My Second Diorama - Wood Cutters Shack

Joel

Great work. It all seems to flow organically. I do wonder if there is a better way to hang the ropes so they look more in scale. Maybe if you wet them with matte medium and then arrange them with a natural sag while they dry and then hang them up. Not sure just spit balling but they don't seem to be hanging naturally and the colour (or lack thereof) seems too bright but maybe that's just the photo.

TomMich

Floor turned out very nice as well as the placement of the details.

AlexR

Thanks everyone. I think i'm pretty much done with the parts to the wood cutters shack.


Joel, i'll see if some alcohol that may work? If not, I have some matt lacquer i could possibly try. Or, just replace the rope with chain.

sdrees

You have done a great job with the weathering of the floor, bench etc. Just Great. But there are to many red objects, rags etc that immediately draws your attention to them.

AlexR

Ok, so. I re-painted the blowtorch green.. less red and as a compromise I made the rags more dirty.. thus, less intense. I like the rags too much to get rid of them though.


Here are some other photos of progress as well.

brownbr

The picture quality is top notch.

If you want to cut down on the red, shop rags come in blue.

sdrees

The use of the rags is nice, but dull them down. The blow torch is just right and so ist the fire extinguisher.

AlexR

This is where I'm at on the steam engine. i'm not really happy with the cement.. i'm kind of struggling with that.. I have some woodlands scenic paint that i'm using... I'm thinking when I apply dirt and grease/oil to the top of the base it will look correct. obviously the brush marks don't help at this stage...

Robert.G

The metal is well done. Try to avoid the brush streaks on the concrete. These are super castings.

AlexR

I'm almost positive that this is flat lacquer. I thought of layering the dirt like someone else I know that uses flat lacquer .

kebmo

i really, really like the scarred shed floor. i wish i'd done that. i've seen that look in 1:1 and you nailed it. i agree there would be alot of rags in a scenario like the shed, and to be honest, i didn't think they drew the eye away from anything. all in all a great build. and the steam engine looks fantastic too. (concrete needs a bit of work though)

AlexR

Today I modified the piston housing to countersink the piston gland.. this meant I had to machine/drill a seat into the casting.. this resulted in an interference fit. The piston gland doesn't need any glue of any kind.. However, this was semi nerve racking due to the possibility of destroying the part. I did think twice prior to attempting.. But, new I wouldn't be happy unless the packing was countersunk.

Jim M

Fantastic. You dirtied it up great. Nice job.

brownbr

Turning out nice.

Same goes for the wood pile.

TomMich

The caked on crease and debris is exceptional. Concrete weathering turned out very well also!

CarlLaskey

brownbr said:

The picture quality is top notch.

If you want to cut down on the red, shop rags come in blue.

Another take on shop rags.

AlexR

Thanks for the kind words..


I copied one of Roberts techniques with the lacquer and it seems to have saved me on the concrete. I also dry brushed some chalk on the sides.

Carl, I've never seen any like that. Those would need to be printed.. unfortunately, I don't have a printer good enough..

I started on the boiler over the weekend. I'm trying to copy what Karl did with his boiler on his mill engine and boiler house. we'll see how close I get.. Or, how far I fall short .

painted and dry brushed so far. I went with a dark automotive primer instead of black paint though..

brownbr

I've grown fond of the dark auto primer over black as well.

AlexR

I think this is my finished boiler.. I wanted to incorporate some rust. But, not too much.. also, as this is part of the mill engine and boiler house. the boiler will be outside. So, I assumed it would have dust and some dirt on it even if it was an operational boiler..


Thoughts or critiques (I didn't do anything to the smoke stack yet, as that will be installed later and want to blend that all at once)?

brownbr

I like it. The base color is a believable black iron color. The dust is just enough as is the rust.

Here is something I have always struggled with myself but you may want to consider. there always seems to be a white (presumably lime) buildup around water pipes, whistles, etc. It's hard to do in a subtle way. Don't think I would try it on this model as it looks good already.

AlexR

Bryan,


I was thinking about your color comment..

I took a few reference photos. Both of these pieces of steel are hot rolled steel with the mill scale still on them. As you can tell the square tube steel (the first photo) is almost the exact same color as the primer lid while the plate steel is just a few shades lighter.. If the plate was a bit dirtier it would be darker..

During the manufacturing process square or round pipe steel gets pretty nasty with the lubricants as the steel goes through the extrusion process. These contaminants also make the steel darker, which is why the square pipe steel is nearly the same shade as the primer. If I were to clean this square pipe steel with some acetone it would lighten up several shades.






The buildup around the pipes and whistles you see would almost certainly be Sodium Chloride or salt which is why it's always white. I agree the buildup on the valve stems and valve joints on piping would be nearly impossible to model in the correct proportions.


I was thinking about maybe seeing if someone in the neighborhood had some fishing line to use for the gauge glass?

TomMich

I like the original color of the boiler better than plain flat black. If I were to suggest something perhaps some gray below the boiler door to represent ashes and some black (soot) above the boiler door. Otherwise I think you did a great job on the weathering.

KKarns

Most excellent Alex. Your finish on the boiler is wonderful and has that look of high heat weathering as it should be.

AlexR

I think i'm back to working on this Diorama. As with all of us, life has been a bit hectic over the last several months. With up's and downs..


Today i cut a new base. i "think" i'm going to go with this.. it measures 21"X24" Also, i'm thinking about incoroorating a small repair yard.. next to the open shed. Crazy idea?


As of right now i'm at a complete impass as to placement. here are a few photos i took. Any help or opinions would be greatly appreciated. I working on getting the materials for lighting, i'll probably copy Roberts idea's as it pertains to that. i've also worked on getting some trees, they are probably a couple weeks out. i think i want to put the shack in a forest setting? i used some ho scale fast track as a quick template.

kebmo

very nice. i wish i had made my base a little bigger. i put rails across the front of mine and it kinda crowded out the model.
i like the way the various buildings are arranged. is that an outhouse out back?

AlexR

Yep! Thought i'd add one. If i remember correctly i got the idea from looking at one of your builds.

Mountaingoat

Just be sure it is down wind and nowhere near your water source.

Rick

brownbr

I think it will look great in a woods setting.

KCSTrains

I'm late to this build, but I want to comment on the outstanding craftsmanship. Great job!!! Phil

AlexR

I spent some time over the weekend looking up reference photos. i found the one included below and thought some elevation changes would add character. I also happen to have a buddy with the below CNC machine that can cut the foam board to conture the eleveation. He actually uses foam board to test his cuts before he cuts wood. So, he's familar with cutting foam board. my 21"X24" base would fit within the cutting area of his CNC.

Thoughts on this idea?