#016 04 Tybee Pier - Need a Lift?

 

I left the office a bit early today since I have to work on Sunday and I stopped by the old train store.  Everyone else was out buying milk and bread for the ice storm of the century.  Yeah, right.  Today I purchased some Kadee 33" steel wheelsets for some cars I want to work on.

I also bought a pile of used Railroad Model Craftsmen and a Wayne Wesolowski book to read the week after next when I'm laid up recovering from a vasectomy.  What fun.  I told my wife not to take it out of my train budget but to charge it against medical.  Smart me!

Repair time!  Time to fix the section that my daughter knocked down so that I can start laying track tomorrow.

First I mark where the foam isn't so that I don't put glue where it is not needed.  The handy kerosene heater in the back knocks the chill off pretty well when the ice starts to fall.

I double check the surface for smoothness and then add a bead of glue around the web.

The guilty party is glued to the chair and not allowed to move while the repairs are done.  I'm out of duct tape or we'd be using that around the always-running motor mouth.  Why, why, why, why, why, daddy!

There!  Glued and stable.  Ok, maybe not so stable.

This area was lifting up, so I clamped her down.

I re-glued all of the uprights and will screw them in tomorrow when the glue dries.

My wife takes pictures while I repair the broken foam section that was knocked out from the fall.  Daughter got loose and I panic.

I don't see her so I figure she went upstairs.  I carefully glue the broken piece back in place.

Now let's test fit the pier into its home.  Nice fit and it really looks good.

Not bad for an old fat guy!

We'll let the section dry and start on another project.  I want to put this hoist assembly on the dock.  Let's study the parts and see if it can be used.  The piece was set on the pier and it fits nicely.

The base is really nice.  I don't know what kit this came from but it is perfect for hauling cotton.

Before I get too far I take out the handy notebook and a handful of Sharpee pens and quickly sketch the derrick and its three cables.  One rotates the boom.  The other raises and lowers the boom and the third raises and lowers the hook.  There are tie downs to anchor the top to keep it stable (guylines).  Always make notes when you disassemble things, and don't forget to photograph it as well.

Meanwhile the Popsicle Bandit practices making models beside me.  She is taking after some of the guys in the NCI group that she adores.  She has glue everywhere (Bob), Popsicle sticks glued to the table (Rick) and keeps spilling stuff on the floor (Ken).  At least it is not tie stain.

After careful consideration I've decided that the metal hoist operator shack has got to be replaced with a wooden one.  It is just too modern and already assembled, so I'll throw it in the salvage parts box and scratchbuild one.  I'm in need of a pile of Grandt Line windows and doors, so I'll add that to my shopping list for the show coming up.

The more I play with this the less I like it.  It is VERY tall and a bit unruly.  My guess is that every time I move the layout I'll be unscrambling cables.  I'll set it aside and pray about it for a while.  Maybe I'll not use it.

#015 04 Tybee Pier - This is Taking Forever

Man, this pier is taking up huge amounts of time.  I've got speed it up.  Tonight we start making shortcuts.  A friend of mine Richard visited today and since he is a very good model builder I figured I'd get some negative comments, but he didn't let me have it, so it must not be too bad.

 First we need to do some chores...

I got some more Aged Driftwood, so I put it away.

Last night at the auction I both this older baggage car for $5.  Thought I might modify it for something on the Dixie.  Its in HO.

This L&N single sheathed car is very nice.  I'm a sucker for L&N. $6 is not bad.

Actually I don't understand why more people don't attend the auction.  The deals are steals.

A Monon gondola.  Another favorite railroad of mine, and for $5 it is worth it.

I also bought a huge pack of wheels and coupler parts for $5.  There isn't a drawer for these, so I'll make one. In the grab bag of parts was a full set of ribbed back wheels from NWSL.  Nice!

Using the labeler I labeled the drawers.  The toy is my daughters and is in for repair.

My camer lens is dirty so I better clean it before I start.

First chore tonight is to work on the piling that is too far apart.  I'll just reinforce it.  This will give it something to break up the long symmetrical wall.

There.  The addition of some more pilings made it look better and it appears to be reinforced.

Next we'll keep working down the wall where we left off.

When Richard was over he did notice that I build things in sub assemblies.  Actually I didn't think that this was so special as I've always done it.  But he pointed out that many people don't do this normally.  So, if you don't build things in sub assemblies here is why I do it that way.

Mainly it is easier to build things in small pieces.  This model is over three feet long and barely fits on most modeler's workbenches.  Normally I keep a one foot rule.  The subassembly must fit in a one foot square area.  This makes it easy to handle and to turn around.  Secondly I do it because if Imake a mistake, I just start over on the sub assembly and don't have to rebuild the whole model.

