Large Scale Central

Hale & Norcross Dump Trestles

I dislike the foam … it never goes where I want and worse; a quick finger solves that only to be real sticky … it won’t wash out of those nice pants either … ask away; I don’t know nuthing no how.(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif)

I like Plan B because I feel like I need the pill after last night!..remember there are two types of blow foam…http://www.finehomebuilding.com/2010/04/29/spray-foam-sealant-latex-vs-polyurethane…I personally would go with the latex for numerous reasons.

1…It has an easy learning curve to play with and I think it will give you the smoother look you are after.

2…If you don’t like it I’m thinking it would probably adhere less to the acrylic (or whatever material you cut)

3…When it expands it’s not like an ice jam pushing on a bridge (which the Great Stuff poly will do)

Side notes if it were my build

1…I would probably throw some waste rock/sand in while adding the foam what ever color you think it might be.

2…I would spray the acrylic with Pam cooking spray as a release agent …that way if it sucks you can take a trowel and remove it.

3…Pertains to 2 …if you do like it then you have a spray foam module you can glue back into the structure.

Just my thought’s and thanks for sharing what your having Cliff

Cliff,

Oyne word of caution on the spray foam. I used it to make a sizable nose cone for a model rocket once. It was roughly 10” x 4” diameter. I sprayed the chunk then turned it to shape. A few days later when I came back to it the start applying a hard shell to the outside, I noticed some significant shrinkage. It was bad enough that the cone could now slip down into the tube. I threw it out and bought some stiff white foam (it was meant for sticking fake flowers into) from the craft store and started the process over.

For you maybe the MS will hold it’s shape even if the foam changes beneath? I guess it depends on quantities and strengths of each. Just wanted to let you know of s possible snafu.

David Maynard said:

Ah, when you designed the “ribs”, didja design them 1/4 inch under, to compensate for the magic sculpt? I like the foam idea better, although it will be a bit messier. Use the great stuff that doesn’t expand as much, there are 2 kinds, that way you don’t have to trim off as much, and it will be denser, offering more support. I do not know how well the MS will adhere to the foam, so you might want to put score marks into the foam so the MS has something to grab onto. Of course if you are carving the foam, you will already have knife makes in the foam, so disregard my last statement.

Hi David,

Yes, the ribs are all set inboard by 1/4" from the intended surface.

Thanks for the tips, I’ll look out for the denser stuff, and do some experimentation.

Cliff

You guys have given me a lot to think about, and that’s what I wanted. Thanks!

The last time I used spray foam was 20 years ago, so it’s not surprising that variations are available. Seems like “Great Stuff” is the usual product. Randy, yeah, I don’t want shrinkage, that would defeat some of the purpose. Thanks for telling that story. Maybe there’s a product that’s higher density, less expansion (as David M said), and no shrinkage.

After reading some (Rooster, thanks for that link), I don’t think I want the latex. Rooster, I want this stuff to really stick, otherwise the (rather expensive) Magic Sculp might be compromised. Also, the module is getting pretty heavy, so I’ll need to keep any real stone products to a minimum (but sand in the top coat of paint over the MS would be good).

My hope is to find a cheap spray foam product that sticks well to acrylic, is readily carveable, is reasonably dense, and doesn’t shrink. I’ll try to contact Dow for a recommendation, but please feel free to make your own. Here’s the GS product line,

http://greatstuff.dow.com/product/index.htm

You bet,John, yes, it’s messy! Definitely needs careful application, and a lot of carving afterwards.

Thanks all,

===>Cliffy

Micro Balloons cliff

https://www.alumilite.com/store/p/957-Microballoons.aspx

This is only one there are others (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

Cliff…you forgot side note 3 and looking forward to what you come up with Dr Cliffeyl and Mr HIDE

Ahh, yessss… Side Note Number 3. Yes indeed, I’d somehow overlooked that in my evil plan…

Bwoohahahahaha!

