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

Ojaste

Geez!

sdrees

Karl,

This work is fantastic, you are a master of creativity and the detail man.

Steve

Jerry

Your attention to detail is beyond exceptional.

Jerry

KCSTrains

Karl, great, great work. I also like the fact that this is O scale so I an concentrate on each individual piece and study the weathering effect. Very instructive when you view this in light of your casting tutorial. It all makes sense and shows that practice and repetition makes perfect. Thanks for sharing. Phil

Karl.A

Thanks for the nice comments guys, really appreciated.
In the following pic the bench and two shelf units to the left were painted beautifully by Ken. I added a few labels, darkened them down a bit to match the surrounding items and then weathered them to match and blend with everything else. There are some more of Kens castings dotted around inside the shop. Thanks Ken.

Karl.A

brownbr

VERY impressive

Bill

Organized clutter to a T! That is--the shop's a mess, but in a logical order.
I love how you've obviously put yourself into the scene and asked "what would belong here?" It's evident that, just like in real life, virtually every reachable space has been put to good and logical use (a rack of clamps, a selection of sledges and axes, an assortment of files & hand tools and rows of pulleys--all in their place, but not too neatly).

I can't quit looking at this one:



Even a selection of stencils and spilled paint!
Wonderful work!

Karl.A

Thanks indeed Bryan.
Great comments Bill, indeed, ALOT of time went into making sure the right items were in the right areas on this, and logical. As this is the carshop all the details are carparts or tools to repair/rebuild. The items scattered on the track next to the disconnect are actually all the parts needed to rebuild the disconnect which has been stripped down for redecking. The stencils on the bench have been used and are drying, there is a box of new ones under the bench, also the bench is at the end of the shopline which is when the painting would be done after everything is finished. The tin of nails on the disconnect is filled with individual scale nails, and back to the other end you have to climb the ladder in order to be able to read the sign at the top which warns of the dangers of climbing ladders.. just a few points to note.
This one wall took 2 months to arrange, rearrange, plan and get the right things looking right together, and looking good from all angles, to get to the point below.



Karl.A

morganhillrr

The Master at work, no one does it better.....Joe CCCModOn30

Mike Engler

Alan: I posted this after the show:
"There are no judges at the National Narrow Gauge Conventions model contests. It has been that way for 35 years. Contest winners are determined by popular vote, and in past years "Best of Show" was a category that voters voted for. Not sure how "Best of Show" was selected this year, since it was not on the ballot. Perhaps the model receiving most votes of all the categories. That wouldn't be a good way if some categories were closely contested- the winner of such a category might not have nearly as many votes as a virtually uncontested category.

Eligible voters included registered attendees, spouses (free), vendors and spouses, free convention staff members, layout tour and modular layout volunteers. While many voters are highly qualified, many of the voters have never built a model. Popular vote is what it is. Whimsical, caricature, artsy, cute- all are eligible. It isn't apples to apples.

If anybody had a better way it probably would have been tried by now. The NMRA has forever used a judging system where each model is scored as to "Finish and lettering", "Scratchbuilding", and four other criteria. Points are awarded so that a model could score up to 125 points. This may be considered a fairer system, but it can be flawed and also has its detractors.

Hey- this forum is about modeling- forgive my rambling."

Karl is a good friend and one of a very few "hero" modelers I try to emulate. His model was one of the best I have ever seen- in fact I can't think of a better one.

I am convention chairman of the 2018 National Narrow Gauge Convention to be held in Minneapolis, and our planning committee has already begun addressing this issue. Our solution may not be perfect but you can count on it being well thought out, and with the input of some highly competent contest experts.

I am glad to see that Karl is showing us more of this incredible work, and I hope more of you will be able to see it in person one day.

Karl.A

Thanks Joe, very appreciated.
Thanks very much Mike, very special words coming from such a great modeler that I admire and look up to.

Here are some of the earlier pics of the first wall. as you can see many details were tried and discarded, or moved. The wall itself was detailed flat on the bench with the tools and smaller items, it was propped up to test and try out larger items that would be sat on the floor. The wall evolved as much as it was designed. The items on the wall had to correspond to the items below or on the floor. The items on the floor had to not obscure the hanging items, things not only had to be placed to create specific work areas with specific tools and details but also in such away as to be astetically pleasing and viewable.
Spaces between areas had to be filled up logically with many items in the same way.

There was no way I wanted to just throw in a bunch of castings to fill up space, everything had to have a reason and a purpose, anal maybe, time consuming most definitely, finding the right item of the right size/colour/shape/purpose to populate the area while all blending together well without looking over cluttered for the sake of it, busy but believable was what I was aiming for, lots of research for everything, down to what tools on what bench and what was on the wall behind it. Was it worth it? I think so.

