Terry and the O scale Sawmill

vietnamseabee

Thanks Dave…. I have this book and have already been looking thru the section on Track and Bsllast…..a great resource. The book is readily available on Mike’s website where he has several other interesting publications on modeling. If anyone wants the link, message me and i’ll forward it
Terry

SonofVietnamSeabee

I believe that SonofVietnamSeabee bought that book for you as a gift. Glad to see it's helping.

I am still raising two toddlers so no modeling news to report here.

Dave_S

Terry,

It looks like two more Sawmill projects can be added to your list of Sawmill Projects to peruse as references.

"Another O Scale Sawmill" (Bill)
"Most Ambitious So Far the O Scale Sawmill" (Robert G)
"Sawmill Complex On30 Module" (MoganHillRR)
"SierraWest O Scale Sawmill Kit 308" (Karl A)
"The Sawmill Project Kit 308" (brownbr)
:
"Terry and the O scale Sawmill" (Vietnamseabee)
"Kevin L From Melbourne Australia" (Kevin L )

Thanks for adding this great reference list.
Later, Dave S. Tucson, AZ

vietnamseabee

I’m nearly ready to start posting my build progress on the mighty O Scale sawmill, however, first, can anyone offer some advice on weathering an old creosote retaining wall?

The sawmill construction documents call for a sloping grade change and for a portion of this I want to use a low retaining wall.

My build photos will begin shortly
Terry

Karl.A

Well !!
I sure cant wait for this build to start,

I'll have a look through some chalks and see if anything looks about right.

Robert.G

I'll be watching very close by what you do with the fantastic kit Terry !!!

admin

Looking forward to following along!

kebmo

me too! sorry about not co-building the sawmill with you, but i have this watertower kit on the shelf and i wanna dig into that one next instead. i'm going to be following your thread closely though.

Kevin L

Like those above I also will look forward to seeing your build of this great kite. I know you will do it justice.

MuddyCreekRR

Mine still sits about 1/5th complete.....soon

vietnamseabee

So, this begins my build thread for the O scale sawmill. I won’t go into the contents of the boxes (3) since that has pretty well been covered in previous builds….suffice it to say there’s a whole bunch of stripwood, an unbelievable number of castings (what we’ve all come to expect from a SWSM kit) and 10 ten kits of machinery that are as amazing as they are intimidating.
I began, as usual, graining and texturing the stripwood for the subfloor beams and girders. I tried a few sample C/A colors but ultimately went with Brett’s recommendation in the construction manual…408.5 chalk/alcohol.


Brett provides a full size layout of the sub-floor framing on Template 1. I taped the template down and covered it with a sheet of drafting vellum. Rather than spot glue the framing members to the vellum I instead used blue painters tape to hold the framing pieces in place as the additional members were glued in place



Earlier I had asked a question directed generally to any of the previous builders of the sawmill regarding the (2) Carriage Rail riser pieces. These are a scale 63 feet long. My question regarded placing them as one piece of timber (which wouldn’t be prototypically correct) but mounting them as real world lengths might prove difficult. Karl came back with a great suggestion of placing the rail riser timber as one piece of but to score the timber to create faux joints at a more believable length. I made the joints at around 20” being sure to place the fake joint(s) over an underlying support beam. I dipped a rag in A/I and wiped the joints to help them be more believable. The Carriage Rail riser(s) can be seen in the last photo. Great suggestion Karl, thanks.
That’s it for this update. Next up will be the Rope Drum assembly and cable sheaves (which moves the Log Carriage back and forth) as well as the Double Husk saw
Terry

Karl.A

Glad it worked out for you Terry.
Looking great so far, nice colour.

sdrees

Ok Terry, this will be a good one to follow.

brownbr

Glad to see you bringing this to life. Looking forward to the build.

kebmo

it looks really good so far bud.

Jim M

Terry, it is looking great. Excited to watch this, I want to start mine soon.

Kevin L

Looking really good, great idea protecting the templates with drafting vellum I deed like wise, you never know if you need to back to them.

ALCO

Yes, the vellum is a tip/trick that would be very useful for saving the documents for later reference.

Jerry

Nice job so far Terry.

Jerry

vietnamseabee

Thanks for stopping by, guys…. I’m always open to suggestions
Terry

sdrees

I always make copies of the templates and use double sided tape.

vietnamseabee

Update 002....I made a stab at building the Double Husk Saw.....My first time building a piece of machinery like this....has been an experience....there's a bunch of SMALL parts that fly off the tweezers and are devoured by the carpet gremlins...
Overall I'm not real happy with how this turned out but I learned a lot...I think I'll probably order a new saw kit and use the experience I gained on this one and moving forward the rebuild and future machinery builds will be better for it.

Overall I enjoyed the build and hope future builders aren't put off by the machinery (Kev).

Terry

MuddyCreekRR

I like the green......came out good....how'd you weather the upper blade....I like the way it looks...

vietnamseabee

Muddy
Saw blades were primed with rattle can gray primer….brushed with Reaper Tarnish Steel .
I then mounted the blade on my Dremel tool and at a slow speed dry brushed AK4113 dark rust, AK 4112 med rust and finally AK 4111 light rust
Terry

Robert.G

This is looking very well !!! And it's just the first of a long list of machinery to build. So much more fun up ahead!! I can only say, enjoy it as much as you can because when it's done, it's over... The thrill is in the chase, not the kill...

Karl.A

It's looking great Terry, the green looks really good, as do the polishing/wear marks on the blades.
It's been a long time since I built my last one of these so I'm not sure of your need for a rebuild.
Once the belts are put onto the tensioner, the blade drive and the blower connection I think it's going to be looking great.
It already does.

Karl.A

Wise words Robert, the journey is a wonderful trip to take.

(and then the hours and hours of just sitting there, staring, looking at it finished and thinking, "wow that's amazing, I did that..." )

Kevin L

I agree with comments made by Robert & Karl, it looks really great I don't think you need a rebuild but at the same time you are the one who has to be happy with it.

kebmo

i agree with kevin. it's looking just fine. i would go with it.

admin

looks great Terry, no need to re-do.

I have spoken with many modelers over the years about the sawmill machinery kits. Yes, there are small parts, but the alternative is for me to dumb them down and then they would just be blah and ordinary, not true scale models. (I will never do that!) It is those small details that make them so amazing and as Karl says, you will feel a sense of accomplishment when completed. They are not difficult to assemble. Take your time, identify the parts off the drawing and pics (key in assembly!), and follow the instructions. The new 3D Printed generation of sawmill machinery kits are especially enjoyable to build.

I want to remind you I am here if you have any questions or need a replacement part.

I absolutely love what Robert said, very true!