the styrene sheet that will hold them all together..  The styrene backer has space for the bracing, but I need to center the side panels on that to leave room for the bracing.  There's a spacer piece of styrene between the reinforcing panel and the two angle blocks.  This leaves room for the floor that I will install later.

Then I installed all the windows, and mixed up a bunch of 5 minute epoxy.  I applied glue to where the side pieces go, laid down one side piece, and then added the tower pieces to leave the space.  I mixed up more epoxy, installed the other side piece, pushed them together flush against the tower pieces.  Then I added weights on the two sides, and removed the tower pieces.


]It's time for Saturday Scotch Club, I'll let the epoxy dry overnight.

add:  Over on MRHs forum, there was a discussion on how to cut/saw plaster.  Someone mentioned pull saws, and after a bit of investigation, I ended up with an Irwin Saw:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001GLEZI  I think this is usually used for dovetails.  It's a relatively thin blade with finer teeth than the others I looked at.  It also comes with a piece of plastic as a blade protector.  I needed to trim the two tower side pieces, so I tried the Irwin saw, using a square to keep the cut square against the bottom of the plaster casting.  Putting the blade protector on the -back- of the sawblade added some needed stiffness.  Overall, this tool worked very well.

another add:  Now that the epoxy has cured, I can show the inside with the heavy central brace:

Tomorrow I'll construct the back piece, from the same heavy styrene and bracing.  It has to be the same size as the white piece (end-to-end.)

dave

[Mark Dalrymple]

Coming on nicely, Dave.

Cheers, Mark.

[deemery]

Gluing the ends to the front of the long mill.  The challenge is to get the two ends square against the front with identical slight offsets (the ends stick out slightly from the front.)  So lots of set-up to arrange and hold things square and plumb:



Then I use the back wall to help keep things aligned.

It turns out the length of the front+2 ends was longer than my brass bar clamps, so I had to find some longer wood clamps:

There's one more clamp not shown along the top of the front.   Once this glue sets, I'll go back and add the square corner bracing (epoxied to the plaster inside corners.)

dave

[deemery]

Main mill on location:

Looking at this, the main mill looks a bit small.  I think if I raise it up (small rise in topography), that will make it look bigger. 

Today I glued the tower brickwork into position and then added the floor.  When the epoxy dries, that should be very sturdy.

dave

[deemery]

A bit of progress today.  I measured the SRMW templates, and then drew roof templates for my longer mill pieces.  For some reason, I couldn't get the full length to print out on legal size paper, it kept on trying to align flush-left.  
]
But that's OK.  The question is whether the hole for the tower is the right size:

Yup.

dave

[deemery]

The main building subroof is done.  I had to glue 2 pieces of the roof template together, and mounted that onto styrene with transfer tape.  THEN I cut the subroof out of the sheet of styrene, scribed it down the middle, and bent (being careful to not separate the pieces.)

Next I took a piece of styrene, held it up to a gable end, and traced the gable lines onto that.  I did that for both end gables, being careful to label the styrene as to which gable (left or right) and which orientation (front or back) was represented.

Then I cut out the triangles, and test-fit each against its respective gable.  These -should be- symmetric, but I didn't want to bet on that....)   I added 1/8 x 3/16 styrene pieces to the two roof sides of the triangles, and then glued them into the subroof.

As insurance, I added more 1/8 x 3/16 strip lengthwise along the roof.

I checked the subroof for clearance and fit all around.

And of course a test-fit on the layout.

I still need to add a ridgepole along the outside joint between the two roof panels and then I have to do the shingles.

dave

[Mark Dalrymple]

Looking good, Dave.

I think adding a decent stone foundation to the main mill building is necessary to scale well.  I actually think a scratchbuilt stone first floor (making the main mill 3 stories) would also look great.  A lot more work, but...

If I was to find room for one more SRM kit on my layout - this would be it.  Craig Rusty had one for sale recently in the UK and I figured his postage to New Zealand would be quite reasonable.  I was very tempted!

Enjoying watching this one come together very much.

Cheers, Mark.

[deemery]

I think I can do a bit better than the laser-cut (but kinda boring) parts for the wood top of the main mill tower.  So I dug into the styrene scrap box for clapboards, into the stash of windows for double windows, and the essential stash of Evergreen styrene strips of various sizes.  The parts are primed white, next step install the window glazing (pre-cut, thank you Don Tichy!!!)


Then I'll assemble and test-fit on the tower.  There's nothing special about the black styrene for the back of the tower (a part that isn't in the original kit, but I think makes for a stronger assembly.)  It's just the styrene I pulled from my scrap bin...

add:  Tower test-fit:

Although I used the SRMW parts for my tower, they're still a bit short on the sides.  I thought about that, I'll just add .040 plain to extend the sides all the way into the roof.

More:  I added the extenders (and a floor, which makes the assembly MUCH more sturdy), cut out the roof template, and did a test-fit on location:

Note this is sitting on a 1/4" piece of foamcore to add a bit more height.  I think that does look better raised a bit.

dave