oh, and a fantastic idea to have cement footers. I love that!
Rick,
How do you attach your PT building bases to the layout?
Trying to think of ways to mount my buildings.
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The concrete footings add a nice touch. And yes, many of us spend days and weeks trying to get that distressed and weathered look and you accomplished it by accident. Well done.
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Craig,
Mostly I don’t. They are heavy enough that they just sit in place without any problems.
In case you want the info, I usually build a frame of PT 2 X 2 screwed to the bench work and painted a cocrete gray color, this comes up to the depth of my gravel fill then set my building foundation on that.
I second everyone else Rick, The distressed concrete in my opinion looks better than had it come out perfect. Very cool build.
Let me add an “Awesome!” to the chorus of praise!
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The stiff legs are built and installed, I had o use a 60 degree angle instead of the typical 45 because of space limitations but I think they came out looking alright.
Starting on the Crab build, the drums are built and I am laying out the gear Shaft spacing. This is going to be a little difficult making it look right with just the junk box and stash bits and pieces but it is the MIK 
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Dang. That looks GREAT!
It looks great, Rick. I’m looking forward to seeing the crab come together. What will you be using for the cables?
This is looking great. And now that the legs are installed I really really like the distressed concrete.
Oh man that is looking really good.
I was looking at the tires on his cart and wondering if he’s gonna bitch about them 30yrs from now like he did his “single” wheel barrow cart tire (back in the day)!
No Rick I’m not gonna let that one go!
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Got most of the pieces built for the Crab today, now all I have to do is get it assembled and mounted to the mast. Then I can tackle the rigging.
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Well, finally back with some progress.
I had to do a little re-engineering at the mast head, if you look back you see that the mast head sheave was attached by chain per prototype but it didn’t work for me. The sheave wanted to lay horizontial instead of vertical and to twist it into position it would tweek the chain links and they would seperate, not good. Anyway I changed to a solid connection, problem solved.
The other issue was the 2 line pullys. The groove was to shallow to hold the line so I changed from the spoked pully to the solid ones, not as attractive but they hold the line perfectly. It pays to have a deep junk box
The crab build is all finished, nothing left but the paint touch-up and some light weathering. It came out pretty well the only thing I am dissatisfied with really is the width of the gears, they should be about twice as wide but these were the ones I had in stock, MIK it is
As you can see the rigging is all done. The line is a heavy woven black thread from JO-Anns, sprayed at random with a little gun metal gray.
My biggest gripe with cranes, derricks, and other line sets in models is that the lines are never tight and straight. These are hanging pretty good because the line sheaves are built from lead sheet but I am working on a pallet load to put strain on the lines and keep them taut.
Well the basic build is done except touch-up and weathering. But I have time and the inclination to diorama this little build a bit. I am thinking a shed and some lighting would fill in some of that empty platform. Will keep you posted.
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Get a job as you have too much time on your hands! I like the women in JoAnn’s and Michael’s !
AS USUAL …excellent work!
dang you do such awesome work.
Rick,
As one who is jumping full steam into the 3D technology, your work reminds me why in some ways I find it bitter sweet. No matter how much I love 3D tech, in my opinion nothing will ever come close to the ability to scratch build like you do.
Simulating things will, in my opinion, replace making miniature scale authentic replicas.
Great work.
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Rick,
I just discovered something on my build you may want to experiment with. I agree with you about trying to mimic cable using something like thread. It never does look right for the reason you mention, you can’t get it straight and tight.
I tried something and with a little refinement might work. First thing is to use braided fishing line. I stumbled on this because I use it all the time to fish with. I had some and it looked great. This year I was trying to figure out how to make it taught. Super glue. Saturate the line in super glue and it will stiffen. Even after it dries it is more recieving to shaping. Might work with other threads too but for sure it was an improvement for the braid.
I’ve been playing around with stranded fishing line for my snow plow. It comes in various thickness and strand numbers. I eventually found some 7x7 strand wire that’s used for deep sea fishing thats .020".
The stuff at the craft store has a clear plastic cover over it and it doesn’t work very well.
I have heard of the braided fishing line being used for this but have never looked into it, guess I will have to give it a look. Great, one more thing on the list 