Locomotive Shop part one - Making Stone Walls
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- Опубліковано 9 вер 2024
- This week we are building the "stone" walls for our single stall locomotive shed on our 1:20.3 scale shelf logging railroad. The stone is burned into balsa wood!
Trackwork has stopped for a while as we are out of rail, so we have been working on our small stone single-stall locomotive shop. The "stone" walls are made by burning a stone texture and pattern into balsa wood with a wood-burning set and an old soldering iron. Everything on the logging railroad needs to be small, even compressed relative to the prototype, and super lightweight as it's 7 feet up on the wall and needs to be easy to bring down for adjustments or repair. So balsa works well, AND there is an old modeling technique used to make balsa look like stone walls.
First, the walls are built of thick balsa sheets. Windows and doors cut in. Then the mortar lines are drawn in using a pencil. Then the mortar lines cut deeply in using a wood-burning tool. In this case, the lines are roughed up using an old messed-up Radio Shack soldering iron. The surface of the "stone" is burned in by running the side of the soldering iron over the surface of the smooth balsa.
Then a texture and basic color added with acrylic paint and Golden textured Pastel Surface Primer. At first, I used WAY too much primer. Just a bit mixed into the paint. More color was added without primer. While the side turned out fine, the building ends turned out better!
Next mortar was added. Basic dry-wall patching "plaster". (not really plaster but a vinyl product) This is rubbed into the mortar lines and even across the surface. A bit. Then after it drys a bit, the surface is wiped with a damp paper towel. More color can be added, just a hint... and touch-up. And I added smoke and soot above the locomotive doors.
And speaking of the locomotive doors, I built those from Evergreen Scribbed sheet with strip plastic braces. The door frame was bent, gently a small bit at a time, from Evergreen angle strip.
The tricky part was the painting... I primed with my new FAVORITE primer. Eastwood self-etching automotive primer. Great on metal! But also works on plastic. Start with thin coats... May attack your plastic but so far I've not had a problem.
Onto color. I custom mixed a color from old Flowquil Railroad colors paint. A dusty green. Once I had several thin layers of color and a good covering, I added a final coat of super dry paint, the same color. I mixed a batch with a small amount of thinner. Normally I thin about 1:3 This time it's almost all color, about 1 part paint to 1/2 part thinner. Then I turned up the air pressure on my compressor to about 35 psi. And used full paint of the mix slider on my airbrush. My goal was for the paint to be mostly dry before it hit the surface. Then I did the same thing with a black for soot on the door. OK kinda weird technique but I've used it before with good luck. Usually, people do this same thing with pastel chalk. But I find when I get pastel looking great and shoot a flat clear over it changes to the point I need to do it again, and again. This is a "what you see is what you get" technique. Anyway after shooting the dry color I wype away most of it with a soft cloth. The color areas look dusty and dry. And can be left as is depending on how much dry paint you remove. The soot requires leaving much and then clear coating with flat clear. (Karyn got me a bunch of cans of my favorite, Testors flat clear) I shot both the color and the soot and neither changed at all. Looked the same after the clear coat. As I say, what you see is what you get.
ANYWAY, on to lights and wiring (we are installing functional knob and tube with fuse box and power meter) and the basic roof. OH! And the smoke jack.
Great video and model! Do you recall if the inspirational ‘mountain man’ was E. L. Moore and his article, Burn those models, that appeared in the May 1955 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman? It showed how to use a woodburning tool for modeling various kinds of surfaces in balsa.
THATS THE ONE THANKS!!! Couldnt remember
Your talents blow me away! I’ve picked up soooooooo many tips watching you both construct this amazing railroad. Gracias👍✌️😊🙏🏼🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂
Hi. And thanks 🙏
Hi Dale and Karyn. So amazing how you see what you want in your mind’s eye and then you make it happen! Just fantastic!!! Thank you for explaining the steps and showing how to do it. The wood supports for the windows look like you added them: Only by watching would everyone know the beams are the unpainted wood. Great illusion! Looking at the building you would think it was built by stones. What great crafting.
