Recent work on the In-ko-pah Railroad

[Leon]

I'm really liking this Ray!

[Ray Dunakin]

Thanks guys!

A few days ago I posted this photo of a styrene test piece for the covers on the engine:




My plan was to make a rubber mold and cast these things in resin. But that test piece was too rough. Well, I tried a couple more and couldn't get it to look as good as I wanted. So I tried a different approach, making it out of 1mm Sintra and scribing the indentations. That turned out even worse:




Even if I could have created a suitable master, I had doubts about how well such thin pieces would reproduce as castings. So I scrapped the whole idea and decided to come up with a non-prototypical design that would be simple enough that I could make all 20 of them individually. My first test of this was extremely simple, just a flat piece of styrene with rounded corners and a nut/washer in the middle:




But I felt that this was TOO simple. I wanted something that looked a bit more interesting. The design I settled on was made by layering two pieces of .020" styrene. Both pieces had the corners rounded, and I beveled the edges of the smaller piece before gluing it on top of the base piece. Here's how they turned out:








I also did some work on the base for the engine and generator:








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[panzerjager2]

Hells Bells.... Ray I think they look damned good...... 
PJ2

[John Everett]

It’s a shame this generator is going to be hidden in a nearly closed room. Are you sure you don’t want to make the windows a little larger or omit the door altogether?

[Ray Dunakin]

I think I've discovered Murphy's Law of Model-Making: A spilled bottle of solvent will always flow towards a stack of recently completed styrene details.

[Leon]

OUCH!!!! Hope the damage is'nt to bad Ray.

[panzerjager2]

Nov 16, 2017 2:11:18 GMT -5 Ray Dunakin said:

I think I've discovered Murphy's Law of Model-Making: A spilled bottle of solvent will always flow towards a stack of recently completed styrene details.

 Ray I thought I had discovered that Law of Physics.............. LOL LOL LOL
I hope the damage is minimal.....  I now secure mine with double sided tape just because I take the "short bus"... LOL LOL 
PJ2

[Ray Dunakin]

Not too bad, mostly just annoying.

[Ray Dunakin]

After a very lengthy hiatus from modeling, I'm finally starting to get back into it a little. Currently I'm trying to finish up the two incomplete projects I'd been working on before. One of these is the Grizzly Bar saloon. I last worked on this almost a year ago. Here's where I left off:




Since then I've painted and weathered the upper portion to look like old wood with faded/peeled paint. The corrugated metal was painted with two-part rust from Sophisticated Finishes. I also put corrugated metal on the roof of the patio. Signs were made by printing out the designs onto self-adhesive vinyl, which was then cut out as a stencil:











Because the roof has warped a little, I had to curve the lettering slightly:





The windows and doors were painted separately prior to installing the glass:





I added security bars to the patio door. These were made from styrene:





The building is now complete except for the lights and some interior details:








Enjoy!

[panzerjager2]

GREAT to see you back Ray,  LOVE the Grizzly Bar 
PJ2

[Ray Dunakin]

The other incomplete model that I'm trying to get finished is the power house for the Mineral Ridge mine and mill. When I last worked on it, I had been in the middle of constructing the large diesel generator for the interior. That part of the project is still on hold, but I'm currently working on finishing up the exterior of the structure. Here's what it looked like when I left off:





I built two different smoke stacks for the building. One is for the generator and one for the blacksmith's forge. The generator stack is made of brass and has a conical cap:











The forge stack is a bit shorter and has a simpler design:





I also decided that the building really needed a pair of ventilation cupolas. I built these out of 6mm Sintra, with styrene strips for the louvers. Since I had already covered the roof with corrugated metal, I had to mount them to the metal with Dynaflex 230:











That's about as far as I've got, for now.


Enjoy!

[Leon]

Work on the saloon and power house look good Ray!

[joelsmith]

Did you "Color Case Harden" you roofing to get that wonderful multi-colored hue?

[Ray Dunakin]

The corrugated metal is thin brass, which I soften by heating with a torch prior to corrugating it. That causes the rainbow effect, which will all be hidden under paint.

[Ray Dunakin]

A little more progress...

Four strands of fine copper wire were soldered to the large smoke stack. The other ends of these wires were tied to tiny eye hooks, which I got from the jewelry section in Michael's:




I sprayed the entire exterior of the building with self-etching metal primer. Then I sprayed a bit of white primer onto the "wood" portions of the cupolas and trim:




I painted the doors and window frames, beginning with a coat of white primer. Next I applied various shades of brown and gray, to simulate the appearance of old wood. When that was dry, I liberally brushed on some Testor's enamel thinner. While this was wet, I added the white/green color coats, using a modified dry-brush technique. The enamel acts as a "resist", and this effect combined with the dry-brush technique results in a look of worn, peeled paint:








I also painted the removable interior of the building's main room. It's a bit rough, but doesn't need to be perfect. Much of it will be obscured by the generator and other items, and most of it will only be visible from one angle when seen through the windows:






The "wood" portions of the cupola and exterior trim were painted in a similar manner to the doors and windows:




Then I had to mask off these areas in preparation for the next step. I will be spraying the building with Rustoleum "Cold Galvanizing Compound". This will give the building a realistic appearance of galvanized metal:






That's all for now, more later. Enjoy!


.

