Logging and Tractor Repair Shed

nextceo

Alright...had so much fun building the Sierra West Work Train, I figured I'd pick another one of Brett's kits that included a Freight Car. I went with the Logging and Tractor Repair Shed. As I wait for all the strip wood to get stained, I went and put a base coat of paint on all the Resin Castings. I also chose to go ahead and complete the Flat Car that comes with this kit. I used the frame that came with the kit but I decided to build my own deck instead of using the Resin Casting as nothing beats real wood.

Things I added that do not come with this kit:
- Rivets from Tichy Train Group
- Chain, Crow Bar, Grease Can and C-Clamp from Scale-Structures
- Rags - Kleenex painted Green

The reason I post these builds is to receive feedback...and please don't be shy to provide constructive criticism.

That's all for now...
Alan

JohnM

Alan,
I'm sorry but I can't give any constructive feedback - only admiration. Having work like this posted fuels ideas for the rest of us. Please continue to show us what you are doing.
John

nextceo

1 - I feel like I'm missing some of the crucial steps..can you please show/tell us how to get the effects you achieved:

2 - To me personally the trucks appear overly rusted and too heavy and don't match the quality of the car above. Also the 'treads' would not be rusted at all.

Great comments...these are what I'm looking for...


In regards to the flat car, here is how it was created:

The Frame: It was make from resin and came with the kit. I painted it Roof Brown. I then used Rembrandt Chalks to weather it. They can be found at: http://www.dickblick.com/products/rembrandt-soft-pastels/

The process is to scape off a pile of powder from each Chalk using a razor blade onto Wax Paper. I buy a pack of razor blades from Home Depot and can be found in the paint aisle. I picked 4 different shades of Brown Chalks and 2 shades of Gray Chalks. The numbers on those chalk sticks are:

Browns:
Raw Sienna - 234.2
Raw Sienna - 234.3
Raw Sienna - 234.5
Raw Sienna - 234.7

Grey:
Grey - 274.5
Grey - 274.8

I then dip my brush into a bottle of 90% Rubbing Alcohol (we will call this Bottle A) and then into a pile of chalk and then onto the frame. Just create splotch marks all over the frame of each color. I usually apply the dark colors first and then the lighter colors last. Once the alcohol evaporates (takes about 30 secs), the chalk is left behind and sticks to the frame. Don't worry about the colors getting into your bottle of Alcohol or the piles of powder mixing together. When this part is done, your going to think it doesn't look so great...don't worry.

After all 6 colors have been applied, he is where the magic happens: I take a new brush...one that has dry bristles and I dab it into a bottle of dirt and then onto the frame. Dirt can be found at: (http://www.sceneryexpress.com/FINE-NATURAL-SOIL-DIRT-QUART/productinfo/SE0403/)
I then blend together the various colors of chalk with the dirt. The process of adding dry dirt with a dry brush to the frame goes on until you think it looks right. If too much gets applied, use your dry brush to "sweep away" the layers of dirt and powder until it looks right to you.

The wood deck is simply stained with Indian Ink wash - 15-20 drops of Indian Ink into a pint of 90% Alcohol (we will call this Bottle . I also will dry brush on some of the brown chalks with a dry brush. For this part of the process, there is no right or wrong answer...its whatever you think looks good. Remember, you can always "sweep away" the chalk to get back to your base color. If you find you've stained the wood too dark with the Indian Ink wash or with your chalks, you can dip your brush into the bottle of 90% Alcohol (Bottle A) and wash out the colors you've applied to the wood. There is typically always a way to undo your weathering so don't be afraid to experiment. I've actually gotten some of my best weathering results by accident from the experiment process.

The Trucks are done the same way as the deck. Pick some browns, oranges, yellows and grays from the chalk list and apply them the same way. The Magic happens after you switch to that dry brush and blend all the colors together with the dirt.

