This thread was started February, 2015
Bill
February 2015 edited March 2016 in HO Scale Builds
I’ve been busy finishing up a few non-SierraWest projects just in time for the new Deer Creek Mine to show up. Like a lot of you, I’ve been really looking forward to the release of this kit. This is the first build in a while that will actually end up on my layout.
Okay…let’s dive in! Here are a few obligatory “what’s in the box” pictures:
There are a few surprises in this kit. Right on top, I spotted a new addition. A set of acrylic tools and jigs:
I don’t know about you guys, but I can never have enough right angles and straight edges!
There are a bunch of laser cut goodies that will help speed construction and eliminate some of the “less fun” aspects of building (framing!) without affecting the quality and individuality of the final building.
There are laser cut wall frames:
trusses, rafters and rafter tails:
as well as doors, windows, frames and sashes. Plus NBW’s:
In flipping through the manual and seeing some pictures of the assembly, it’s obvious that precision and ease of construction are what Brett had in mind by adding this little package. (Maybe he had me in mind…now my angles will finally match up!)
The manual is close to 100 pages, but don’t be intimidated. Much of the additional material is in the form of pictures. LARGE step-by-step pictures.
Another cool surprise: lots of new castings! I’ve built several SierraWest kits and own almost all that have been put out. I’d read on the website that there was going to be new castings in this kit. But once until you actually get them in your hands and closely examine them that you realize “Yep. Never seen this one before!” I’d say the majority are brand new. In fact the only ones that look familiar are the barrels and drums.
With the metal castings, I recognize a few favorites but many are brand new or unique to this kit (including the bottles and hand tools. I love the little handle on the oil can.)
This is also the first SierraWest kit I’ve built since the FloQuil and Polly Scale paint lines were discontinued. No more 24 hour stripwood soaking! It looks like all the color will come from chalks, hardware store spray paints, craft paints, and only 4 specialized hobby paints. More on that later.
First order of business is to line up some supplies, prep the castings, and start texturing wood.
Bill
Comments
KCSTrains
February 2015
Bill,
I am thrilled that you are going to take this on. I finally relented and ordered one for the next run. I look forward to your build. Phil
KKarns
February 2015
Way to go Bill! Brett couldn’t have chosen a more skilled and accomplished modeler to showcase this outstanding new kit. The castings look fantastic and can’t wait to see what you do with this one. I’m sure you have apologized to Quincy for shelving him temporarily. Will be following along very closely, and congrats again…Ken
Coors2u
February 2015
I can’t wait to follow along with this also.
Ojaste
February 2015
Drool!
brownbr
February 2015
Looking forward to the build and am glad to see that they tailings chute is a casting not a paper puzzle like the O scale version…you will be glad also.
admin
February 2015
Bryan, watching you guys build the o scale version made me decide very early on that the chute must be a resin casting! I originally laser cut the pieces and karl put it together. I made the initial mold from that assembly. The casting would have been way too large for roger to include in his o scale kit. easy for me in HO however…
JohnM
February 2015
Oh boy, Bill! Go to it - I can’t wait. Please - lots of pictures!
John
Bill
February 2015
Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement, guys! For those of you who ordered the kit, I know a bunch were shipped last week and more are going out again (I think Brett ships every Friday at the very least). You’re gonna love it!
The early prep work is done at this point. The biggest job on the list was blackening the white metal castings. There are a lot of really tiny pieces, so I took plenty of time to make sure all those obnoxious white spots were eliminated. I’m not sure of the cause. It seems like a surface tension issue similar to when you glue something down without using a wetting agent. Anyway, the solution for me was go re-blacken the piece by using an old brush with the bristles trimmed way back and really work it into the surface. I scrubbed some clean “Blacken-It” into the white areas, rinsed with water and check the result. One repeat usually did the trick. Some pieces were extra stubborn because of the intricate detail. Here’s a couple after one round of blackening:
and after scrubbing them with the cut off brush and fresh blacken-it:
I should mention that there’s a bag of castings that has some parts that are extremely tiny (the bag with the big wheel for the top of the Headframe). When rinsing them, I made sure to drain all the pieces and old water through a paper towel to keep from losing any:
All the white metal pieces get buffed by hand with some felt or with a felt buffing wheel and a Dremel. The manual suggests using one of those little nylon brushes that are included in a Dremel set. Those work GREAT for polishing really small details in tight spots. Here’s a pile that have been blackened and polished:
Stunning detail! I’ve been scraping chalk sticks getting the powder ready for the next step. On we go to the Tipple!
Bill
KKarns
February 2015
Well done on the WM castings. That last shot…no other castings that I know of can stand up to that kind of scrutiny!
Bill
February 2015
Thanks man! Pretty amazing, huh?
nextceo
February 2015 edited February 2015
As you guys are probably aware, they stopped making Blacken It. Do you have any suggestions as a good replacement…I’m almost out.
Alan
Karl.A
February 2015
Looking fantastic Bill, perfect colour with a nice dull sheen and a higher shine where needed.
As Ken says Bretts castings are unmatched in quality and clarity, really looking forward to your work on this great new set.I know you’ll do amazing work on them.
Karl.A
admin
February 2015
As you guys are probably aware, they stopped making Blacken It. Do you have any suggestions as a good replacement…I’m almost out.
Alan</blockquote
check the craftsman kit university link on my website for updated supply lists. these are kept updated and there are 2 different blackeners listed there.
admin
February 2015
Superb! This process of blackening/polishing metal castings is so easy and the incredible results are evident in your pics Bill.
