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bullbrauch
Engine Wiper
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Posted - 09/01/2011 : 9:00:11 PM
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Gent's,
It's nice to see how things are progressing on your side of the world, very excited to see this scene come together!
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Brandan
Living in Colorado,
home of the Rio Grande |
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Country:
| Posts: 124 |
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AVRR-PA
Fireman
Premium Member
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 Posted - 09/01/2011 : 9:08:40 PM
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Hi, Brandan --
Glad you're enjoying following along!
Don
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Country: USA
| Posts: 4600 |
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Vagel Keller
Crew Chief
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Posted - 09/01/2011 : 11:32:12 PM
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Ditto, Brandan. Glad you enjoy our adventures and hope you'll stick around.
By the way, I'll be at the narrow gauge convention in Hickory, NC next week, so if any of you will also be there, look me up. If you don't spot my nametag, the folks at the Friends of the East Broad Top table in the vendor area will probably be able to point me out to you.
Vagel
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Country: USA
| Posts: 722 |
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Orionvp17
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 09/02/2011 : 09:11:15 AM
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Any truth to the rumor that you'll be wearing the crown and cape while you're there, or are you going to stick with the cowbell? 
We should chat in Hickory -- I have some questions about your processes and results. And if you're nice to me, I might even buy!
Have a safe trip!
Pete
in Michigan
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Country: USA
| Posts: 2806 |
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elwoodblues
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 09/02/2011 : 11:31:33 AM
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Hi Pete, You going to Hickory, would be nice to finally meet you. I'll be there from Monday on.
Vagel, looking forward to seeing you in Hickory too.
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Ron Newby
General Manager
Clearwater Valley Railway Co.
http://www.cvry.ca |
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Country: Canada
| Posts: 4872 |
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Vagel Keller
Crew Chief
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Posted - 09/02/2011 : 1:32:15 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Orionvp17
Any truth to the rumor that you'll be wearing the crown and cape while you're there, or are you going to stick with the cowbell?
Sorry, Pete, but Burger King has forbidden me to wear the crown and cape since they retired the mascot, and the cowbell T-shirt is in the rag bin -- where it belongs.
Looking forward to seeing you -- and meeting you, Ron -- at the convention. Debbie and I are crossing the LD/LC early, on Sunday, so we can spend a couple days in Asheville at the Biltmore en route, so I'll be off the net 'til week after next.
Vagel
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Country: USA
| Posts: 722 |
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Orionvp17
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 09/02/2011 : 4:45:44 PM
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Bon Voyage!
Pete
in Michigan
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Country: USA
| Posts: 2806 |
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AVRR-PA
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 09/17/2011 : 06:35:05 AM
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Hi, everyone --
Vagel was away at the National Narrow Gauge and has been busy since returning, editing all his pictures. The best news (from my selfish standpoint) is that he did hook up with his model railroad drug dealer and came back with all the turnouts needed to complete the narrow gauge portion of the RR and I expect work will proceed rapidly.
I believe planning for the S-curved trestle is firm enough that I can reclaim the mylar drawing and start building the deck. 
Don
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Country: USA
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Vagel Keller
Crew Chief
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Posted - 09/27/2011 : 12:10:27 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by AVRR-PA
Hi, everyone --
Vagel was away at the National Narrow Gauge and has been busy since returning, editing all his pictures. The best news (from my selfish standpoint) is that he did hook up with his model railroad drug dealer and came back with all the turnouts needed to complete the narrow gauge portion of the RR and I expect work will proceed rapidly.
I believe planning for the S-curved trestle is firm enough that I can reclaim the mylar drawing and start building the deck.
Don
Well, I'm finally back from the narrow gauge convention, and it was great! Don'll have to be patient on the S-trestle, though. I've got a lot of projects to get to in the near future before we tackle what that valley is going to look like, at least to get the terrain contours visualized enough to start on the bents. Don did stop by this evening to retrieve the Mylar sketch so he can start on the deck.
I've been real busy with "historical gun-for-hire" self-employment since I returned, so I haven't had too much time to make much progress on the layout. Shortly after we returned, I was able to carve the other skewed portal under the narrow gauge Buchanan Branch - the one that the spur to the coke ovens will pass under. Here's a view of the two culverts in place:
Other than that, it's been pretty quiet. I do want to share a couple of additions to the layout that are the result of attending a real, honest-to-gosh national narrow gauge convention for the first time in 14 years, though. First, if you model the 1930s, ya gotta have 1930s construction equipment. Here's a built-up Rio Grande Models Wilford Shovel that was among a great assortment of built-up stuff Al Boos was selling at his table:
It goes well with another Al Boos product, a Rio Grande Models Best Sixty dozer that I bought from him at the last NNGC I went to, Cincinatti 1997:
Yeah, yeah, I know ... these should be posted in the non-rail vehicle forum, but, I couldn't resist crowing about the latest piece of "posh junk" that will populate some foreground scenes down the road.
Another outcome of being at the NNGC is that I started to think about doing something with an old Labelle D&RGW HOn3 combine kit that the 14-year-old Vagel, Jr. butchered in his youth ... you remember, back when Pittsburgh and Baltimore had major league baseball. John Polyak actually started the juices flowing when he suggested an old boxcar or something for inside the Wye at the end of the B&SGE mainline at Tuscarora Jct. Vance Jct. on the RGS immediately sprang to mind, and then the ol' Labelle combine popped into my head.