Some things were definite from the beginning, such as the bench/shelf far left, and the paint/finish bench far right. These two anchor points allowed me to build from there, trying placement. trying items and coming up with real reasons to work the space between, the how and why.








Notice the paint on the stencils is only around the holes and not just all over the stencil.... also paint chips on the vice and oil can. every detail is completed like this, even though most wont be seen, I think it gives a subconscious overall effect.
The bench was still being worked on in this pic and hasn't been weathered or blended yet.











After playing around with various ladders as seen in the previous pics I built this tapered one based on a research pic I saw. The tapered top intrudes less on the details on the wall while stil giving some overall heft to the item even though it is see through which leaves the items behind open for viewing.



All of the tools throughout the shop are weathered and finished to foreground quality, the hammer handles were weathered with chalk to dirty them up later. Also notice the fancy angle brackets holding up the shelf (stolen from the incredible Oscale sawmill kit).
This is probably the only shot in which they are really visible with the bolt heads and braces.





'C' clamps - some up, some down for variety and interest also not all lined up perfectly, as they wouldn't be in the real world, just hangin casually where the weight pulls them.







Hinges and window stays on the dirty windows and the ladder 'safety' sign, at the top of the ladder.





Pics of the second wall in progress tomorrow.

Thanks
Karl.A

Jerry

Karl what did you use for the window panes?

Jerry

Karl.A

The acetate that Brett uses in his kits Jerry.

Karl.A

dick52

Excellent craftsmanship indeed. I am new to the discussions here and I have admired this kind of beautiful work for years since I got into the hobby many years ago. The one question I have and it may seem out there but I must ask . Where do all these detail parts such as the clamps, wrenches etc. come from ? I know Brett sells some of the details among other sources , I know that without this kind of detail these fine models can,t really come to life , can someone lead to these sources so I can try to bring my work come to life .

Karl.A

Thanks Dick,
All of the detail parts are SierraWest, why use anything but the best, no comparison.

Many of the benches and shelves are scratched from wood, but again, populated and finished with SierraWest detail parts. A few specific details were scratched from brass or whatever such as the hand oil pump on top of the 55 gal drum. I think the air compressor and portable air tank are the only things not SierraWest.

So 99% pure SierraWest.

Karl.A

dick52

Thank you Karl for that information .Yes why use anything else but the best ,

Dick

Karl.A

Exactly Dick.



Karl.A

Karl.A

Second wall gets put in place, (not glued just clamped) and start planning out details again.









Karl.A

brownbr

That shop is a workman's comp claim waiting to happen.

Karl.A

Nah, 'safe as houses' Bryan..... besides, no workers comp out in the woods...



Workin on sorting out some more pics, hopefully ready later.

Karl.A

Karl.A

Wall 2... the first section.

































Karl.A

dick52

Thanks Karl for posting all the great pictures of your work in progress along the way to the fine finished structure . It is why I can say it teaches me as well as others on how to achieve the quality you have mastered. I have a binder full of pictures and articles showing the work of many great builders that I admire along with your building and it makes me strive to do better , keep it coming . I recently finished a SW kit and when I muster up some courage I will post a photo of it .

Dick

brownbr

Wow Karl. I hope this turns out to be a pilot for a new kit!

Nice custom built hand drill on top of the work bench. I know you are all about "taking it to the next level" so maybe you should put some threads on the end of the "drill bit".

Karl.A

Thanks for the comments Richard and thanks for starting a thread with your build, great to see.

Thanks Bryan, if you enlarge the pic and look closely you will see that the drill bit is indeed 'threaded'.
However its a casting, so I cant take that credit on making it.

Incidentally, that bench was greatly inspired by the one shown below by Dave Revelia in his 1/16 engine shop.



Karl.A

Karl.A

With the first work area pretty much finalized planning wise, time to move on to show the crane area. The crane was based on Chuck Doans from his loco shop which is based on one in a foundry, both of these resources were used to build mine from various pictures.
This wall was planned and replanned kinda simultaneously between the three main areas to ensure a good flow and visibility, which is why some finished items seem to appear and disappear... again, this second wall was a two month process.

Generic details were placed along the back of the wall in the car shop to plan how they would interact. The only wall glued down is the back car shop wall throughout.





A mock up of the crane was made to guage size and impact.



Once the size was determined the entire wall was removed and detail planning began.



The wall was taken in and out many times to make sure it blended with the area behind. Again, specific details were used pertaining to the crane and hoisting hardware.



Time to make the crane proper, scratched based on the proto photos and using SWSM castings to complete.











