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The "Loco and Service Shops" Scratchbuilt in O Scale. Karl.A

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Comments

  • I started the water tank by building the support frame work. Colouring is all C&A, 408.5.

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    Next I added the walk boards and some preliminary weathering.

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    Now that the base was built I could move onto the tank itself.
    Unfortunately now I was tied into a tank diameter dictated by the base, this diameter was 2 3/8"..... dangit !! Not a common size for PVC piping at home depot, so an alternative was needed.

    Karl.A
  • I'm a newbie round here and am wondering how you get that colour with 408.5 - mine comes out way darker. more brown than yellow or is it a trick of the camera lens?
  • Welcome to the forum Fitmanb (real name?) good to have you joining.

    I colour 4 or 5 pieces of wood at a time with the 408.5 and a wash of alcohol. While they are still wet I draw them through a soft cloth (old sock) a couple of times. This does a few things.
    It removes a lot of those remaining 'fuzzies' that are so annoying.
    It lightens the colour to a degree by removing heavy chalk coatings from the wood surface.
    It makes the grain stand out a little more by leaving more chalk in the grooves.

    It's a tactile process that can vary greatly dependant on pressure applied and the amount of drawing done. You will quickly get a feel for how much to do after a couple of boards. Of course if you take off too much chalk in the process and are unhappy when it dries you can quickly repeat the C&A colouring process and start again with nothing lost but a little time.

    Have fun with it, we look forward to your posts.

    Karl.A
  • edited December 2013
    Brett and I had several ideas on how to make the tank core, several were tried and failed. In the end Brett came up with the idea of laser cutting some circles from corrugated card and glueing them together in a stack.
    This worked out perfectly (as long as the stack was perfectly true, which took two attempts....

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    Once the core was dry it was laminated with 8x2 boards, these were applied using a square to ensure they were perfectly verticle.
    Prior to construction the boards were coloured with 408.5 on the bottom and 704.5 on the top as with the HO pilot model. After construction this was touched up and blended in the middle to give the faded aged effect.

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    A quick test fit to make sure I was happy before proceding.

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    The top was added and an access hatch. The hinges were made from styrene and the handle some brass wire.

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    Time to find and/or make some hardware details for the tank.

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    Karl.A
  • Karl,
    tank looks great ,love the hinges, tank top coloring is superb....... great job as usual,can't wait for more.

    Scott
  • edited December 2013
    Thanks Scott, appreciate the comments.

    I cut some styrene rod to length and attached them to a framework. This allowed me to spray the styrene with black paint evenly.

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    A hole was drilled in the tank and the styrene was superglued in. Once dry the styrene was wrapped around the tank and the other end glued into the hole.

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    This was then repeated.

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    Turnbuckles were added over the join in the bands.

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    The spout support started to be built.

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    The fill pipe and valve were made, along with several pipe brackets and connections.

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    Next up will be the spout.

    Karl.A
  • Looks great Karl! Better than reading the morning paper


    Scott
  • edited December 2013
    Thanks Scott, good to have someone following along.

    I'll finish the water tank up in the next post. The sand house wont take but a couple of updates and then.... it's onto the new and exciting stuff.

    Karl.A
  • took me a while to figure out how you did the hoops - then I realized you cut the turnbuckles in half!
  • Yep James, the back of the turnbuckles was filed away with a round file so that they would fit over the bands snugly, thanks for stopping in.

    Karl.A
  • edited December 2013
    I really wasn't happy with the grandtline spout that I had ordered so I decided I would have to scratch build one from what I had on hand.

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    Because I had built my tank slightly differently than Chuck I needed to remove
    some of the platform so that the spout would fit lower.

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    Next on the menu was adding all the spout hardware. I had to make 9 miniature eyebolts to attach the chains to the various points.

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    It took a while to get all the lengths and linkages correct but it was worth the effort.

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    Karl.A
  • edited December 2013
    I was stuck at this point as I didn't have a picture of the details on top of the tank. I e:mailed Chuck Doan and he very kindly uploaded several pictures of his incredible modeling for me to look at.
    Thanks Chuck.