David Marconi,FOGCH said:

Micro Balloons cliff

https://www.alumilite.com/store/p/957-Microballoons.aspx

This is only one there are others (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

Hey 'Wood,

You bet, microballoons are great for making otherwise solid resins have micro-voids, granting them less density and therefore (maybe) buoyancy. But for regular aerated foam (vs. solid resin), which already has the voids, they would be counterproductive I think. But thanks for the idea; and I’m happy to be proven wrong!

Cliff

Sorry for the brevity / lack of posts these days… I’ve been doing a bunch of work-related travel, and this week was in a hotel in CA that had practically zilch for wifi. And, now that I’m home and it’s fantastic weather outside, that means yard work, yay! But hopefully I’ll get to assemble more tomorrow.

Thanks all for viewing!

===>Cliffy

Cliff Jennings said:

Sorry for the brevity / lack of posts these days… I’ve been doing a bunch of work-related travel, and this week was in a hotel in CA that had practically zilch for wifi. And, now that I’m home and it’s fantastic weather outside, that means yard work, yay! But hopefully I’ll get to assemble more tomorrow.

Thanks all for viewing!

===>Cliffy

Well, that’s a relief. I thought I had thrown you for a loop when I mentioned that one of your nails was 1/4" scale off…(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)

Actually, that was a factor Bruce. But while out there, I saw my swami in Hollywood. He said don’t worry about what you said; and that my nails could be up to a 1/2" off.

But thanks for caring…

(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)

Cliff Jennings said:

Actually, that was a factor Bruce. But while out there, I saw my swami in Hollywood. He said don’t worry about what you said; and that my nails could be up to a 1/2" off.

But thanks for caring…

(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)

Now my boss is going to know I wasn’t sick(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

Hey friends,

I got back to assembly today, and began with dry-fitting the remaining structures.

Left front is a stand for the main ore bin, and in back of it is a stand for the trestle end. Center foreground is the “garage” for the tram car, which plugs into the main ore bin building (I need to cut a hole in that to accept the garage). Along the right is the trestle core, which will be surrounded in cedar planking. At upper right are the 2 parts to the shed, interior and exterior.

Here’s an upside-down view of the trestle core, with the bent index pieces being glued in. These will locate the deck of the trestle on the bents, yet permit the deck to be removed. That’s the theory anyway.

After a little grinding here and there, the main bits fit together like this. The garage is sitting in front of the main ore bin at the moment; but as I mentioned, after making a hole, the garage will insert into the bin building.

The exterior of the shed acts like a cover, and lifts off to access the guts. The shed interior has two horizontal lift-out panels at the top which will hold the electronics for the animation.

That’s it for this week. Next week I’ll be on work travel to FL, but will try to get more done on this over next weekend.

Thanks for viewing,

===>Cliffy

If this keeps up people are going to start throwing around the word epic, as in this is becoming an epic project.

I’m thinking Cliff has gone well past epic, personally. Heroic? Ginormous? Fire-breathing? Astronomic? Monumental? Glorious? Legendary? Illustrious? Genius?

(and yes, I went to thesaurus.com)

Great work as usual, Cliff.

Jim Rowson said:

I’m thinking Cliff has gone well past epic, personally. Heroic? Ginormous? Fire-breathing? Astronomic? Monumental? Glorious? Legendary? Illustrious? Genius?

(and yes, I went to thesaurus.com)

Great work as usual, Cliff.

Monumental at least.

In fact, he could end up with a statue in “Dead Rooster” Gulch!

Yea, what they all said…(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

Bruce Chandler said:

Jim Rowson said:

I’m thinking Cliff has gone well past epic, personally. Heroic? Ginormous? Fire-breathing? Astronomic? Monumental? Glorious? Legendary? Illustrious? Genius?

(and yes, I went to thesaurus.com)

Great work as usual, Cliff.

Monumental at least.

In fact, he could end up with a statue in “Dead Rooster” Gulch!

better, than with a dead rooster in Statue Gulch…

Jim Rowson said:

(and yes, I went to thesaurus.com)

As well as crossing paths with y’all in places like this, the availability of things like that is a thing I really enjoy about the internet and computers,