Bill
February 2015
I tell you what…taking the time and putting forth just a bit of effort to polish EVERY casting is really worth it. Little details that you didn’t see at first glance will “pop” in an instant.
Again Brett…well done on these. Outstanding!
Joel
February 2015
Wow Bill. Can’t tell you how jealous I am. That said it’ll be great to have the kit done step by step by an incredible modeller such as yourself. That way I can steal all the great ideas for extra detail you add along the way. I’ll be following this one really closely.
Stop reading this and go model!
Ojaste
February 2015
Bill, I love this part of the build process, it gives me time to look at ever single piece and figure out where they go; plus admire the craftsmanship. I’ve used a toothbrush to buff the Blacken-ed metal castings. It works really good on the very small parts. I tried to use a Dremel but the parts went flying everywhere.
Brett, could the white stuff on the metal castings a release agent? Or is it just “slag” from the process?
Marty
Bill
March 2015 edited March 2015
Joel- Thanks for the kind words. Much appreciated!
Marty–that’s a good idea about using a toothbrush. And yes, I too have crawled around the floor in search of a part or two that the Dremel spit out on me.
Dave-I had heard about the owners of A-West. Very tragic indeed. Thanks for the tip on rail weathering!
Now, it’s time to get to working with the wood.
You start by texturing and coloring 17 1/8". I mentioned that Brett no longer has you soak the stripwood. Following the “grain & stain” method you add grain with a stiff brush, de-fuzz with a little steel wool, then use 3 chalk colors and alcohol to stain the wood (in this case it’s raw umber, burnt umber and gray). I scraped piles of all the suggested chalks into little pill organizers (I think this was an idea I swiped from Joel). Then, I dip a real soft brush into whichever powder I need and sprinkle it on the wood.
You get a nice range of tones depending on how much and what shades of chalk you sprinkle on. It’s really fast and versatile.
Next, you move on to the bents for the tipple. I wanted to share a little tip about templates. My drafting teacher in high school was anal about the way you’d tape down drafting paper. If you didn’t do it correctly, there’d be wrinkles in the paper and the sliding straight edge wouldn’t move freely. His same technique works to keep your construction templates perfectly flat and wrinkle free when taped to a glass surface. I’m demonstrating with pictures from a different kit but the process is obviously the same. Start by taping the upper left-hand corner:
Smooth out and work the the paper from the left-hand corner down to the bottom right-hand corner so that it’s tight and tape it in place:
Then, work from the middle and smooth the paper out to the upper right-hand corner and tape it in place. Finally smooth the paper out from the middle down to the bottom left-hand corner and tape it in place. Your template will lay perfectly flat every time.
With the template in place, you establish a right angle with 2 stripwood guides. Those will align the jig used to form the bents.
TIP I didn’t show it in the pictures below, but it’s a good idea to place a piece of wax paper between the jig and the template. This will prevent any glues drips from sticking to the template. You’ll have pieces of paper sticking to your bent when you remove it from the jig.
There’s a cutting guide that gives you the length for each piece that makes up the tipple. You cut the pieces about 1/64" longer than the measurement on the template then, sand it down on a Tru sander until square. When test fitting the pieces in the jig, I tried to make them a little less snug than 2 puzzle pieces fitting together. If the pieces are too tight, you’ll have a hard time getting them out of the jig or worse: you could snap the jig. It’s also a good idea to cut and construct the bents in the order called for by the manual. To keep the bent absolutely square, some pieces rely on others being in the jig when you glue them together.
There are a total of 4 tipple bents and one side bent. The inside and outside bents require 6 holes to be drilled in them for truss rods; the side bent needs only 4. The holes are drilled before removing each bent from the jig. A drilling jig is included to insure perfect placement of the holes. After squaring the jig along the top and side, I taped it down just to make sure it didn’t move (kinda hard to see since it’s clear, but the drill jig is taped to the top of this bent)
Here’s the final result. Spot on precision!
Next up, the assembly.
Bill
KKarns
March 2015
Hey Bill, very nice tutorial on the use of the jigs and the bent assembly. Those “see through” jigs look awesome and what a commitment to the craftsman for Brett to have taken the time to come up with those! Your thoughts on the tapping down of the templates is something you think wouldn’t matter but a flat template is critical for sure, nicely done. Great coloring and texture on the wood by the way…we expect no less from you…
Bill
March 2015
Thanks much Ken. The jigs are awesome. It makes the process much easier and much more precise. I think anybody–no matter what skill level–will get the exact same results.
A flat template is just one of those simple things: eliminate the wrinkles and you’re eliminating a headache.
Ojaste
March 2015
Wow! The bents aren’t bent!!! Perfect joins, no glue lines and stunning colour. What else coukd you ask for?
Marty
Coors2u
March 2015
Bill, the bents look perfect.
Bill
March 2015 edited March 2015
Marty & Dustin–
I should have posted this with the other pics. Look how precise these 4 are when lined up. I took this at an angle so you could see that there were actually 4 in the stack:
brownbr
March 2015
Well that’s about as close as you can get it.
Karl.A
March 2015
Fantastic work Bill. The colouring and variations of the wood is superb and the assembly is as precise as it can get. I’m glad you posted a slightly angled view of the four bents otherwise the back three would have disappeared as they are so accurate.
Thanks also for the tip on laying out the templates, definitely a method I will be using in the future.
