She’s gone…
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It’s been delivered, woo hoo! The director out there, Chris, just sent me a pic, and said all looks great.
Next up is for me to get out on Sunday. Hopefully the weekend rains won’t delay my flights too much.
I’ll post on the install next week.
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Great news. I was praying it wasn’t going to end up like this. 
That box was always safe. Cliff knows a guy who knows a guy. 
That may be but you didn’t ,did not , don’t say which box?
You and me both, haha!!
Haaha! Thanks for those pics, I wish someone had taken a video of reactions while you did that outside the ECLSTS!!
Honestly, I’m not sure what they’ll do with the crates. But if they’re going to the dump, my dibs will be on the nice McMaster casters beneath that pallet, haha!! (I NEEDED to be sure they’d hold up under a 500lb load, on two casters because of unevenness. and under impact). (OK you asked). (Or seemed like you might ask).
Thanks David, haahaa! Yes, the good Lord has been helping me out for sure!
You remind of a small story. A few years ago, a client expressed concern over whether our team had a certain creative build under control. I had responsibility for that in our company team. I blurted, way too spontaneously, “Don’t worry, I have a dude for that.” And all around the table, our team seemed abhorrent toward what I’d just said. But all the client folks seemed impressed. One of them said, “Wow. He has a dude.” And I did know the dude, and he did kick ass, and everyone won!
Perhaps I need to ride along to make sure it’s ready for the elements …TEST
I thought you were in the crate!?! We had an agreement!! How’d you get out?? Dang… Now I have to bring the SPECIAL torx driver…
OK, sorry for that weird remark Rooster. I was dealing with last minute prep last night…
I’m in Dayton NV now. with tools and etc. Heading to the Tunnel in the AM to start uncrating and repair and assembly.
Hoping for a good report tomorrow!
Hi friends,
Things went great today, couldn’t have hoped for better. Here’s the facility, which is the later machine shop on site. It currently serves as the museum.
Turning 90 degrees CCW, here’s the main feature of the site:
For my job, here’s what I began with, inside the machine shop. Pretty cool, huh?
The main crate unpacking worked fine; it opened up ok, and I couldn’t see any damage. Unpacking the long flat crate (with the cover) comes later, but I was grateful to see all was intact with the main model crate.
After unpacking the main crate, I set up the operating table:
The display table is perfect! Sharing dimensions over email is one thing; but the stuff from two different parties physically fitting together, perfectly, is another. My consoles fit well on their shelf, surrounding the upper platform with exactly the 1/8" gap all around that I wanted for tolerance purposes. Jeff Denton, the cabinet maker, did a fantastic job.
A last minute design change was to reinforce the console inner leveling feet joints with lasered plywood pieces. After fussing around a bit, these installed ok. I also glued down indexing parts, to keep the console assembly from sliding.
By this time, the wind was really howling around the site!
I fastened the consoles together, levelled their feet, connected their cables. Then I unwrapped / uncased the three model sections, placed them, cabled them up, and confirmed all the electrical functions.
The shipping components, many of them lasered, will be tossed. But they sure did their job!!
Tomorrow I’ll work on model leveling & connection, and applying lots of detail parts. It’ll be nice doing that with this lower table, and no cover in the way!
Cheers,
Cliff
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I don’t see this metal post on your model, Cliff. You’re slipping…
BD, I bet you just got Cliff to pull out his 100X magnifying glass to count the blades of grass to make sure he got all those on his display correct
Oh, everywhere I look, I’m seeing big things I missed or got wrong… The bad angel on one shoulder says “Your model sucks!” and the good angel on the other says “Well, you did your best, but…”
So if the historians coming to my unveiling presentation next Sunday at 10:30AM have qualms, I’ll just call it a 3D diagram.
Day two of assembly went well. Model levelling and fastening, cable neatening, stuff like that.
Then detailing, starting with filling the gaps between sections. I couldn’t do much for the roads, but the scenic stuff I filled with compatible foliage or sands / powders.
All this required a decision (by me) to say no, this model isn’t coming apart ever again. If transportation is needed, it will be local. On the table, as a unit. This was a hard decision to make; but for a hundred reasons (scenic, electrical, structural, instructional, etc.) it’s the right decision. So that allowed me to use the glue that made these seams disappear.
Then came details of many kinds (reported earlier). That went well, and mainly involved prayer, tweezers, and crazy glue.
The most difficult thing was (as I expected) was the cover. Fortunately, all pieces were fine after unpacking. And long story short, it’s assembled.
It was great to be able to put it together on the floor. Tomorrow, a couple friends will help me lift it onto the model. And hopefully, after cleaning and packing up, I’ll be done.
BTW, yes those are rails running diagonally through the building. In later years, ore cars and electric “mules” were brought into this shop for repair, or transport of items needing work.
Thanks for your interest,
Cliff
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I am surprised to see light at the end of the tunnel. I thought it was longer than that
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You should be proud Cliff and I’m sure all that see it will be in awe of your efforts.
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