    The crank detail which opens and closes the valve to let the water flow.

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    The guage and float pully which shows the water level in the tank.

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    Onwards to the sand house.

    Karl.A
  • Karl,
    Can't say it enough.... great modeling...and a thank you for all the additions to my cheat sheet on how to do it. Great tips for this modeler!

    Thanks

    Scott
  • Karl, Catching up on the O scale builds. Geesh!..your work here is simply superb. Scratch building in itself is an art form and your detailing on this project is stellar, a one of a kind piece. Thanks for taking the time to document it for us. Ken
  • Yes it's great to see a scratch build like this laid out. It is always somewhat magical to see a builder's imagination bring everyday objects and stock bits to life
  • Out of curiosity - how does the gauge and float pulley work (on the real thing)?
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    As the float in the tank rises with the water the pointer on the outside goes down.

    The gauge is marked with lowest number at the top and highest on the bottom.

    Karl.A
  • wow Karl
    looks great. Love the little scratchbuilt piping details. May have to start building in a larger scale as my eyes are having more trouble dealing with HO now.
    cheers
    Dave
  • Hi Karl,
    I have to echo James's and Dave's comments. This is really some amazing work. The fabricated parts are superb!
    Jim
  • Karl,
    What a treat to follow along and watch this amazing build. It is incredible what you can create with basic tools and simple household stuff (if you are brilliantly talented) - luckily there are Sierra West kits for the rest of us mortals.
    Seriously - amazing work Karl
  • Karl I've seen your work in person and I've seen it here and on RR Line.

    But your chain and link work is just beyond words!! Just excellent craftsmanship!!

    Jerry
  • Thanks to you all for the very kind words, really appreciate them all, apologies for the delay in responding.

    A few pics of the sand house tonight and then I should be moving forward with the rest of the build, new stuff!!

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    Not really thrilled with how it turned out but I'm living with it for now, I do
    see a rebuild of it in the future though..... probably.

    Karl.A
  • Hey Karl: Also looks good to me. I really like those door sliding hinges; are they available separately? Thanks, Joe CCCModOn30
  • Thanks for the input Scott and Joe....

    Right you are Scott, the roof is just way too plain and uniform. Being a sand house the roof needs to appear to be in good condition to keep the sand dry. As you say though, that doesn't mean we can't weather it up a little and give it some interest, thanks!!

    Karl.A

  • Karl,

    This is looking really great - the project has carryover into areas we are all working on so I hope you have the time to get back into it.

    Respectfully,
    John
  • Absolutely gorgeous!
  • Well It has certainly been some time since I updated this thread, but, now is a good time with the NNGC2015 over with.
    So here are some updated pics of the build so far.

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    I'll go back and post pics of the build process over the next week or so.

    Karl.A
  • edited September 2015
    This is a fantastic model deserving of all the accolades even if Karl is quite the humble guy! At the 2015 Houston Narrow Gauge Convention, Karl won second place in the diorama category, and Karl won the prestigious Mt. Albert Award. This award is selected by Mt. Albert as the model best demonstrating outstanding craftsmanship with stripwood. The list of prior year Mt Albert winners is a who's who of the modeling world we all know and love including our friends Dave Revelia and Brian Nolan. Pretty darn good company brother! I had the pleasure of watching this dio come together over the last couple years and am most impressed with the way Karl translated his research into a scale model scene. Looking forward to more posts with construction pics!
  • Simply outstanding Karl!...both conceptually and and in your execution. This will (is) one of those builds we will constantly come back to for ideas and inspiration. The seven images you posted are surely just the cusp of what we expect to see...Indulge us and give us images progressively from the outside to the inside of this baby...spare no details.

    Congrats on the hardware you received and trust you had a good time at the convention. Well done. Ken
  • Hey Karl: WOW, just incredible! Congrats on your awards, well deserved...Joe CCCModOn30
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