Great work,
Karl.A
LSNRwyAl
March 2015
Very nice.
Joel
March 2015
I can’t believe how quickly you are progressing on this. Aren’t you supposed to be blogging for work or something?
It looks great so far, love the subtle splits and grain. Just right for HO.
Bill
March 2015
Blogging for work? Joel…did you get a job with TownSquare Media???
Actually, I try to knock out the blogs before I leave work (2 posts per day plus video, generate web traffic, youtube subscribers, FaceBook fans, and…oh yeah…go do a radio show while your at it!)
mayhaw9999
March 2015
Bill,
I’m excited that you are leading this build. I’ve been lurking on the forum for a year and have just started my Sierra West journey. I’m in the last stages of a Tool Shed build and will post some pictures as soon as I work out problems with my camera that is suddenly not working. I have read most of what you have posted on this forum. You are truly an amazing, talented and innovative modeler - I have learned (and am learning) a lot from you.
BTW I used your method for laying out the templates when I built the Tool Shed – works great. I had read about it in your “Share your tips, tricks & tools” thread.
Great start on the Mine.
David U
Jerry
March 2015
Blogging for work? Joel…did you get a job with TownSquare Media???
Actually, I try to knock out the blogs before I leave work (2 posts per day plus video, generate web traffic, youtube subscribers, FaceBook fans, and…oh yeah…go do a radio show while your at it!)
Bill are you saying you have a busy day???
Looks great so far. I just finished polishing the castings. Hell there is enough of them.
Jerry
Bill
March 2015 edited March 2015
Jerry–
That’s been my busy day just about EVERY day for the last 8 months. It’s not hard work. In fact it’s FUN work but there’s a LOT of it with more added constantly. Until Micro Mark starts selling additional hours to add to one’s day, I don’t see the pace changing much!
David-
Welcome to the SierraWest forum and thanks for the nice words. I’m very flattered by your comments and glad that you’ve picked up a few tips here and there from my work. I think you’ll find some of the best (and most helpful) modelers in the hobby right here on this forum. And I can safely speak for most of them…we all are standing on Brett’s shoulders and have him to thank for getting the ball rolling for us. Don’t be shy about sharing your work with us and being open to suggestions. The worst thing that can happen is your skills will improve–and you have to admit knowing us. (The second part is the deal breaker for a lot of people!)
I’ve been making more progress and will share some pictures later today.
BTW–Hey Brett: What kind of mine is this? Gold? Iron ore? Coal? Just trying to plan ahead with ideas for tailings and stuff like that.
Bill
March 2015 edited March 2015
After building the 4 tipple bents and the 1 side bent, you build 3 tipple legs. It’s the same process as the bents and uses another acrylic jig. Make a note when building the first tipple leg (on Template D) you want to cut the angled piece (piece D) using the measurement off the assembly template (see arrow). If you use the cutting guide for “D” it’ll be too small:
Next up is a small but really important step.
You need to cut 24 little spacers. These are blocks that go in between each leg and bent. They need to be perfectly square in order for the final structure to be square. Fortunately, there’s another acrylic jig that makes it fast and easy. Before I began, I made to put a brand new blade in my chopper and also brand new sandpaper on my sanding block for the Tru sander. These little spacers will end up being 4 scale feet long. But, you cut them a hair longer so that you can sand them down perfectly square. Follow the directions for cutting the first piece, then set up your chopper. I set the stop on my chopper allowing for the 1/64" described in the directions–in my case, it was just at the other side of the 4’ mark:
After cutting a piece, I gave it about 5 or 6 passes with the sanding block, then put the piece into the jig for a test fit. I mentioned earlier I was trying to get them to fit “not quiet as tight as 2 puzzle pieces” in the jig. Getting the same “feel” from piece to piece is what I tried to pay attention to.
If you’ve ever been frustrated by putting small legs on a dock, platform or pier because they weren’t all the same size, these instructions and this cool little jig remove all the hassle.
One last tip: You cut 24 of these spacers and 21 are required to assemble the tipple. Cut, but don’t sand down the last 3. Those are used to mount the ore bin gates. You’ll do a final measurement of the spacer and make any adjustments, so it’s possible that you may need a spacer to be a hair longer or shorter. Sand those three down as needed when you get to that step (on page 21.)
Before assembly can begin, you’ll need to have ore bin casting colored and weathered. It will slide in between the bents. The ore bin is first painted flat black then weathered with rust colored chalk. For the most part, this casting isn’t in direct line of sight for the viewer because of all the timbers that will be blocking it. So, there’s no need to spend a ton of time weathering it perfectly like you would a metal barrel placed in the foreground. However, it still needs a decent treatment. I weathered mine with a heavy layer of rust colored chalk and then, using a fine brush added a line of black chalk around the bottom seams. Using a soft make-up brush i dragged the chalk down.
Right now it’s upside down, but when the bin is turned over and installed in the tipple, it’ll have a shadow effect. It’s not shown in the pictures above but the “down spout” portion is also almost completely black. There are some other weathering ideas in the manual. You just don’t want to leave it one solid color.
Okay…on to assembly.
The bents are put together on Template G starting in the upper left hand corner. Again, I laid wax paper over the template to keep glue drips from sticking to the template. I also used my little taping method to keep the wrinkles out of the wax paper. Using double sided tape, attach a small square to the bottom left hand corner. Add a couple rows of double sided tape to help hold the bents.
