Santa was good to me and the Backwoods Tie Mill Was under my Christmas tree. Thought I’d build it and along the way share my progress. The instructions start off building the support structure for the main mill complex. I put the razor blade in to show the size. As you can see it’s a small structure.
Great start and thank you for the great photographs.
A backwoods tie mill is a small mill for sure!
Tom, you’re off to a good start. I love how you can really zoom into the photo’s. This will be fun to watch come to life.
Lookin like a good start, Tom. Excited to follow this thread.
I’m a few pages behind you building my kit. Nice to have someone to preview what’s coming up. Looking like a high quality job!
I really like the “new” construction manual for this kit. You can see 2 pages at a time (13”) so it fits my elevated document stand perfectly. I also like the larger font size (might be 12 or more). And the fotos are very high res. Great changes well executed.
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I agree with you on the manual. It is easier to read and does lie flat when open. Brett is always thinking on how to improve things.
In the meantime the manual moves on to the storage shed and has us build the walls, then the machinery. For me the machinery is a tedious process because my hands are so big and the parts are so small. So I started the machinery (more on that in a future post), but took a break and moved ahead to finish the shed. I needed some detailing to relax 
. So here is my finished shed.
You get an idea how small it is in my hand. I enjoyed the distraction. Now back to the machinery. I’ll show that when finished.
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Hey Tom. Nice work on the shed. I love those SWSM details.
Very nicely done. Those blocks look awesome and I can’t believe how small everything is. I couldn’t do it. Great job.
Nice work on the fiddly little details. Really makes this shed come to life.
Wonderful modeling Tom. Love the detailing and overall weathering. Appreciate the shot in your hand so we have a scale reference.
Looking forward to your next update!
Looks really nice, Tom. You’re off to a great start and the shed looks great. Don’t know how you HO’ers do it with such small pieces to work with but it is great modeling.
The details are amazing. Great modeling.
Thanks guys for the nice comments. Yes everything is small, but the quality of the initial product makes everything work out so well. The instructions also really make painting and weathering everything work so well together.
Also a good Optivizer helps 
I finished the machinery following the instructions for painting and weathering. I’m pleased with the results.
Unfortunately I dropped the engine and broke off one of the control levers. I replaced it with a thin wire. Doesn’t look too bad.
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Tom, great job on the machinery. That’s some pretty small details and I don’t know how you do it.
Wow your machinery looks great, Tom. Superb detailing and coloring. And in HO no less. What a great job you’re doing. Really awesome.
You have done a great job, very nice.
Great weathering on the equipment. Looks very realistic!