A quick test fit to determine positioning..
Notice the pully block, taken apart and being worked on on the bench...
Also notice the bars which have items hanging on them are rusty at the ends but kinda shiny in the middle where items would rub along them, simple, subtle, but I think effective.





Time to cut a hole in the floor for the 'cement' base.







Coloured the plaster base and the area is essentially finished until returned to later.







Onto the third final area of the second wall.....

Karl.A

nextceo

Awesome Karl...how did you make that plaster base...was it a casting or a mold or something else?

Karl.A

Thanks Alan, for the base I cast a square of plaster. Once dry I sanded the sides to a pleasing angle with sandpaper.

Karl.A

Bill

Killer stuff, Karl! I love being able to watch your thought process as the project progresses. I hope everyone caught the way you test placing castings and details while still in a raw state. My guess is that you left them natural because the weathering came AFTER you were certain of the permanent placement. For example: the hand tools. The coloring would be darker if they'd end up in a box or under a bench because they'd be in shadow. Will they be off to the side of a storage rack? Then perhaps those will show less wear because they are used less and set off to the side.

Of course, the other possibility is that you just got to excited, had an idea for something, and tossed them into the scene prior to coloring to get a sense of if the idea is plausible.

No matter...this is a fascinating glimpse "inside the Modeler's studio"!

Oh yeah...here's a big take away from the page 7:

There was no way I wanted to just throw in a bunch of castings to fill up space, everything had to have a reason and a purpose, anal maybe, time consuming most definitely, finding the right item of the right size/colour/shape/purpose to populate the area while all blending together well without looking over cluttered for the sake of it

That paragraph right there is the real secret behind great modeling. I don't find it "anal" at all. That's how you make the leap from "contrived" to "convincing". If you can seriously adopt that mindset when taking on a project, you'll end up with these striking results. For me, this has added a whole new level of enjoyment to the hobby. It's one thing to copy the work of another modeler and end up with a decent model. BUT...there's a certain thrill I experience when I find a prototypical photo that matches up with what my mind's eye is creating. Using that photo, I've got a "blueprint" that'll take my Sierra West kit (the BEST in the hobby) and help make it uniquely mine. Unlike Brett's original vision, Brian Nolan's interpretation, Karl's, Ken's etc etc etc.

At the risk of thread jacking...I'll share some examples. A couple years ago I stopped working on Quincy's. I knew I wanted to put a different twist on it but couldn't decide which way to go...just wasn't feeling it. Then I stumbled onto this picture--one that, to me, looked like what the interior of Quincy's Salvage repair shop would have been:



I incorporated the high storage rack for the tires, the angled support, the tool display and other stuff in this unfinished pic:



This:



was the inspiration for this:



I also enjoy giving pictures a second look--to see beyond the subject of the photograph or what the photographer WANTED you to see. For example, somebody took a picture of these log buggies. I get it...it's a consist of log buggies chained down with a pair of straps on each one:



But look deeper into the picture. Did you see the little hand cranks on top that tighten the chains to secure the lumber? I also noticed something on the third and fourth buggies...it seemed like the longer boards on the bottom are kind of sagging. I dug around and found some other similar pictures that confirmed my suspicion. So I incorporated that idea like this:



Here's another. At first glance in this shot, you see stacks of fresh cut lumber stacked four bundles high:



But wait...look again. Yeah, it's fresh lumber--looks like we're in a lumber yard. Looks like it's all the exact same kind of wood. Probably pine. But there are a LOT of differences. Some boards look like they still have the bark on the edges. Some are really light, and some are a lot darker. Some line up perfectly, while there are some sticking out farther than the others. Those subtle differences look like this when modeled:





Dang! So much for NOT trying to thread-jack! But, I wanted to expand on what Karl verbalized. Honestly, this mindset is really helpful to solving modeling "problems" and adds so much more fun to the construction process. That "a-ha" moment is similar to the thrill of finding some long retired kit at a ridiculous buy-it-now price on eBay!

dick52

You are so correct on what you say Bill, it pays to look all around and see the details that are before you and use that in all your builds . I have taken all kinds of photos of track , piles of junk, old buildings etc just for ideas to use . Of course studying the great work shown here also helps . After looking closely at Karl,s engine house I was drawn to a detail that I was curious about, that being what appears to be a cardboard barrel in front of the workbench, is that a hand made or is it a purchased item, if so who by .

Richard

Karl.A

Excellent points and thoughts Bill, along with the photos and modeling, Nice catch on the handcrank, an awesome detail. Indeed I spent months looking at thousands of photos, of all eras and loco/machine/foundry shops. Paying more attention to backgrounds than anything else, what was under the benches, on the floor, hanging on walls, how, etc, etc. And not just details, but, construction, layout, positioning, and so on.

Cardboard barrel Richard? where?

Karl.A