| Author |
 Topic  |
|
silveradonorthern
Crew Chief
USA
614 Posts |
 Posted - 05/18/2011 : 5:38:52 PM
|
Hi Everyone,
I think I’ve mentioned before one of the great joys in a project such as this is having a co-conspirator to share ideas, techniques and from time to time reference photos. Some time back Kris sent me a batch of photographs. In the collection was a pair of dynamite storage sheds. (I learned that often two sheds were used one to store the blasting caps the other for the dynamite to reduce the chance of accidental explosions.) These buildings are different from other TNT shacks I’ve seen. The design caught Kris’s eye and mine as well. The pictures are copyrighted so I can’t show then here on the forum.
I used my CAD program to help create a 3d version of the sheds. The walls are of rough random stone with heavy mortar joints. The arched roof is brick laid in three courses. The door is a simple metal door set in a wood frame. Above the door is a heavy metal beam. If I’m correct they call this a lentil. (Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong) Not shown in the drawing but a critical feature are two (on each side) heavy metal plates with rod ends. These rods would have run through the structure from one side to the other to help hold the arch shaped roof.
Kris expressed his interest in building a model of one of these TNT shacks but felt it would most likely be the last structure to be constructed for his diorama. While these sheds intrigue me, I felt they didn’t ‘quite’ fit into my plans. (For my diorama) I asked Kris if he’d allow me the pleasure of building one of these sheds for him. He accepted my offer and I now have the challenge of building one of these little gems.
The arched roof would be the determining factor in the front and rear dimensions. A piece of PVC pipe seemed the obvious choice to create the half round shape. I had a 1 ½” coupler on hand so I drew up (in CAD) the front of the shed. I did this for a couple of other sizes as well. I sent Kris the drawings and both of us felt the 1 ½” size gave the most pleasing proportions. The shed is maybe just a ‘bit’ smaller than those in the pictures but overall will fit better in the completed diorama. Here are the basic dimensions.
The door size and wall height are simply my best guesstimates. When I first looked at the pictures I thought the roof transitioned smoothly into the wall, but under closer scrutiny I could see the walls were a little wider. Close examination of the pictures shows just how crude the construction of these sheds were. The ledge created where the roof meets the walls is far from equal on both sides, and there are other less than equal construction points. Also not in the drawing are a number of wood ‘slats’ running front to back on some parts of the roof. These slats create questions I have no answers for. The pictures are from a recent time frame and there is plenty of evidence that the sheds have survived lots of mother nature. Were these wood slats used to attach some other roofing material? It makes no sense to me why that might have been done. For now they remain an enigma.
I chose to cast the TNT shed as one big casting in POP. Plaster of Paris is easy to carve and there is no need for a higher strength compound such as hydrocal.
Here is the 1 ½” PVC coupler cut in half:
To create the mold for the POP I went with 1” thick foam. They have a name for this type but when cut or broken little beads can be seen. I have easy access to this foam and I find it works great in this application. First I glued the half round pipe section to a thin sheet of styrene making sure the cut edges were level. Next I glued the wall sections in place. The rear wall was glued in next. I used “Weldbond” for my glue and some large square metal angles to hold everything in place and square while the glue dried. Here is a picture showing the three wall sections with the half round pipe all put together:
The front wall section was a bit trickier. I wanted to create a recess for both the door section and the lentil. These ‘plugs’ were glued to a thin sheet of styrene. The door plug was cut from a piece of scrap plexiglass I had. The lentil plug was a square piece of styrene that scaled out to 6” x 6”. Here is a picture of the front wall with ‘plugs’ installed. To make the items show a bit better for the photo, I used a black marker to outline the door, and color the lentil.
Here is the completed mold ready for the POP.
After the glued had dried overnight it was time to mix and pour the POP into the mold. No matter how careful you are in the mixing some bubbles will form. To reduce this I spooned in the POP a little at a time, then I used a small vibrating sander to vibrate the work surface and mold. When the mold was full I allowed the sander to run for a longer period bringing many fine bubbles to the surface. By taking these extra steps I created a casting with almost zero bubble/voids.
After a few hours of drying it was time to slowly cut the mold apart. Here is the casting out of the mold. There are rough edges to be sanded down but that was to be expected. The PVC fitting has a ridge inside that created a channel across the roof. Again I knew this would be the case and will fill and sand out this channel before carving begins.
Aside from the time it took to draw out the plan in CAD creating the mold took a couple of hours to build. Over the course of two days I now have the casting for the TNT shack.
After a week drying and some pictures out in the sun here is the casting.
NOTE: the black marks around the door opening is simply some of the black marker that transfer to the plaster.
In the process of taking the casting out of the mold, there were two sections that ‘blew out’ but they are easily repaired. One can be seen on the left hand side of the door opening. I glued the chip back in place and when the stone carving is done it will never be seen. The other is on the roof along the 'channel.' When the channel is filled in that chip will be handled. All and all I'm happy with my efforts to date.