These pictures show the work in progress after I removed the rudimentary end railing from the endsills, sanded most of the gloss dark green Testors enamel from the carbody, and boarded up some of the window openings with 2x6 and 2x4 scale lumber during a quilting bee at Don's Sunday. I achieved the realistic dry rot effect along the bottom of the siding, as I recall, by using a really dull Exacto No. 17 blade that I found at the bottom of my Dad's old wood-working tool box (he scratch-built model gliders in his youth) to cut the siding from the 1/32" thick siding provided in the kit.
With the Labelle roofs, you have to sand the bull nose ends by sight against a profile on the instruction sheet, then figure out how to make the curved portion that carries the line of the roof side overhanging the celestory down to the roof end. Teenage Vagel got as far as sanding the bullnose, but gave up on the "fiddlybits." Today, with more tools in my arsenal, I used short pieces cut from coffee stirrers (scale 3" x 15" - ish) glued in place with Ailene's tacky glue, whittled to rough shape with a single-edge razor, then finish sanded with a sanding stick.
We'll see where this project takes me ... I think I'll start a thread in Mike Chambers' Craftman's Corner ... but the only thing I can say for sure right now is the the roof will definitely not be Insignia Red at the end of the day.
C'ya on the railroad,
Vagel
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Edited by - Vagel Keller on 09/27/2011 12:11:37 AM |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 722 |
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AVRR-PA
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 09/27/2011 : 6:16:42 PM
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Hi, everyone --
I think it's pretty interesting that Vagel is resurrecting a kit that he started when he was 14 and never finished. I hope he does start a thread on it in Craftsmens Corner.
I can be patient on building the bents for the trestle - building the deck will keep me occupied for quite some time, especially if I put enough NBW's in the guard timbers. I'm still playing in my head with ideas on how to construct it.
Vagel, having been driven crazy with trying to spike rail down on my previous effort with it already in place on the layout, very sensibly wants the rail all spiked down while the deck is still on the bench. I think I'll get Garth (Boatbuilder Dude) to help me make a wooden guide to spike the rail into a "fair curve."
Don
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Country: USA
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AVRR-PA
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 10/11/2011 : 2:11:27 PM
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Hi, everyone --
I've made some progress on the S-curved trestle - the deck is mostly done.
I decided to build over a substantial chunk of pink foam so that I would have a work surface that was rigid but which would accept modeler's pin, to hold stuff in place.
I tacked the Mylar drawing down and added double-sided tape at the bent locations. I stuck down the bent cap timbers (and further secured them with modeler's pin when necessary) and then glued on the main supports. I stained all the components with an aniline dye stain before gluing anything. In this picture, I've started adding the ties.
The ties, unlike the timbers, were colored with a mixture of black and brown shoe dye and alcohol - no special reason, I just liked the way it looked.
The spacing between the ties is about half the width of a tie. I found some scrap styrene that was about right.
In the picture below, all the ties are installed and the refuge plaforms are built. I won't add the handrails and fire barrels until the track has been spiked down. I started to install the guard timbers but stopped after doing just one side because I realized they could interfere with the template I'm making to ensure that the rails form a "fair curve."
When Vagel finishes up the deck truss thingie that goes in the center, I'll dig out a recess in the pink foam so that it sits at exactly the same height as the wooden deck, tie everything together with epoxy, and then Vagel can lay the rails. I'm sure he's planning to use individual etched brass tie plates. (Actually, I'm sure he's not going to do anything that foolish.)
Edit: forgot to mention that after all the main timbers were solidly glued in place, I sanded them flat to make sure the ties would have a flat surface for gluing. I didn't bother restaining them because they are pretty invisible under the ties. After the ties were glued down, I let the glue (carpenter's yellow glue) cure overnight and then sanded the ties flat. I did re-stain the ties after sanding, vacuuming them first.
For the moment, that's that.
Don
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Edited by - AVRR-PA on 10/11/2011 6:47:02 PM |
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Country: USA
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Vagel Keller
Crew Chief
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Posted - 10/11/2011 : 6:08:16 PM
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Don's making quick work of the trestle deck! I'd better get busy on that MicroEngineering deck girder (not truss). Meanwhile, I've been making incremental progress on the concrete arch underpasses behind the blast furnace area.
I've got all the pieces cut out ready for final fitting in place:
The experiment with spreading a thin coat of artist grade paper mache' over the foam shape to represent rough concrete seems to be working well:
Still pluggin' along,
Vagel
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Country: USA
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George D
Moderator
Premium Member
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Posted - 10/11/2011 : 8:54:48 PM
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I like your paper mache' idea. I assume it protects the surface of the foam too.
George
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Country: USA
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jbvb
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 10/11/2011 : 8:55:39 PM
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I built a skewed arch for a road overpass, but I fabricated it from sheet styrene. The skew wasn't as acute as yours, and the arch was continuous where yours is sprung from 15 feet up a vertical wall.
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Country: USA
| Posts: 1862 |
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AVRR-PA
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 10/11/2011 : 9:39:27 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by jbvb
I built a skewed arch for a road overpass, but I fabricated it from sheet styrene. The skew wasn't as acute as yours, and the arch was continuous where yours is sprung from 15 feet up a vertical wall.
Sounds intriguing. Could you post a picture?
Don
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Country: USA
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