It was pointed out to me from Karl...aka UKGUY...that the truck is over weathered and that the treads probably wouldn't have much (if any) rust on them. I agree with that assessment and plan to do two things to correct that situation. As stated above, if I want to knock off some of the weathering, I'll use my dry brush to "sweep away" some of the weathering effects on the side of the trucks. To fix the treads , I will dip my brush...or in this case probably a Q-Tip so I don't disturb the rest of the weathering...on the truck into a bottle of 90% Alcohol (Bottle A), to wipe away the weathering completely getting back to my base which is the color of the trucks...black. Once I make this adjustment, I'll post a new picture or two.

Thanks again for the comments!
Alan

nextceo

Here is an updated version of the Flat Cars with the toned down weather affects...this was accomplished as I explained above.

I believe it looks much better...thanks Karl for the suggestion!
Alan

Before:



After:

captsully18

Alan, I agree, nothing looks as good as wood. Excellent work there. I do like the re-done trucks, also like the "extra" items you added ie. chain, c clamp, etc. You do some fine work.

Sully

nextceo

Thanks Sully!

Alan

djdutch

It certainly looks great, I always like the dusty look on models.

The only concern for me here is that I like to move items around and touch them from time to time and there's always some chalk that sticks to you fingers so is there also another way to fixate it and keeping the dusty look

Great modeling, I like the flat car, did you say your frame is resin ? I have the same kit but my flat car frame is made of white metal

DJ

nextceo

DJ,

Yep, mine was resin and I had to clean off the excess with an exacto knife. Its actually a little warped...

Alan

admin

Boy Alan, I made the kit you're building 15+ years ago... it's one of the original one's before I switched to metal for some of the parts including the flat car frame!

DJ - there are fixatives made specifically for chalk that won't dissolve the finish. They can be purchased from stores that sell fine art supplies. I do not however recommend these spray fixatives for general use (like on structures) since they will eliminate the dry and dusty appearance you can achieve with chalk weathering. I use them on rolling stock that will be handled.

LSNRwyAl

Beautiful work.

KCSTrains

Alan, thanks for going into more detail. You really do great work, but I'm in need of details of how you get there. Your description above does the trick. Keep up the good work. Phil

djdutch

Thanks Brett, that was what I meant by moving things around like rolling stock and maybe some cars etc.

DJ

Joel

Alan - beautiful start, looking forward to watch you as you go along. One of my favourite kits. Enjoy.

nextceo

Thanks Joel and Phil. Almost done with the walls. As soon as they are complete, I'll post a pic.

Alan

Ojaste

Alan, I love it. Just one question. Does the flat car represent a "new" car that is being built or is it a "old" car that is getting repaired? The weather for each would be different.

Marty

nextceo

According to the instructions, its an old car that is being re-decked. The pile of lighter colored boards near the back of the car are the new boards that will be installed.

Alan

nextceo

Alright...the walls are finally finished. Here are a few pictures of the walls after they have all been glued together. The life size floor plan acts as a guide to make sure everything is square. The only 2 things I've done different up to this point: 1- I added some extra boards to the outside of the walls to create a 3D effect. I saw this look on the O-Scale version of this kit and thought it made the building look more interesting. 2 - After soaking the boards in the stain and pulling some out at 12 hours, some at 18 hours and some at 24 hours, they still all had about the same shade of stain on them. Therefore, I used 3 different Hunterline Stains - Brown, Gray and Blue/Gray to "helpout" in creating some variation to the boards. I must say the footprint of this building is bigger than I expected...which is great because that means it can fit more details inside...

Alan

admin

wonderful work alan, brings back a lot of memories looking at those walls. the walls of the O scale pilot model were constructed by my dear friend brian nolan. (mailed them to me flat and as was his usual comedic self wrote "comments" on the inside of the walls where nobody but me would see them.) i love the look he achieved in O scale and it certainly works here quite well in HO!

LSNRwyAl

Beautiful.