HI. And thanks!! Yes, same wood. Added stain is all. And a hint of burnning. Oops..
I love how this size lends itself to easier modeling and detailing .
Yeah if you enjoy building things this is a great scale. If you like having a huge railroad this is not a good scale. We’ve got a very large rail Road in terms of footprint, but all we really have is a switching yard and a Locomotive shop. But we sure enjoyed working in the large scale
@@ToyManTelevision I've tried N , H.O and currently have O which I love for the size, but not much room for an indoor layout . G scale seems to be comparably priced and I'm sure I can at least do a loop or two with a lil Yard outside .
Really looks great. Amazing job. You two have alot of really great technics and ideas. Saving all of your videos is a must for watching in the future when we get started on our railroad layout. Thank you for taking the time to film and share.
HI again.. THANKS again!!!
Never boring, and your videos are usually one of the first videos I watch on Tuesdays and Sundays.
Hi. Thanks!!! Tomorrow a Bachmann caboose that I forgot I had... silly.
Looks outstanding, wonderful techniques and explanations.
Thanks!!!!
"Printed it off on 'the printing machine'". You guys kill me! LOL!
Very, very interesting! Y’all make a great team building your railroad. I completely enjoy all of your videos. Thanks much for posting this!🇺🇸
Thanks!!!!
Great job guys! I love the way that looks, I definitely need to give this a try! Love the soldering iron technique. Wish I had though about that when I was at a yard sale a while back...
ITs fun!!
Reminds me of an E. L. Moore article in the 60’s. His scratch building
has been described as folk art.
Y'know know, you're the 2nd one to mention that same article, as I scroll through the comments to the video. That *must've* been a memorable piece, to be remembered by multiple folks over 50 years later!
Yup!!!! So many people tried his techniques. Old school. Like us!
Thank Goodness for your great videos! Sharing your skills and beautiful work with us is such a wonderful thing! Thank You for all your time and effort and for sharing it with us! It really enriches the enjoyment of our hobby! Amazing contributions!
Gee thanks!!!!
Another great entry in the saga of the garagemahal build! Keep up the great work!
Finished last night. Er.. less and hour cause time slipped forward.. ANYWAY FINISHED
Dale,
Another outstanding video and model!!
Can't wait to see logging on this layout. Please add some cabins and cook house and guy's logging.
No room for anything. Working out a place for a water tank. And depot. And pond? Perhaps a bunk house. By the pond. Depends on the water tank. The whole layout is 40 square feet. In 1:20.3 scale. So cramped!
You have done a great job. It looks very real. Enjoyed watching the video while I sipped on my coffee and ate my kolache. Looking forward to the next episode. Take care.
Hi Ken. JUst finished the shop last night. Came out great. Well... mostly finished. Still needs door knobs. And brackets on the big doors. Karyn is going to make those
@@ToyManTelevision Really good. Especially like how you used the wood burning technique. Don't think I will be able to use it for N scale but you never know. It reminded me of a comedy skit that Jeff Foxworthy did about how parents use to give us wood burning kits for Christmas gifts. See you and Karyn in the attic.
You two are so incredibly artistically talented it just blows me away. Thank you for all your videos
Hi again. We are planning a trip your way as soon as the snow and pandemic melt.
To quote Darth Vader "impressive most impressive".
Thanks!!! Darth vader? Anyway THANKS!!
Your combination of techniques produces a believable result. Step by step you are getting there. Hope you get your rail soon so we can see this done. I realize it will never be "DONE"!
Rail came! Long story. Long time coming. But laid 2 rails today!
WOW! This I amazing. I so enjoy your shows. and I get to learn things for my builds. Keep up the great work. Thank you for sharing you amazing creations.
Hi again. THANKS
Gorgeous, folks! And by "folks," I mean Karyn, but Dale's artwork isn't too shabby, either.
My big take-away was the arches. I'd've done painstaking work to get each one of them symmetrical and matched with each other, and the result would've been… dissatisfying.
Dale's hand-drawn technique ( 😱) reminded me of the Gothic cathedrals, where they deliberately misaligned the nave and the choir slightly, for the unexpected increase in visual effect.
Next time I build a Gothic locomotive shed for the Wild Mary, you can bet I'll be keeping Dale & Karyn's lessons in the forefront of my mind!
St swizens locomotive cathedral?
@@ToyManTelevision 🤣🤣🤣 !
Thank you for the inspiration!! This is a great project!
And we’ve got it finished! Just a couple of days ago. Well I shouldn’t say finished we’re still looking for door knobs and Karyn is building hardware for the big doors.
Great job TM!
Hi. Thanks 🙏.
Love your videos. I recently was able to purchase a G gauge system. So I'm learning all I can about them.
COOL. What did you get?
THIS IS A WONDERFUL WAY DO A GREAT TIME SCREWING AROUND TIME WITH YOUR SUBSCRIBERS INTERESTING AND INFORMATIVE VIDEO THANK YOU BOTH FOR MAKING THIS VIDEO I ENJOYED THIS VIDEO. THANKS AGAIN JIM KAMMERER OF PHILADELPHIA PA 👍😷😷👌🚂🚂
Hi Jim. This one is mostly finished. Door knobs still to do. On to more track and the depot and water tank.
Wow!! I’m blown away by this, it looks amazing! Thanks for sharing!
Grandt windows and doors. Got it. Thanks
Glad they are back.
Very impressive and creative!!!!
HI Thanks!
Nicely done. Not sure what words to use for your building.
Thx again
Thanks 🙏. More coming
Very impressive!!!!
HI. Thanks!!
Looks great keep up the wonderful work 👍👍
Finished the shop yesterday. Last was the floor. Well it still needs door knobs and hardware
Looks very good!
HI! Just finished it about 8 hours ago. Really came out NICE!!
Amazing I love this you inspirer me so much thank you 😊
THANKS!!
Just so impressed with your detail! Great job.
Dampen the balsa and carefully bend it. I did it with my Stearman airplane. Just a spray bottle and be very careful.
Hi. Spent the day laying rail!
Thank you.
Cool (ha ha!) job!
Burring love.. er love burring?
great video 👍
HI! Thanks!!!!
That is really cool 😎
Thanks 🙏
Such fun!
Nice looking structure, guys. Luv the techniques used....
A suggestion, Dale... Try staining some variations into some of the stones for an extra bit of rusticness (?)
Really like the viewing angle.
Building more or less finished yesterday. Needs door knobs and hardware but mostly “finished”. Unless we change our plan. Or something
You two are so talented! The shop door came out great! :O
Thanks!!
Looking really good. Nice work.
Fun build! FINISHED!! Back to track work...
Great work.
THANKS!!
Love it🥰
Thanks!!!
You’re welcome my good sir
Try using a Wire wheel on a grinder to clean the tip of your soldering tip.
I have another one for soldering. This is just fer stuff like this.
Burning the wood like you did is making use of the natural creosote the wood produces when oxidizing. It forms a natural protective layer which definitely changes the characteristics of the wood. Wood grain gone, rot free surfaces, see Japanese methods of creosoting planks.
WOW thanks!
Careful: if that c-word catches on, they'll have to add a "known to the state of California" statement to all their videos. Incidentally,
Scary story #1: a box of matches I bought recently had such a statement, and it was not because of the phosphor; it was because of the burned wooden matches!
Scary Story #2: As I typed this post, my spell-checker/typing assist correctly anticipated the next word in this phrase: _known to the state of_
I have the very same wood burning kit.
Ill bet they sold 500,000 of those!
Atleast that many.
