Garden Railway Forum

I am so impressed with this Rik….it’s looks so real and your workmanship is to be admired….Superb

Lonsdaler wrote: ↑Sun May 27, 2018 9:54 am .... I hope once finished you won't be leaving it outside subject to the weather? It would be such a shame for all that woodwork to be ravaged by Mother Nature
As for the boiler - you'll need to sweep all those sawdust piles up for fuel now

No, it'll be stored inside, along with the sawmill building and be deployed during operating sessions. Trouble is, I'm running out of storage space. Might need to make some cupboards under the raised section, like Greg's.

I could always build a chipboard factory, I suppose ....

Rik

tom_tom_go wrote: ↑Sun May 27, 2018 10:23 am I use a razor saw as well and then I square up on my bench disc sander (cheap one, but works well).

Nice idea, Tom. Looks like something for the Christmas list. Just ordered a sanding disk attachment for my mini drill in the meantime.

Rik

FWLR wrote: ↑Mon May 28, 2018 5:52 am I am so impressed with this Rik….it looks so real .....

Thanks Rod. I wanted to make something which was feasible for the 1930s but, apart from a picture about half way down this web page - http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/gansg/9-loads/11-crane.htm - there was very little info and so I've had to use a bit of modellers' licence and a bit of common sense.

I'm sure this website is familiar to most modellers on this forum, but just in case anyone has missed it it is a mine of information about freight handling.
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/gansg/index.htm#loads

Rik

ge_rik wrote: ↑Mon May 28, 2018 7:01 am

FWLR wrote: ↑Mon May 28, 2018 5:52 am I am so impressed with this Rik….it looks so real .....

Thanks Rod. I wanted to make something which was feasible for the 1930s but, apart from a picture about half way down this web page - http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/gansg/9-loads/11-crane.htm - there was very little info and so I've had to use a bit of modellers' licence and a bit of common sense.


Rik

Thanks Rik. I have nearly completed a crane myself. Seeing on that website is something I have done with mine that kind of popped into my head…

I will show some photo’s of it when I have decided on what wagon I am going to put it on.

ge_rik wrote: ↑Mon May 28, 2018 7:01 am
I'm sure this website is familiar to most modellers on this forum, but just in case anyone has missed it it is a mine of information about freight handling.
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/gansg/index.htm#loads

Rik

I've never come across it before, Rik.
At a first quick glance it looks to be a mine of info on all sorts of subjects, so thanks for the link.

This has improved my model making no end Rik:

https://www.clarkeinternational.com/sho ... isc-sander

I can build stuff square now!

tom_tom_go wrote: ↑Mon May 28, 2018 9:04 am This has improved my model making no end Rik:

https://www.clarkeinternational.com/sho ... isc-sander

I can build stuff square now!

Thanks Tom. Now on the Christmas List

Rik

Just written-up how I detailed the interior of the mill. Hopefully, there might be something useful there if ever anyone wants to travel a similar path (or do it better).
https://riksrailway.blogspot.com/2018/0 ... wmill.html

Rik

I've just spent a while reading the build of the sawmill on your blog Rik and I am totally in awe of your attention to detail in making it look right. Yes, I'm sure there are parts that are not correct from an engineering perspective but that doesn't matter, it just looks so right. You must be very proud of what you have achieved, I can only hope that others appreciate the efforts that you have put in to create the blog for their enjoyment.
Until I read the blog I didn't realise quite how big this is, reading about the construction over a period on this forum I had failed to appreciate it's overall size and I look forward to seeing more photos in the future when it becomes part of the railway infrastructure.

pandsrowe wrote: ↑Fri Jun 01, 2018 10:15 am ..... I look forward to seeing more photos in the future when it becomes part of the railway infrastructure.

Thanks - it's probably a bit too small to be realistic but its size was dictated by the available space. I'm just landscaping and ballasting the station area and so (weather permitting) hope to take a few more photos of it (and the gantry crane) in situ shortly.

Rik

Thanks Rik
I too had failed to appreciate the overall size of this wee beastie, despite avidly following the thread!

I'm also eagerly awaiting the in situ photos with gantry crane et al.
You can be extremely proud of this achievement, IMO.

More or less finished the landscaping and re-ballasting of the station area so here are a few pix of the sawmill and gantry crane in their natural setting.

A view from the end of the sawmill sidings.
The HGLW loco seems quite at home pottering around the sidings moving wagons under the gantry as needed.
View from the head of the sidings.
Moving in a bit closer. I need a few more stacks of sawn timber and a fair bit more clutter to finish off the scene.
The boilerhouse for the mill engine will eventually be placed in the bottom left of this pic. Rik

I think I've run out of superlatives now, but you deserve all of them. Fantastic!

Next time you have the camera out, a distant view showing it in context would be good, please.

Just wonderful... it looks so well placed and functional. The detailing would be hard to fault as you have clearly thought of every operation in the process of machining logs into planks..... Exceptional!

ge_rik wrote: ↑Sat Jun 02, 2018 6:08 pm More or less finished the landscaping and re-ballasting of the station area so here are a few pix of the sawmill and gantry crane in their natural setting.

A view from the end of the sawmill sidings.
IMG_7810.JPG

The HGLW loco seems quite at home pottering around the sidings moving wagons under the gantry as needed.
IMG_7811.JPG

View from the head of the sidings.
IMG_7812.JPG

Moving in a bit closer. I need a few more stacks of sawn timber and a fair bit more clutter to finish off the scene.
IMG_7813.JPG

The boilerhouse for the mill engine will eventually be placed in the bottom left of this pic.
IMG_7817.JPG

Rik

Am I looking at a real scene ? can't distinguish anymore.

I can't seem to find any suitable words to express my admiration for this whole project, it's just sooooooo.....
On a more mundane note, what are you using for the ground surface finish in these shots? Again it looks so real and seems to be a perfect scale match, just like the real thing.

pandsrowe wrote: ↑Sun Jun 03, 2018 8:03 am .... what are you using for the ground surface finish in these shots? Again it looks so real and seems to be a perfect scale match, just like the real thing.

Thanks Phil

Basically:

1. I use concrete to bring the 'ground' up to sleeper height (or near rail height in the sidings)
2. Let that set (a week at least)
3. Dry-brush a mix of coarse sand, fine chicken grit, sifted potting grit, sifted soil and cement over the area
4. Water with a fine rose
5. Dribble SBR over everything (thanks to @Peter_Butler for that tip)
6. Leave to dry (a couple of days)
7. Daub watered-down cement dye over it all (thanks to @GregH for that idea) - I use black and brown separately and blend them as I go

I am constantly scanning the bagged sand and grit areas of local garden centres for 'interesting' concoctions - the RHA coarse sand is my latest discovery. I also sprinkle crushed coal in areas where it might be found - eg loco coaling areas, sidings where coal is unloaded. It's a bit like painting a canvas, except a bit grittier.

There's a bit more information about my technique here - https://riksrailway.blogspot.com/2015/0 ... crete.html - though I've developed it a bit more since I wrote that.

Rik

Looks really perfect in situ. It will generate a lot of traffic for the line.
I hope there's a big forest somewhere. Lucky it's the 1930s so no Greenies to complain about logging.
I like the way you let your sidings 'splay' out. Too many of mine (and others) are always in parallel. Yours give a much better look.

Rik this is brilliant and far from anything I will ever achieve as I would of lost interest and moved onto something else. Using real wood for structures outside makes all difference.

I feel like an bottom saying this though but those plastic logs are the only negative for me as they look like they belong in a Playmobil scene.

Have you got a local wood you can go and grab some dead wood from the ground and cut up? You can then scatter the sawdust around the timber yard.