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  • Hi Chris and welcome... Large scale sawmill,? sounds awesome!
  • Welcome chris. Look forward to you posting bud.
  • Well hello all, I'm Leonard.
    Glad to be part of this amazing group of model builders, so much to learn. I hail from Pennsylvania, I'm a retired railroad/historic restorationist. A O scale model railroader and stick builder amoung other passions. Hope I can contribute as well as learn from all. Currently in the process of building an engine house for Vindex on the Chaffee Branch of the Western Maryland Rwy. Along with several Sierra West kits.
    Good to meet you all,

    Leonard
  • Welcome aboard as they say! It's a given that you will be attending the EXPO in Altoona due to being quite close. Would enjoy seeing what you've got going with the SierraWest builds...we like pictures...

    Nice to have you here Leonard...
  • Welcome aboard Leonard. What area of PA are you from?
  • Thanks all, I am from the Chambersburg area.
  • Hi Leonard my wife is from Oberlin Enjoy your time here.
    Carl
  • Hi Leonard, very glad you're here!
  • Hi Leonard, I moved to Arizona from Hagerstown 3 years ago. I used to work a few times a year in Mercersberg.
  • Welcome Leonard. You've come to the right place. Phil
  • Hey Leonard. Welcome to the bunch. Glad to have you aboard buddy.
  • edited January 2017
    Hello,
    My name is Bodo, I live in Berlin Berlin Germany.
    Have discovered the track gauge 0N30 in 2014 and was so enthusiastic about the many super model makers, just in the USA. So I put off my Märklin train and began to build some models of wood itself. I think this is so good in this range. Then I found surfing on Sierrawest Scale Model. One of the most beautiful model, as I find is the Deer Creek O scale sawmill.
    Greetings and happy build.
    Bodo
  • edited January 2017
    Hi Bodo! Welcome to our forum. Once you receive your mill you will have to update us with some progress photo's.
  • Welcome Bodo. You will find a large group of wonderful modelers here with a passion to share their methods and jokes. Just a great group of talented modelers. Really a fun place!

    Geezerbill
  • Dear Forum Colleagues:

    I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but I'm hoping to get some advice - and that will require some background information. I am finally getting around to starting a diorama that has been in the planning stages for a few years. I’m 61, and semi-retired (still consulting) but finally have the time to fulfill this dream. I’d like to offer a few details of my plan, and then ask your advice on a couple of things.

    The diorama will be 4’x8’ and will represent a waterfront fishing village located where the mountains meet the sea. Setting is New England coast, early 1900s. I’ll be modeling the foreground waterfront and main part of the town in HO. But as the diorama moves toward the rear (away from the water and up into the mountains), I’ll have some N and Z scale structures for forced perspective. I’ll lay some track and already have a nicely weathered loco and rolling stock that will be passing through town, but it will not be operable. My interests lie more in the construction of scenery and craftsman structures than they do in railroad operations.

    Because I don’t have a whole lot of tools, woodworking experience, or patience, I’ll be using Mianne products for the benchwork. I plan to use a 4’x8’x1” sheet of GatorBoard for the base since I need to be able to create the harbor on it. The rest of the structure, including mountains, will be formed using the blue or pink foam insulation sheets.
    Some of the waterfront kits I’ve collected include: Sierra West Foss’ Landing, The Jewel, The Addison, Shelby’s Marine, and The Shipyard; FSM Emporium Seafood; Bar Mills Fishing Shack at Rockport; Shipyard Brewing; and Hunch Landing; Arkansas Valley Models Toadsuck Canning Co.; FOS Scale Department of Docks; and Builders-In-Scale Tidewater Wharf.

    We just had our offer accepted on the house that my wife and I will retire in. We’ll be moving in a couple of months, and the house has a mostly unfinished basement – which will be my domain. So here are my questions:

    1. Does anyone know where I can buy black-on-black GatorBoard (1”x4’x8’) as a single sheet? I only need one, but the suppliers I’ve found want to sell me a case of at least 3 sheets.

    2. Also, since I can build my own hobby room/office/diorama-building room/man cave any way that I’d like, I’d love to have suggestions of what I should include. I already have a large desk (4’x6’), and a couple of workbenches are coming with the house. I also have a 3’x8’ folding table; and of course, my diorama will be 4’x8’. But I’ll be able to use up to 450SF (25’x18’) if I need to, out of the unfinished portion of the basement. I’m especially interested in learning about:

    a. Your “can’t live without” tools
    b. Desktop/workbench organizers for paints, washes, brushes, and all the other stuff
    c. Work surface preferences (glass, self-healing mats, etc.)
    d. Lighting – both for the work area and diorama
    e. How to keep the instruction manual visible and clean
    f. Other things that make life and work comfortable in your modeling area
    g. Anything else you’d like to mention
    h. And photos of how you set things up would be great if you’d care to share them

    I hope it’s OK to ask for this much advice, and I’m hoping others who are young in the hobby will benefit too.

