Twin Mills

Wes

What are the plants with the little purple flowers Bill? They look really good.

Bill

Wes-
Those are weed tufts from Scenic Express. I think they're the "Late Summer Blossoms" on this page:
http://www.sceneryexpress.com/products.asp?dept=1041&pagenumber=2&sort_on=&sort_by=

I need an opinion from you guys...I started working on the sawdust conveyor and wanted to try something. I saw a picture from a sawmill and it had a pile of sawdust with two distinct shades. My thought was, they'd cut up pine one day and oak on another or maybe a bunch of heartwood was run through the planers; then a bunch of sapwood. I tried to model that by using two different types of sawdust: the dark is from masonite and the light is regular pine. As you probably can guess, I'm starting to rethink my decision. The picture quality is sh*t 'cause I'm using my phone.





Do you think viewers would make the above assumption, or would they assume that I ran out of dark sawdust and filled in with something else?

admin

logical thinking, great execution of concept... but just doesn't look right

Bill

Okay, so Brett's on the fence. Anybody else? lol

LSNRwyAl

See attached pics i found on web this AM. I think the sawdust needs to be same or closer in colour.

Bill

I think you're right, Alan. That top picture is close to what I saw with the dark and light colors. Even though it appears like that in the real world, it doesn't look correct when modeled. As I look at it in the pictures again, it looks more like 2 flavors of ice cream.
Oh well...I tried. Simple fix: I hit it with a little alcohol and diluted white glue, then topped the dark side with pine sawdust and she's good to go!

LSNRwyAl

...and sure appreciate how kind to our feelings Brett is. He does want us to do justice to his kits, doesn't he.

I like what you are doing on this kit Bill.

Bill

Alan-
Don't read too much into what Brett wrote. Brett, Karl and I have gotten to be friends, so he's being especially blunt with me. Early on in this build, I posted some lousy work and asked for brutally honest opinions and Karl gave me what I asked for: "Everything looks good except for the roof, which is crap." They nudge me (bluntly!) when they know I can do better.

I took no offense by either comment. It sounds like it bothered you, so I wanted to explain. Brett & Karl are both exceptional modelers and extremely helpful. I'm sure the last thing they'd want is to intimidate or offend forum members and customers.

Wes

I dont think Brett could have said it any better or any funnier Bill. Somethings just dont work well when we model them. To me the sawdust pile looks alot better now.

Thanks for the silflor link by the way. Ive ordered a whole bunch.

LSNRwyAl

Thanks Bill.
Sometimes I do not have the context.
Friends have extra latitude.
I do like your sawmill.

Karl.A

Bill is 100% correct, a little banter between friends is good for a smile. The forum is here so that we can all learn from and help each other to improve. As well as sharing our work.

Rest assured that any intimidating or offensive remarks towards another member will be removed immediately.

Karl.A

Karl.A

Oh, an the sawdust pile looks much better now.
I do like the looks of that conveyor also, a great looking scene in the making.

Karl.A

admin

Right on buddy! nailed the scene...

Jerry

Bill

Really looking good. Love the conveyor. And the sawdust pile much better with the light pile. It's like Brett said it may look perfect in real life but on a model it just doesn't make it.

Jerry

Bill

Time to catch up a little. First, here are a couple better pictures of the sawdust pile and scrap lumber pile.





I also got the pile of cants done--those are the scrap pieces of logs they'd get rid of. I cut them on a band saw from lengths of the bird perch Douglas Fir and tried to rip them as thin as possible. I got a nice "rough sawn" look and a bunch of variety depending on which part of the log I was cutting. I separated them into different sizes and textures, then added them to the diorama in a random heap.





I also made sure to save the sawdust and little scraps from the band saw. That made for great debris on the mill floor.







The walls of the new mill were installed and I also finished the saw filers' loft with the staircase leading up to it. The set of stairs is another really cool detail that gives the kit that signature SW "wow" factor. It looks terribly difficult to build, but was actually pretty simple: it consists of a landing, two sets of stairs and the railings. During the test fit, everything lined up perfectly. (The second pic makes it look really out of square due to the angle that I had to shoot from)







All the main structures are glued in place. Next, it's on to the belt system and cutoff saw, then I move up to the roof. We'll be open for business before long!

brownbr

That is really starting to come together. It is an impressive site to see the whole thing sprawling out around the pond. Nice job dirtying up the floor. And who knew that those left over things had a name.

Bill

Thanks Brian...sprawling is an accurate desciption of this diorama. I had no idea they were called "cants" either. Brett includes in the manual a lot of "how" and "why" they did stuff back then. He told me there's about 5 years worth of research and development in this kit.

