Large Scale Central

Waverly Southern RR Mik's Build Challenge 2018

The MIK - Annual Build Challenge
#1

The boys over at WSRR’s Brown Dog Timber & Logging Ry have requested a place to go sit down and eat before they get started in the mornings and after a long day’s work. They claim they have a good cook in Maxwell T, but he needs a proper place to practice his trade. Cooking under a lean-to cobbled together on a flat car has served them well for camps that move a lot, but the stand of timber they are on now will keep them busy in one place for several years so they want a more permanent cookhouse.

R.E. Mington and Uncle Munson discussed the loggers request and came up with the rough drawing shown below and submitted it to WSRR owner Mr. B.C. Paws for his approval. Mr. Paws gave Mington the OK to get started on the cookhouse and asked him to consider building a couple new logger’s cabins for some new workers that would be arriving soon. Mr. Paws indicated he would certainly look at his schedule and his wood inventory and if he had the wood and could get the cabins worked into his schedule he would gladly take on the task.

Maxwell T’s Cookhouse

#2

That be a cool cook shack.

#3

Well, R.E. Mington and the boys made progress today, but not the progress they had intended. The wood shop doesn’t have any heat and it was downright cold down in Dixie this morning. So, Mington turned to the technical folks and let them work building windows and doors. These items are needed anyway so Mington figured he really didn’t lose any time. During our absence from LSC, Mr. Paws purchased the RR a newfangled machine. It’s one of them thar printers, 3d printer, I think. Anyway, the boys that no how to run this contraption made up some fancy drawings and stuffed in that thing and out come winders and doors.

Mington also got all the sub walls cut out and even managed to round up enough tin to roof the cookhouse when the time comes.

Mington plans to cut wood tomorrow, regardless of the temp. More to come.

#4

Nice!

#5

Thanks, Joe.

R.E. Mington and the boys finally made some sawdust today. We are using wood that actually has RR history to it. Back in the 80’s my Dad was hired to remove an old RR maintenance shop that was constructed next to the depot in Opelika, Al. The building was constructed of structural steel so we could dismantle it and it is now a large mechanics shop at my Dad’s place of business. The wood came from the roof of the building which we have piled up at my Dad’s farm. The roof underlayment was built using true 2x6’s. The 2x6’s are grooved on each side to accept a spline for the tongue.

It is beautiful heart pine wood. It takes some work to get it in a useable shape because one side (underside as originally installed) was painted and the top side has tar. But Mington’s crew got it done.

We milled out 3 board’s 1.5 x 3.5 x 26.5”. Two will combine to get me the 53” I am allowed building in 1:20.3 scale. I cut the other one because there is quite a bit of checking in two of the boards so I might have to cannibalize the other board. Now, I know pine is not going to last very long outside so we will spray it with something to help protect it and keep in the house except when operating the RR. Heck, at the pace I am going, save the completion photos when the Challenge is over, it may not ever go outside. Arrrrgggg.

Here is the pile of sawdust we made just jointing 2 faces of each board. Might have to build a 1920’s version of an OSB plant next.

Tomorrow is a holiday at work so we have the day off and hope to get the wood milled down to usable lumber.

#6

That was the easy part. Milling out the lumber took me half a day Saturday. Nice piece of wood.

#7

Yeah that is nice wood, it should allow R.E. to reach his high caliber of work, that we are accustomed to seeing.

#8

Old , well aged, Yellow pine… Whooooooo that must be hard to work with… Tough stuff…

#9

The WSRR crew got lumber milled today. We cut 1x12’s, 2x8’s and 1x3’s. The 1x12 will be used for exterior wall board with 1x3 battens. We will use the 2x8’s to frame the roof. We still need to cut 4x12’s and 2x10’s for floor beams and joists. Will use 1x12’s for flooring. The chunk of wood on the left is what’s left of my 53" allotment.

R.E. Mington and crew also managed to get starter boards on all the walls and some walls completely boarded up.

