Pete, it sure does! It really has the right feel for a little industrial or agricultural concern.
Eric
The first weekend is behind us, and here is where we stand…
O.D. - Finish her Grain Elevator
The closest she got to this was staying at a place off the old right-of-way where unit trains of sugar headed by MIK-ados once ran.
The coconuts line the old right-of-way, which now services a bunch of vacation homes.
O.S. - Silo
Slow, steady, progress. Yes, @Dave_Taylor , he is building on the can challenge of a few years back. Like any good engineer, he is beginning with what works! He is also returning to DIY “corrugated metal,” and 10 beverage cans got cut, washed, pounded, and annealed today.
He cut these to the size of a credit card, and they are moderately consistent in size. If he slowed down a bit, he has the talent to be very, very good. Crimping and gluing will happen over the course of the week.
He also finsihed scoring his base. He roughed it and gave it an initial coat of black paint.
He plans to drybrush some different shades later. For now, the jackhammer crew enjoyed a break.
Y.D. & Kid-zilla - Office & Outhouse
Planking occurred on and off throughout the weekend. The outhouse is looking good…
…and they have plans to move forward with base, roof, doors, etc. I’ve no idea what those plans are.
The office still needs a wall planked…
…and it is not clear to me from Kid-zilla’s description if they plan to square off the interior and make it useable or plank it in. What is clear, is that they need to adjust that door height!
Doors, windows, base, roof, etc. are in the future, method of execution TBD.
Yours Truly – Small Station
I know I will lose 7-14 days later this month, so I am trying to keep my portion manageable but still use it to stretch my skills. I would rather use foam. I shall use wood.
The finished frame looked square-ish…
The foreman’s disgust aside, we proceeded, and we added some timbers to brace the lower portion of the deck.
The 1:24 lads and I decided on a peaked roof. We used a cutter O.S. got from my folks for Christmas for his paper-on-frame plane kits. This led to relatively good angles, and, in five, attempts, I got four serviceable roof-triangle-things.
Then I got bold, and I decided to make a roof beam. Lucky for me, the station was 12" / 24 feet, the same length as the poplar sticks! I notched one and glued it in place…
…let it dry, then had the lads lower it onto the fame and cut some vertical braces for good measure.
Naturally, this was as square as everything else, so I added some shims and reinforced the lot with the epoxy we use to make fillets on rocket fins.
I should note O.D. said, “Wow, Dad, that’s looking good! And you’re actually working with wood!” I am glad I have set such low expectations…
At that point, it was time to let everything dry. It had been a rough weekend, with a dryer breaking and needing replacement and the stove breaking and needing my tinkering. It was time to do some deep meditation…
…and to reflect on the fact that this weekend is Golden Spike Day (observed). Thank for being part of the eight year journey!
Updates as required…
Eric
1 Like
looking good team Mueller
Oh lordy have I been there, moving too fast and realizing what I just built won’t go around corners or is too big for clearances, D’oh!!! 
Mueller construction is on the job!! Great start Team Mueller. Eric, I like your style of meditation 
1 Like
Update:
Construction continued in fits throughout the week, interrupted by school, work, fencing, karate, band, choir, jogging, bills, etc. We actually lost a pair of evenings to weather, and a massive windstorm picked up my little station and flung it to the ground. Still, it beats snow! 
A major push began Saturday night, and you can see from the following, all hands turned to, even if they forgot to clean a bit when they laid down glue and tools.
That table was positively covered by tools, craftsticks, and debris by Sunday!
Specific accomplishments to follow…
O.D. - Finish her Grain Elevator
The slow task of snipping and sticking has begun at long last. Unfortunately for her, her choice to coat this structure with grey latex paint two years ago came back to haunt her, and the process had to begin with sanding off at least some of that paint to ensure the TiteBond III could make a solid bond.
Planking this has begun. Since the elevator proper is not part of the MIK, per se, but the core for the surrounding projects, with @Dave_Taylor 's permission, I will not count costs to finish this structure against our larger effort. Anything that ties this to the silo and outbuildings, however, will count.