Position an outside bent against the square and use another square to keep it straight up and down. Then glue three spacers to the bent.
Glue an inside bent to the 3 spacers and check for square.
Next, you glue down 3 more spacers, slide in the ore bin and attach the next inside bent.
3 more spacers and then the next outside bent.
Now you glue down 2 spacers followed by the side bent (the piece constructed with Template C). There’s a discrepancy on the assembly template. The placement of the “end cap” is off by about 1/16". The measurement for the top of the side bent is correct. You simply need to place the end cap further up (right to where the “end cap” line is pointing):
Finally, cut and square the end cap and glue it into position. Square it up and let everything dry. Next time we’ll add the internal spacers.
Bill
Jerry
March 2015
Bill thanks for the tips. I didn’t get my pastels yet I think tomorrow so I can start the tipple bents.
Excellent job so far.
Where di you get the holder for the pastels?? I looked in Michaels the other day but they didn’t have anything like that.
Jerry
Bill
March 2015
The plastic cases are known as “professional artist pastel carrying cases” sold exclusively at finer art stores. They’re also sold at a high end supply house called…
THE DOLLAR STORE!!
They’re actually pill organizer boxes. I used a little paint thinner to remover the letters for the days of the week so I could write the chalk numbers on the lids. Most drug stores have them, too.
(You can thank Joel Freedman for this tip!)
Ojaste
March 2015
Bill,
It’s really moving along nicely. A couple questions,
- I assume you are using carpenter’s glue? How does it stick to thd end grain against the chalked wood?
- how did you prevent the bents from going out of plumb, inward to the other bents, and not twisting because of the bents weight distribution?
Marty
Bill
March 2015
Marty-
No carpenter’s glue. I use Canopy glue almost exclusively. It set’s up quickly, forms a really strong bond, and works on almost every surface. The only reason I don’t like carpenter’s glue is because in the past, I’ve been able to see a tiny amount of that yellow tint after it’s dried. I’d rather not risk it.
For the second part (keeping the bents plumb), I used all the machinist squares and heavy right angles I could find to keep them straight until the glue dried.
But, I should point out, the assembly isn’t complete yet. There are a bunch more spacers that get added in the next step. Those help stabilize the tipple beyond the gluing process. Does that address the question? I probably should have made that clearer.
Bill
admin
March 2015 edited March 2015
- how did you prevent the bents from going out of plumb, inward to the other bents, and not twisting because of the bents weight distribution?
Marty
isn’t an issue…
Ojaste
March 2015
Bill/Brett. Thanks, it answered the questions.
Marty
Karl.A
March 2015
Excellent progress Bill, the accuracy of those bents is just amazing.
Really nice colours and graining, love the way the grain is slightly darker than
the main beams, perfect effect.
Karl.A
Bill
March 2015 edited March 2015
Thanks Karl. It’s coming together just as planned.
Adding the internal spacers to the tipple is a bit of a challenge. It’s tricky to get fingers back into the location where they need to be placed and not break loose on of the legs or other pieces. What I found helpful was using a pair of straight tweezers. Normally, I use angled angled tweezers for just about everything. But with a long straight pair, I could reach back into the tipple and hold the spacer flat and in line. A machinist’s square placed on the inside helped act as a stop on one end.
I made sure to sight down the rows of spacers. You might be able to see the two crooked ones in the middle row of the first picture below. From one side they looked fine but a look from the opposite direction showed otherwise. A quick tweak while the glue was still wet allowed me to adjust them into perfect alignment.
After adding the 8 second row spacers, two spacers are installed around the chute of the ore bin. You should have 3 left over spacer blocks. Put them in a safe spot until they are installed with the ore bin gates. Finally, 3 leg assemblies and the leg base are glued into position and the tipple can stand on its own:
8 cross braces are added to the bottom of the structure. Again, there’s not much room to reach inside the tipple in order to place the pieces. The manual shows using a scrap of stripwood to help line up the braces. For the internal braces, I cut a piece with a notch on one end and an outside angle directly off the template:
Then, when you lay the tipple on it’s side the guide will snug up squarely in the same position each time.
With those additions, the tipple now looks like this:
Next up, the wall (actually the wood floor) is added along with the gates.
Bill
Ojaste
March 2015
Wow!
KKarns
March 2015
Great work Bill and your tutorial is flowing great. What a wonderful kit and build.
Bill
March 2015
Marty & Ken-
You guys are going to love this one! Normally, this would be a complex build but Brett’s taken out as much of the frustration as possible. And I’m not even up to the really fun stuff!
Coors2u
March 2015
Wow Bill, I’m not sure Lincoln Logs go together as easy as your making it look. I’ve just started graining the wood for mine. It will be nice to be able to look back at yours for tips. Keep up the fantastic work.
Bill
March 2015
Enjoy the ride, Dustin. This is a great kit where you can’t help but end up with clean precise results. I’ll keep posting and be watching for progress in your group build with Mike.
Wes
March 2015
Hi Bill
Been away from the forum for some time. Just to add what everyone is saying, WOW. What a build so far and what a learning experience. The guys who have bought the kit will find some invaluable info here.
Keep up the good work bud.
Bill
March 2015
Wes-
We’ve noticed you haven’t been around much…people are gonna start calling you “Bill”. Bwahaha
Thanks much for the comments. Between all the new castings, tool and techniques, this is fast becoming my favorite kit.
Wes
March 2015
HAHA. If your ability and talent comes with the name Bill, Im happy to change my name.