Karl.A

It is looking absolutely sensational Bill, your construction and finish on all the componants is superb making this a really inspirational build to follow for me, as I am sure others.

I also greatly admire your comitment in staying with such a large project. I'm sure breaking it down into smaller sections has helped but WOW, all of those smaller sections are really adding up into something "greater than the sum of its parts".

Stairway looks awesome, and the debris is a great starting point, looking forward to your next updates.

Thanks for taking the time to bring us along with you on the build.

Karl.A

Bill

You're too kind, Karl!
It's easy to get overwhelmed, however the manual is written in a way that makes it manageable. The Christmas break did me good, too. The tough part now is resisting the urge to hurry up and get it done, know what I mean? Getting anxious=getting sloppy.

LSNRwyAl

Bill sloppy.......... I do not think that could happen.
As usual nice work.
I gots to get back to my build now that Juletide season done and decorations are away.

Karl.A

Definately not too kind...just my honest opinion.

I know exactly what you mean Bill, thats why the first 28.35% of my builds look great and the rest is ...hmmmm.
Brett says I have the attention span of a mosquitto with A.D.D.... buzzing around from one thing to the next.
Well, actually, he didnt really say that, but, I'm sure he would if he had thought of it. Ha

All I can say Bill is RESIST gosh darn it, this is coming together beautifully, keep up this excellence till the end and a regional NMRA award is well within your sights. ;~)

I'm really looking forward to the next componants of this build, keep each one as important as the others and give it as much attention and you wont go wrong.

Besides it will be terrible for the journey to end too soon as we are definately enjoying the ride!!!

Karl.A

Did I mention DONT RUSH ANYTHING !!

Bill

Just turned off the lights for the night after knocking off one of the blades on the Husk saw. 45 minutes later, I got it back on, got a drive shaft back where it should be and caught my breath. Clearly a sign that it's time for a break. Resist is right...get some rest, refocus and try again tomorrow.
Karl O. has a little sign on his bench that I love: "Think first. Do nothing fast." Now, all I need to do is follow that advice.

Time for one of those Coronas, dude!

Karl.A

Cheers!.....

"clink"

Bill

A small accomplishment today and hopefully I can explain how I did this so others can try it. After installing the wheels, shafts and braces, I wanted to insure that there wasn't any slack in the belts. The manual says the belt drive is a great way to "increase detail and realism." But if the belts are loose and sloppy, it seems like an easy way to shatter the illusion. Since the areas are small and hard to get at, I made sure to make the belts really long (about 9"). There's plenty of material in the kit so why not give myself enough to hold on to? The example here is the front drive for the log haul. I threaded a belt under the large wheel on the bottom and ran almost all of the material through and into the structure. I glued the opposite end of the belt to the top wheel with a drop of CA and let it dry. Once dry, I positioned and glued the top wheel to the shaft so it lined up with the bottom wheel and again let it dry. Now, I could put tension on the opposite end of the belt and the small wheel would stay in position:



With a little slack back in the belt, I added a drop of CA to the top of the large wheel then rotated it downward and pulled the belt taught. Next, I fed the rest of the belt up and over the trusses and clipped a small clamp to the end to keep the tension in it while the CA dried. At the same time, I CA'd the large wheel to its drive shaft and let everything dry.





Now, the wheels are both locked in position and the top half of the belt is perfectly tight. I trimmed the first end as close to the small wheel as possible:



added a drop of CA near the cut, pulled the rest of the belt material tight and over the small wheel, then across to the truss and attached the weight (clamp) to keep the tension.



After the CA dried, I trimmed the excess at about the 12 o'clock position on the top wheel and used a drop of regular white glue to hold down the edge. That's it! A nice tight belt and a nearly invisible seam!

LSNRwyAl

Nicely explained as I will need this when doing the drive belts for the shop at the back of the roundhouse project. Also a pat on the back for the details on the dock seen in some of the pics.

Bill

Thanks Alan. Hope it helps. For me what was important was to let the glue dry completely at each step. Another thing I should have mentioned is I removed the 2 trusses on the opposite end while putting in those belts. That bought me 4 more inches to get my hands into the area--especially helpful while installing the live roll belt and the cut off saw belts. I'll post some pics later.

Bill

Belts are done:

brownbr

That's just museum quality work there.

Bill, it looks like one of your belts caught a big yellow fish in that pond.

admin

simply outstanding... brings a tear to my eye

LSNRwyAl

beautiful and the offcuts sure do add character.