O.S. - Silo
O.S.‘s patient effort to prepare beverage cans and to carefully manage their application to the soup can core paid off. After removing the soup cans’ labels, he applied a row of corrugated metal each night with E6000 (the second best glue for everything!) then bound the metal sheeting in place with twist ties overnight while the glue dried. Saturday’s push and Sunday’s efforts are below:
He plans to clean the glue glops and prime the silo this week. I am very pleased with his time management skills in terms of understanding of how glues and materials work together. I have explained to him he may have to help O.D. finsih the elevator, where I anticipate her meticulousness and utterly detached sense of time will be challenging to mesh with his own sense of “good enough” and urge to finish!
Y.D. & Kid-zilla - Office & Outhouse
The pair set to with a will yesterday, gluing on crafsticks and cutting them to shape.
I had them take both buildings to the railroad to see how they’ll fit…
…and to show them that neither were quite level!
I let them debate how best to fix this, and they settled on creating a foam base that they could gouge out on one side until both structures were level relative to the base. Then, they came up with the idea of using other scraps and debris to hide any seams. I suggested that they should make the base and level the buildings before making doors and windows so that the latter wouldn’t be too low, then it was back to the lanai, where Kid-zilla crimpled roofing material from scraps…
…while his sister began prepping the base.
Somewhere along the line, our discussion about doors and windows fell by the wayside, and she also cut a door from scrap basswood and applied it and a rudimentary frame to the office.
We’ll see what happens!
Yours Truly – Small Station
I lost a couple evenings repairing the damage from the windstorm. The roof came off, and all four corner posts came off. Beining non-Euclidean to begin with, I could not get things to realign, so I resorted to CA glue and epoxy over multiple nights to get my frame in shape. During this repair effort, I rediscovered:
- CA glue eats foam.
- CA glue burns if you get it on your hand then let overspray from the accelerator hit your hand.
- CA glue will seep through your shorts and glue your shorts to your leg hair.
Repairs done, I used scrap crafsticks to apply bracing and painted any foam that would be exposed black. I also made a subroof of basswood. The results of must of these efforts are below.
I decided there should be a ramp to this thing, so I found a piece of scrap wood I believe had once been the door to our recently rebuilt house ( Rehabilitating a HardieBacker Home - Modeling - Large Scale Central) and had the 1:24 crew find salvageable timbers from this current project.
Progress stalled due to the need to serve as consultant and referee for Y.D’s and Kid-zilla’s project. I’m glad someone still needs me!
I hope to give this a coat of exterior latex paint this week. I wanted to stain it, but the epoxy joints would have been too visible. Then it will get its roof and deck. The plan is to be effectively pau / finished so I can lend to as required with the kids’ projects, again trying to act as consultant and occasional arbitration judge rather than labor.
Happy Building!
Eric
2 Likes
looking great. Love to see all hands on deck.
Fencing as in building a fence or fencing as in stabbing people with swords? When I was in Jr. High up through my sophomore year of High school I was in a fencing club. While I got decent at foil I much preferred saber. We just competed within our club and occasionally some other kids my age from somewhere in Spokane, WA.
While I would say that I had a lot of fun I hope I never have to defend myself with a sword. I wasn’t exactly good at it.
Update:
It was one of those sort of weeks, where Mom & Dad’s Taxi Service was in full swing following a busy weekend that included, among other things, O.S. and I engaging in a living history and O.D. and I beginning rehearsals with the Honolulu Trombone Choir. To boot, wind and rain effectively closed the lanai many afternoones. Nonetheless, all hands filtered on and off the lanai to saw, cut, glue and paint.
O.D. - Finish her Grain Elevator
Limited progress. She got a wall almost fully planked.
She understands hers is the core, but, alas, meticulousness, not time management, is her strength. Kid-zilla has offered to help her finish this off.
O.S. - Silo
He ended last week picking glue globs off the silo walls. Saturday, he dressed out for the first time as a participant at USS Missouri Memorial’s living history day, where we commemorate the seven Native Hawaiian men who stormed Fort Fisher in January 1865. He wore the uniform of a drummer boy in the all Black / non-Caucasian 25th Corps, in which two men of Hawaii served with the 6th US Colored Troops (the other five were with the Naval storming party). While not Hawaiian, he looked the part, and apparently exhausted himself.