Next up some light sanding and filling then the carving will begin. I do my carving in very small stretches of time so it'll be a while before I'll have more photos.
As always questions, comments, suggestions and such welcome. |
Michael |
 |
|
|
LynnB
Fireman
Canada
1688 Posts |
|
|
hon3_rr
Fireman
USA
4689 Posts |
Posted - 05/18/2011 : 10:33:46 PM
|
All I can say is Thank You Michael for such a wonderful structure.
When Michael started sending me some of the pictures and descriptions on the work he was doing, I really wanted him to describe the work here. I know that he wanted to clean up his drawings a bit, but Michael has been keeping me in the information loop throughout this build. I'm not a plaster carver, and quite frankly, the chimney on Testards Cabin is scary to me,... ( I still have not yet attacked it.) I think this may have been one of the reasons which Michael identified as a reason to build the TNT shack for me.
As Michael noted, this structure has a really unique feature of the rods running through the structure with large side plates, which have a really interesting visual effect on the structure. Michael has cast the entire structure, but I may be planting the structure into a sharp hill side. So, per our discussions, Michael may not carve the the entire back and base. I'm leaving that up to him as to how much he wants to carve and I'll adjust the structure to fit into the diorama accordingly to show as much as possible of his work. We have seen that Michael can produce a really nicely carved stone casting, as seen on page 11, so I'm ** really excited ** to see what this is going to really look like when Michael gets it carved. For coloring, current plans call for me to provide Michael with some colored samples of the stone and rock work work which will be used on the diorama, since the coloring of the stones should be close to what would be found at the structure site. This will be done in a couple of months when the club has a rock casing/ground cover session for three new modules which are being constructed. I'll be using the same general color schema on my diorama so as to blend with the other three modules.
I have finished and delivered the two structures for the gentleman with Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS), and so will be returning shortly to this thread and the ore bin along with trying out some techniques presented by Michael in plaster carving for the chimney on Testards Cabin. |
--KP
Life is to short to make all of the models I want to. |
Edited by - hon3_rr on 05/18/2011 10:39:02 PM |
|
|
|
silveradonorthern
Crew Chief
USA
614 Posts |
Posted - 05/19/2011 : 7:13:12 PM
|
Hi Everyone,
Thanks Lynn for taking a look at this thread and for your kind words.
quote:
I'm not a plaster carver, and quite frankly, the chimney on Testards Cabin is scary to me,... ( I still have not yet attacked it.) I think this may have been one of the reasons which Michael identified as a reason to build the TNT shack for me.
Kris, it's the joy of building it and the fact that I get to try my hand at something I might not otherwise do.
quote:
I may be planting the structure into a sharp hill side. So, per our discussions, Michael may not carve the the entire back and base. I'm leaving that up to him as to how much he wants to carve and I'll adjust the structure to fit into the diorama accordingly to show as much as possible of his work.
Current plan is to carve the whole structure. By doing so I hope to give you the greatest latitude in placing the structure. If some of the work is hidden that is fine. Having the TNT shack 'fit' into your diorama is much more important to me.
BTW forgot to say so yesterday but the front to back dimension on the TNT shack is a scale 9'.
quote:
For coloring, current plans call for me to provide Michael with some colored samples of the stone and rock work work which will be used on the diorama, since the coloring of the stones should be close to what would be found at the structure site. This will be done in a couple of months when the club has a rock casing/ground cover session for three new modules which are being constructed. I'll be using the same general color schema on my diorama so as to blend with the other three modules.
This will be a fun challenge, trying to make everything blend in as if done by a single person.[:-bigeyes2]
A very quick update on my mine structure. Over the last two days I completed the cutting, shaping (sanding) and gluing in place the eight 6" x 12" timbers (see blue arrow) close to the top of the head frame. Step 4 in the instructions has now been checked off.
 |
Michael |
Edited by - silveradonorthern on 05/19/2011 7:17:54 PM |
|
|
|
ETinBH
Fireman
USA
4242 Posts |
Posted - 05/19/2011 : 7:38:34 PM
|
| casting work was way cool |
|
|
|
silveradonorthern
Crew Chief
USA
614 Posts |
Posted - 05/19/2011 : 8:52:54 PM
|
quote:
casting work was way cool
Thanks ElliottThat was the easy part, the real fun is yet to come.[:-eyebrows] |
Michael |
|
|
|
LaRueD
Engine Wiper
USA
412 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2011 : 12:54:44 PM
|
Your progress and techniques are inspiring. [:-thumbu] Well done. Looking forward to your continued efforts ...