I need to get more active again. Between the mountain biking and surfing this summer aswell as a sparked interest in 1/35 military vehicles, the model railroad stuff has taken a back seat.
However your thread has renewed my energy to start again. Cant wait for Brett to release his next O scale offering.
Bill
March 2015 edited March 2015
The wood flooring of the ore bin goes in next. 3 different sizes of stripwood are grained & stained at this point (note that I’m showing the wrong size piece on the left. The single piece from bag 1 should be the really thin 6" trim piece).
Before adding the floor, chute supports are cut and glued to the inside of the ore bin (red arrows). There is a cutting template for these six pieces. The clamps hold pieces of scrap wood that act as guides insuring the tops of the chute supports are at the same height as the angled timbers.
Once the glue has dried, remove the clamps and guides and add the flooring. The 6th piece will need to be notched while others will need to be trimmed shorter to fit inside. You work your way up to the top where the final piece will need to be split and sanded level with the framing timbers.
Next, the chute floor is added. 21 pieces, 7 per chute. I’ve got 3 glued down in the first picture. You might be able to tell in the last picture that there’s one more row that needs to be added.
The side boards go in next. These are small angled pieces cut from the same stripwood as the floor boards. Rather than just cutting them freehand off the template, here’s a little trick to get all the pieces and angles to come out the same. Using some scrap material I cut and taped down these pieces to the template. The long piece on the right acts as a stop; the other pieces will guide the blade.
Cut the first angle on a piece of stripwood, then slide it forward against the stop. Cut again and you’ve got piece one. Slide the stripwood forward to the stop and make another cut…there’s #2. Repeat the process until you have 18 of these little pieces.
When installing these pieces, I used some thin scrap so that they lined up flat against the back of the vertical timbers. In turn, they’ll line up in the front. Two rows are added, then 3 spacers (the 3 spacers I mentioned putting in a safe place) are test fit which will support the gate castings. You also want to use a piece of brass rod at this point to make sure the spacers are clear of the holes. I followed the manual’s example (not shown in the pictures) and made a paper template simply because it was lighter and easier to support while getting the correct placement of the spacers.
It’s a good idea to get an angled view–site down the structure and see that the 3 line up correctly. You might be able to see the end spacer is slightly off and that would cause the gate to hang crooked. After gluing the spacers, I double checked the positioning with the actual castings.
Once the 3 gate supports are glued into position, the final row of chute side boards is added along with the small vertical chute support boards.
The wood for the front wall has been added in the picture above. There’s only a little bit left on the ore bin: the side walls, the gates and the landing.
Bill
brownbr
March 2015
Well that all lined up just right.
Jerry
March 2015
Bill just a real nice job. Perfect cutting and lining everything up.
I’ll remember to use this as a guide. And to take my time doing things.
Jerry
Karl.A
March 2015 edited March 2015
Looking fantastic Bill and your construction is just perfect. So much precise detail.
Thanks for taking the time to post such great pictures and your comments on the build.
Karl.A
Ojaste
March 2015
Bill, need I say more??? Yea! It’s really sweet! Even I could build it with your posting.
Are NBWs for all the bents, etc?
Marty
KCSTrains
March 2015
Bill, let me be frank - you are a blessing and a curse!! You are a curse because I don’t know if I will ever achieve the precision and craftsmanship that seems to come easy for you. You have set the bar very high and I really enjoy watching your builds. However, you are a blessing because you have enabled me to achieve the kind of precision that I didn’t think I could achieve but for your great tutorials. I’m finishing up my Wood Cutter’s shack and I can point out the Bill (cedar roof and siding) and Karl (castings) components of my build. Thank you pushing me to better craftsmanship. Phil
Bill
March 2015 edited March 2015
Guys–thanks for following along Taking your time for sure helps, Jerry. But you got this, no problem. I saw that picture of your first bent!!
Karl–thanks as always. I 'd hate to try building this without the jigs.
Marty–I think all the NBWs required are laser cut and included. I’ve only added 6 or 10 (whatever the manual called for at this point. There are a lot more in the box for later steps).
Phil–you’re doing just fine! Remember, we were all in your shoes at one point. Aim to make each model better than the last, ask for help, and be open for suggestions. Oh yeah…and have FUN!
Got lots of work done over the last few days…
The side walls of the ore bin are made from a row of stripwood fastened to the template. Rather than use glue to hold the boards, I tried some of that transfer tape that I picked up at the last Expo. It lays nice and flat, no mess and the template won’t ripple due to the water in the glue. Once they’re secure the walls are cut out following the lines on the template.
To install them, I again used a piece of scrap to make sure the wall lined up tight against the inside frame of the bin.
Finally, some trim pieces are added along both sides and front, and the bin portion is done.
The gates for the bin come next. In addition to the metal gates themselves, pillow blocks, gears, hand wheels and wire rod are needed.
3 rods are cut to length and will be fed through the gears and pillow blocks later. When using a Dremel (or even a pair of wire cutters) I ended up with flattened ends like you see in the middle. What worked best was just a plain old straight edge razor. The brass rods are thin enough to cut simply by rolling the blade back and forth over the wire.
Next, the pillow blocks are epoxied to the gates. By the way…I’ve given up on those plunger-type tubes of 5 minute epoxy. I just use the two bottle stuff. It costs a little more, but it’ll last a long time and will never accidentally clog up like the plunger kind. To attach the pillow blocks to the casting, it’s important to scrape or sand off any of the blackening chemical so that the epoxy will bond correctly.
