#301 Logging and Tractor Repair Shed (O Scale). Karl.A

Karl.A

Thanks Emery, appreciated.
Over the years I seem to have lost the styrene that Brett provides for the stacks so I soldered up some brass tubing with added mufflers to suffice.

I also seem to have misplaced, or used somewhere else a couple of the control levers that come included in this great kit. However, because the Bates will be inside and barely seen I'll prob just 'fab' up some basic levers from brass rod and add handles to give the illusion.

I also will probably turn a gas cap and oil filler cap from brass rod for the gas tank cap and oil filler cap... I love the amazing detail on these, it's unfortunate that I lost a few of them over the years, but hey, when you stick it up on a shelf for ten years these things happen.

Progress will happen through-out the week...

brownbr

I’m sure you will come up with a solution.

vietnamseabee

Karl….if I remember correctly it was you that had spark plug wires on one of your tractor builds
Terry

Karl.A

Good memory Terry,
it was the tractor I built for my SWSM BlueSky kit in about 2012, the build of that tractor appears on page 3 of that thread. The other additions to that tractor are shown in that thread, but, here's the plugs and wires you mentioned...




The tractor was ultimately stolen from BlueSky and ended up on my O'Neills Wheels diorama build which was featured for the Dirt/Details thread.

ALCO

Crazy. Cool, but crazy.

randyp

Karl was the spark plug wire just brass wire bent very neatly into a half circle?

Karl.A

Thanks Alan,
Randy the plugwire was an offcut of the thin beading wire that Brett provides in the kits for various things, I used this because it was black and smooth, like a rubber cable. You can also get this in the beading area at a craft store.

Brass or copper wire would also work at the right dimension, I usually would use the stranded copper wire out of an electrical cord and blacken it which is what I did for the various wiring on the Cat earlier in this thread with various thicknesses.

Thanks for following.

Karl.A

Step 1 Kevin,
The hardest step, I got the desk cleared off of all the other crap tonight so I've got room to work on this tomorrow.

My desk at 730 tonight... just a little cluttered...



The desk at 930pm, much better for the job at hand.



I guess we're all ready to go tomorrow.



Unfortunately Kev I have to work tomorrow, (and Sunday) so, don't bother getting up too early, no more progress until tomorrow evening.

Right now I'm hunting down 'supplies'.

kebmo

i've got a front row seat and a sleeping bag, just give me a kick when you're ready to go.

Jerry

Looking forward to this project.

You know that bottle of beer is the best detail part I've seen in a long time nice work on the labeling!!

Jerry

randyp

Karl, your work bench is better at 7:30 than mine is even when it is"clean". Randy

Karl.A

I guess I'll give you a kick toma Kev, not a good day today for me, but, I did find all the supplies I needed and cleared the site.

Thanks Jerry, thats my prototype I use as a reference,

Thanks Randy, I've been trying really REALLY hard to keep it (semi) organised over the past year or so to keep myself motivated and at the modeling bench.

I decided it would be a good idea before I starting throwing plaster and grout around to tape off the area I was going to be working on to avoid getting it all over the epoxied down floor and ties.





Now that the area to be worked on was safely taped off I continued on with the demo-work on the dio to get it ready for the next steps.



So, I guess thats about it for now.

kebmo

love the police tape! dare i ask where you got it?

ALCO

I’ve got to look into these OSHA regulations!

brownbr

Funny prep work. That would make an interesting diorama detail in itself.

Karl.A

Thanks Kevin, I made the 'caution' tape.
Thanks for the posts Alan and Bryan, gotta keep it fun.
Update later, (when the sun goes down).

Karl.A

I've done this method before, 2007/08 but only in a rough situation, so, I'm going to try to take it to a more refined result here and now.
Someone's probably done it before(2007), done it better, done it different, however...

I'm going to share how I do it, as it happens.

Step one,
test piece, I decided to do one side plaster, one side grout.
For the plaster side I ran a large wire wheel over the foam base, I think this will give more 'tooth' for the plaster to grab hold of the base and stick.



Next thing to do was make some fake tractor tracks to make the impressions in the 'dirt'.

I cut a strip of thin card to the width of the castings tracks. Then I used the 'chopper' to cut some strip wood in order to replicate the casting.




I then used a strip wood guide (a technique from many of Brett's unrivaled manuals) to glue the track pieces in place and keep them aligned.




After gluing 20 or so flat pieces and 20ish ridges i figured that would be enough.
I did want to be able to follow the contours of the scenery so I decided to create a curved 'stamp' in order for me to do this.



The 'track' was then glued to the 'handle' which will give me the versatility that I will need, in case I need it.



Next I painted both sides of the test piece with a tan paint. It wasn't really necessary for this test piece but I wanted to show every step I will take on the real diorama.
The added texture on the side that will have plaster shows up better now, the other side will just get my usual grout and white glue method.



I'll be slinging dirt and making tracks tomorrow .... also, a couple of tips on using plaster.