Can anyone pick out the screw up in the photo above???(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-yell.gif)

Doors were built minus hardware and trim. Our resident inspector, Ken, looks over Mington’s boys work.

The technical crew has been busy producing clutter to place around the cookhouse. More of that to come.

#10

Nice work, Dan! I like the doors…

#11

R.E. Mington stopped by today and let me know that he had heard through the grapevine that B.C. Paws was planning to stop by the RR to see the progress on the cookhouse. For those that haven’t followed my other builds, Mr. Paws is the owner of the Waverly Southern RR. Here he is some time ago looking over a newly acquired Shay.

Mington said since Mr. Paws was coming, he was having the crews work overtime to make progress on the construction. He indicated that due to all the work on the cookhouse and the untimely snow storm the last couple of days, that he was going to have to pull the boys off for a few days to get some other work caught up. But before he moved them to other projects, they were able to get all the walls erected so it at least looks like a building for Mr. Paws. We still have a lot of work to do on the walls but we wanted to get them erected so we could get the roof framing done. Once that is complete, we will go back and add trim and battens to the walls.

According to R.E. Mington, Mr. Paws wants a couple outhouses adjacent to the cookhouse. Paws believes it to be a bad idea not to have proper facilities for the boys real close to where they eat because you never know when they’ll eat something that doesn’t agree with their little tummy’s. So, since Mington is really busy working on the construction project, I had the technical boys throw a couple outhouses together.

They constructed one with the intent to add wood sheathing similar to what will be on the cookhouse. The other one was built with faux battens too see how it would work. We’ll see how they turn out once we get the tin roofs installed. More later. Thanks for following along.

#12

Boy Dan you don’t mess around. Your build is really coming along quickly. I like how you are using that old wood and marrying the new technology of 3d printed windows to it.

Mr Paws looks very wise with that wispy white beard.

#13

I was always under the impression that when Mr Paws’ ears were like that he was on the verge of attacking something or not in a good mood. Great progress Dan.

#14

That is true, Pete, but he looks like that when he is inspecting his equipment and projects, also.

#15

looking awesome Dan

#16

Not a lot of progress over the last few days. My son and I spent the weekend on one of our annual hunting trips so no work on the challenge project until this evening. Tonight, however, Mington’s crew did manage to get the framing for the floor completed and milled the flooring. He did notify me that we were going to go over our budgeted lumber. Not sure how much at this juncture, but we will keep track so it can be disclosed once the project is complete. Here is the floor framing.

Next up will be flooring, then beams to support the entire structure and then we will attach the building to the floor and finish up with the roof framing, roofing and trim.

More to come.

#17

It’s amazing how long it takes to cut and install a few floor boards, but I like the results. R.E. Mington and his crew finished all the flooring, cut and constructed the beams to support the cookhouse and built the front and back porches.

We started working on the roof framing. Got the angles worked out on the rafters and got the patterns cut but not much else. I think I am going to go ahead and spray what I have built before we get to far along.

My plan right now is not to permanently attach the structure to the floor. This will allow me to work on the interior if I ever choose to do that. Got a lot left to do and not a whole lot of time. Mington may have to burn the midnight oil to get this one done on schedule. Thanks for tagging along with us.

#18

That diagonal floor looks pretty swanky!

#19

I agree with Jim, but really you should have done a herring bone. . .just kidding I like that it is diagonal.

#20

Not a lot accomplished today other than getting started on the roof rafters.

But hey, progress is still progress.

I think I am going to use black walnut for the trim. I did get that cut today too. In the past I have used ink to stain all my woodwork, but this time I believe I am going to use paint for several reasons. I want to try my hand at weathering paint (thanks Devon), I want to add some color other than dark grey to the structures and I need something that will help protect the wood. I plan to use thin washes in an attempt to not cover up the character in the wood. I will test it on some scrap pieces first. Planned to do some of that today but it has rained all day and need to get outside to fool with paint. More to come.