More on point to this thread, over the last week or so he framed the roof of his silo…
…and clad it in heavy foil.
Today, he dry-brushed the “stones” on the foam base.
I am very proud of how much he has learned about materials, glues, and paints. If only he could learn to take his time! Over the next week, he plans to paint the silo, beginning with a base of rusty brown and then giving it an overcoat of white. He will be set to rig this to O.D.'s elevator…if she finishes it!
Y.D. & Kid-zilla - Office & Outhouse
The dynamic duo has been on and off the lanai all week, culminating in a combined push this evening. At some point, the office got a coat of paint and the outhouse got a coat of stain (this cost me two red sable brushes. Schimpf 
. The cost of learning, I guess.).
Y.D. began shaping a roof from foam this evening after heated design debates with her partner.
Kid-zilla at some point last week selected aluminum scraps from a “gemuckabucket…”
…and gave his outhouse a roof. Allegedly, he cut a door this evening, but I couldn’t find it. The outhouse looks like this.
Kid-zilla would ask all to note it is PERFECT for a PLAYMOBIL guy dancing the Kailua Quick Step even if, at this time, there is no door! He was looking for something to use as a vent when the dinner bell sounded.
Yours Truly – Small Station
All my repairs held, and, even better, my bracing held the structure together when another windstorm blew it to the ground. Throughout the week, I added white exterior paint. As of this evening, it looks like this:
I plan to make a “tar paper” roof out of inverted roofing material painted matte black, cut down a shattered epee for a topper, and mount all of this on a bit of HardieBacker. I am also planning to make that small ramp.
Overall, I think we are on track to finish building this weekend, which leaves us next weekend for finishing. It is a LOT harder to herd the horde across multiple projects than it is to focus them on one, but, of course, I am enjoying watching each individual solve problems according to each one’s vision of the finished product and each one’s comfort with various tools and material.
Updates as progress merits! Two weekends left, everyone!
On Behalf of Team Mueller,
Eric
4 Likes
With that look she’ll never need to tell you what’s on her mind.
Did Kid-zilla survive the skirmish? 
2 Likes
Beat me to it David. That look could freeze the sun.
Yep, but he is used to it! And, yes @David_Marconi_FOGCH , he survived to build another day! In fact, tonight we had our first all-hands push!
I deliberately scoped my project to clear the deck to serve as helper, advisor, part finder, etc. for the last week. It think it just might pay off!
O.D. - Finish her Grain Elevator
O.D. has been snipping and clipping crafsticks on and off for a week. Tonight, I marked sticks, O.S. cut sticks, moving from shears to a guillotine cutter…
…and she and Kid-zilla glued sticks.
She ran out of craftsticks shortly after this point…
…so she moved on to finding roofing material and trimming the subroof to shape.
She and O.S. also discussed integrating this with his silo, bringing us to the next topic!
O.S. - Silo
O.S. and I had discussed how best to paint his silo. He wanted it to look worn and a bit rusty, so we talked through base paints and overspraying and color suggestions. I nixed the day-glow orange he wanted to use for “rust,” but I let him run with a metallic bronze base coat.
I was dubious of his choice. he gave it a light overcoat of grey primer, and, if I am to be honest, it looked pretty much like a thinly painted piece of metal showing some wear.
I am not sure about bronze corrugated metal, but I have certainly filed away the technique!
Tonight, he began the process of weathering mixing various shades of brown to show muck and rust builiding up on the bottom, getting lighter as he went upward.
He wiped up “mistakes” with a paper towel and called it a night. He plans to drybrush on lighter shades tomorrow. He discussed how this will connect to the elevator, but, to be honest, I had no idea what he was trying to convet. I’ll let him and his sister work that out and intervene only if the chosen technique is untenable or he risks finding out her 2nd degree black belt is, actually, a higher rating than his brown belt!
Y.D. & Kid-zilla - Office & Outhouse
This pair has required a bit of refereeing and a bit of nudging. Some work happens in my absence, at other times Kid-zilla grabs stuff and I a not sure what happens. Still, Y.D. glued a foam subroof to the office and devised a creative way to make the eaves.
