tetters Wrote:

BR60103 Wrote:I got a note today that Kanamodels is going to do a set of water tank, sandhouse and coaling tower. (but in CNR). for only $180.

Kanamodels sells a CPR Coal Tower, Water Tower and Sand House. Don't think I haven't already looked at those either. For $180 to get three wood kits isn't all that bad of a deal really. Especially for the price I've seen other kits go for!

I gotta to say though for that kinda of cash I think I'd rather keep it in my pocket. Do a bit of research, study some prototype drawings and photos, spend a few bucks on some strip wood, brass (or other soft metals), detail parts, and build my own model from scratch. I'd guess by the time I'm finished this it will have cost me under $20. (incl paint, glue, and the cost of the cereal that came in the box ) It might take me longer, but I think its well worth it. Besides, I like the challenge it presents, and I think with each build my skills and learned techniques are only improving.

The fun you have building your own structures in such a creative way can't be obtained with kits. And once on the layout, you are proud of yourself. The fun part is brainstorming how to handle buidling details and assemblies. It's what modelism is all about.

Matt

Tetters, no need to start over. Just use a scale router to trim those boards. All the rest looks fantastic. If you start over, I'll just look to find something else. HeeHee

Lynn

Saw the ad in RMC, for the Kanamodels sand tower........ $45.00 for just the sand tower kit !!
You can buy a lot of cereal, for $45.00, and have a lot of building material with each empty box !!!

Ah Tetters, m'lad! Yer at it again.......Great Stuff! This looks like it's shaping up to be another Tetters ace build. Nice work so far. Keep 'er goin'......you and I model the same railway and area, though different eras so I'm always lookin' over yer shoulder to see how to do things. You truly inspire!

Cheers!

So... where was I?

Ahh yes. Prepping to finish this build off. So over the last few nights, I've been plugging away at this build. I picked up some Tichy Windows which seemed to be a perfect fit for this structure. 6/6 Double Hung Window 34" Wide x 60" High for those interested. IMHO they seemed to be a close approximation for the windows used by CP. I cut the holes in the walls to fit the windows and began putting the structure together.

The first thing I would need is some internal support. The article calls for some 12 x 12 lumber sanded to an angle to fit the interior walls as support. I decided instead to use some strip wood to support four octagon shapes cut from some of the heavy cereal box card stock. I'd mark the location of each "floor" and use the strip wood as tabs to hold them in place. I'd then apply a liberal amount of glue to the first two internal rows and wrap the structure around the floors while carefully holding them in place and then use some elastic bands to clamp the walls around the octagons until I put in the bottom floor and the ceiling. I didn't take any pictures of the wrap around part because I needed both hands, but I hope the pictures I did include give you the idea of what I managed to do.



Using another scale article as a reference I scanned and printed off four copies of the octagon shape. Why try and re-invent the wheel? Right? Turns out though for my particular model that octagon shape was just a might too big for my water tower so I had to end up trimming off a bit of the sides to get a nice snug fit.



Once I was satisfied with the fit after a couple of dry test runs I sanded away the shiny print stuff along the edges. No points for beauty here as once inside you won't see anything.



I then figured out where I wanted to put in the four supporting walls and sanded away the shiny print off of those four lines along the wall interior. I then marked a pencil line along the exposed card board. This is where I glued the strip wood to act as a guide for the floor sections.



Then like I said, starting with the two interior floors I placed them in there appropriate places and carefully wrapped the walls around them. A bit of manual dexterity is required to hold the tower while you put the first two elastics on. I made sure I wrapped them over the locations were the floors were positioned. Otherwise I feared the walls would have warped while I allowed the glue to dry.



Once change I made to the model while I could was make the single door into a double door. I felt that it gave a better balance size wise when compared to the windows.

I allowed this to dry for several hours before continuing any further.

Over the following nights I obtained some one ply card stock and started cutting the 1x6 trim pieces to go at the corners. However, instead of glue individual 1x6 strips, I instead marked the card stock at the 6" and 12" marks. I then lightly scored the card stock at the 6" mark and then cut it at the 12". It is difficult to bend the card stock at that width even with the card stock scored so I used the edge of my ruler placed on the back of the strip to help get the fold started. No pictures of this so I hope my explanation makes sense. I'd be happy to show a demo if anyone is interested though, just for clarity.

The 1"x 6" trim was applied along the wall edges and a 1"x 8" "board" was applied along the bottom of the building.







The next step is to paint the building walls and windows their respective colours and then begin the final assembly. Including work on the spout mechanism.

Thanks for looking.

And well-worth the look it was, too.

Wayne

Paint! For me this is the best part. It's when the structure comes to life. And the windows done in the cream trim really make it pop!

I used Polyscale Paints. Mixed it 4 parts paint to 1 part plain ol' water.





Coming up next will be the job to tackle the spout and rigging for it. Then I'll finish off the roof with the boiler stack, water depth gauge, and some hand cut singles.

Stay tuned.

Most excellent !

tetters Wrote:Coming up next will be the job to tackle the spout and rigging for it. Then I'll finish off the roof with the boiler stack, water depth gauge, and some hand cut singles. Stay tuned.

Oh, yes, I will be waiting for the shingles.

Very nicely done water tank !!

Never mind the shingles Sump! I've been spending the last couple of nights spending just as much time fabricating the water spout, pulleys and counter weights out of brass as it took to build the structure for the tower! But I finally finished them this morning... whew...



I still have to clean up the pulleys a bit, but I'm glad I got these details out of the way. :-?

Here is the part where it really gets awe inspiring for me!

Really Great!!!

Thanks guys! Just getting ready to finish this off and possibly get it mounted on the tower in the next couple of days. Just test fitting some of those little bits onto the frame work for the spout et all.



Have a good night gents! Until next time.

That looks really great!

Wow!
A really great recycling object on low cost level, i like such projects. A very innovative work Tetters: