The sorting and transfer tables, tool and donkey sheds, log brow, unloading platform, slab conveyor and slab bin OH MY!

 I've been building the Sierra West Mill kit and I have made good progress these past 6 months. The latest flurry of activity has me at the middle of the build. Its best in my opinion to not look too far ahead, but to keep your focus and attention on the here and now. The project seemingly never lets go. In the build manual I'm on page 58 out of 120 pages. So it is getting to the hump of the matter anyways. And it absolutely continues to be a fun build.

The sorting and transfer tables with a small transfer cart was straightforward, although mounting the rails in 5 minute epoxy was a challenge. I ended up using HOn3 spacing. It came out like this;

I had to hack off several scale feet of the sorting table to get it to fit in the space I have which is an overall width  of just 16." Getting the diorama fitted properly in the available space has been an ongoing concern.

The tool and donkey sheds were interesting to build, as they were constructed using 4x4's and were delicate to put together.  Only the donkey shed has a roof at this point. When I start getting into the details of the build the steam donkey with its exhaust poking out of the roof should look good. Here are some photos of the sheds.

Note that at the end of the deck and pointing to the log brow will be a triangular crane that will be used to lift logs off log cars and dump them onto the log brow. The log brow is tilted and angled so the the logs roll off the brow and into the pond.

The log brow was not a difficult build, but its scale bothers me. I hope that when its sitting in the mill pond it will look different. Operationally the movement of log cars in and out of the mill will add to the operations around the mill. 

The last pieces built during this round are the slab bin and slab conveyor. The conveyor will transport wood out of the new mill and connect with the bin.

That is the latest. In progress is the log conveyor to the new mill. Which I'll show next time. Thanks for reading about the Pino Grande mill build on my Placerville branch Rr. 

The log pond Boat House, saw dust shed, and the saw dust conveyor

Three additional builds in the last few weeks, though I've taken some time off to tend to other hobbies and events. 
First on the list is the log pond Boat House build. Shown here in its completed form minus details.

This was a fun build, mostly because I look forward to seeing all those pilings sitting in water one day on the layout. 
I bought more Woodland Scenics foam to continue to sort out the elevation deltas between pond - table black - and the various entrances to the two mills. Once I've painted all the details what with boats, tanks, various tools and two interior work benches those curious to take a look will find plenty of eye candy. Mostly, I want to finish the buildings - add interior details so I can add roofs and do all the building exterior details possible before I start the installation on the layout. The builds seem to get more tedious as I go along, but I'm at least at the halfway point and still enjoying the journey.

Another point of view. On the layout I may reverse the building orientation - front to back  so that the Boat House is against the back wall and the 2 mills are in front. I'll know better how to pose them once we get it all down there.
The saw dust shed was an easy build. Just a wood slated roof supported by 2 side walls for support. Here is a photo of it and the completed saw dust conveyor.

The lower end of the saw dust conveyor sits opposite the lean too or saw dust shed.
The conveyor was more difficult, involving layers of details to the structure, getting the legs all the correct length, adding a pulley to the high end and a conveyor belt. Still unfinished due to the saw dust I'll being dumping all over it later on.
Like almost all structures on this kit, I start with a template, which I cover in wax paper. The bottom pieces are spot glued to the wax paper. Just one or two drops of ZAP canopy glue on the side down  minimizes/eliminates wax paper coming off and sticking to the glued down pieces. 
FYI, I use canopy glue for all wood to wood or wood to paper applications. I use CA for metal to plastic applications.
Here is a photo of the bents being built.

Then the beginnings of the conveyor.

Then the full conveyor still on its paper base. This is a case where I followed the directions and wish I hadn't, as the all the bents were glued directly to the paper template, I assume for a stable platform, but I spent hours pulling, cutting and sanding paper off the bottom of each bent leg. 

I won't be able to fit the conveyor into its proper place due to my space restrictions. It will fit sideways with a brick firewall catching and piling up all the saw dust from the mill. With these 3 pieces done or nearly so, I'm moving onto the elevated slab bin. I'll write about that next time. 

Additions

Its seems longer then 8 days, since I posted a progress report. But the last one was on the 2nd and today's the 10th. 
Modeling abounds in those 8 days along with a stab at figuring out the location and size of the mill pond. I've had to order more foam board to help get all the levels correct.
Additionally, I am still fidgeting  where the buildings have to fit in the space. With nothing glued down it's tedious, but until I'm finished building this thing I have to live with it. 

I got to the point where I needed to open up the foam board and use the table top as the pond to get to that next level of fit. I messed around with trying to get trackage into the mill site, and wrote some additional track ideas on the foam at bottom left. I may not be able to sort that out until the model is on the layout.

Log ramps are built with entry trackage on the inside of the mill. The dam is built, its right up against the uncut foam. You can see it peeking out left and right. The two sided rough drying shed without the roof is also complete and resides on the opposite end of the mill.

One last thought for today. I am so happy I took the time to stain every last piece of wood for this project on Day 1. Now I just look up the bag number for the dimensions I need, pull the wood and I'm good to go. As I cut and fit legs or supports the ends are prime wood with no stain, so I go back to the staining and painting table in the garage with a hand full of parts, decks, legs etc and restain the bare ends. Why not - it looks so much better in the end.

Next is the Log Pond dock and Dynamite Shack dock. I am happy to be building that which will stand in the modeled water. 

See you all next time and happy modeling

Space considerations

As previously mentioned , the space needed for the entire Twin Mills Deer Creek diorama is not near what the Placerville Branch layout can provide. 
I decided on woodland scenic's foam board as the diorama's base and took it to the layout and and cut it to the shape of the space available. Once that was done I started by placing the basic four sides of the new mill on the layout to gain perspective as to how this might work not just for space, but for view perspective as well

 

In the above photo, what with only single building half way constructed its a real guessing game what will be included and what will not. I've done enough of these fit ups and compression's to know that it takes time. The more data you have, meaning the more pieces placed on the available space the more the space reveals itself. I know, sounds a bit airy, but its how I at least work out a "what'll fit," problem like this. Here are some other on layout prospective's with the new Mill shell moved around.

My next step was to take everything up to the modeling room, put out a small table, put the foam on it and as I build, move the pieces around to see if i can sort it out that way.  I probably have a good year of building ahead of me, so no rush. I'll move things around when I have a fresh notion.

I'll keep adding to the structures until all structures are built, then I'll sort it out from there. The lower 2 photos show the new and old mills partially built and the boiler house shell tagged onto the new mill
More building next time. Next up; the drying shed.

The New Mill sides

left wall completed, right wall in process

The new mill sides incorporated some different techniques that I had not tried before.  The framing composed mostly of 8 x 8’s has been the same for all of the buildings and is just a matter of cutting accurately and gluing neatly. Easy to say, harder to do. It just comes with practice.

both walls completed with siding

Siding is composed of 2 x 12’s at the bottom in the horizontal plane, 3 strips wide, 3' total. The vertical pieces are composed of 2 x 10’s. The manufacturer suggested mixing the 2 x 10’s and the 2 x 12’s on the vertical plane, but I went with 2 x 10’s only. I didn’t think mixed width siding boards would look proper.
The siding needs lots of work before applying them to the frames.  I roughed them up with a metal brush to give them a weathered appearance. I followed by 400 grit sanding sticks. to lighten areas that I thought had stained too dark. The next step was to recreate a broken or faded yellow paint, mottled with age.  Here again my application was different then the suggested one. The recommended applicator was terry cloth. Looking around my own supplies I came up with artists sponges instead. These worked fine and gave me a very light mottled yellow look to the siding. I dipped the sponge into water first, then squeezed it out. I used a aged yellow acrylic as my color and after getting some on the sponge dabbed it against some cardboard to rid the sponge of most of the paint.  Then I applied what was left on my sponge to my weathered siding.
That was it. The siding takes time of course. It is board on board and care needs to be taken to get them right. 
Last, I came up with a feasible way to understand and correct for the space I have to put this model onto the layout. I had mentioned in earlier posts that there were space restrictions. That means I ain't got enough room for everything so I will have to make choices and compromises. That will be for next time. Stay safe and sane out there. We're all in this together. 

Old Mill sorting floor and lower deck

The next 2 decks on the Pino Mill are the sorting floor deck and the lower deck of the Old mill floors
Both can be seen here fitted to the raised old mill deck. The lower deck fits into the square void of the upper or elevated deck and the sorting deck sits to the right. These were fairly easy to construct and completes the old mill minus the machinery, pulleys, wires, chains etc which will bring this portion alive.
Before leaving this section I'll get bare wood restained as needed..
After that, I need to take some undocumented time out and works on a couple of loco items which John Gibson has installed sound. Mostly decaling and renumbering is in order and a ladders and railings reinstalled.
That along with getting all the castings primered for this project, repaint a brass tender so John can get the Tsunami decoder I bought for that installed. I imagine it will take a couple of weeks....and I'll be back after that with the New Mill build. That will be interesting as its paint on top of stain showing lots of age. The techniques I 'll use for that will be explained then.  See you Soon! And thanks for reading.

all old mill decks fitted together

the lower old mill deck and sorting floor

Truss's and Weathering

I finished up the trusses yesterday. I like the look of  .20 wire representing truss hangers as its strung between the upper and lower supports. I had weathered them with Blacken It which was OK, but I still had to retouch  them in black acrylic. During handling the Blacken It bore off the wire.  A black craft paint worked just fine to finish the job.
Now a warning, but don't on't worry about weathering - I know its the fun part - until you've sanded, cleaned and otherwise rid your work of any random glue spots. Remember I am a sloppy gluist.  If you stain over those spots it just won't take. So clean up your glue before hand with Q tip or rag and get on with it.

5 trusses ready for stain and weathering

On my last entry, I had completely forgotten to talk about weathering techniques. Its surprisingly simple with these wood pieces and much of it is done before I get my hands on the glue. Specifically, after the stain dries and on those pieces requiring it I brush the wood with  one of those small wire brushes that you'd buy at the hardware store. Brush it in the same direction, not scrubbing but grazing the grain.  I use it to lighten and essentially blend the stain through out the wood. I do each piece individually and off the model being built. I do this to give each board a different look . Its the same stain throughout and you get similar color and shading, with subtle differences. I also use the brush by bearing down on it to thin the boards near the bottom of their length. Its the whole worn board thing.

I have a myriad of examples on the Pville where I didn't take that step and it felt like I was being lazy. Its just not the kind of work I  want to  display. Not really an appealing look. Start with a coarse paper and work your way down - with the last light sand to remove any and all fuzzy's that are clinging to your work. Other techniques as in splitting boards, creating knot holes, or nail holes  are well documented in the hobby press. I've even gone so far to utilize a #2 pencil for shading and creating shadows on some pieces over the years.

Now its on the the first of 2 equipment decks that will hopefully fit under the trusses and side walls.

See you next time. +