Thank you for sharing, Ray…very well done.
Fred Mills
Thank you for sharing, Ray…very well done.
Fred Mills
Ray Dunakin said:
The only thing left to do is make some exterior light fixtures, mount them, and complete the wiring.
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Good grief! Once again, totally amazing. Fantastic work - well done!
(Yeah, that’s the ‘neatest’ store I have EVER seen!)
Ray, I am always amazed at your craftsmanship.
Absolutely amazing Ray. Thanks!
Absolutley AMAZING!!! I always love to see your work! Thanks for sharing it with us…
I’m calling foul!!! When you built the depot, you built the back side of a room that no one can see to detail! So I better see the other side of that storage wall finished!!! LOL
Note: sarcasm font in heavy use here!
Ray I so look forward to a day I can carve out the time to visit and just see your workshop, let alone the layout and the buildings! I hope to one day make something that could come within a hundred miles of your caliber of talent.
Ray,
Whoa…Other words simply fail me.
Eric
Thanks guys!
Pete, my “workshop” is tiny section at the corner of a desktop, surrounded by embarrassingly messy piles of styrene, Sintra, paints and other materials. When I have to cut some large, like the walls of a building, I lay a 2x2 foot square of plywood on the floor and do my cutting there – or occasionally outside on the patio.
Ray you are my hero. There is no one better at modeling realistic buildings. The care and detail you put into the “little” things is just over the top.
I’m not sure how I missed this but once again … Ray …“You have issues man”
The 3 bulb deco light is great …I remember building cabinets with PVC foam board when I modeled Conrail #9.
Excellent work as always
(https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
The last unfinished task for the hardware store was to add some exterior lights. I experimented with a couple different homemade configurations, but then I found these goose neck lamps from Evan Designs. They come complete with the LEDs. I painted the lamps black, and sealed the surface-mount LED with clear silicone to protect it from the weather:
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The last time I posted any progress on the Princess Shilo Mine was in March 2020, when I built the bridge from the headframe to the ore bin, and a small ore cart to go with it:
In September 2021 I did a bit more work, which has continued off and on ever since. To begin with, I poured a foundation for the mine’s hoist house. A copper tube was embedded in foundation for use as a conduit for the wires that will eventually power the mine’s lights:
I also started to build up a waste rock dump near the mine using multiple layers of pigmented mortar mixed with red, tan, or white stone grit:
When the waste pile was finished, I built a wooden chute to carry the rock from the headframe to the dump pile. It was a bit tricky because the chute is sloped downward but also turns to one side. My first attempt came out pretty wonky:
On the second try I built the chute in two separate sections. The first section is where they would dump the rock into the chute:
Brass pins hold it in place while allowing it to be removed:
Then I made a test fit with the second section in place. After making sure everything fit right, I glued the two sections together and painted them:
In October 2021 I went to work on the hoist house, starting with a crude foam-core mockup to get a feel for how it would fit and what size it could be:
Next I made a new mockup with a different configuration. From this I was able to determine that there was enough space to extend the front room of the building:
At this point I didn’t need to build another mockup, but went straight to constructing the building. I cut the major components from 6mm Sintra PVC board, and began gluing them together:
I carved a notch in the wall between the two roofs, to make room for the wires that will be needed to light the interior:
Once the main structure was assembled, I sprayed parts of the interior with flat black paint so they won’t show through the opening for the hoist cable:
The interior was built as a separate unit which slides into the rear of the building. I used 3mm Sintra for this, with styrene strips to represent the wood framing:
The interior is fitted with two ceilings, once for each room. These are held in place with small stainless steel screws:
I painted the interior to represent both galvanized and rusted metal on a wooden frame, to roughly match what will be on the exterior of the building:
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I made a door and two windows for the hoist house, using various pieces of styrene strip, then painted and weathered them:
I also made sheets of corrugated metal using .001" brass shim stock. These were glued to the building with Dynaflex 230, a paintable sealant:
I made a simple rain gutter above the door from a thicker piece of brass sheet:
Around the base of the front room I added some 2mm thick Sintra and textured it to simulate a concrete foundation:
I painted the building to look like the front room was added at a later date. The “original” structure has rusty, ungalvanized metal with a few newer patches, and the front room is covered with galvanized metal. The galvanized look was achieved by spraying those areas with Rustoleum’s “Cold Galvanizing Compound”. The rusty sections were painted with iron paint and then treated with a rusting solution. These are sold under the"Sophisticated Finishes" brand. At this stage the rust is a bit too orange but it will darken with exposure to the elements.
I don’t know how much of the interior will be visible but I wanted to try making a blacksmith’s forge. I built it out of styrene. The “coals” were made by gluing a clear acrylic dome over a hole, and then gluing coarse, white stone grit to the dome. I got this grit from the craft store, and it looks like it’s dolomite or something similar. I lightly dry-brushed some grays onto the grit. The lighting effect is achieved with LEDs with flicker at different rates. I got them from Evan Designs. I also built a smoke hood and attached it to the ceiling:
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do you post your builds just on this forum, or somewhere else too, where the pics can be seen?
He’s still got it! …
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Ray, what a display of fine craftsmanship. I could sit for hours reading and looking at your work. Thank you for sharing your excellent skills with us.
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Continuing on…
I made a large, riveted compressed air tank from styrene tube, with elliptical acrylic domes for the ends. I simulated rivets by embossing them on sheet brass which was then wrapped around the tank. Miniature brass rivets were used on the pipe flange:
I painted the tank with primer, then a coat of iron paint treated with a rusting solution:
The air tank was mounted on a wooden rack at the side of the hoist house. The outer ends of the rack will be supported by the rocks next to the mine:
I also added a goose neck lamp from Evan Designs to the exterior:
The completed hoist house in place on the layout:
Here are a couple shots of the whole mine. In the first photo I used Photoshop to remove the fence and a neighbor’s tree from the background:
I haven’t run wiring to the mine yet. I also want to add some lights to the headframe and ore bin, and I plan to add a few other details to the scene such as a water tank, fuel tank etc.
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