    Thanks,
    Dan
  • Do you have a Jerry's Artorama near you? I got Gatorboard there in single sheets.

    The can't live without tools will be noted in the instructions, but you will figure out which ones you used the most. #11 blade, tweezers, wire brush, files, sand sticks, etc.

    I always copy my templates and work from the copies, leaving the originals nice and clean.

    For "other things" go to Bed/Bath get a glass cutting board with at least one side completely smooth. So much easier to clean up than a workbench.

    As a note, you can build a very large diorama like you are suggesting in pieces. How? 2 layers of Gatorboard (or other). 1 layer is the bottom base. Top layer is cut up like a puzzle to accomodate each individual structure. I did it for a twin structure dio, it worked out well.

    Enjoy the process.

    Bryan
  • Welcome Dan. I recently put together my workshop and starting modeling again about 3 years ago. Most of the essential hand-tools and things will be listing in each kits manual. As far as workshop space if I had to do it over I would purchase 2 cheap kitchen cabinets with drawers and place the cheapest solid light color countertop I could find and use that as a workbench. The countertops come with a built in backsplash and they only cost about $50.00 from any big-box store. They are also typically 8 ft long. Next item I think I would invest in would be the largest piece of tempered glass I could find. The piece I'm using now came from a TV stand. I noticed Home Depot had very large pieces of glass in the sliding glass door area. Ikea sells cheap pieces of thick glass for some of their coffee tables and TV stands they come in many different sizes.

    Lights would be the next important thing. Invest in some LED shop lights if you can afford it otherwise just buy some fluorescent shop lights.. I have several lights set up on different switches so I can add or remove some light depending on what I'm doing. If I turned all the lights on down here all the time I'd have a massive headache.

    Tools for squaring up walls are pretty essential. I also will fasten a straight-edge to the front of my workbench when I first begin a model.

    I have a cheap Central digital caliper I use constantly. Cheap and very effective to get an accurate measurement on strip sizes. This is the one I use.
    http://www.tooltopia.com/central-tools-_-central-lighting-3c351.aspx

    I have a cheaper sears tool-cart I use a lot. It has wheels on it and a built in power supply. I think it cost $100.00. I roll it between my layout room and my workshop. I keep all my hand tools, electrical stuff, scenery stuff etc. in it.

    I'll see if I can think of anything else.

    -Steve
  • Band-aids. Don't forget the band-aids...they go with the #11 blades.
  • Thanks Bryan and Steve. Exactly the types of tips I was looking for, and I'm making lots of notes for my next shopping trip! I really appreciate the feedback.
  • Steve,
    The first thing that came to mind for tools I can't live without:
    1. Eyes. I have a pair of these. I could probably get by with one but wouldn't want to try.
    2. Fingers. I have 2 sets of 5, work reasonably well most of the time but can be a bit big and clumsy sometimes.
    3. Brain cells. I use to have a large number of these but lost a bunch sometime between High school and Collage. I am trying really hard to keep those I have remaining.

    These are the most important tools I have, I keep them in a special tool box that I've had all my life and are irreplaceable. All the other tools I have are can easily be replaced....
  • New member here, just getting back into the hobby after 20+ years (man that makes me feel old lol). I started looking and came across the Oniell kit, and before it could arrive, I went down the rabbit hole and got several more of Brett's kits and and a couple other brands as well. At Brett's urging I decided to come here, and have been lurking for a couple days, and the level of talent is awe inspiring!
  • Welcome Mike! So glad you joined. Lots of great folks here and tons of awesome ideas.
  • Great to see you here Mike...the O'Neills kit is great one and you'll enjoy working it up. Keep in touch and look forward to seeing some of your work...Ken
  • Welcome Mike. O'Neills is a great kit to get back in the hobby with. It's got all the newest techniques and the kit doesn't use any discontinued paints or stains.
  • Welcome aboard Mike!
  • Thanks for the welcome... I started practicing on an off brand kit, using the techniques from the Oniell manual. Disastrous at best lol. I didn't use enough chalk to completely stain the wood on the first step, and then used too much paint on the damp brushing step on the walls... still turned out ok, just didn't have the effect I was looking for, tried again on the front deck, and I got the chalk part much better.
  • New member here. New to the hobby too and just received my first kit over the weekend. Have spent some time reading the O'Neill's Kit manual and gathering up some tools. Plan to start adding some texture to strip wood this week. Any/all suggestions and/or encouragement is welcome.
  • Hi Ed! So glad you posted, welcome. Lots of wonderful modelers here with tons of great posts. be sure to check out Ken Karns HO Scale O'Neills build thread. So much useful information there!
  • Will do. Thanks!
  • edited March 2017
    Welcome to the forum Ed, great to have you join us and posting on the forum. You are going to enjoy the best ride in the hobby and have found the best place to start your journey.
    We all look forward to following along with your build and there are plenty of great guys here, both to answer any questions you may have and to learn from your progress.

    Welcome and enjoy !!
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