#008 04 Tybee Pier - Pier-severance Pays Off

I've spoken to many of the top modelers in the US about projects they have worked on and all of them will tell you that the made mistakes or things didn't work out as plan and they ripped it out and did it once or twice more.  I'm like that.  The hobby to me is about learning, not about being perfect.  A mistake breeds experience and knowledge.  And usually words that I can't say in front of my daughter.  So I roll up my sleeves and try again.  This time, success!

With a correctly printed drawing (the drawing did not have any errors) I began the large pier bent jig using the same procedure as before.

The drawing was cut out and mounted to a styrene sheet.

On the top of the jig I wrote the critical information about the jig using a fine point Sharpee marker.  It says what the jig is for, the layout it is associated with (actually the drawing) and the stock that is used to make the pier.  The color strip to the right is the height guage for scenicking the piling.  It shows where the hi and low tides are, the extent of moss and mussles and the like.  More on that later.

The jig was replicated quickly since I have already built one.  I'll keep the old one for an N scale layout one day.  Now, we test the jig.  Here I'm cutting the test sway braces.

This cup holds the long pier caps.  I'll use cups to keep the cut parts separate.

Here is the test bent in the new jig.  The measurments and the square of the pilings all are in spec. Good!  Let's make some sawdust!

Here is the previous jig.  Any fool could have sene that it didn't fit as the top of the pilings should have been close to the top of the pier.  Here is where being a rubber guager is a problem.  Because I work in N, HO, S and O I don't always put things into the right perspective.  A person that just models HO would have probably caught this early on.  Oh well.  Lesson learned.

Here si the new bent which is much larger.  The old bent would be perfect for N scle.  I'll see if Coalfinger wants a doc on his new layout.

The wood has dried and is nice and straight.  Perfect!  Let's build a pier!

We'll need over 75 pilings, so I won't have enough stained wood.  I'll rough up these and get a coat of paint on them.  My daughter has come to visit so we'll chat and watch a video together.

I'll need seven long caps.  These have to be paitned/weathered on all sides so I'll be carefull to dry brush these and not load them up with alcohol which could warp them.  These HAVE to be level.  These will need time to dry, so I'll work on the other pieces.

Using the Chopper I cut 28 sway braces and painted/stained them using the same technique I've used on the other wood.  These 1" x 9" boards are VERY thin and will warp quickly if they get too wet, so I dry brushed them.

My camera LOVES to change colors!  I used Scotch Tape to fasten them down to the counter and hit them with light coats of paints/stains.  Be sure to hit the ends!

Now for the pilings.  In all I need about 70 pilings so I set up the saw (dowels are too hard for razor blades to cut) and began to chop.  The TV helps when a monontanous task like this one needs to be done.  The chop saw made quick work of it.

Done!  The sway braces, the caps and the pilings are all cut.  Let's build some bents.

The pieces fit nicely and using just a little Elemer's Glue I begin to assemble the seven large bents.  While the jig dries, I go over to the pier wall and begin laying timber.

I put in about 10-12 more timbers and have built the wall up to the caps.  Those won't go on until the very last.  The clamps are helping to hold the timbers in place while they dry as they want to slide around a bit.

I finished three bents tonight (only two shown) and the look great and are very square. With a jig the job goes amazingly quick!  I guess there is about 10 more hours of work in the water pier scene.

The shop is a bit of a mess, but I don't mind as long as it not too cluttered.  A clean workspace makes for a clean model.  There are a lot of contradictions to that, however.  I did pick up and sweep up the sawdust tonight.  There is still a fourth assembly in the jig drying.  The good thing is that my shop has four workbench spaces to mess up!  Tomorrow I'll get up and finish the bents before church.

Ok, there is the third one.

Number four is drying.  I'll have to pull it out of the jig and put the sway braces on the back.  It is VERY strong!

Crap.  This one came out blurry.  I wanted to see how the timbers looked to the camera.  The camera is the BEST way to tell the quality of your model.  It won't lie and it shows every little blemish.  On long boards like this I had a hard time keeping glue from squeezing through the timbers.  My hopes were that it won't show and the picture would tell me.  Oh well...try again tomorrow.

Night all!

The Look of Things to Come - Carving Foam

Often when I go to the shop it is VERY quiet.  Too quiet.  Music is sometimes a distraction but often I'll pop in an Allen Keller Great Model Railroads tape.  This is a VHS tape because my player is old and I've not switched it to DVD.  Actually, I may not.  I've got tons of tapes and Allen has them on sale for $15 each.  They work fine and they keep me company when I'm downstairs.  You can learn and listen!

I hope that doesn't sound like an advertisement.  My blogs do not sell advertising.  I only mention things that I like and know that they work.  Allen is a good friend and a fantastic modeler.  His products are of the highest quality and have brought me a lot of enjoyment over the years.  One day I'll be on the DVD!

The first project of the night is to clean up the rail car testing center.  I keep losing my little Kadee coupler height gauge, so let's fix that.  I have a powerful magnet here and am going to screw it to the base.

There!  This magnet is VERY powerful so it will serve as a gauge keeper and tool caddy.

Tonight's I'M WITH STUPID award goes to ....me!  Did you know that the metal NMRA standards gauge is NOT MAGNETIC?  Dang!  I wonder why.  Must be aluminum.  I took a metal back clip and now I have the two gauges attached.  Not the best, but will do for now.

And we'll shove the board under the workbench for now.  Yes, that is a Sherline Milling Machine.  Get's a whole lot of use around here...not.

It takes to long to heat up the basement part where I work on these cold days, so I just decided to drag the whole section into the shop where it is warm and the coffee pot is close!  I can work in good hear and light with all my tools close by!

The goal tonight is to give the foam its first trimming.  I wanted this area to be tight against the track so that it can serve as a view block.    This was done using the monostick hot knife.

I have both hot knives warming up.

Yes, this is a switch panel.  The reason I'm showing you this is because this panel has a special function.  The first switch turns off the overhead lights.  The middle switch kills all the power to the right side of the room.  The last switch kills all the power to the left hand side of the room.  Why?  Well, when you have hot knives, soldering irons and other eletronic equipment that makes fire, it is smart to make sure you turn it all off at night.  I think it is an important safety tool.

I'm going to leave the run off area alone since it is a water project and I've not thought it all out yet.

Next, to give the right side a little flatter look, I'll pull off part of the 1" foam.

Here we have the basic shape.  Plaster cloth and plaster will fill in the gaps.

I'm going to put a block retaining wall here mad of Dr. Ben's Baby Building Blocs.  I've used these several times and the affect is astounding.  It will work as a view block to separate the two levels.

This hot knife cuts better than all the rest.  It really gets hot and doesn't cool down as fast.  You can shape the tip to any shape you want!

I start sketching a little road here.  Not sure what I'm going to do with it but it must help keep your eye away from the tunnel.

Since I'm not quite sure what I want the foam to look like from here, I'll put it away and come back to it tomorrow.  For years I've lost every car weight I've bought so this time we're giving them a special cabinet drawer.  Labeling each drawer is CRITICAL or you won't find it again.  I label things mostly so my friends can find things.  Even the drawers in my cabinets are labeled.

When handling lead weights you will get lead dust on your fingers.  Wash this off immediately as it is poison.  Some items say "lead" but really aren't.  Still, wash your hands.

This hand printer will let me type in what I want and print a peel and stick label in any color I want.  They are not cheap, but I've gotten my money's worth.

A little off center, but acceptable.

And the drawer will be given a special place in the drawer cabinet.  I've got five of these handy cabinets and really need two more.  If you buy these get the ones with different sized drawers.

I'm beat, man...headed to bed.