Large Scale Central

Devon Sinsley MIK 2017 Dunakin Pass Snow Shed

The MIK - Annual Build Challenge
#1

So it begins MIK 2017 and Dave had the great idea of paying tribute to the wonderful craftsmanship of Ray Dunakin. In keeping with my idea last year to make all my MIK challenge builds be a part of my eventual indoor layout this years build will be a 1:24ish snow shed. In honor of Ray this will be located on the way up to Dunakin Pass on the Sinsley Mountain Logging & Mining Co. line. So here is the official napkin for the Dunakin Pass Snow Shed.

This is going to be located on my work bench. I will have a 12" deep set of draws and cubby holes at the back of my bench and on top will be the track for the indoor. This is just under 12" deep and about 16" long. It will have a foam rock cliff on the wall and snow shed built off of that. Right off I will need to make a mold and pour some more of the half blocks and a couple of the long blocks. It will use 129 of the regular blocks, 78 half blocks, 8 of the long blocks, and 12 of the skinny little blocks. And a ton of scale lumber.

Well I can’t wait to get rolling on this one.

#2

Boy, give a guy a degree and suddenly he’s too good for napkins or paper towels!

I see this outrage as; 5 Hoity Toity Demerits!

Oh the huge manatees! Poor devils must be rolling in their lagoons!

One down …

Carry on.

John

#3

John Caughey said:

Boy, give a guy a degree and suddenly he’s too good for napkins or paper towels!

I see this outrage as; 5 Hoity Toity Demerits!

Oh the huge manatees! Poor devils must be rolling in their lagoons!

One down …

Carry on.

John

You got me there its not a napkin, demerits accepted.

#4

Imaginative use of the stones Devon. That is going to look good on your indoor RR. Don’t forget that a “snow shed” will need snow to shed!!

#5

Nope… no snow … just tears from realizing what… he hasn’t finished yet!

#6

I never shed tears for unfinished projects, keeps me from ever getting bored, always have something to do that way. I don’t need a tear shed.

#7

I may have to rethink the exact location where this is going. Looking over a lot of snow sheds one common theme comes out and it should have been intuitive but wasn’t too me. Snow shed aren’t build at the bases of cliffs really they are build adjacent to cliffs or rock out cropping in the adjoining chute. Makes sense because thats where the avalanche will occur. So building it where I was going to build it wont’ really work. But my bench is a corner bench and the track will make a 90deg corner with a 36" diameter curve. I think this is where I will build it in the corner. I can have a rock out cropping on either side with the shed in the apex of the curve. The fun in this is it will require that the shed be curved. This may prove to be more than I can handle but this is the project.

Giving this a quick look, the L bench will have an L shaped raised section at the back that is the original planned 12" depth on both legs of the L. That should mean that in the corner I will have basically a 12X12 square where the two legs meet and if I remember my math (A2+B2=C2) then the depth of my corner will be just a smidgen shy of 17" (hypotenuse of a right triangle). This should provide a nice space for the snow shed where I can develop the scenery a bit more than what I had originally had planned. Not sure I will get all the scenery done for the challenge, I am only considering the shed and the base rock it attaches to as being for the challenge but we will see. I plan to build the whole layout on 1" thick foam over the bench tops so I can contour it for scenery. So I can make the entire corner piece as a stand alone section that will drop in when it comes to layout time. For now just like last years build it will be more of a diorama.

#8

Sean McGillicuddy said:

Nope… no snow … just tears from realizing what… he hasn’t finished yet!

Yea. I can relate.

#9

The Sinsley Mountain Logging & Mining Company rail line is a small mountain line that winds through steep mountain canyons. It begins from the base of operations at Granite on one side of Dunakin Pass winds through a canyon over Dunakin pass and down into Antler Creek where the logging operations are located and further on to the mines. Dunakin Pass was a formidable foe. It required steep grades of 4+% and sharp corners. Once done the line proved to have a trouble spot where it was prone to avalanches right at the summit of Dunakin Pass. Workers regularly had to ride up the mountain and hand shovel the pass clear.

This was going to be a problem

#10

So I got around to figuring out how much space I have to put this in which isn’t much. I had to reduce the curve to a 30 inch diameter (15"R) which is going to be the minimum diameter for the layout. I widened the shed opening to 5". I put my little logger loco on it and it will clear the sides with ease. Since all my cars will be short they should make it also. Like Vic told me in the Micro world you play by mm of clearance not inches (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif). I will have enough area still to do a smattering of landscape.

Here is the foot print. The paper is the actual size of the space I am playing with. The bottom left is where the window is and the track is at window sill height so no landscaping that direction and to the right will be a stretch of about 3 1/2 that is straight and 12" wide.

And in my other thread on modeling old snow We bounced around ideas and I have been looking at pictures of avalanche chutes. This is what I am thinking for what the landscape should be

but my snow will be smoother. We need to get to the 13th

#11

Everyone is getting their stones and I am feeling left out. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-yell.gif)I did get a piece of code 215 rail from Llagas though.

#12

First they stone you when you’re good, then they stone you like they said they would…

In my box as promised!

Everybody must get stoned!

So Noble!

John

#13

Got stoned today. Nice product Dave. These will be fun to play with. I also got my Taylor tin, but that is for a later project.

#14

OK, Well I have to say I had a great day, this is the first challenge that I haven’t had homework to worry about. So I woke up today made coffee and a nice breakfast and then dove into the build by 8:00 am. I put in a 10 hour day on my project and I got way more done than I figured I would on day one.

The base. This is the area I am working with. I cut a piece of 1" foam that will serve as the base for what will be for now a diorama. But this is where it will go when it get put on the layout. Where the VCR is (yes that is a real working VCR) is a 4 foot wide egress window so no landscaping there.

Next after defining the space, I needed to determine were the track would go. So I hand laid up some code 215 Llagas rails on log ties. This is a 30" diameter curve.

I glued that down with liquid nails. Next I went back to my HO days and mixes some rust paint. I used this mixture all the time and love the results. It is oil paint, the main color is burnt sienna with a dab of burnt umber and a dab of raw umber. I then go back over it and stipple on burnt umber. The ties are stained with Red Mahogany stain.

I also jumped on getting a mold made of the blocks in case I need more.

next I set in on making the first pier. These are a pain in the butt. I used 1" foam board as the base. I beveled all the edges of the stones where they come to 90 deg. Then used liquid nails to glue them up. It was harder than I expected to get them all nice and pretty and stay that way until the LN set up a bit. These piers will be where the front part of the frame work lands. There will be 4 of them.

I will clean them up and then paint them a red brown color.

Next I turned my attention to the frame work. I cut some lumber and made a jig.

I made 4 of these. and then assembled them into the frame work.

And this is where we are at. I actually pinned the frame work to that board with the footprint. It holds it all together. I will work tommorrow to add the roof sheathing and continue with the piers. Not a bad days work.

#15

Dang you’re almost done!

#16

Well I wouldn’t quite say that.

#17

Looks good so far Devon. Just remember to pace yourself. You have plenty of time. No need to fool around and get finished the first weekend.

#18

Dan,

I have a long way to go. The shed itself is only one part of the whole. I am hoping to create the whole scene. Lots of landscaping. We re only getting started.

#19

Nice, good progress, but it’s not a race until the last week.

John

#20

Nice!!