My first SierraWest model

randyp

Thanks KKarns for your sage advice. That sounds like a good reason to do a few castings at a time. Like Joel did on his official build I think I will start with the Interior wall. That will be my next wood working project on this kit. Thanks for the well done I am trying to do my best. It may be the only Sierra West I get to do as I model in S scale. Randy

KKarns

You'll end up getting hooked on SierraWest kits and leave the dark side! Lol.

Pappy

Agree with Ken. The dark side does not even come close to SW.
You will be hooked for life Randy on Brett's kits

randyp

Yes, KKarns and Pappy you both probably right. But with a 26' by 54' Sn3/S layout and twenty plus PBL engines I don't see myself switching scales. Hopefully Rich may want another kit or two after I get this one built for him. Thanks for the comments. Randy

Pappy

Your doing great Randy.
I built my first SW kit in 2017. It was the O scale Dueling Shacks.
I learn a lot on that build which was suggested by others here back then.
Have been hooked ever since.
Keep up your great work and take your time

Robert.G

Addiction with take the better part of you. Randy ... Be warned !!!

randyp

I have not worked on my Truck Repair yesterday or so far today. I was cleaning up my work bench. Since I am going to work on painting castings I have out some paint and brushes.
Pappy and Robert, thanks for the Warning and I am wondering if Rich mike like the Dueling Shacks that Pappy just told me about. I do need to get the layout ready for the NMRA convention net summer and the National Narrow Gauge one in 2025. Or as I personally the Fortieth and a Half
.

randyp

here is a picture of my newly clean and reorganized work bench

randyp

So I am now working on the major castings. I attempted the parts bin tonight. Chalk, AK interactive paint, and AK interactive pencils. It did not come out very clear. I will try again tomorrow. Randy

Robert.G

Nice wood color..

admin

Shelf looks great Randy! Love the faded grey. I tend to get stuck in my ways and end up with everything brown tones. Well done!

randyp

Thinks Brett and Robert. I am not sure what the color actually is. I will post another picture that is more clear and it is more brown and I did not do anything to the color. Here is the parts bin again. I add watch parts and a chain. I accidently poked a hole in the side of the ben so I made use of it in the second picture.

Also this afternoon I did another one of the large castings. I blame Joel for the screws in the hinges.

brownbr

Those look great

MuddyCreekRR

Nice tones...

randyp

Thanks for your kind words brownbr and Muddy. I think I am going to tackle the interior wall next. Then finish the castings needed to complete both sides of this wall. Thanks again Randy

brownbr

I didn't notice until now the screw heads in the hinges. I don't remember them being part of the casting. Did you add them?

I remember joking Joel about adding screwheads to his hinges and he did it!

randyp

Yes I read Joel's thread before I started on my build and saw your teasing. In fact that is where I found out about the watch parts I used for the screws. Thanks for noticing, Randy

randyp

I just looked back at Joel's model. I wish I could have found screws as small as he did. Randy

Robert.G

I believe the right proportions , on everything, details or bigger structures, are very important. Otherwise things get quickly cartoonish... Just my thoughts..

randyp

Robert, I will need to agree with you. There are two or three small screws but the rest are to big. I will try not to do something like that again. Thank you for your comment.

Karl.A

dang it, now I've got to add screws/heads... maybe ... I can barely see the hinges.
They look awesome Randy, i've just been sitting and staring.
Great stuff indeed.

randyp

Thanks Karl, for your kind words. Randy

randyp

I polished many of the larger white metal castings tonight. I smoothed out the powdery surface and for the most part black. However, many of the castings had copper cast to them. Does any one have an ideal as to what caused this and how to get read of the copper color?

Thanks, Randy

randyp

I also finished up the interior wall tonight. My reasoning for the wood on this wall was that they would have used the lest over wood from the outside wall. After all it did not need to keep out the weather. So more cracks, splits, and knots. I used 408.3, 408.5, and 408.9 to color the wood. I used more of the 408.9 to keep it light. I liked the patch board used to close up the big gap between the boards in the upper right part of the wall.

It looks like the castings photo did not load for some reason. I will try again here.

Robert.G

Great work on the wood and knots ...

admin

Walls look great Randy. Nice grungy texture on the metal castings too. Great progress.

randyp

Thanks Robert and Brett. I have one more wall to finish siding. Will try to haver pictures later today. Thanks again, Randy

randyp

My last wall is sided. The lower right is more gray than it looks. it looked a little bowed so it and the other walls are setting under a piece of rail to keep them flat while I work on castings. Going out to a friend's house tonight and another friend's house tomorrow night to play trains. Maybe I will get some more work on castings tomorrow during the day.

Karl.A

The walls are looking great Randy, really nice colour, texture and variation between the boards.
I usually leave walls under weights until I need them. My walls for my current build are still under weight while I do details.
Brett's walls will come back to straight when you glue the structure together even if they do 'twist' slightly.
Even though the glue is dry and the walls are flat I find that over time (before assembly when they are lying on the desk), the glue can sometimes pull the walls slightly off, most notably on roof panels.
This I guess is the glue shrinking slightly as it fully cures and dries completely over time. So, now I just leave them on a shelf, under weight and flat until I need them. It has always worked well for me, sometimes its a few days, often a few weeks, and sometimes more than 10 years.... haha.

Pappy

Looking Great Randy!