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Concept
Repair shops of a California 3 foot gauge logging line, circa early 1950’s. Operating in it’s final years, maintenance has gone from deferred to “disappeared” (think late Diamond and Caldor and Argent lumber Co.)
Inspiration and reference
Based mostly on ideas from the West Side, Diamond and Caldor, Michigan-California and Swayne Lumber companies. Also visited the Sierra Railroad, Yosemite Sugar Pine, Roaring Camp and the Knight Foundry in Sutter Creek, Ca.
History
Began construction in 1982 as a cutaway machine shop as a “vacation” from HOn3. Added an engine house portion, then decided to build up a full building with roof. Basic building completed 1986. Mostly sat in closet until the early 90’s when I began the diorama portion. Worked off and on, now and again until 1996. Mostly sat in closet again, until late 2004 when I began re-conditioning the ground cover and applying additional detritus and weathering.
Directly inspired from prototype
Post and beam with board and batten construction based on West Side car shop buildings (also roof). Wooden cranes, belt guards and drill press enclosure copied from Knight Foundry. Section house based on Virginia and Truckee structure. Outdoor shop area inspired by Keeler shops on the SP narrow gauge, and the West side car shops. Attempted to duplicate atmosphere found in Sierra and Knight Foundry machine shops.
Techniques
An article in the May/June 1988 Gazette covered many of the techniques I used on the building portion. I plan to expand on some of the outdoor techniques in the near future. Some things like the main roof covering are a bit “old school” for my current taste, but oh well, it was once state of the art!
Weathering
I am an incurable weatherist, and I like a down and dirty model. I like adding “texture”, such as different grades of dirt, leaves, rocks, weeds, twigs and oil/grease “glop”. I tried to make it look lived and worked in, reflecting more than 50 years of use. Most of the bits are glued down, waiting for the next gust of wind to re-arrange them.
Is it done?
Not even! I would someday like to add some figures, a trip hammer in the blacksmith shop, and additional worn out equipment on the rip track. But, it’s easy to get bloody sick of it, so only time will tell if I ever do more.
Thanks!
There are many talented manufactures to help me out. Here are some of them:
CHB Models (Charlie Brommer)
Grandt Line Models
Chooch (mostly original castings from the 80’s, like real brass fire extinguishers!)
Russ Simpson
Detail Associates
The Backshop
Western Scale Models
Kappler, Camino, Glenn Craft and Mt. Albert wood.
Floquil paints and stains
Bragdon weathering pigments
Thanks also to Bob Brown and his original Tuolumne Forks shelf layout for the initial spark of inspiration away back when I was just a keed!
Chuck Doan
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Reference: Narrow Gauge & Shortline GAZETTE May / June 1988
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pic by Big “M”
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Here is the engine that runs the overhead belt drive. It is from CHB models, as is the boiler. Engine sits on cast plaster base that came with the CHB kit. I added the wooden “belt guard” after visiting the Knight Foundry in Sutter Creek CA. I noticed that the larger belts there had some minimal “protection” (definitely non-OSHA!)
The steam feed pipe is insulated with painted on Kleenex strips. A pipe railing keeps oblivious LP out of the moving parts. Evidence of ample lubrication can be seen. I started with fine dirt glued on with dilute white glue, followed by washes of Floquil Black and Roof Brown mix.
Lastly, I applied a touch of High Gloss. A few sawdust chip leaves have blown in through the door. This side of the building is “missing”. I copied a cutaway car barn seen on Chet Tayloe’s layout many years ago. Chuck Doan.
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Here is a portion of the overhead belt drive. The main shaft that runs the length of the shop is on the right. The foreground shafting drives one machine. The belt would be shifted to a fixed pulley, starting the machine. The cone pulley has a reversed counterpart on the machine below, and is used to change speeds, just like the Craftsman drill press in your garage. Evidence of lubrication can be seen around the loose pulley and the shaft bearings, a common detail seen in many vintage shop pictures. Boards in the trusses serve as walkways for belt maintenance. Belts are made from Mylar drafting film, and have proven to be pretty stable, even after many years. They are attached to the pulleys with ACC. Pulley faces were first sanded with 800 grit sandpaper. Pulleys then treated with Hobby Black and then the insides were painted. Faces then burnished with my finger until dull polished look was achieved. Rusting, unused pulley set suggests other machine layouts in the past, adding some “history” to the scene.
Chuck D.
