Weekend Update 2/26/17

[tehachapifan]

....To do it this time would require the destruction of some recently completed water scenery....

But the destruction of recently-completed scenery is what model railroading is all about!

[coldriver]

I will second my friend Chris' comments - very inspirational work for me as I also have two lumber mills to represent on my layout, and we do not often see a typical northwest mill layout represented to the extent that you have here.  The only element missing from your photos for a typical B.C. mill such as Chris and I have to build is the slash burner which in our province tended to be quite large, often 70-80 feet in diameter, often dominating the mill, and thus requiring a lot of space on a layout.  I don't know if these were as common or as large in U.S. mills.

One question for you would be to ask how the chips get from the mill buildings to the chip loader.  At our mills, it was usually via a blowpipe which was either elevated above the tracks and yard on trestle-like supports, or submerged underground, in which case you saw a pipe coming up out of the ground into the chip loader.

Dave's lumber loads and logs are the best around and well worth the cost.  He was very busy selling them at the Monroe show yesterday!

Good work; you have inspired me to get on with new mock-ups for my mill at Dawson Creek, now that the track arrangement is finalized, and that I have aerial photographs to refer to.


Tim

Doug, Tim, Nick, Chris, et al,
thanks for your kind words.  I will agree that a wigwam burner is a signature feature of western mills and I had certainly contemplated one's inclusion.  But ultimately I decided I'd rather use the available space to model the "produce" of the mill rather than the "waste disposal".  Not only that but I have a personal negative history with wigwam burners having grown up within a 1/4 mile of a cedar shake mill in coastal Washington that had one.  Its' nasty spewing smoke was a constant irritation to our family, not to mention that our next door neighbor's house burned to the ground the cause of which was never proven (but if you saw the sparks flying out of that burner at night, you had no doubts...).  I still may cut one in half and slap it up against the back drop modelled as abandoned and decaying - we'll see if there's room. 

Tim mentioned the means of conveying the chips from the mill to the loader - yes eventually there will be a pipe trestled across the lumber yard to the loader.  I'm going to replace the chip loader shown with the wood chip loading bin kit I just received from RLW.  Should also mention that in the process of researching mills I spent a fair amount of time on Google Earth looking for mills adjacent to Streetview equipped roads for inspiration - one of the best I found was the West Fraser mill in Quesnel, BC.   

[Dave Schneider]

A bit more experimenting with bricks today. Trying to get the look of the heavily weathered Milwaukee Cream City brick. This brick when fresh was a creamy yellow color (due to lack of iron in the local clay), but was very porous and therefore it weathers to a grey/black. Here is my first attempt. Again, just cheap craft store acrylics followed by a wash mixture of unsanded grout and 90% isopropyl alcohol. A hair dryer speeds up the evaporation process to about 15 seconds. I think this is going to work. I tried painting some random bricks a lighter color, but they were too stark. Will keep working on that. Thoughts or suggestions on improving it?





Best wishes, Dave

[wazzou]

@Dave Schneider It looks to me, based on the prototype photo that some of the bricks are pretty starkly lighter by contrast.  I'd experiment with a couple appropriate shades of colored pencils to get the look you're after.

[nkalanaga]

Coldriver:  Rather than buy a burner and cut it in half, why not model the foundation and big ash pile?  The foundation was probably just a concrete ring, or maybe some piers, the last ashes would have been left behind, and the metal sold for scrap.  A lot cheaper than destroying a kit.

[Dave Schneider]

@Dave Schneider It looks to me, based on the prototype photo that some of the bricks are pretty starkly lighter by contrast.  I'd experiment with a couple appropriate shades of colored pencils to get the look you're after.

Thanks for the suggestion Bryan. I have tried the color pencil route in the past, but it never worked for me. Hard time getting the color to stick to the brick. Any suggestions on brand? I have tried the pretty high end pencils. Geologists used to have boxes full of them to produce maps, but they aren't used much anymore as everything is done in GIS. All of the weathered Cream City buildings have these oddly white bricks in them, but what looks natural on the prototype is challenging to recreate on a model I find. Even this tiny example looks decent up close (way better than the photograph) but when you take a couple of steps back the building is almost white. Make sense, but I am trying to figure out a technique that works. May need a slightly darker "mortar". The stuff I am using came from the Habitat Restore, so I just bought what they had.

Thanks again for the suggestion.
Best wishes, Dave

[wazzou]

I use Derwent Watercolour pencils.

[Dave Schneider]

I use Derwent Watercolour pencils.

Do you use them wet or dry?

Best wishes, Dave

[peteski]

May need a slightly darker "mortar". The stuff I am using came from the Habitat Restore, so I just bought what they had.

Thanks again for the suggestion.
Best wishes, Dave

You should be able to tint the light colored grout you already have. Once you add water and mix it, you could add some India ink, or maybe even some water-based acrylic paints. You can also buy tinting powders.

[Chris333]

Just about done at the coal mine:



Done want to glue it down and dirt it in cause I might want it for another layout 

[craigolio1]

Just about done at the coal mine:



Done want to glue it down and dirt it in cause I might want it for another layout 

That's a thing beauty.

Craig

[wazzou]

Do you use them wet or dry?

Best wishes, Dave

Both really.  It just takes some experimentation.  For a little more starkness, you just dab the tip in some water and lightly color the bricks, for a little less, do it without the water.

[BCR751]

Tim mentioned the means of conveying the chips from the mill to the loader - yes eventually there will be a pipe trestled across the lumber yard to the loader.  I'm going to replace the chip loader shown with the wood chip loading bin kit I just received from RLW.  Should also mention that in the process of researching mills I spent a fair amount of time on Google Earth looking for mills adjacent to Streetview equipped roads for inspiration - one of the best I found was the West Fraser mill in Quesnel, BC.

Since I will be needing chip loaders at my upcoming sawmills, who/where is RLW?  I'm interested in seeing their kit.

I still have to figure out how to build a realistic looking bee-hive/teepee/wigwam burner.  I'm going to need those as well.

Doug

[basementcalling]

I believe RLW is Republic Locomotive Works. Wish they were still making some of their sawmill line of kits. If they are in production, they are certainly hard to find. Heck, I wish Bob @TrainCat2 was able to etch a few of his chip loading kits. Models of these are a huge gap in the N scale forest products industry selection.

[up1950s]

Just about done at the coal mine:


Done want to glue it down and dirt it in cause I might want it for another layout 

Fantastic Chris . As far as not wanting to dirt it in for reuse , there is another way to de-pelt the kitty . You can plant liken to the sides pillars and steps . Do it in such a way it squishes flush with the weight of the building , this way it looks like it is growing from the dirt , Then when and if you decide to plant it elsewhere it will already have scale foot of greenery where it will grow against all odds .

This would make it look something like this .