I bought that woodburning kit for my girls when they were not too old. My dad was a woodcarver, and some of his work involved wood burning. My oldest daughter was fascinated with woodburning, so I bought this kit for Christmas. We used it off and on through the years. It is a fun hobby! I almost forgot that I had it until I saw Dale using the soldering tool. The wood-burning tool was dug out of storage, and is in use once again!
Looks great! I've used a similar technic with thin foam in HO scale. It's a bit of a shame it will be so high on the wall that your hard work and detail wont show. Maybe it's not as high as it looks on video.
ts way up there... But we know its there. Track is 8 feet up.
Well... 7 1/2
have you ever cut real glass for your windows ? if so, what are your thoughts on it, Love your Vids!!
YES!! Looks great. Tricky. But not too bad. Mostly in HO as the thin plastic warps and never looks good And the thick look bad in that scale. These are 4mm clear. But we get glass from Clover House.
@@ToyManTelevision thanks !
Are you Excited about rio grande southern 20's return?
I think I am hereing a bird in the background. Do you guys have a pet bird and could it be a star on one of your Sunday shows?
Sky and Sunny. Sunny is ... well Sunny. And loud!
@@ToyManTelevision trust me. I can tell. 😄
Are you going to have a small workshop in there, or is it just for storing the loco?
No room. There is a few inches at the far end. Thinking of a lathe? Or ? But for now there is a small, very small, space.
For the ground of your shed, you may be interested in this video: ua-cam.com/video/KrMypwFHMhk/v-deo.html
I'm made mine with Paris plaster, it works fine, but getting the correct concrete color was quite hard. Doing it directly in real concrete seems to be a great short cut, and any damage will show concrete and not white plaster.
Now, finding the equivalent product in France may be hard, but I don't have need for "concrete" in the near future.
Thank you for the link that’s a great video! After the hardware store to buy some of that stuff. Who knows we may have some concrete that needs patching around the place to. Anyway 😊 thanks. Merci
@@ToyManTelevision I hope that it would work fine. Just be extra careful with wheel flanges clearance, as concrete would surely be more difficult to correct than plaster.
I glued some 1.5x1.5mm L corner evergreen profile to keep my rails clear of plaster, but it seems that the plaster still managed to push some of it, so that it was too narrow! At your scale, you may be able to make something more sturdy. Sacrificial wood profile (which would be removed after casting) may even be better, if the wood can be removed easily (wrapping in aluminium foil maybe?).
@@pbyfr already made the floor for the locomotive shed from balsa wood. However, the lantern shop in the colorado switching yard.. was planning to pour from plaster. But this is great. I have a plan for that tiny building that requires it to be on a poured slab floor. Score!!! Thanks 🙏
There much, much easier ways to do the same thing...
Yup. Wanna try the foam technique
Nice model. That's a technique I never heard of! But it seems to take a lot more time than balsa foam (I watched that yesterday: ua-cam.com/video/brsSl2Yo76s/v-deo.html )
A shame that the doors cannot work. Here, for this size, the hinges are usually outside, so no issue with clearance!
But I also had some clearance issues, even with the bottom of the locomotives!
Could make the doors work, but as I can’t get to them I’ll never close them. Other than to take photos or something. My concern is they may move and snag the locomotive. And it’s a ladder to get to it.. so..
@@ToyManTelevision I put tiny magnets in my doors and in doorstop, it lock them open nicely. It's in the middle of the page:
model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/34011?page=19
You got one thumbs down 🤣
Always get a few. Ads cause some. Music. Oddly some people hate videos with any music. Go figure.
Haters gotta hate.
Tho sometimes I figure some wide-fingered folks (not naming names) mean to hit 👍 & don't notice when they've missed it. I've been aghast when I've caught myself a few times.
@@ToyManTelevision I just thought it was funny. (Quote of the thumbs down guy)..."Yeah thumbs down on that bro, I would have done it way different... I would have carved each Rock from the original Stone from The roundhouse"