Are you going to have sound effects coming from within while you host gatherings etc. ?
We talked about that possibility, might be fun if a good sound track could be found.
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A couple, one with the sound of wood being sawn and a sound of saw dust being blown thru piping … maybe have a general squeaks and grinding as background noise as well .
FWIW, here’s one cheap way to add audio. Record / download what you want, edit it on the computer as needed, dump it onto a micro SD card, and play it with something like this.
[edit]When I added audio to a diorama a couple years back, I used a tiny audio board that accepted micro SD cards. But I had to add power supply, speaker, and a case to it. This seems to include everything, and has a rechargeable battery; so all it needs is to be turned on and tossed in a building.
Jeeze Cliff, that sounds really simple, I’ll jump right on that 
Another rainy day project.
The Cat shed/shop. Three service bays and a shack on the side for tools and parts.
The shed and shack
The slide in floor Dio. for the tool shack
A couple of semi night shots with the lighting on.
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The weather here has been really crappy for the last few weeks and looks to continue for the near future. Can’t do anything outdoors to get the railroad up and running so fell back on one of my favorite activities, build something.
Another rail truck project for the timber company, so using a Mack center cab by Hartland Locomotive works I started in.
The bottom picture is sorta what I was after for my woods “Crummy” build.
Here is what’s left of the center cab after the organ donation. I picked this up a few years back when Phil was practically giving them away.
The front truck and the motor block after being cut down. The basic frame was built from wood and set up for simple assembly after painting.
The basic frame and drive assembled. My original intent was to use a section of a Bachmann rail truck cab that I had left over from a previous project, that’s why the design of the frame is laid out the way it is. But I quickly discovered that wasn’t going to work at all. I love these design as you go projects, always something unexpected popping up.
So a new cab built based on the Bachmann style because I didn’t want to build a new frame.
More later,
I apologize at this time because there will be no CAD drawing, Laser cutting or 3D printing involved in the construction of this project.
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As you know, I love these “crummy” railtrucks. Following with interest. That inspiration picture is awesome.
I won’t be showing Kid-zilla the early parts of this thread! He loves his Mac’s!
Cool project, and please let me know if there is some other process beyond “design as you go!”
Eric
Some more progress on this little beast.
The cab and hood mated up and test fit to the chassis
The bus body test fit to the frame.
Starting to sort out the wiring, pretty simple really just motor, speaker, and light that plug into the trailing car.
I have two trailing car frames for my rail trucks and gas mechanicals; one is just a battery and 3 way switch for continues running the other is battery, AirWire, and Phornix sound. There are several body style covers for the 2 car frames so I can mix or match what I am towing.
As I was working on this project I had the feeling that the hood/radiator area of this Mack loco was really familiar. So I got to doing some looking and found that the hood size and shape was identical with the Monogram 1:24 scale kit for their Mack AC, I mean dead ringer.
I used the Monogram kit a few years ago as a blueprint to build a model in 1:20 scale
A link to that build. Rainy winter project - #27 by Rick_Marty
A picture of the finished build which really doesn’t tell you much because I didn’t model the hood 
It looked identical to me too. Built one of the models, used the cab of another for my railtruck. Great lines.
I absolutely LOVE your version with the crane in the back. Excellent job. Looking forward to seeing more progress on this build.
Go team Crummy!
OK, all done except lettering and weathering. As I was getting ready to prime and paint the wife said “It would be nice to see something other than the usual red, green or black.” So I said “you pick the decor then”
Shouldn’t have said that, although the paint colors were the only suggestion of hers that I used. Flat out rejected some of them especially bud vases inside the bus.
Still have to build a trailing car body to go with this rail truck, just have to figure out what it should be.
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Just a little follow up.
I finished the new trailing car shell to go with this rail truck.
Now just need some lettering and weathering and they are ready for service.
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We held our Spring/Summer open house last weekend. Weather was perfect and we had a good turnout, about 60 people over the 2 afternoons. I had 2 friends helping operate and answer questions so we had 3 trains running most of the time. People seemed to enjoy watching “operations” more than the loop running but that may be because the size of the loop takes a train at reasonable speed about 3-4 minutes to make the round most of the time out of sight. Anyway it was a good time and we had a BBQ for the crews Sunday after operations.
As usual I got busy and forgot about taking pictures so I went out this morning and took a few around the mill. I also shot several videos but need to get them cleaned up before posting Anyone know of a good video editing program, free and simple would be good but mostly simple.
Another fun thing was I saw my buddy engineers handing off the hand controllers to very interested visitors on several occasions and let them operate and throw some switches, great fun.
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Rick,
Your modeling is, of course, superb. From a visual aspect, I really like how you build above and below your track deck. It adds a depth that enhances the realism of your work.
Eric
Thank you Eric. This whole mill area build has been a lot of fun and enjoyment, the area is getting a little crowded but still have plans for a lot more in the near future.
A video I put together from our run days last month.
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I hope my layout looks half as good as this one day.
Cheers
Neil
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Another mill video. This one has Shay #9 leaving Camp 6 for the mill at Bayside.
Thanks for taking a look.
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