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Picture modification by Nick Ogden ( England )
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Picture modification by Marc Ruesser ( California, USA )
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Here is a shot through the front door of the Engine house. The office was copied from the one in the Yosemite Sugar Pine engine house. The signs were photocopied from a supply house catalog (Mcmaster-Carr). For “metal” signs, I take the copy and lay over an oversized piece of Scotch magic tape over the desired sign and burnish well. I then cut the sign to size, and color the edges if needed. Then I give it a light application of Dullcoat and let dry, followed by a final application of Bragdon Powders. The big front doors operate on Grandt Line hinges. The screw jack is by CHB models with a piece of 00-80 threaded stock for the screw.
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For shop signs, etc. I burnish a piece of Scotch Magic mending tape over the sign while on the page. Then I cut to size, and if needed, color the edges. Then I fog it with Dullcoat. When dry I use Bragdon powders to weather. Sometimes I dampen a sharp tipped brush and move the powders around, maybe building a rust color along the edges.
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This is a shot just inside the doors. The stepladder was copied from one on the West Side Lumber Co. and is made from stripwood. The fire extinguisher hanging on the left is by Chooch. The tire is from a French Ford military truck kit, with the lug holes drilled out. The horseshoe over the office door is from smooshed solder. The Buick poster is from FSM, sanded thin and stained with dirty thinner. This shot also shows some of the (sawdust chip) leaves and dirt that always seem to accumulate in shops (and my garage!) Hanging hose is from solder, and the window is Mic Greenberg’s technique on acetate.
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This is Charlie Brommer’s (CHB Models) wonderful drill press. This kit got me started in O scale. The belt guard and hanging c-clamps were copied from a drill press at the Knight Foundry in Sutter Creek CA. The clamps and the screw jack are from CHB Models as well. The bins in the background were made from stripwood (you can get laser cut ones today). The saw horse was also made from stripwood. Shops need lots of bins and sawhorses!
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This is Charlie’s bolt cutter (threader). Round stock was clamped in the vise and fed into the rotating dies in the cutting head. Instead of using the more modern coolant pump supplied with the kit, I made a simple can and spigot (seen over the cutting head) copied from a turn of the century machine. The rag is painted tissue paper. Since long stock (such as freight car truss rods) was often threaded, a long space is usually required in front of these machines. In the Sierra RR machine shop however, the bolt cutter faces a wall, which seems odd. But if you look close, there is a square hole in the wall where longer stock was fed through from outside!
Chuck D.
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Spanners. The smaller ones to the left are from CHB (Brommer). The larger ones are Detail Associates, which I believe are still available. There are also a couple of old SS Ltd. HO scale closed end types too. The oil cans are Grandt Line.
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A close-up of the pipe fitting bins. The decimal equivalents chart was made in AutoCad.
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Here is a shot with the front doors closed. There is a fairly complete (non-operating) conduit system for the lights. One thing I would do over is add some kind of operating lights. Both Dan Downing & Brian Nolan have built shops with operating lights that were very effective.
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This a loft above the steam engine, similar to one seen at the Knight Foundry. A few spare line shaft hangers and a pulley sit on the boards. These boards were wiped with Woodland Scenics Burnt Umber liquid pigment to represent newer construction. BTW there was an article on the Knight Foundry in the Jan/Feb 2003 Gazette.
The roof covering was the old Rock Quarry tarpaper material. I think it's a bit too thick for tarpaper but it would be a huge job to replace it !
Chuck D.
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This lathe was made from two of Charlie Brommer’s engine lathe kits. At first, I made it an abandoned lathe with junk piled all around. Later I decided to make it “operational” and larger. The pedestal mounts were shortened, and a second bed was spliced on to add a few feet. Styrene spacers lifted the head and tailstocks. The larger diameter face plate came from a CHB drill press. Many of the machines were painted with Pactra or Testors military colors. Behind the tailstock, tools and a tray to hold them were copied from a lathe at the Knight Foundry. The horizontal wood lever hanging above operated the belt shifter (on/off). The lever allowed the operator to control the shifter anywhere along the lathe while turning long parts. The Pennzoil can was based on a prototype photo. I used a Grandt Line spike can and Microscale decals for the striping. The logo is an N scale Microscale decal. Several light coats of Dullcoat followed, and final weathering was with Bragdon powders.
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This is a close-up of one of the workbenches. I copied the air operated device from one in the East Broad Top shops. Not sure what it did, but it looked interesting! I copied the concept of under bench clutter from the Sierra RR shops. I imagine it took a pretty strong worker to jumble up those heavy brake cylinders underneath!
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