(As a side note, it only took about 15-20 mins with the chopper to make the tractor tread stamp thingy.)

kebmo

what a great idea. thanks karl.

CraigH

Lot of work to lay down some Tracks.... waiting to see the final results

vietnamseabee

“Lot of work to lay down some tracks“….certainly is but then that’s what distinguishes Karl’s modeling …simply another technique to try and emulate
Terry

admin

So well said Terry, why skimp or take shortcuts on the dioramas we work so hard on?

Karl.A

Thanks Kev, Terry and Brett ,
I got everything ready to go tonight, then couldn't find any shrink wrap in the kitchen, so,
a trip to Kroger tomorrow and then next steps tomorrow.

randyp

Some great ideas Karl. I already used one of your ideas on my truck repair. The one about building up the sides and middle of a road and leaving the wheal tracks at the original level. Thanks for your great modeling and sharing it with the rest of us. Randy

Karl.A

Thanks Randy, great to read my ideas and techniques have been helpful. Hopefully you got great results, as I'm sure you did, judging by everything else you have shown so far.
Hopefully that technique I shared wasn't a lot of work for you.

Karl.A

A couple of tips for using plaster, some of you may know, some may not.

First tip, if you want to extend the setting time of the plaster so you have time to 'work it', one method I implement is to use iced water when mixing it up. If you've touched plaster as its curing it gets warm in the mold. Using iced water slows this curing process down, a lot.
(I have also heard of adding white vinegar, but, I haven't personally done that so wont comment further, but, google it and try it if you want to.)

The iced water in the mix extended the working time of this small batch from the usual 5 minutes to about 30 minutes and more.
It actually wasn't ideal and I wouldn't recommend it for this situation, but, it definitely works for other applications.

Frozen water bottle, thawing out, used as needed.



My second tip for using plaster is to add some paint to your water before mixing so that the plaster is coloured all the way through when mixed.
I actually added some raw umber to this colour and then some black to make it really dark before mixing, it still dried quite light, but not as bad as having a bright white chip or crack if that ever happens.



I think this also extended the curing time of the plaster.

More soon.

Karl.A

You want to have a thick mix of plaster, not like the soupy mix you would use to make rock molds, kinda thick like whipping cream so that it holds its shape.
Put the plaster on the diorama area where you require it, also put a blob somewhere close by.
The blob is so that you can touch it and test it until it gets to the right setting point without disturbing the plaster on the dio.



Once the 'blob' has cured to the point you like cover the blob and work area with clingfilm and leave to set a little longer.



Test by peeling the cling film off of the 'blob'. Once the blob is fairly firm and the cling film peels up relatively cleanly you are ready to make tracks.

Roll the track stamp (or wheel, or whatever...) made earlier over the plastic covered plaster. This can be manipulated and redone several times until you're happy.
Do this over the blob too. leave to set some more.

Test peel the plastic off of the blob, when it comes off how you like it you can continue on and repeat the process on the actual work piece.

More dried plaster will peel off smoothly, wetter plaster will give a rougher finish, but you may lose the clarity of the impressions.

This one was a little too damp hence the rough surrounding terrain, (it stuck a little to the plastic), but, I managed to keep the clarity of the impression.



I let it dry a little more (because of the time delay drying) for 5 extra minutes, you can see how the wet sheen has dulled down some more.



While still damp at this point I sprinkled on some dry grout to give some texture.
Because the plaster at this point was pretty much surface dry, and was covered with the dry grout I lined up the stamp in the grooves and carefully (not careful enough) rolled the stamp over one more time to push the grout into the soft plaster and redefine the track marks.



I'll let this dry now and see how this basic start looks...

randyp

Karl, great looking tread tracks. I don't know if I will ever need the technique but I now have it. Thanks, Randy

Karl.A

Thanks Randy, you might use it somewhere else, such as setting a building, or model you want to sit down into the terrain, but you may want to keep it clean and removeable.
My clingfilm method also works for boats in water scenes or other items. Hope you can use it, or an adaption, somewhere in the future to make your modeling easier.

The second side of the test piece was done using my usual grout mix. Everything else was basically the same.



The grout was mixed with room temperature water as if I was just going to grout some tile. A little too sloppy but that just means some extra time waiting for it to dry out and set up.



Once again I put a test blob on the desk next to the 'diorama'.
I kept testing in the test blob, once it reached the consistency and results that looked good to me I did the impression in the real piece.
It's very forgiving, I think I did it three times and smoothed it back out between tries.

Do the imprint, carefully lift the film. if happy remove and let dry. if unhappy smooth back out and retry.



So, now I'll see how the grout side dries, and go from there on the 'real' diorama.



Job done ...

Edit:- probably just under 1/8" thick for both plaster and grout base layers.

kebmo

that turned out really great. i think both sides look incredibly good.

randyp

Keven is right both sides look good. I think it would depend on whether you want new or old tracks. The grout side is much sharper and crisper, new tracks. The plaster side, I guess because you sprinkled on the grout after the tracks were made, looks more weathered, older tracks. Anyway Karl great modeling. Randy