#304 O Scale BlueSky Company. Karl.A

Wes

Hey guys

Below is the tractor that will sit in the repair shed. Still some mud, engine grease and dust to be applied. What a beautiful little kit it is. So easy to put together.





And here is the 16mm MDF base that I cut on my friends CNC machine.



Look forward to your thoughts.

morganhillrr

Looking good Wes. A really neat looking little tractor.....Joe CCCModOn30

Wes

Hi Joe

Thanks for your comment.

admin

Love the tractor - as you mention a little mud and grease will finish her off nicely. That MDF base is really nice. I have been been using MDF for over ten years now and have never had a warping/swelling problem... A wonderful product for diorama bases!

Wes

Thanks Brett.

Yeah its a really cool product to use. never had any problems with it either.

Kevin

I think the tractor looks great Wes and when you grunge it up it will be even better. My only suggestion would be about the seat which would probably have no paint at all left on it. An easy way to do these seats is to just polish the high spots slightly after the blacken-it and leave it like that. I think you can see how we did it on the pilot model.

KO

Wes

Thanks for that Kevin

I`ll do the same to the steering wheel. Always nice when someone picks up on something youve left out. It helps alot.

brownbr

I hope its OK if I jump in here. I'd like to have main structure done before my backdrop gets painted in a few weeks. Having it ready will help in spacing the tracks. Not to mention it's probably going to take a while to lay the track so whatever isn't done will be put on hold.

I was tempted to make the barn portion a "barn gray" but I liked the browns in the pictures on the website so I stuck with those. My main color was 234.3 with 231.5 & 234.5 added randomly to give a rich golden tone. For the doors it was 234.3 with 408.9 to gray it up.

I felt like those big doors needed some big hinges so I installed some I got from vector cut.

I'm undecided about the stencil. I don't want to too much of the same thing and I just stenciled the railroad camp so I will wait and see.

I considered doing an interior like Dwayne is doing because it looks so cool but I doubt that will happen. But you never know I may get ambitious. I'd kind of like to see a guy coming out of the barn pushing the hand cart.

Wes

I hope to get back to this soon Bryan. Ive been super lazy lately after the house move. Weather is alot cooler here as we move into winter, hopefully the need to build will bite soon.

Keep up your good work, its a great inspiration.

Karl.A

Looking great so far Bryan, I really like the colour of your wood tones on the siding. Construction is up to your usual standards.

Weathering and aging are very nicely done, but not overdone.

Karl.A

Good to read you again Wes, I feared you had hopped a wave headed in the wrong direction.

Wes

Hi Karl

Yeah weve had a really hot summer, so the water has been alot more inviting than the hot garage. Alot cooler here now, so im looking forward to getting back to the bench.

Dwaine46

Slowly getting back into this, it is already getting too hot to be outside.
Painted w/ the Floquil Signal Red and Daylight Orange, then spot painted random bricks.
Gave it a rubdown w/ plaster, then rubbed down w/ chalks.
I’ve looked at it so much now, am I too red and do I need to rub on more chalk?????
Thanks……….dwaine

admin

Dwaine, I like the color of the bricks but I think what might be nagging at you is the amount of plaster "mortar" left on the casting. Call me when you got a minute and we can talk about it...

Wes

Your progress has got me started on this project Dwaine. So ive pulled it out and started creating some of the details for it. below are some pics. Let me know your thoughts.

The repair shed with some of the details Glued down. More will be added when I attach it to the base.

The stunning gas pump that comes with the Kit. its a real gem and im really happy with how it turned out. Still need to add the handle to it.

And lastly a little table that will be added somewhere on the diorama. im busy rusting up some more tools to add to it.

looking forward to your comments.

Dwaine46

Wes, looking really good. Signs really makes the differance don't they. And buy the way the gas pump to me is awsome, the color changes with the white paint are great.
dwaine

Dwaine46

Brett, after looking at it, I realized what you were trying to tell me. I had covered up the ‘charterer’ or 3 dimensional effect of the building with plaster. Trying not to scratch the brick, I took a wooden stick to scrape out the excess mortar from around and on top of the brick. Gave it a coating of pra w/ India ink, followed by chalks. Not quite happy with the weathering yet, but getting rid of that excess mortar sure helped a lot.
Thanks………..dwaine

Karl.A

Looking much better now Dwaine, the 3 dimensionality of the bicks is starting to show through, I look forward to seeing the next steps.

