Greg Stevens
1st Class Member
Glendora, CA
Foreman
Posts:138
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 | | 10/07/2008 8:50 PM |
| | I am basically of the opinion to build as I go except in the case of buildings. I need a set of plans, no matter how crude they may be, to make a structure. Railcars are no problem for me as long as I have a photo or something to go by. I built a blacksmiths car from a Bachmann flatcar years ago without a single plan. Everything was free hand so to speak. It was good enough to take a first in kitbashing at the QM one year and the next year, there were at least three booths that had knock off's for sale. | |
Work & Play Safely,  Greg Stevens | |
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East Broad Top
Moderator
Centennial, CO
Conductor
Posts:602
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| | 10/08/2008 1:08 AM |
| I generally work from a set of drawings or photographs of prototype equipment or structures, but that only tells me where the target is and what it's supposed to look like when finished. I rarely plan out anything relative to the process of getting to that point, except to draw on previous experiences and sketch out some ideas along the way. Some work, some don't. But that's part of the fun.
Later,
K | |
Tuscarora Railroad
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kormsen
in the middle of the westparaguayan semi desert
Conductor
Posts:546
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| | 10/08/2008 8:34 AM |
| vsmith,
We Innies get to cheat soooo badly dont we..
...and while we play or build we don't have to share our drinks with flying insects...
not visible, i put a piece of plexi behind the cardboard (left over from repairing a gable-window)
dawinter,
there just isn't any more room down here....
errr... throw out something?
(it hurt for a day or two, when i had to break up the last layout. but then the fun of planning a new one took over)
Mik,
Seems this kind of building is becoming a lost art.
must have to do with the disapearing of the "one-man-enterprises" in real life too. | |
 construction site - keep off! | |
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dawinter
1st Class Member
Peachland BC Canada
Foreman
Posts:266
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| | 10/08/2008 9:14 AM |
| errr... throw out something?
(it hurt for a day or two, when i had to break up the last layout. but then the fun of planning a new one took over)
Yes. It comes down to that.
I'm pulling the club grain elevator (see below) off the layout and storing it in the garage.
That way I can finally find a little room to build my dads old B/A service station. That tow truck over at the other side of the basement had to come from somewhere. I'm doing photo research on this project now as there are nothing but a few 'family photos' in an album and they were never intended as building detail shots. Note the top of a cardboard 'test' building.
Although I have a good aerial photo of the garage at...
http://www.fortquappelle.com/hist_pic.html
That will give me the shape I remember from when I was about 7 years old.
Should be a great little project.
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kormsen
in the middle of the westparaguayan semi desert
Conductor
Posts:546
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| | 10/08/2008 9:32 AM |
| dawinter,
on the place your grainelevator occupies, i could build half a mainstreet. my philosophy is, to make the buildings a little on the smallish side.
Note the top of a cardboard 'test' building.
what i note much more, are your really flat backgroundbuildings. | |
construction site - keep off! | |
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dawinter
1st Class Member
Peachland BC Canada
Foreman
Posts:266
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| | 10/08/2008 2:52 PM |
|
There are a couple of much better photos of that backdrop building kit at...
http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/forumid/17/postid/28452/view/topic/Default.aspx
Just to reiterate; The pictures are very good and the size is perfect. I've had a lot of people over here since I installed them and everyone is impressed with the excellent detail. We're even using them as a clamp-on backdrop for the G scale modules we take to shows. Highly recommended.
Dave | |
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Dave Meashey
1st Class Member
Brakeman
Posts:76
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| | 10/09/2008 8:52 PM |
| "Fly by the seat of my pants and remember the 10' rule. Jerry" I'm kind of like Jerry. I like to do whimsical projects, so I don't even have a prototype to measure. Sometimes things like 1 liter soda bottles get pressed into service. Sometimes a wayside tool shed ends up getting an entirely different use. Sometimes a standard freight car gets a new use and a strange companion. One of my future projects will be to build some freight cars for my "Lord of the Rings" railroad, the Brandywine & Gondor Railroad. What kind of car would hobbits build to ship Longbottom Leaf? Well, it most likely will have a round door, so I guess I will have to devise a way for the door to roll along the door guides instead of sliding. Hobbits don't like high places, so the brake wheel will have to be on an end platform, and the roof catwalk will have to have railings on both sides. "What if" can be fun, but one has to imagine how the user would design from his/her own point of view. Just some of my own crazy ideas. Yours, David Meashey Roanoke, VA | | | |
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kormsen
in the middle of the westparaguayan semi desert
Conductor
Posts:546
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| | 10/10/2008 5:30 AM |
| "Lord of the Rings" railroad
i love that idea!