Best wishes,
Delbert [:-glasses] |
Edited by - LaRueD on 05/20/2011 12:57:03 PM |
|
|
|
railman28
Fireman
USA
1726 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2011 : 3:29:42 PM
|
| I am learning so much from this tread. Thank you all for sharing your techniques with us(me). |
It's Only Make Believe
Bob Harris |
|
|
|
hon3_rr
Fireman
USA
4689 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2011 : 4:11:06 PM
|
Well, back on page 12 I showed the main ore bin and where I'm at. I got some additional outside pictures for a bit better color reference.
OK... I got ahead of myself if you will recall. In my haste to make sure that the bents lined up I added the flooring to the bin. I did this prior to putting in the vertical side support timbers.
The problem is that there is about a 1/4 inch of flooring which will be showing once I get the siding on the bin. I am unable to go a good board x board coloring of the last 1/2 inch or so of the flooring on the top (inside of the bin) flooring, so I have to identify a alternative way to color the flooring. If you will refer back to the great thread by Ed Traxler (eTraxx) you will see what I'm referencing in the diagrams he presented at:
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=30737
So.. (option 1) is to pull up the flooring or (option 2) is to lay down a second layer of flooring after the vertical timbers have been added and notch the flooring around the timbers. It is this option (#2) which I'm going to do.
The pictures show the underside of the bin with the boards colored. Remember, the bin is upside down, so the dark siding is actuall at the lower part of the bin when positioned correctly, with the boards getting lighter towards the upper part of the bin floor. The second picture shows the inside of the bin, and you can tell why I'm not really wanting to try to color the individual boards.
 |
--KP
Life is to short to make all of the models I want to. |
|
|
|
wesleybeks
Fireman
South Africa
2209 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2011 : 07:21:48 AM
|
I love how the casting turned out Michael. Thanks for the step by step.
Will be interesting to see what it looks like when you have completed the carving. |
Regards
Wes.
Dont leave for tomorrow what you can do today. |
|
|
|
Geared
Section Hand
Canada
56 Posts |
Posted - 05/23/2011 : 01:37:57 AM
|
Great work, Michael. Your efforts and the result are inspiring.
Roy
|
|
|
|
alpha_1
Engine Wiper
Canada
140 Posts |
Posted - 05/23/2011 : 04:28:53 AM
|
| Hi all. Just caught up with this thread, being a mining man through and through. Great work Michael! Hope to see much more! Thanks for sharing. |
Gord Schneider
Port Credit, ON
President & Chief Engineer
Kootenay Lakes Steam & Navigation Co. Ltd. |
|
|
|
hon3_rr
Fireman
USA
4689 Posts |
Posted - 05/23/2011 : 1:13:22 PM
|
The vertical side supports have been added along with additional N-B-W's. I have also been coloring some additional strip wood for the flooring per the coloring insturcutions on page 10.
 |
--KP
Life is to short to make all of the models I want to. |
|
|
|
hon3_rr
Fireman
USA
4689 Posts |
Posted - 05/23/2011 : 1:22:46 PM
|
| Does anyone know if there is a mfg. who makes N-B-W's castings to go into angled wood joints. I think that particular kind of N-B-W is called a 'thimble' and I thought that Grandt Line made some, but I'm unable to locate the casting on the Grandt web site. I'd prefer plastic castings, but I'll take brass if I have to. I need to put about 40 of this casting type at the joints where the angled supports meet other support timbers. Thanks in advance. |
--KP
Life is to short to make all of the models I want to. |
|
|
|
hon3_rr
Fireman
USA
4689 Posts |
Posted - 05/24/2011 : 7:47:46 PM
|
I have been adding the 2x8 boards to the flooring. Note that I did not do any ‘extra’ work on these boards such as knot holes. These details do exist on the bottom or exposed layer of of the floor, even though the details will not be seen once the structure is placed on the diorama.
Working from the bottom up has provided the opportunity to test & practice some of the coloring and cutting techniques which was used again when placing the boards around the second, higher up vertical support. This is due to the outside cross support timber running by the attachment of the lower vertical support actually hides the notching and coloring of the boards.
The raw wood exposed when the notches were made in the floor boards to go around the vertical supports have been colored with a dark brown acrylic wash and then touched-up with a medium A-I wash. This was all done with a 4-0 sable brush to keep the washes off of the face of the boards so that when the outside board edges are colored for the entire floor, the notched board will blend better.
The final pictue shows the entire floor with the 2nd boards in place. Note how the color goes from a brown at the bottom to a lighter orange at the top. This gives a feel for what the actual bin will look like with the siding in place. It looks like some of the vertical bents have had the boards going around them notched too much, but in fact what you are seeing is the brown acrylic stain on the board edge where the board is notched due to the sharp angle of the bin floor. The floor boards when viewed from the side edge on are actually quite tight around the vertical bins.
Next up is getting the siding on the bin.
 |
--KP
Life is to short to make all of the models I want to. |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
A Tale Of Two Mines- The Silverado & The Leaverite