Kid-zilla got his door cut…
…and he is now trying to figure out how to make the inconic half moon symbol.
Y.D. made some windows for the office.
We have painted windows black in the past, but we have found that this can absorb heat and warp the plastic. The pair masked the front…
…and she gave these a shot of a metallic spray paint on the back. I think @Rooster had done something similar with metallic tape. We’ll see how this looks and holds.
The real trick has been to get these two to understand the buildings need to be level on their base. I thought we had worked that out. Nope. So, after some staring…
…I introduced them to the concept of a right angle. They grabbed some scraps, leveled the outhouse, and mounted it to the base. They plan to hide the gaps with rocks. That’ll do!
Yours Truly – Small Station
The 1:24 gang and I pushed hard to finish construction. First, we cut planking for the deck and affixed it with TiteBond III.
Next, we found a broken epee blade quietly rusting away in a flower pot, and used a wire brush to get rid of dirt and some of the rust.
This proceeded on to cutting it to length.
The tang and forte went back to the flower pot to rust amongst snapped saber blades, something for which I’ve yet to find a railroad use.
I applied a time honored Triple O tradition of using upside down roofing material cut to size to represent tarp paper. We lowered into place, making it fast with E6000.
That’s when I noticed we were out of E6000. I like empty glue bottles, as it means someone, somewhere is building stuff!
Anyway, I found Shoe Goo, put it in the blood groove of my repurposed epee fragment, and lowered into place as a roof topper.
The 1:24 lads and I were pretty happy with this.
It looks better with the clamps off!
I have some cosmetic work to do, but this is effectively pau / done. Normally, I like to stretch myself skill-wise a bit more, but, as I said up front, I had to build in time to help bring other disparate sub-projects over the line!
Have a Great Week & Happy Building!
On Behalf of Team Mueller
4 Likes
Good work Team Mueller,
I had to chuckle at your paint booth. That palm tree looks as if it has been used one or two times as a back stop for paint.
Love the 1/24th helpers. 
Thanks! They help tell the story, and, in posing them, the force me to slow down. Everyone wins!
Lots of MIK-ing between rehearsals, practices, games, and that stupid work thing. I think we are on track to finish tomorrow.
O.D. - Finish her Grain Elevator
This is going to be close, but her elevator itself is not part of our judged elements. It is, however, the core of our disparate projects. We bought the craftsticks she needs to finish. Last night, se painted the unloading area black.
Naturally, she has a community service project and a bunch of schoolwork this weekend. The rest of us our standing by to help!
O.S. - Silo
He finished his washes and drybrushing, and declared his silo pau / finished.
He wisely focused the weathering on the bottom to simulate accumulated drek (German or Yiddish for gunk). I wish he would have spent a bit more time aligning the panels, but, overall, I think he did a good job, in particular with the finishing.
He is currently helping Kid-zilla move that project along.
Y.D. & Kid-zilla - Office & Outhouse
Kid-zilla started carving the base…
…only to carve a second degree burn into his finger! His brother finished the job.
Y.D., meanwhile, cut the roof and glued on the windows.
The boys are at work leveling and then affixing the office to the shared base piece.
Yours Truly – Small Station
The 1:24 lads and I carefully measured some basswood and collected crafstick scraps to make a small ramp.
I stained the deck, and this, too, is pau.
Final update tomorrow!
Eric
2 Likes
Thank you, Eric. Your “Reporting/sharing” of how a wonderful family is enjoying hobbies together, is great inspiration. I look forward to many more tales of inspiration in the future…again…thank you, to you and your wonderful “Teams”…the little guys, and the larger guys.
Would it be asking too much, to see a picture of YOU, and the full team, including the “House Staff” ?..I’ll bet they all would look good in a full team Picture.
Fred Mills
Thanks for your kind words, Fred! If our efforts inspored one family to leave their Christmas set out year round and build a world from salvaged construction material, scraps, and repurposed toys, I will feel like we have given back to the community writ large.
