Deer Creek Mine/My new Sierra West Layout

KCSTrains

I did return to the workbench this last weekend and worked on the ore gates and the stairs.




The ore gates are tougher to finish than you would think, but I got them done. Once, finished, I'll work on the final weathering, but I'm going to leave it alone for now. Now, it's on to the tipple house. I plan to follow Bill's method for the coloring of the wood. His method adds a lot of variety to the color.

Phil

ironmountainlumber

Phil great job on the build! I want to tell you that your scenery around the woodcutters shack is perfect and really blends into the backdrop making it look seamless. I think it is hard to tell it isn't a real place in the south. Fantastic!
Jim

KCSTrains

Thanks Jim. I appreciate that. Phil

KKarns

Ore gates look great so far as do the stairs, making good progress.

KCSTrains

Another weekend with time to model. I concentrated on the tipple house which involved graining and staining a bunch of wood followed by painting with a maroon color. I followed Bill's technique and Brett's instructions, so you can find this detail in the official build. Below are pictures of the tipple house before putting on the tipple bents. BTW, the color is lighter than the picture shows. I just couldn't get a good picture that showed the true color, but what I have I really like.




I believe I can get the tipple house on the tipple bents before the weekend is over and I have to leave the bench for another two weeks. Phil

brownbr

Peeling effect worked perfectly.

KCSTrains

Ok, I did have time to get the tipple house onto the tipple bents. It was a bear to get things all straight and lined up. Some of my flanges are exactly square and I may have to go back in and fix this. Oh well, I'm finished for now. More building in about two weeks. Thanks for following. Phil

vietnamseabee

Looking amazing, Phil

Terry

Joel

Looks great, love the peeling/faded paint.

KKarns

Wonderful looking wood work there Phil. Looks old a weathered.

KCSTrains

I'm back in Spokane for a couple of weeks, so work continues on the mine. I would like to pause to recognize the ingenuity of Brett. Not only does he provide great instructions (don't take it for granted - try another kit and you will quickly be glad to go back to a SW build), but he always commissions an official build by one of the more experienced builders. In the case of the mine, he had Bill do the official build. I find this very useful because if I get stuck on a particular direction, I can always go to Bill's build and he may explain what I'm missing or offer another way to do it.

I was working on the NBWs for the truss rods. You know NBWs can be really slippery suckers, but Bill had a great idea. He taped some tape sticky side up, so the NBWs would stick to the tape while you are working on them and weathering them. What a great idea!!! I accidentally found an improvement to this idea. I found that if you take the plywood sheet and put it on the tape before cutting out, the NBWs stay in place for further work. See below.




Cool isn't it!!! After working on the NBWs, I started the rafters for Tipple House. This was a pretty tedious task - and then disaster struck!!!! While I was gluing the tipple house ridge board in place, I squeezed too hard and broke the ridge board and part of the structure. $#$*%# !!!!! I was able to carefully repair the structure, but the ridge board was just not stable even after gluing. I was about to call Brett for a replacement when I decided to find a board that was approximately the same size. This worked and I was able to finish the rafters for the Tipple House. See below.






Thanks for checking in. Phil

Robert.G

Lovely woodwork !

KKarns

Sign of a good modeler Phil, is not that you don't make mistakes...it's how well you fix them!...well done and looking mighty fine...Ken

Karl.A

Looking great Phil, woodwork is really nice and good save on the ridgeboard.
Nice work indeed.

Karl.A

admin

Wonderful Phil! Coloration and weathering is spot on, looking forward to seeing her with the roof in place.

KCSTrains

Continued work on the roof. This is tedious work. I had hoped to get more done before the holidays, but it just didn't work out. I'll be in Texas for a month, but will have a chance to work on the layout.

CarlLaskey

Very nice Phil a joy to look at. ....Carl......

KKarns

Looking really good Phil. That weathered red siding is perfect and the roof work sets it off nicely.

sdrees

Really nice work Phil!!!!!!!!!

brownbr

Everything is nice and straight.

KCSTrains

Thanks everyone for your kind comments. Since I'm away from my modeling desk, I'm now concentrating on scenery for my layout. Phil

KCSTrains

I'm headed back to Spokane next week. I took advantage of my time in Texas to work on my layout, especially the back curve which will feature a trestle bridge and water fall. This was a very large task, but I am very pleased with the result. I wanted create a scene that would go well with my timber cutting layout. The trestle bridge supports the track going to the cutting woods. Of course, I know a timber company would not go to the expense of building a trestle bridge in the backwoods of Louisiana, but in a limited bedroom layout, I wanted to have at least one trestle bridge and waterfall. Please excuse my lack of a prototypical operations, but it's pretty cool how it turned out.

First, let me take you through the sequence of how I built the curve. BTW, the background photo backdrop is from Trackside Scenery (Joey Richard). It was easy to blend with the backdrop.

I started with chicken wire to support the plaster cloth that would support the casted rocks.



The plaster cloth was next.



I then brought in the trestle bridge I had built to see how it would fit and where to put the foam to support it.



The plaster cloth is finished and you see the foam I needed to add.



Next was the rock work. I cast my own rocks using four different molds. Since the plaster cloth was vertical I had to use caulk to get the rock to stick to the plaster cloth. This was tough. It was like a giant puzzle.




Next I colored the rock using the leopard spot method.




Finally I layed down the red clay over Modge Podge.



After a lot more scenery work, I have finally reached the end. Of course I will be constantly tweaking it, but I'm essentially done with this section. I hope you enjoy the pictures.











Now, it's back to the mine which will be located in the opposite corner. Thanks for following along. Phil

KCSTrains

Thanks for your kind comments Ed. I'm so happy it's finished. My next task is to build the upper deck that will continue from the last picture ... but's that's another day!!

admin

Great scene Phil, that waterfall/trestle combo is especially nice.

KKarns

Very impressive piece of work Phil!

sdrees

The scene is amazing Phil, the water and rockwork and trees look really great.

KCSTrains

Thanks Brett, Ken and Steve. Believe me, I'll be glad to get back to Bag #2 of my Mine build. Phil

brownbr

Impressive bridge and overall scene. You got a very rich coloring in your rocks. The banks of the waterway from under the bridge towards the edge of the layout don't look quite right. They remind me of a canal instead of a naturally occuring waterway. Maybe some marshy scenery along the banks would blend this area together.

kebmo

i agree with bryan regarding the waterway. it is a bit too canal-like and a marshy area or two would remedy this. the rock work and the way you tied the waterfall and backdrop together looks fantastic.

MitchN

Hi Phil,
You got a lot of work done here. I like the way you blended the three dimensional trees with the background. The step down behind the tracks is clever. I really like your ground cover and vegetation. The 4th picture from the bottom is great with the Shay moving over the trestle.
Mitch