JohnM

Alan,
Your work is a study . . . beautiful.
John

nextceo

Since my last update, I've built the Base to the diorama out of GatorBoard and Form. The white area at the back of the structure is the bottom of infamous "Deer Creek". The size is 16x20. The reason I built it a little bigger than the 9x12 that's listed in the instructions is I plan on scratch building a little shed to hold a couple of extra tractors. I also wanted a reason to add some color to the diorama so I've begun staining the walls on the extra shed a faded barn red color. I'm just waiting on some more 2X10 boards that I had to order to finish that structure. Looking at the main building, you'll see that Brett has you glue down a floor plan directly to the diorama. This is great because it really helped to line up the floor boards. Next up is to start adding the castings to the inside of the building. My original goal was to have 5 lamps hanging from the ceiling (that worked) so one could see all the details when the roof is on. I'm now second guessing that decision since there really is no place to hide all the wires that would be required to pull that off.

That's all for now...
Alan

brownbr

Alan, I like what you have going here. You are certainly building to the flavor of the kit.

I must disagree however on the lighting. Try to find the wires in the pics below---not trying to hijack your thread, only an example---

There are 6 lights inside the structure and 1 outside--I did cheat and build in O scale. The wires were painted brown and run along and glued to the rafters. They disappear into a hole in the floor behind the wood stacked against the wall over to the right of the figure standing against the back wall.

4 of the lights are hanging from the rafters with shades and 2 are glued directly on the inside of the wall to shine down on the tractor.

Everything is 100% invisible with the roof on and you have to search with the roof off for the wires.

nextceo

Yep...this is what I was looking for. Thank you very much for sharing those pictures. I was trying to figure out how they would work with conduit...but I think I'm going to follow your lead and just run the wires down the rafters. One question...how did you get the paint to stick to your wires. Every time I paint wires, the paint only partially sticks so I end up running weld bond glue down them and then dusting them with chalk.

Thanks again!
Akan

brownbr

I've done it with conduit also. 6" in O scale seems to work fine using Plaststruct U channel. Might look oversized in HO and smaller might be unworkable.

I used magnet wire and mini-LED's. To paint them I found that the Floquil paint pens seemed to work the best. Attaching them to the rafters I used a drop of glue on the rafter and clamped the wire on either side until dry. A painful/frustrating process but it worked.

nextceo

Since I haven't posted a pic in a while, here is where I'm at. I built the extra shed to house another tractor and add color to the diorama. I have not weathered the walls of the building or knocked off the fuzzys yet. I used some Hunterline stains to color the wood. I did hook up the lights and created the frame for the removable roof. I'm now in the process of weathering the metal that will be used for the roof and I'm currently painting all the detail castings that will be found inside. That is all...off to Vegas tomorrow...

Alan

Ojaste

Alan, this building looks like it has been hit by a tractor or something. Love the missing boards and tonal differentiation of the boards. Using chalks makes it so flexible to achieve these beautiful effects.

Marty

nextceo

Thanks Marty!

nextceo

I finished up the detachable roof by using chalk and alcohol to weather the metal panels. I'm going to use some of the "Evil Etchant" on some other panels and apply them to many of the holes you currently see on the roof to add some variation. The only thing left on the inside of the shed is to add a few chains and hoses (Painted Solder) and a 1920 Fordson Farm Tractor. I did this little shed first so I could figure out how I was going to run the lights. Now that I solved that issue, I'm now going to move onto the Main Tractor Shed.

Alan

Ojaste

Alan,

The interior look great! I love using the Etchant, that sense of evil destruction brings out the Dr. No in me. The picture doesn't show it, but were you going to add tyre and oil stains on the floor?

Marty

nextceo

Hey Marty,

Yep. I'll be weathering the floor, adding a few more details, adding to the roof, touching up the cabinet you see on the right and I'll add a tractor and probably a figure or two.

Alan

Ojaste

Thought you would. It's going to look amazing when you are done.

Marty