Wichendon Machine Shop (restart)

[Jerry]

Well Dave that came out pretty dam well!!!!

Jerry

[PRR Modeler]

Excellent color choices Dave.

[Larry C]

Dave fantastic job on the overhead system. That came out very well; congrats.

[elwoodblues]

Dave,

That came out looking great, not often you see overhead belt systems modeled with that much detail.

[nycjeff]

Hello Dave, the shop interior with all of the the machines and steam engine and all of the belts look great. First rate modeling sir.

[Philip]

Coming along just fine! 

[deemery]

Work-in-progress:  Here's the bellows sitting on top of the joists.  I'm checking alignment for the pipe that comes out of the bellows and plugs into the forge underneath the hood.  The bellows will actually be glued underneath the light colored wood joists.

The forge parts are from the Sierra West kit.  Their arrangement is with the bellows to the right of the forge on the ground, so actually my bellows casting is upside down compared to the intended fit.  I cut off the nubbin from the bellows, sanded and then drilled #67.  I'll do the pipe from #20 solid wire, stripping insulation to expose the copper to go into that hole on the bellows and the hole on the forge itself. 

The wall with the hood attached is propped up against the bracing for the test.  I need to finish the coloring on the forge (I added coal, painted in "fire glow", and will add some ashes around the fire), glue that into position, and then start the test-fit and adjust cycle for the pipe from the bellows to the forge.  I also need to attach the pull cord for the bellows, yesterday I added a eye onto the bellows, and today I'll glue the pull cord after I check the length. A Presier blacksmith is on order, should arrive by the end of the week. 

The other hole I have to cut into that wall is for the pipe from the boiler to the steam engine.  That'll require me to dig out the boiler and work through how the steam line should run.

dave

[PRR Modeler]

That looks awesome Dave.

[deemery]

Forge and bellows are installed. 

To get the fire in the forge, I added 'coal' (black aquarium sand, the gloss looks good as coal in small amounts) to the forge 3D casting, and locked it into position with Deluxe Materials ballast glue.  That stuff spreads very well to lock the grains into position.  Then I added a drop of a bright red airbrush paint, which then dissipated through the ballast cement.  When that dried, I brushed around the active fire area with white pigment (ashes), then added another drop of the red 'fire' paint.  I blotted that so it didn't puddle on the coal. 

I glued the bellows to the wood joists, and then started to test-fit the piece of wire that serves as the pipe from the bellows to the forge.  Once I got that shaped OK, I airbrushed that with Badger dark grey primer, and then glued it into position between the bellows and the forge.

And another view, the bellows pull cord shows up well here.

This went as expected, so today was a success.  What's left now is to add figures and details, and a bit of 'dirtifying' around the forge. 

dave

[friscomike]

Howdy Dave,

Thanks for sharing a photo of the grime and grease paints on wood.  The forge build is excellent.  That's going to be one hot shop in the summer.  Nice work.

Have fun,
mike

[PRR Modeler]

Another great addition Dave.

[Jerry]

Nice job on the forge Dave.

Jerry