After the epoxy had dried completely, I began weathering the gates. I added layers of chalk, working from dark to light then back to dark. First, I hit the casting with raw umber 408.3 and alcohol. Next, some burnt umber 409.5, burnt sienna 411.3 and some gold ochre 231.3 highlights here and there. Then I added just a little pure black in the middle to simulate built up gunk and grease.
Finally, using a toothpick that I whittled the tip off (so it had a spade end on it) I ran it across the teeth where the gears run to remove some chalk. After that, I used the same toothpick and hit the tips of the teeth with silver stencil paint–it’s a dry paste like stuff that works good for highlighting really tiny areas (The gates are set at an angle catching the light so it looks really shiny. It’s a lot more subtle than what you see in the pictures).
Once I had all the gates weathered, they were epoxied into position on the front of the bin.
Also, the truss rods were installed. Mine fit pretty tight so rather than risk getting a shiny spot from a drip of epoxy, I left them in the holes unglued. They ain’t going anywhere.
The last two steps for the lower part of the tipple are the stairs and the landing. Two sets of stairs are built using the laser cut stringers and guide.
The landing is chipboard covered with stripwood. Sand and test fit the chipboard, paint it brown and plank over the top. After that, cut out the opening, add a piece of front trim and sand the piece to fit. I had to trim and sand just a touch here and there to get it perfectly flush with the outside timbers.
And that does it for the bottom. Next up is the little house on top of the tipple.
Bill
Ojaste
March 2015
Bill, don’t just you love that transfer tape? I was good until you epoxied the gates to the structure, then I cried. Too bad because they looked so real that they could have been operational. LOL.
Marty
Bill
March 2015
Sure do, Marty. Transfer tape is fast and easy and everyone I’ve talked to has had good luck with it.
As far as the gates…it’d be a pretty tall order to make them operational because the parts that’d move are actually cast as one piece. But hey, I appreciate the vote of confidence!
KKarns
March 2015
Nice update Bill. Love those bin gates…Ken
JohnM
March 2015
Bill,
Thank you so very much for your exquisite documentation and photography.
Respectfully,
John
Bill
March 2015 edited March 2015
Thanks Ken! John–my pleasure. Glad you’re following along.
With the lower portion complete, it’s time to move on to the little shack on top of the Tipple. This is the first SW kit (or any kit for that matter) I’ve built using laser cut framing. After working with them…I NEVER want to stick build framing again. Ever. So fast and easy!
The walls are marked on the plywood sheet. Two things are important in this step:
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after cutting them from the carrier, make sure all the tabs are sanded off completely and that you have nice flush surfaces all around. This will affect how square the building will be and how it fits onto the tipple.
-
keep track of the “front” and “rear” pieces. It’ll be obvious if they get mixed up because they’re two different sizes. For reference, start thinking of the “front wall” as the wall that goes above the ore bin gates.
The front and rear walls are made of two pieces that get glued together–the smaller piece on top of the larger. Again, take the time to make sure everything is square! Once glued and dry, stain the 5 wall components with chalk and alcohol on both sides.
Next, 35 pieces of siding from bag #1 get textured. While I used a few different tools, I tried using a card file too. These things are used to clean the “crumbs” out of the recesses of wood and metal files. The bristles are thin and REALLY stiff, and the rows are tight together. I like that feature a lot because it insures that the grain of the wood will remain in scale. The third pic is a close-up of what I mean.
Once the texture is added, the boards are given a quick wash of raw umber 408.5
For the final color, the manual say to use a “maroon” craft paint. Rather than just picking one called “maroon”, I grabbed 4 or 5 from the store and tested the colors out on some coffee stirs. Ultimately, I went with the Ceramcoat “Barn Red” on the right.
All of the boards were painted with a thin coat of Barn Red and allowed to dry thoroughly. The peeling paint effect is added using 220 grit sandpaper. This is one of those steps where your creativity comes into play! I wanted a wide range of peel/fade to the boards. So, I sanded some of them with the recommended sandpaper. Others were hit with different grades of steel wool, a scratch pen or a green scotch-brite pad. Different coarseness; different result. I also left a handful of boards untouched so that I could adjust the effect as needed later while I build:
No matter what tool is used to sand off the paint, the boards are left with sort of a pink tint. To get rid of that, a stick of raw sienna (243.3) is rubbed over each board:
Then, you rub the chalk off with your finger. This is another area where it’s up to your creativity to find a look that’s right to you. I watched for the pinkish hue to disappear. The chalk warms up the board, hides the pink, and gives it more of a “wood” tone. So, here’s a look at the range I got after these steps:
Now, the front and rear walls are boarded as are the right side wall #1 (the one with the door opening) and right side wall #2
There’s a 6" piece of square stock in the misc. bag that is used to trim the boards on right side walls #1 and #2. Cut along the outside of the square stock leaving the boards with a “trap” that’s the exact width to butt into the adjoining walls.
There are plenty of pictures in the manual for this process. When complete, the walls look like this; ready for assembly:
Joel
March 2015
Amazing, as expected Bill. Can’t believe how quickly it’s going together. Can’t wait to get my copy.
Ojaste
March 2015
Bill, I chuckled when I saw the steps you went through to get the perfect color. So many times I try to get the right color the first time and was surprised that you went through that same cycle to get it just right. And that you did! Very beautiful color mix and variations that will make the structure more interesting.