We’ll see if we can do a full team shot next week when we pose this year’s MIK creations on the railroad.
Closing out on Mik 2024, here we are…
O.D. - Finish her Grain Elevator
Between busy schedules, the size of this project, and the need to make adjustments as it transformed from school project to 1:24-ish PLAYMOBIL scale industry, we were not able to get this over the hump. All hands lent to as they could, though…
…so however it ends up, it will be a community effort in the “Spirit of the Mik!”
The results of the last weekend brought us here.
Cladding, roofing, doors, windows, and bits remain. It is far enough along, however, to allow us to place the rest of the hui next weekend for the glamor shots.
O.S. - Silo / Y.D. & Kid-zilla - Office & Outhouse
He was finished, so he has been helping his siblings in their efforts to bring projects over the line. Rather than doing it for them, he ran materials back and forth, helped clear work areas, cut bits, and sorted materiel. He also leveled Y.D.'s office…
…while she was at dance so that she and Kid-zilla could focus on touching up the rocks…then touching up the wall paint…then covering the rocks now covered with wall paint…to move back to touching up the walls covered with rock paint…I finally stepped in to stop that cycle of paint and repaint!
Uploading: 20240211_114346.jpg…
Their finished efforts are here:
O.S. built the chimney on the office out of a bit of dowel and scrap wood. Kid-zilla found a bit of brass tubing to make a vent for his outhouse. I cut the little half-moon from scrap vinyl adhesive.
Yours Truly – Small Station
OK, I am very pleased with this. I really didn’t break any ground in terms of techniques, but it is emulative of a late 19th-century whistle stop station outside of Honolulu. While not quite square (working on that skill), it’ll look good up in near our farm, and I will enjoy the coloring effect of the elements over time. Here it is posed alongside O.S.'s silo:
Bonus Project.
CINCHOUSE got into the action today, working on a rocket.
It’s the spirit, not the project that counts!
Measure of Success
This was the lanai last night after I cleaned up the pint of acrylic paint and before a general clean-up.
That mess speaks of creativity run amok. Mahalo nui / Thanks so much @Dave_Taylor for another round of structured memory making!
On Behalf of Team Mueller,
Aloha!
Eric
6 Likes
A rocket??? Well a build is a build
I feel the build thread is not complete without a couple short lines and pictures describing site preparation. Tomorrow, we will get up the glamour shots, but today Kid-zilla, the 1:24 crew had to properly close this thread!
Early in the morning, a work train pulled up on a siding serving a farm working M&K land under lease…
…and the crew set to work!
Kid-zilla helped to set and level a half paving tile…
…before letting the 1:24 gang fill in around the foundation and move spoils to needed low spots.
After putting our little station in place and doing some clearance checks…
… we let the 1:24 gang take a break as they waited for a train back to the work camp.
Kid-zilla had a soccer game. Afterwards, we got right back to work to clear the area for the other MIK items. The local constabulary helped to set safety boundaries.
Kid-zilla and his work crew set up and directed personnel and vehicles onto the site.
There was track work, too, so the M&K and Triple O contributed workers, machines, and trains.
The Triple O track gang set to work, as we had to move the siding that served a locomotive shed to a new location.
Kid-zilla led the “digger men” in moving, aligning, and pouring the foundation for the locomotive shed.
He discovered that the building would not set level, so he found a half hollow tile block, and he and the crew set it in place.[
He was pretty pleased with the results!
We then placed the new buildings for fit and set back to run trains. Naturally, our DC analog system was testy after a month of limited running and an afternoon of intensive work near the tracks, so it took about an hour just to get one loop up and running. Oh, well, Pearl approved, regardless!
The rest of the 1:1 crew will set the final scenes tomorrow for judging!
On Behalf of Team Mueller,
Eric
Pearl looks almost identical to our Shadow who is a rescue of unknown linage. I’m pretty sure if we had a DNA test done it would come back with at least a few percentage points cat!
[quote=“JRad, post:46, topic:83834”]
I’m pretty sure if we had a DNA test done it would come back with at least a few percentage points cat!
[/quote] 
We’ve though the same thing about Pearl, who shares Shadow’s secret lineage!