Workin' On The Railroad?

Unfortunately, no.  There has been a complete lack of progress on the layout since the New Year.  Not for lack of interest, it just seems that there's been a lot of other "stuff" to do this year.  I've been busy prepping for a series of trainings that I'm conducting at work.  I have a clinic coming up for the NMRA Twin Cities Division that I've spent some time getting ready for.  I've done a lot of writing for a work-related blog, taken a work-related trip to Colorado.  On top of all that, my wife and I have embarked on a lifestyle change, trying to eat better and be more physically active.  All of this eats into the free time, and sometimes just leaves you drained and wanting to do nothing in the evening.

Anyway...

The railroad still lives, the depot is still under construction, and there IS progress to report on other fronts.  I've had a photo published in Model Railroader, one of my goals for the year.  Less mainstream but equally significant, an article on my scratchbuilt caboose appears in the recently mailed Winter 2012 issue of the Ore Extra published by the Missabe Historical Society.  No less thrilling than getting something into Railroad Model Craftsman or Model Railroader, and it's a step towards my goal of publishing two more articles this year.

The TCD clinic is coming up on February 9th at 7:00pm, stop by the Jackson Street Roundhouse in St. Paul if you're in the neighborhood.  You might learn something about scratcbuilding!  Should be a fun session.

It seems impossible, but the Thousand Lakes Region convention is just around the corner, barely three months away.  I'm planning to enter three models in the modeling contest there, which means I have to write contest documentation for those three models.  So much to do, so little time!

Things will slow down soon and I can get back to working on that depot (said as I sit here looking at a desk piled with papers to sort through or put away).

Claustrophobic?

I hope not, because the forest is closing in.  The treeline along the entire far end of the layout has been planted, as well as the area behind the handcar shed.  Sticking all of these trees into the foam base is slow work, but it's nice to step back and see just how much progress has been made.

The second mirror is roughed-in, I need to do a little more work on hiding the edges.

A couple of shots looking across what I guess would be the west end of Hill City.  Johnson's Produce, the handcar shed, the woodshed, and the mockup of the Lakeside Inn are all visible.

Tomorrow - more planting, and maybe some ballasting for a change of pace.

A Trip To The Woodshed

One of the structures that I'll be building at some point is the Lakeside Inn, what I imagine was considered a classy joint for Hill City in 1920.  With all those rooms, the inn would be a tough place to keep warm in the winter, and would most likely consume a large amount of firewood.  The proprietor of such a classy place isn't going to want piles and piles of firewood cluttering up the property, spoiling the view for his guests, so he's going to store his firewood somewhere out of sight.  Someplace like this simple woodshed, located at the base of the hill on which the inn resides, safely hidden from the guests by the tree-covered hillside.

If you've been following my progress, you've seen the shed before, it's nothing new.  What is new is the landscaping on the hill.  Over the past couple of nights I finished applying the dirt layer.  Tonight I put down the layer of dead leaves and planted some trees on and around the hillside.  Here you can see the woodshed, the dirt road leading up to the inn, and the cardboard mockup of the inn itself.  The mockup is a bit larger than the actual structure will be.

Here's another look from the far end of the layout.  The unfinished section directly in front of the woodshed is where Johnson's Produce will sit.  At the far left of the photo, you can see the cardboard placeholders for what will become Lake Avenue, a small storefront area that existed in Hill City.

By the end of the weekend, I hope to have all of the trees planted on that far end of the layout, and on the small hill that is partially hiding the handcar shed.

Look At That, I'm An Author!

I just received confirmation that my first magazine article will be in the December issue of Railroad Model Craftsman!  Woohoo!!!!

Grab a copy and turn to page 49.  I'm going to go camp by the mailbox now, somebody bring me some turkey if I'm not back by Thursday....

A Handle For The Hand Car

Found some time today to build the handle for the hand car, completing its construction.  The handle consists of three lengths of brass rod, joined with two small triangular pieces of styrene.

Break Time!

Now that I have a hand car, and a hand car shed, somebody needs to put the car in the shed.  This guy drew the short straw, and had to do the job all by himself.  Time for a break!

Looking at that photo, your brain tells you that there's "something" inside that building, which is exactly what I wanted it to do.  In reality, there's not much of anything in there, but it's an effective trick.

