Large Scale Central

Repair Shop Update - A Forge Hood for the Blacksmith

Modeling
#1

Just a quick update on some minor work this past weekend. I made a hood for the blacksmith forge from 36 gauge sheet brass. I drew the following pattern, printed it on an inkjet printer, and glued it to the brass sheet with a glue-stick.

I cut out the shape with a pair of shears, bent it to shape on the crease lines, and washed it in warm water to remove the paper and glue residue. I soldered the seams and drilled holes in the corners for the eyebolts. These are the same 3/64” brass eyebolts that I use for my LED Receptacles. After soldering the eyebolts in position, I clipped off the excess from the inside and washed the entire assembly with hot soapy water. I etched the surfaces with a chemical brass darkening solution and spray painted it inside and out with flat black primer. I dusted the surfaces with brown and rust-colored powdered pigments and then brushed on several coats of red and black India ink/alcohol solutions (10 drops of ink per ounce of 91% isopropyl alcohol.)

I made the smoke stack from a length of 3/8” copper tubing. I used a brass darkening solution to turn it a steel-gray color and weathered it with powdered pigments. I reamed the center of a 3/8” flat steel washer for a tight fit on the copper tubing and attached it with ACC. I inserted the smoke stack up through the hole in the forge hood and attached the flat washer to the underside of the hood top with epoxy. The inside is ugly but it cannot be seen on the finished model.

I fabricated support straps for the smoke stack from 1/64” x 1/16” brass strips by bending them around a section of 3/8” copper tubing and using ACC to hold the edges together. I darkened and weathered the straps with the brass darkening solution, powdered pigments, and ink/alcohol solutions. These straps will run horizontally from the stack to the rafters. I will attach short lengths of blackened brass chain to the eyebolts on the forge hood up to the undersides of the rafters.

All that is left is to mount the hood to the rafters above the forge and make a cap for the top of the stack.

Here is the forge area where the hood will be mounted.

I added the drive belts from the overhead line shafts down to the lathe, hacksaw, grinder, and drill press. Here’s what it looks like with the belts in place.

I also added a reason for the spilled paint on the workbench. The cat knocked the can over when he jumped up to get away from the dog.

More to come later,

Bob

#2

WOW Bob WOW
Dennis

#3

Holy cow! Terrific.

#4

Very nicely done. That brass work looks great.

#5

Bob, that is supurb! Impressive.

#6

very nice!

Two questions - how did you do your windows? how did you do the floor in the forge area?

#7

Clair,

The windows are resin castings from Scale Art Model Services.

http://www.scaleartmodels.com/

I cleaned and painted the castings and glued them into the wall openings. I added 1x4 cedar casings on the exterior wall, inserted .030 acrylic glazing against the castings from the interior, and added 1x3 cedar stops to hold the acrylic glazing in place.

The forge floor is a piece of closed cell foam insulation. I spray painted it flat black and sprinkled on a layer of decomposed granite. I dusted it liberally with ashes (cigar or cigarette), added a bit more fine dirt from my yard (good old Oklahoma red clay), sprayed it with “wet water” (water with a drop of dish washing detergent), and doused it thoroughly with a 50% solution of acrylic matte medium thinned with water. After the matte medium dried, I used an eye dropper to further stain the surface with a wash of black India ink in alcohol (10 drops of ink per one ounce of 91% isopropyl alcohol.)

#8

Impressive and then some!!!

-Kevin.

#9

Very impressive Bob

#10

Very beatiful model, congratulations. !!!

Xavier

#11

Really nice.

#12

Thanks all for the very nice comments. I’m really having fun with this one. Like most projects, it seems to have taken on a life of it’s own. I really never intended to make it anything more than a backwoods, shoestring budget, engine shed big enough to hold my 3-truck shay. The machine shop was an afterthought, and then the forge area came along. I had eighteen pages of computer drawings and electrical schematics before I ever cut the first stick of wood. It just kept growing and growing. Finally, I had to turn off the computer and start building the darn thing. This modeling stuff is like an addiction – but you guys already know that.

Speaking of comments, I don’t think I could come up with enough superlatives to describe the diorama that Xavier is putting together. The other thing that amazes me is how some of you are able to take a project from concept to completion in such a short time. I bet I spent more time researching what color to paint the denim overalls than most of you would take to build something. I may be slow, but I’m having a lot of fun.

Doug,

Next time I pass through your neck of the woods, I’ll give you a heads-up and maybe I can stop by and see your trains. I lived in Palmdale and Tehachapi for 15 years and used to go out to Pinon Hills when taking my boys up to Jubilee Scout Ranch. We had a garden railroad out in the backyard at Palmdale back in the late 80’s, so I know what the “Devil Winds” are like. I still have a son in Littlerock and another in Lancaster. Both are engineers on the Metro rail line from the Antelope Valley to LA. Guess this train stuff must of rubbed off on them.

Here is a photo of me and my two youngest sons working on the layout in Palmdale (I still had hair then.) The baby in red is now a senior at the University of Oklahoma and the one with the hammer graduated from OU three years ago. Boy, how time flies!

Bob

#13

Awesome work on that machine shop, and that brass hood went together perfectly.

#14

Super impressive Bob. Even more so knowing that floor is completely simulated - it absolutely looks like individual planks that you laid by hand then weathered. Great job!

#15

Thanks, Jon. Slight disconnect though about the floor. The floor in the machine shop is actually made from individual wood planks. It is only the dirt floor in the forge area that is simulated.

Bob

#16

Great stuff Bob!

#17

Beautiful work!