[Ray Dunakin]

I used this photo of the control panel at the Diamond Tunnel mine in Nevada to create the electrical control panel for the model:





I started by importing a copy of the photo into Photoshop, where I retouched it, cleaned it up, straightened it out, and cropped it. Then I printed it onto self-adhesive vinyl. I mounted this on 6mm Sintra. I also printed a second copy to use as a guide in making some details that would stand out in 3D. I mounted these on 1mm Sintra, and cut them out:





I added some thicker pieces of Sintra as needed, and sanded them to shape. Then I glued the details to the main panel:





Next I cut out the slots for the switch levers, and removed the remaining vinyl. I also added some dials made from slices of styrene rod:





The switch levers were made from brass and glued in place:





Next I made a frame for the control panel, using styrene strips and a piece of heavy brass screen:





I painted the frame, and also painted the switches and other details to match the photographic print. Then I glued the control panel into the frame, and glued the entire assembly into the building's interior:







.

[Leon]

Control panel looks fantastic ray!

[wbill76]

Good to see you back working on this 'labor of love' project Ray! Some fine details you're adding there for sure.

[Ray Dunakin]

Getting near the end on this one...

After painting the exterior with Rustoleum's "Cold Galvanizing Compound", I went to work on the weathering. I've noticed that even galvanized metal can become rusted and/or discolored when exposed to the minerals and chemicals that are often found in and around mines, so that's what I wanted here. I used a two-part process to create real rust. This is sold under the brand name Sophisticated Finishes. Part one is an acrylic paint filled with iron powder. Part two is a chemical solution that rusts the iron.

Applying this effect to only parts of the structure, and in varying degrees, is a bit tricky. And the zinc in the galvanizing compound seems to inhibit it, which adds to the trickiness. I had to brush the iron paint on, applying a thick coat in some places and thinner in others. Then apply the rust solution. A lot of trial and error was involved, and additional applications of both the iron paint and the rust solution were needed. Here's how it looked partway through the process:





And here's the finished weathering. Time and exposure to real weather will improve it, turning the rust to a more natural coloration:





I added a rain gutter over the door to the blacksmith's shop, and also added a wooden lamp post and exterior lights:







I still need to cement the concrete steps in place, and build up the "soil" around the base of the building.



For the interior of the powerhouse, I painted the ceiling black between the rafters, and drilled holes where the lights will be:





The industrial-style lampshades are from Plastruct. I drilled them out to fit 3mm LEDs, which will be inserted from the top. Then I glued them to the ceiling:









The diesel generator is still unfinished, but was installed temporarily for these photos. I also added lights to the assay office, on the level below the powerhouse:








That's all for now. Enjoy!

[Leon]

That is some awesome weathering Ray! The lighting looks great.

[Ray Dunakin]

Thanks Leon! As they say on TV, "But wait, there's more!"

Way back in January 2015, I finished the interior of a radio repair shop. That same building had room for another shop which was going to be a barbershop. By March of 2015 I had scratchbuilt a barber's chair:





Then the barbershop got put on the back burner while I worked on some other projects. Well, I'm happy to say that I've finally finished the barbershop, more than three years later!

I started by building a corner cabinet with a mirror. The parts were cut from thin Sintra PVC board:









The mirror was something I had bought from the craft store a few years ago. It had a thick, very oversized frame cast out of polyester resin. I had to sand off most of the frame to get it down to a useable size:






Once I got this far, I decided to add a counter extending to the left:







I added a couple strips of quarter-round rod to hold the mirror in place and hide the gaps:




After adding some styrene strips to represent drawers, and slices of styrene channel for handles, the cabinet was painted. Here's a shot of it temporarily in place in the building:





Then I started making all the little details. A coat rack was made from a strip of styrene and short sections of thin brass rod:




Various bottles were turned from clear acrylic rod and hand-painted. Vintage signs, posters, calendars, etc were printed on self-adhesive vinyl. The "glass" on the clock was cut from a cheap plastic "google-eye":







I wanted a simple wooden chair for waiting customers. I tried ordering one in 1/24th scale from a vendor on Shapeways. The first batch arrived and were too small. I notified the vendor, he made some changes, and sent me another batch. These were too large. Finally I just scratchbuilt a chair in the correct scale. Mine's the one in the middle:




I painted it to look like varnished wood:




More details were created to fill up the east wall, including a scratchbuilt magazine rack:




Here's an overhead shot, with the ceiling removed:




I made ceiling light fixtures from an acrylic "tulip" bead, a white fluted bead, and a plastic button. The bases of the lamps were painted with a metallic "steel" paint:






At last the building was finished and reinstalled on the layout. I also have added curtains and lighting to the Grizzly Bar Saloon:








The town of Mineral Ridge is really starting to look alive. Once I've finished adding interior details and lights to the remaining structures it will really be impressive:




















Enjoy!


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[wbill76]

Well worth the wait Ray, I had to smile at your 'goldilocks' chair situation.

[adt70hk]

Ray

As always I'm in total awe of what you can achieve. That looks fantastic.

ATB

Andrew

[Ray Dunakin]

Thanks guys!

[Leon]

Your scratch building and details are amazing Ray! I love the night pics with the lights.

[multicam]

It was really fun catching up on this build. A real scratch-building master class. Beautiful work, Ray!

[Ray Dunakin]

Thanks!

[buddho]

Some of the most amazing work I have seen, a masterful amount of work here. Wow

[mustang1989]

Now THIS......is off the charts unbelievable!! Mister......you sure as heck know your way around scratchbuilding and this thread displays a wealth of knowledge and skill that I hope that you'll continue to demonstrate for us here. Man......un....believable!!

[`Boots`]

Man....i remember this from way back, stunning work indeed