A Handy Little Hand Car

I mentioned earlier that I was going to try scratchbuilding a hand car to put in the hand car shed (obviously).  This turned out to be a LOT of fun to build!  I will admit to cheating, somewhat, in that I bought a hand car kit to use as a guide.  Here is the frame from the kit, beside my scratchbuilt frame:

The wheels are also purchased, I didn't scratchbuild those.  No reason to reinvent the wheel, right?

The lever & gearbox housing is cut from a plastic "For Rent" sign:

Here's the resulting car, minus the operating handle.  I need to do some soldering to build that, and didn't feel like firing up the soldering iron today.

A Case Of Shingles

The blueprints call for asbestos shingles, but since I'm all out of asbestos, I opted for paper instead.  Nothing fancy, just a piece of printer paper taken out of my laser printer, then cut into strips with a pair of pinking shears.

A little gray & brown paint, followed by some white chalk, and we have ourselves a finished roof.  The entire building was dusted with white chalk, with some brown around the bottom of the walls:

Doesn't look half bad sitting in its new home:

Little Red Train Shed

First coat of paint is on, a very light coat of some random reddish color that I had sitting around...

What's Behind Door Number Two?

The doors for the hand car shed are built and attached.  Obviously not weathered yet - gotta let the glue dry first.  Construction was simple, a frame built from scale 2"x4" lumber, with 2"x6" planks attached in a diagonal pattern (just like the prototype diagram).  I decided that rather than do a fully detailed interior on such a small, insignificant building, I will instead display it with one door closed, one door open.  Through the open door will be visible a hand car, and some assorted tools and other details, creating the illusion that the building is full.

Topping Out With A Little Balsa

After a multi-day hiatus, I've finally finished the basic construction of the hand car shed.  The roof is on and the exterior is stained.  I wanted the roof to "sag" in the middle, like old roofs are prone to do.  I built the two end rafters slightly (less than 1/2 scale foot) taller than the middle ones.  My original intent was to use individual planks, laid across the rafters, for the roof deck, but I decided instead to try very thin balsa, hoping that the Elmer's glue would cause it to warp slightly.  It worked!  There's not quite as much sag as I'd hoped for, but it's there, and noticeable.  Once the shingles are on, and I paint on some mossy green stains, I think it will look quite convincing.

Left on the to-do list are the doors, the window glass. permanently gluing the building to the floor, painting, and some interior detailing.

Not By The Hair Of My Chinny Chin Chin

Few people know this, but there was actually a fourth little pig, who built his house from paper.  Ok, not really, and it's a good thing.  As you can see in this shot, the walls of my hand car shed are, well, paper thin.

The wall studs are clearly visible through the paper siding.  The thing is extremely light too - there's no weight to it whatsoever, it certainly would have been no match for that wolf.  The see-through problem should be resolved once the walls are painted.  I hope so, because I really like the look of the paper siding.  It's not perfectly straight, a little wavy, some pieces are crooked - it looks like a neglected little building.

Wood, Paper, Siding

Once again, I'm trying something new.  I've seen a lot of great modeling done using paper and cardstock.  I started putting the clapboard siding on my hand car shed, using scale 2"x6" lumber, but it just didn't look right, too thick.  Lacking any scale 1"x6" stock, I decided to try paper instead.

It's a thick scrapbooking paper (swiped from my wife's supply), almost like cardstock.  So far, it looks great, but the real question is, how will it look painted and weathered?  Stay tuned....

What A Stud!

Seriously, who needs a stud-finder?  I have 33 of them, right here, ready to go, each 8 scale feet in length (thank you Chopper!):

It didn't take long to turn these into something resembling a shed:

Speedy Speeder Shed Construction

This is going MUCH faster than the produce warehouse did, I've already finished the floor of the hand car shed!

Thirty-two scale 2"x6" planks, 10 scale feet long, individually stained in a running alcohol/India Ink solution:

Assembly started:

Done!

Trapped In Modeler's Limbo

I can't start on the Lakeside Inn until my Grandt Line doors and windows arrive - waiting on my supplier to get them all in stock.  It's been three weeks since I've worked on anything, and it's driving me nuts!  The impatience got the best of me tonight.

A few weeks ago, I purchased a book of standard drawings from the Missabe Railroad Historical Society, offering official structural drawings of assorted railroad structures.

One of the drawings is for a small hand car (aka "speeder") shed.

I have just the spot for one, and building it should keep me occupied for a couple of weeks.  Let the construction begin!  Here are the 6"x8" sills, topped with 2"x6" floor joists, just like the drawing shows.