This goes very quickly now that I've got the rythym down.  Repetitive tasks develop a rythym and its bad to stop when you have tempo.

Here are the pier walls and piers.  Looking good!

Richard and I talked about nut-bolt-washer (nbw) castings on the pier.  Yes, they do have them.  No, I'm not going to put over 500 nbw castings on this model.  It's not for a championship contest, it is for a layout.  A good friend and legendary modeler Allen McClelland has a philosphy of "good enough" modeling.  It is where you do just enough to make it acceptable.  Now, if this was to be an NMRA contest project, I would and can add all those nbw's.  But for this model I just need to hint that they are there.

The shocker!  I'm going to paint them on.

First of all, I'm only going to paint the nbw's that would show to the viewer.  The others will be ignored.  We'll do this with rust colored paint and a toothpick.

There are lots of colors to use but I'm going to try RUST and OXIDE RED.

Using a scrap piece of stained wood I try a drop of each.  The RUST looks the best, so we'll go with that.

The paint is old and has separated.  No problem!  We'll just put the bottle on the mixer.  This handy lab mixer uses a controllable rotating magnet to stir the bottle. 

I place a small steel screw in the bottle and stir the tough pigment in the bottle with a toothpick.  Once the screw moves freely I put it on the lab mixer and crank up the magnet.

A few minutes later the paint is thorughly mixed and I didn't have to shake it.  This device is priceless.  It also is a controllable hot plate and good for many things in the shop.

Here I have painted on the nbw's.  They look great from a distance.  Let's see how many judges really notice!

Have a great evening!

#014 04 Tybee Pier - the Postman Always Rings 300 Times

Another rainy and cold Saturday.  My daughter is at Grandma's and the wife is asleep, so I'm headed to the basement.  Today we'll get the retaining wall posts installed, or at least some of them.  I have to go to the Train Auction tonight, so I don't have a lot of time.  Guess you can just call me the Postman as we have about 70 of them to install.

First I need to trim the length off of the back wall.

I'll turn the model around and take a large Zona saw to it.

Zona saws are VERY sharp and it makes quick work of the sawing job. 

A quick hit with the 3M Sanding Sponge and it's nice and level.  Why did this go more quickly and easily than the other side?  Simple!  I didn't put too much glue on the boards when I was mounting them this time.

Using an HO rule, I marked off 5 foot indicators to help me position the posts.

After setting the fence I began to cut the post out of stained 1/8" wood dowels.  There are only three left, so I'll probably have to make some more.  I got 11 cuts out of this one...so I'll need 5 more to make 70 and have some spare guard posts.

I cut up the three stained dowels and put them in the cup.

All together there are about 30, so I need 40 more and about 10 guard posts.

I've tried distressing and painting these en masse, but it is just not working.  So I put in a new video tape and did them one at a time the proper way.

Each one is scored all around with an old saw blade, and then lightly sanded with a sanding sponge.

After scoring and sanding, I put on a coat of Dr. Ben's Aged Driftwood Stain on all sides, doing one stick at a time and setting it aside to dry (the stain dries very fast.)

Then using the Dr. Ben's Weathered Black Pigment and some alcohol I weathered each of the sticks, going from light to dark shades and being rather sloppy about it. 

After painting and staining I use my handy scraper and a fresh single edge razor blade (I finally got to home depot) and scraped up the waste from the glass surface.  Now I have a fresh, new surface!

Tape over.  Time for some Virginia & Ohio with Allen McLelland.

All the posts have been stained and cut.  Now I fish out any bad ones (two of them have red dye on the tops which is use to indicate size) and throw them away.

No more bulk sanding.  I sanded each and every one of them on both ends.

Nicely sanded...but nice and bright!  Got to dull it down a bit.

Using some of the black weathering I gave them a coat of darkness.

Using my right angle with a heavy base I start mounting the poles.  The first three will be shorter because I don't want them to interfere with the trackage.

Using the angle and some white glue I carefully position the post and check it for straightness.

Not bad.  A little too much glue perhaps, but you won't see these.  Always work in the least visible area when you start something that way if you screw it up, its no big deal.

Now we'll start working our way down the wall.  I switched to a flatter angle and got rid of the one with the heavy base as the base was in the way.  I put three posts in the corner.  The dark black one is to stop your eye from looking past it when viewing the model.

I need to replace another of my lights as it has turned yellow, too.  Here is a length of the wall.

The long wall is done!  I still need to put the caps on it and will have to wait until it all dries.  Looking at the photo it looks like one of the posts moved out of place, so I'll fix it.  Cameras are handy tools!

I'm done for the day.  Off to the auction.  This thing is over three feet long, so it will take some time.