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HO Twin Mills

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Comments

  • Mitch, I like it and I don't think it's over done. Phil
  • Great progress Mitch, this is going to be a really great build to watch come together. Beautiful wall, color tones are wonderful. Deck looks great.
  • Some progress on the sawmill. The right wall of the old mill and a couple of additional platforms.

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  • Great progress Mitch. Your board detailing is terrific and particularly the board ends...should have you on my clinic as a guest speaker!
  • Looks like you got a nice peel effect with the white paint. It contrasts well with the weathered boards at the bottom. As far as the edges, I think roughing them up as you did is perfectly acceptable. Workers would be dropping things, bumping into them and dragging lumber across them so they'd probably be less than fresh cut looking.
  • Mitch, it's looking good. Phil
  • Gentlemen,
    Thank you for the encouragement. More walls to come, eventually.
    Mitch
  • Love the updates Mitch. The peeling paint looks terrific.
  • Mitch, I really like your staining and weathering- first-rate modeling. I am enjoying your thread.
  • Very nice Mitch! enjoying your build.

    Geezerbill
  • edited January 2017
    Another small contribution to the sawmill. This is the front wall.

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    It's no fun cutting the window glass out the old fashioned way. Spoiled by the newer kits but I'll survive. I thought about trying to paint in tape holding the sun blocks in the windows. I discovered masking tape was invented in 1925 but in HO scale who would notice?
  • Nice work Mitch ,Yes the windows are a pain in the glass looking forward to more up dates.
    Carl
  • Well done Carl!
  • Excellent work Mitch on one of my classics! Yeah, gotta agree. Having laser cut window glazing sure makes assembling the laser cut windows a lot easier. Well, if I didn't improve my kits and introduce new ideas and techniques over the years they would become stale and boring!
  • Great progress Mitch and working windows is fun but tedious. Worth the effort though.
  • Finished the walls on the old mill and I am working on the boiler house now. Probably have pictures when I can slide the assemblies together.

    Thank you Wes, Mike, Bill, Carl, Ken, Ed and admin for your encouragement.

    Looking a long way ahead, I have never worked with envirotex lite before and I was wondering if it had any fumes? The boxes of resin castings have an odor when I open them and I have to let them "gas off" in an open box in the garage before I can stand to use them. Forget about cutting them. So if I am filling my basement with fumes from the envirotex that would not be a good situation for me. If I need to go to plexiglass water like I did with the shipyard now is the time I need to decide. Then there is using acid to weather the corrugated roofing. I am sure that must be fumey but at least I could try to do that outside.

    Mitch
  • Mitch
    When I used it on my mill there is no odor, I made about six or eight pours a 1/8 in thick and tinted is as I went along that way you can change the color if you like as you go along also I did not paint the bottom and epoxied the logs in place at the same level hope that this helps a word of caution be sure to have a timer on hand that is a very important part of the pour.
    Carl
  • edited January 2017
    I agree with Carl in that I don't recall any odor with Envirotex. I hope you seriously consider using the 2-part epoxy rather than plexiglass. Envirotex gives you a depth and realism that, in my opinion, is tough to beat. The pond is a major focal point on this model. Not everybody who vists your layout (or sees your diorama) will know exactly what a sawmill of that era looks like. However, every man, woman and child who sees your work knows how water is supposed to look! (They're ALL rivet counters in that regard!!)

    Take your time, follow the manual, and let your friends here on the forum help you through the process of an Envirotex pour. Trust me...it'll be worth it!

    As far as etching the roof panels, you for sure don't want to do that inside. Personally, I think I've used acid for the last time on my models. I hate the stuff! If you'd like to check out an easier, more controlled method...take a look at my Deer Creek Mine construction thread. It's all the way down at the bottom:
    http://www.craftsmankituniversity.com/vanforum/index.php?p=/discussion/514/deer-creek-mine-official-forum-build/p3

  • Mitch, Bill is the master of Envirotex. He led a workshop last year and showed us how to mix and pour the Envirotex. It was pretty easy and the result was really good. I have this kit and will definitely use it. BTW, your walls are really looking good. I like the overall look. Phil
  • Hey Phil, If I remember right, I don't think anyone had any major problems getting their "water" pour correct in that clinic? Also Mitch, there was a room full of us and everyone was working with that stuff and I don't recall any odor at all.
  • Thank you Carl, Phil and Ken for sharing your experience with Envirotex. I am at the point where if it was fumey I would revert to Plexiglass if I had to. I will be into the insulation foam soon and I had to decide which way I was going to make water. The new experience of working with Envirotex wins.
    Bill, thank you for the advice on the Envirotex and the corrugated aluminum. I probably read your description of finishing the panels when your were detailing them in the Deer Creek Mine build but since I was not going to be building that kit I really didn't study them. I appreciate your help and criticism.

    Mitch

  • Hi Mitch,
    The walls look fantastic!
    Jim
  • Mitch it's looking great. Envirotex the way to go, especially with the logs floating. Besides all the advice from the guys here helping you, the 800 number customer service people are really good. They referred the many model railroaders who called to one lady who understood how we are trying to represent water, and could answer questions about tinting with acrylic or oils, how to prevent it from leaching up at the shore-line. I also couldn't detect odor or fumes. Pay attention to the mix and use times. Ask CarlLaskey why I say that.
  • Thank you Jim.
    Thank you for your advice Mike and I am glad you are following along.
    Carl, do you have an envirotex story to share?
    Mitch
  • Mitch I do.
    Just about the time I was making my last pour I had my wife Sandy help me by watching the timer. So I mixed up everything and was ready to go I said to Sandy did you start the timer and she said yes so off we go, I started to pour and everything looked OK until the resin stop coming out of the pitcher It got hard and set up so I had this stream of Envirotex that was getting hard and there it was I could let go of the pitcher and it stayed right where it was.
    Sandy started the timer when I was starting the pour not when I started mixing and I asked her how is the time and she said you have a lot of time left.
    With some cursing and noise I broke off the stream off at the pond and with luck it broke off even with the pond so I was able to make one more pour to cover the damage that was done.

    The best part of the story was Sandy said it was all my fault I did not argue with her, I brought the now well known pitcher to the Expo to let everyone see that anything can happen.
    Carl

    PS that was the year that I was inducted to the Craftsman Structure Hall of Fame.
    So I guess that anyone can get in.
  • Great story Carl. I am glad you shared it.

    Does anyone else have a sawmill story they would like to share?
    Mitch
  • Mitch, great progress and wonderful modeling. Your mill is going to be fantastic! I have quite a few sawmill stories to share, one involves a sweet old family cat and my pilot model about one hour after I completed the envirotex pour....
  • Great story Carl! Brett, oh oh, footprints in the water??

    Geezerbill
  • Hey Carl, do you have a picture of the pitcher for us? Id love to see it.
  • More sawmill progress.
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    I have glued some of the Styrofoam insulation together to get my heights correct for the components that need it so I can put off building the log pond as long as I can. Since this will be part of my layout I need to do more imagining before I commit to something. The starting base size will be at least 4 X 4 feet maybe more.
    I am building the flat car ramp and deck and I feel there should be a moss growing on the timbers of the ramp from the constant moisture. Maybe some of the deck to we will see.

    A couple more pictures thrown in.

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