Very cool, Rooster. And that reminds me of the boilers I’d like to model at some point. Here’s a photo of the boiler room of a large Comstock mine: the East Yellow Jacket.
A couple weeks ago I poked around and found where the boilers came from, the Union Iron Works of 'Frisco. Here’s the catalog pages.
The Carrick boilers would have been from a different maker of course, but the configuration of 2 long boilers and a lateral accumulation tank above is very similar.
This is a clever reuse of those boilers.
Here’s how the wayside shipment design is shaping up.
The woody bits will be cedar.
Need to come up with a platform of some sort, which will probably have to be acrylic if it’s to last outside.
Thanks fer lookin’,
Cliff
My experience with acrylic say 1/8 thick is it DOES NOT like to lay flat.
Just saying.
That will look very cool. A unique trackside detail, you certainly won’t see many like it. And a great use of recycled failed prints.
PVC lumber. So far have used it for a couple bases on buildings and it is holding up fine. It can even be resawn if you need it thinner and it can be glued up wider with PVC pipe cement.
Thanks Devon, PVC lumber / sheet would indeed be perfect, but this is a large platform and I need to laser it and getter done.
Cliff said: “stiffener” and has been reported to the moderator!
I forgot you have access to lasering plexi. Carry on.
Looking good, Cliff. You will certainly have a unique trackside detail.
This is just so darn neat! I mean in the “everything is lined up just so perfectly” sense of neat.
I know, this is a load awaiting a flatcar somehow. But I keep wanting it to be messed up in some way. But that’s just me. Hard to imagine anything on your railroad being anything but precise.
Nice work, Cliff!
I never had ANY problem, but my sides were glued to it to help it stay flat. MAYBE that’s the secret? Bracing?
I can pretty much guarantee the build won’t be as neat and pretty as the computer image, haha!
I’d almost wager against that statement.
For the record, the acrylic platform was going to use deep-deep-trash: drop scrap from Jon’s sign making business, given to Hollywood, but then spent time in storage in his barn. Then he (Hollywood-David) actually drove it down to my place (2-hour drive!), and the plex sheets have awaited a purpose. This humble platform was going to use that sheet. But alas…
After thinking things through, going lasered-acrylic on the platform was pushing y’all’s tolerance here, in view of all the 3DP bits. At least my trusty Harbor Freight Guiltometer (pronounced gilt-AH-meh-ter) is saying so.
So, let’s bag that, and go with an all-cedar solution.
I’ve had the cedar on hand for years it seems, so this will be a good use.
I can’t CAD-model details such as weathering, trash, deterioration, etc., but those kinds of things will hopefully be involved.
That’s it for tonight…
Cliffy
So basically your, you’re, you are telling us that Hollywood is a hoarder and a suck up ?
It is incredible how high tech modelling has become from 3D printing to laser cutting parts to designing with a CAD program. I feel like I’m being left behind with my scraps of pine and some glue. I do have a pin nailer. 
This will be a neat track side detail and I like the “load less traveled” idea.
Cliff, I think the cedar platform will add a lot of realism to this project.
You and me both and some more letters
As one who has fully embraced the high tech modeling world I still have some personal reservation about it. I find a lot of satisfaction in making things that look great out of bits of plastic, wood, and some glue. There is real satisfaction in it and I hope it always has a place in my modeling. But I also love that I can sit down and design a part that looks like the real deal and print it out on demand. In my personal quest to tackle the dilemma, I hope I keep both methods in my inventory. I think there is a place for both. And we can’t deny that 3D printing and other technologies will be the future of our hobby.