don't forget, that a hobbit railroad NEEDS a kitchen and dining compartment in every caboose.
what shape would the shipping crates for longleaf have?
i am just afraid, that a hobbit-railroad has one disadvantage... it might be built mostly in tunnels.... | |
construction site - keep off! | |
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Les
1st Class Member
Florissant, Missouri
Foreman
Posts:241
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| | 10/10/2008 6:51 PM |
| Posted By Mik on 10/07/2008 4:57 PM ... I may have insulted a couple guys by suggesting that any machinist worth his salt should be able to build it into a running engine based solely upon measuring what is already there and knowing a bit of how other typical engines were made... Seems this kind of building is becoming a lost art. Maybe much like the difference between "mechanics" and "parts changers"?
Mik,
I happened across your post by accident. It stung. (Not me, you're more right than you think). My father, being of the Depression Generation, built everything before he'd part with $$. I learned it from him. I was a machinist. Actually, a tool & die maker. And maybe someday I'll build a small model stationary steam engine and run it on compressed air. I assure you, re your castings, that you'll have to locate a 'real machinist' instead of the 'machine operators' they have today, who run computer-controlled machines. You are right on the money: a 'machinist' should be able to take the measurements of what's there, and if he's no mathematical type, it's possible to ask for help from guys who do live steam, or search the web and do some reverse engineering. Keep looking, you'll find a competent buyer, eventually. And yes, that kind of building IS becoming a lost art. I skim thru the 'tools' forum and am constantly amazed at the simple questions: "What kind of table saw should I buy?" A cheap one, along with a book on using a table saw, and teach yourself. A good deal of what I know I learned that way. "Can I cut metal on a wood saw?" No, that's why they make metal saws. "But I can put the money into trains that I'd spend on a power tool!" Yes, you can. And you'll always be a capitive of the hobby store. I apologize if this turned into a rant. I hope you sell your castings for a fat profit. Les
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Les
1st Class Member
Florissant, Missouri
Foreman
Posts:241
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| | 10/10/2008 6:59 PM |
| Dave, That's a great idea (the party flat w. the trailing crapper). Do you mind if I steal the idea?
Les | | | |
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Dave Meashey
1st Class Member
Brakeman
Posts:76
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| | 10/10/2008 7:43 PM |
| kormsen; Longbottom Leaf, pipeweed, or tobacco (as we call it in Regular Earth) is shipped in barrels about the size of a railroad spike keg. At least both the books and the movies seem to agree on that. I'm on my 14th read through the books. Have not kept count of how many times I've watched my DVDs. Hobbits would not run their rails through tunnels unless they had to, as with any other railroad. As J. R. R.Tolkein wrote, only the poorest and wealthiest hobbits lived underground, but they all traveled out in the open. Les; Feel free to copy the idea. The tappa kegga dei fraturnity's excursion car took a blue ribbon for whimsical passenger stock at the 1997 national garden railroad convention. I added the outhouse on wheels later. At present both cars are equipped with Kadee couplers, and still amuse the public when our local club participates in a train show. Yours, David Meashey Roanoke, VA | | | |
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kormsen
in the middle of the westparaguayan semi desert
Conductor
Posts:546
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| | 10/11/2008 2:06 AM |
| Dave,
reading your words, i remember. so if it is transported in round kegs, they can be loaded through round box-(or barrel-)car doors.
I'm on my 14th read through the books.
i haven't found time to reread tolkien since i own a time saving computer. | |
construction site - keep off! | |
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