Marty
nextceo
March 2015
Hey Bill,
Looks great. Are you in the Camp that is for or against adding nail holes to some of the boards? I know you’re not done with the walls, but I didn’t notice any nail holes where the boards join in the middle of the walls.
Alan
Bill
April 2015
Joel & Marty–thanks for the nice comments.
Alan–I usually add nail holes but forgot! Thanks for the reminder.
It was great seeing everyone at the Expo! Plenty of great models and nowhere near enough time to take it all in.
Okay…on with the assembly of the tipple house. It’s pretty straight forward:
using a triangle, glue the front wall to right side wall #2 (the small fully boarded rectangle wall) followed by the left wall (that’s the laser cut frame wall.)
Once dry, attach the rear wall. You’ll now have something that resembles a structure like this:
Next comes adding right wall #1, but first, the tipple house floor gets some attntion. Remove it from the carrier, sand off the tabs and paint it brown on the top, bottom and edges.
Test the floor’s fit for square and glue it place. Then add the right wall #1. I used some large square scrap against an angle plate to make sure everything lined up pefectly square.
I made sure to flip the structure over and check that everything lined up on the bottom, too.
With this done, the tipple house is ready to attach to the top of the bents.
More to come!
Bill
KKarns
April 2015
Looks wonderful Bill. Love the faded red siding. Great step-by-step tutorial, an invaluable resource for all of us planning this build…Ken
mayhaw9999
April 2015
Bill,
You are doing an excellent, outstanding, superlative, (and lots of other adjectives) job with this build and especially the tutorial for us. But then, I knew that you would! I got my kit a week ago and have had a ball reading and studying the manual along with reviewing your build to date. I eagerly await your updates. I need to get a couple more kit builds under my belt before attempting this one – it will be an invaluable resource when I do.
Phil aka KCSTrains mentioned on March 16 how much your tutorials have meant to him. Although I have a ways to go before feeling that I have achieved a very great precision I have definitely profited in many ways, I also very satisfactorily re-roofed another kit with cedar shingles.
David
JohnM
April 2015
Bill,
Thank you for such thorough detailing. We are slowing you down by burdening you with requests to see how you produce such exquisite results.
John
Ojaste
April 2015
Bill, the simple small structures are the most difficult to build as well as you did here.
Good job.
Marty
Bill
April 2015
Ken–you’ve seen the original so you know where the inspiration comes from! Glad my posts are helpful.
David–I think you’ve got the right idea: get comfortable with SW techniques and you’ll be able to tackle anything. What are you building currently? If it’s a SierraWest kit, make sure to start a thread with lots of pictures. I promise you’ll get some great advice along the way.
John–not a burden at all. Keep in mind, my threads are also a cheat sheet for ME later on! (I can’t commit all this stuff to memory.) Which reminds me of another tip for folks: NEVER part with your SW kit manuals. I refer back to mine constantly.
Marty–I agree. The little ones can sometimes lead to the biggest headaches. I thought I was over doing it checking for square over and over. BUT…it worked!!
Our basement is getting a remodel and I don’t have access until Saturday at the earliest. My wife is having some kind of stained concrete thing done to the floor and we can’t walk on it. However, I think I’m gonna come out ahead on the deal. Our guest bedroom has been “relocated” to a Holiday Inn and is about to become my new shop:
(The yellow walls are a chalk and alcohol wash…I’ll share the exact shade later!)
Karl.A
April 2015 edited April 2015
Looks like “Chestertown Buff” to me. but,
lets get those benches filled up with SW kits and modeling supplies !!
Eagerly awaiting the next “mine” update..
Karl.A
brownbr
April 2015
A shop AND a basement. Oh the envy.
mayhaw9999
April 2015
Bill,
Do you have a brand name and number for the transfer tape? My Google search gives so many choices I don’t know where to turn.
David U
Bill
April 2015
My move into the new shop is delayed a few days because they screwed up the sealer on the basement floor. So now, they have to strip it off and start over. sigh
David–the Transfer tape I used is 3M 465:
Next, the Tipple House is attached to the bents. You draw a line to help locate the ouside edge of the shack. Then, a center board is added in the middle along with 2 side rails.
(Note: the yellow arrow is pointing out a mistake I made earlier. I had to correct it by attaching a piece of square stock. I mention this because my pencil line is off, but the center board placement is correct.)
The 4 wing walls are constructed next. Pay close attention as two are smaller than the others and one does not get boarded over. Paint the laser cut plywood a dark color before adding the siding (if there are any gaps in between the siding, they won’t show as white.)
Here’s a couple things I did you may find helpful. Be really careful of the little “ears” on the plywood when you’re trimming the siding.
When it came time to trim up the siding, I laid a piece pf scrap siding under that ear. That way I could lay my straight edge across and press down on it without breaking it off:
Also, you may want to consider butting the siding right up to the edge (like in the picture on the right). You’ll avoid possibly nicking the ear by not having to make a vertical trim cut.
Test fit the wing walls on the tipple house and place it on top of the bents. It should line up like the picture below. I discovered that I didn’t sand down the wing wall tabs perfectly. That threw the whole thing out of alignment. Also, if you look inside the house you can see how the framing for the door of right side wall #1 lines up. It’s about where the right “rail” piece and the center board meet (note the yellow arrow)
Coors2u
April 2015
Everything looks great Bill. I am so glad that I have been able to go back and look at a few things you have done. I used your tip for the cross members on the bent legs. It worked perfect aligning them up. I love just looking at the framing and how it all just flows together.