Karl.A

Karl.A

I finally got back to this build a few days ago. I decided to start with something small to 'ease' myself back into the modeling mode.
I picked the tractor for my re-start point, it's a great little kit all by itself and I figured it would be something I could see through to the end before I got distracted again.
Finishing a model, section, kit is always a great satisfaction, for me anyway.

Here are some pics of my progress with the tractor so far, still quite alot to do, but, the end is nigh......

Karl.A

Karl.A

Blackened and buffed the parts, as usual with Bretts castings there was no 'clean-up' required, pretty much ready to go out of the box.



I decided on yellow for my colour as I really like the contrast you can get with chip effects.



I started the chipping process with the wheels to see how things were gonna come out... I liked the results.



Next on the list was to work on the main block.





Karl.A

Karl.A

Next up was to work on the hood/gas tank





Although the tractor is stripped down and under repair while getting an engine overhaul I decided to add a few more scratched details that arent included in the kit itself.

Once installed on the diorama most of these wont be seen, but hey, I enjoyed doing it and had some fun pushing myself a little.

I started off with the spark plug leads.







As that was so much 'fun' I made some further piping and details to add, mostly made from brass.

>

While they were sitting in the blacken-it I started wiring the engine.



The two main parts have now been epoxied together and will be left overnight to cure before I start adding any further detail.

Karl.A

Dwaine46

Karl don’t expect me to put plug wires on my tractor, they would be stuck to the lugs! I’m having a hard enough time just getting my castings painted and weathered, and you want me to do what? I bet Brett did not expect anyone to take the little kit so far. Of course I could say something smart a.. like you have the wrong firing order, but I won’t.
keep it up! dwaine

Dwaine46

Up until now I haven’t really understood why you guys would build dioramas.
The other night my grandson thru a switch, the result sent my shed for the woodcutters shack flying along with quit a few castings.
NOW, I know why you build dioramas……………………… Little fingers can play with the train and the plastic buildings. And maybe in a few years I can put my dioramas together in a nice On3 layout like some of you are doing. But until then !


I just could not stand it, I had to start putting things together. This is not a small complex of buildings.
My question is, with this being my first diorama and thinking On3. What size crossties do I lie down, along with size or gauge track? dwaine

Karl.A

Looking great Dwaine.... stick it up on a high shelf...quick!!!

That peeling red paint really came out NICE !!!

I'll post some more later when I go back inside from the deck and get to a desk, but for now.... "great job!"

Karl.A

LSNRwyAl

The way I went was purchased a single piece of track and use that as a size template. Also remember narrow guage always had lighter ties (read thinner) and lighter pound rail. Part of the reasons they did "narrow guage".

Wes

I like how your peeling paint came out Dwaine.

Nicely done.

Karl.A

Some more work on the tractor.....











Finished pics later today.....

Karl.A

Bill

WOW. Just wow, Karl. The weathering is so well done. You're in the zone on this one.

I'm not familiar with the kit or the prototype...was there only one headlight? Not a criticism, but my eye was drawn to it. It makes it feel unbalanced. I see that Wes has a single light on his, too.

In any case, I'm anxious to see it completed. And when you say "finished pics later today", can I assume that means the entire diorama? (You're on a roll so I figured I'd toss that out there!)

Karl.A

Thanks Bill, I really appreciate your kind comments.
Yep they only had one light, I guess when you're headed back across the fields to the homestead at dusk you only really need one light to see where you are going.....

Nope, you may need to wait for a little while longer to see the finished diorama, but for now here is the 99% finished tractor.

















Karl.A

Wes

Karl that is one magnificent tractor. You really have set the bar high. So high that ive dismantled mine, stripped it and going to start again.

Did you use epoxy to glue it together?

Karl.A

Thanks Wes I really appreciate it...

Yes the tractor was assembled exclusively with 5min epoxy, it takes quite alot longer to assemble as you have to mix up a small drop, glue one part on, and then wait till it dries, then move onto the next part. However the epoxy makes a much stronger bond than anything else on these metal kits.
I've had one or two projects 'disintergrate' before now because I used regular glue, and that is VERY frustrating!

Karl.A