Bill
April 2015
Glad to hear it Dustin. Sometimes I hesitate to post those little things, but I figure as long as I’ve got the pics…maybe somebody will latch on to it!
I’ve been working ahead and am just about done with the head frame. Hopefully I’ll get more posted this week (since I can’t build for a few more days).
Ojaste
April 2015
Bill, looking more and more like a mine.
I found that straight nail clippers work really well when cutting off the stripwood ends off the smaller parts. I seem to have better control and there is less chance of tearing the last piece of strip wood when cutting it with a #11 blade. Your mileage may differ.
Marty
MikeM
April 2015
Don’t know if anyone has ever used these, not sure they would be any better than biting the bullet and changing thost #11s a bit more frequently. (Scroll down to the #11-sized saw blades.)
Bill
April 2015
Thanks for the tip, Marty. I just found a pair of those at the drug store. It was the first tie I’d seen the type that cat straight as opposed to the typical “fingernail” cut:
Mike–not sure how well those will work, but I agree…changing #11s gets expensive. I use plain old straight edge blades whenever possible. I get mine at Menard’s when they have a sale (usually 100 for $5. At a nickel a blade, I don’t feel bad about changing them often).
The stairs are installed next. Here’s something I should have pointed out in my last post. There is a support that needs to be removed. It’s a spacer that will interfere with the stairs (well…the people will hit their head on the support!)
On page 32, the picture on the left shows the support has already been removed. So before gluing the tipple house down and attaching the stairs, carefully pop out this spacer:
Okay, now onto the install of some NBWs. As you go along through the build there are some of these suckers that are really tiny. Here’s how I went about attaching, coloring and installing them.
First, to remove them from the carrier card, I had better luck poking them out with a pencil instead of an Xacto. Poke them slightly off center and they’ll pop out cleanly. I laid down some blue painters tape (sticky side up) and plopped down the washers. Next, I added a tiny drop of medium super glue to the washer and positioned a nut on top. Put all of them together and let the super glue dry completely.
Once the glue is dry, I colored them with some rust colored paint. I happened to use Brett’s “dark rust” mix of Flouquil paint. Any dark brown will work, but thin it so it’s more of a wash than paint. The idea is to not obscure the detail with a thick coat of paint.
While the paint is still wet, dust on some rust colored chalks. I used a really soft brush and made the chalk kind of “snow” from above. Blow off any excess chalk and let 'em dry.
When you’re ready to install the NBWs, you’ll find that the thinner has disolved most of the adhesive on the tape and they can be removed easily with tweezers.
Here’s a little tool I made to apply the super glue. I took one of those foam paintbrushes like this:
and removed the sponge part. Then, I super glued a pin where the sponge was. Using the pin, I could place a very tiny drop of thick super glue exactly where I want it on the tipple. Then I take my tweezers, carefully remove a completed NBW from the tape and place it on the glue. I used the back side of an Xacto to hold the NBW in place if it should happen to stick to the tweezers. Hope that makes sense!
If you prep the NBWs like this, most likely you’ll avoid any white spots from the tabs.
Next up…the roof!
Ojaste
April 2015
Bill, I would like to take the credit for the tip, but it was written in one of Brett’s manuals.
Marty
Bill
April 2015 edited April 2015
Here comes the roof on the Tipple House. This is about as close to stick building as you’ll get, but the laser does almost all of the boring stuff for us!
The ridge board gets installed between the peaks and then, using a spacing guide, marks are drawn on top of the all the walls to help position the rafters.
The main rafters need the tabs filed down and also removal of the burn marks from the laser. Only the bottom edges will show and I was able to just scrape the burned material off with a blade.
All the rafters are attached with a minimal amount of glue. I made sure to line them up with the marks at the top and bottom and keep an eye on the spacing as I went along.
For the lower roofs, it’s the same deal: sand off the tabs and scrape off the burn marks at the ends, but it’s important to keep the two sizes separate. The short rafters are for the front wing wall (the one with the ore bins); the longer rafters go on the rear.
Here’s how I applied the glue to each rafter to keep it neat. I added a drop in the little “ear” and also a line of glue up a bit from the bottom of the rafter. When installing, I dragged the rafter down (away from the peak) until the glue smeared on top of the wall, then backed it up and into position resting the ear end at the top. No glue blobs on the tops of the walls or the bottoms of the rafters.
Once the front and rear roofs are done, it’s time to tackle the corner wing wall roof (hip roof, I guess). First, the middle corner rafter is added. This is where a pair of those straight nail clippers comes in handy…this one needs to be the same length as all the other rafters. A scrap piece of stripwood helps carry that measurement to the corner rafter.
The next rafter gets glued directly to the wall:
To get that one to the correct length, I used one of the little triangles included in the kit. Butt the 90 degree angle against the wall and slide the triangle down to the edge of the corner rafter. Then, mark the end of the wall rafter and cut it to length.
Marks are made on the center rafter using the same spacing guide (I used a silver marker on mine):
Then, using scrap stripwood again as a guide, measure and cut to length the 6 remaining rafters:
Finally, rafter tails need to be added (4 on each side). There are long and short tails and the manual has details and pictures.
Shoo…that’s enough for one entry. The purlins go up next and THEN, a really cool treatment for corrugated panels (especially if you hate working with etchant.)
Nearly a third of the way done!
