Grain Elevator – By Freddy Goetz

Grain Elevator

 

The grain elevator and silos were painted with rust oleum multicolor textured paint; color desert bisque this represented concrete.

First I taped off the frame to leave primer gray to represent concrete cast beams.  The roof was painted flat black.  Next I took the head house on the silos and covered with aluminum sheeting representing corrugated sheeting.  This was made by cutting ends of beer or pop cans off, then cutting down the sides, flattening each can and running each sheet thru a ribbon crimper, then each sheet was cut to scale 3ft by 8 ft and then they were placed on the sides and roof.  Each piece had pinholes punched in with an AWL and glued with clear liquid nails allowing some to ooze thru the holes to form rivets. 

The rail and dump house were done the same way.  The windows were cut from 1/8 in. Lexon scrap pieces and mounted inside with clear liquid nails.  The process in not hard to do.  (Using a rod and painters tape to attach the Lexon sheets then the liquid nails to the edge of the Lexon then reach down inside the building and put in place.)  However the trim was painted first with acrylic brown.  The dust collectors were painted silver

 

The Mill

 

The mill was painted with rust oleum multicolor textured paint.  The color desert bisque was used to represent concrete.  The loading dock was taped off and left primer gray to represent cast concrete.  The roof was painted flat black.  The roof over the rail car loading dock was covered with corrugated aluminum; those sheets were cut out of soda cans and put thru a ribbon crimper.  The next step was to make pinholes with AWL and glued in place with clear liquid nails allowing it ooze thru the pinholes to form rivets.  The trim was done with acrylic paints.

Window sheets were cut from 1/8 inch Lexon and mounted inside with liquid nails; except for the elevator housing on the roof (using a rod and painters tape will assist you in placing the windows inside the building when it is on its side.

Finally the warehouse was done the same way.

Water Cranes

Water cranes were painted flat black.  The base plate was painted concrete color.  A three-inch house made from cable protector was glued on for a flexible hose to extend the pipe closer to the tender water hatch.

Curved and Arched Bridges

Ok … Lately we have been working on some very interesting projects.  This one is definitely on the top of that list.   We had our friend Howard from Atlanta come up to us with a challenge.  He is building a new layout in his basement it is a basic oval shaped layout  but the bridges that he wanted weren’t so simple… 

He wanted to have something like this bridge

Ok that is not very hard to do… but what happens when you want to have a bridge like that on a 180 degree curve at one  of the ends of the oval and  one 90 degrees on the other end?

The Bollman Bridge For “G Scale”

The Bollman bridge will be our new project this is a very interesting bridge in Maryland.  We are going to be making the G scale version of the this Bridge;  below you can read a bit about it.  Then I will add pictures of the process of making the replica.

The Bollman Truss Railroad Bridge at Savage, Maryland is the sole surviving example of a revolutionary design in the history of American bridge engineering. The 160 foot double-span truss bridge is one of the oldest standing iron railroad bridges in the United States. It was the first successful all-metal bridge design to be adopted and consistently used on a railroad. The type was named for its inventor, Wendel Bollman, a self-educated Baltimore engineer.

 

The bridge was built for an unknown location on the main line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1852, and was moved to its present location, spanning the Little Patuxent River on the spur to the Savage Mill, in 1887. The bridge remained in service until the mill closed in 1947; switching crews used additional cars in order to avoid crossing the bridge with locomotives, and thus there was never a need for a more substantial structure.

The Bollman Bridge is a two-span through-truss, resting on granite abutments at each end and a granite pier in the middle of the river. The truss structure is a mixture of wrought and cast iron. The truss configuration is the design patented by Bollman as the “Bollman suspension truss” in 1852. Each span is 79.5 feet long, 25.5 feet wide and about 21 feet tall. The Bollman truss suspends the deck from a network of tension members, while the top chord resists compressive forces. The system is therefore referred to as a suspension truss.

The truss includes decorative elements, such as Doric styled vertical members. The cast iron end towers, which bear transfer the weight of the structure to the abutments and pier, are also detailed. A decorative and protective metal enclosure at the top of the towers was lost to vandalism, but was replaced during the restoration work. Metal strips at each portal read “W. BOLLMAN, PATENTEE”, “BALTIMORE, MD.”, “BUILT BY B&O R.R. CO.”, “1869″ AND “RENEWED 1866″. Replicas of the original strips were installed during the restoration.

The bridge was brightly painted, using red oxide for the towers and the heavier compression members and an ivory color for the lighter tension members.

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The first thing we did when we started the construction of our bridge was to replicate the decorative elements:  The Doric vertical members and the metal strips for the portals.

To make the metal strips, the front plates were drawn and then cut on a computerized plasma cutting table, then flat bar was attached around the plate to complete the front strip.

Once those two custom components of the bridge were made, we could move on to making each side of the bridge.

After we had two sides for the bridge we started to connect them.

The Finished G scale version is 11 feet – 4 inches long, 13″ tall and 14-1/2″ ID - 18″ OD.,  wide enough for double track.

 

The bridge will get powder coated and after it is installed it will be painted as the original, red with white accents.  It should be a nice bridge to look at.

A new animation Project

This is one of the first projects we worked on that involves animation.  I hope you like it.

The  Fire Engine only operates when a button is pressed next to the diorama

The Molly Butler Lodge Overhead

Hello Everyone,

 We just finished a new Overhead Train System for the Molly butler Lodge.  The lodge is located in Greer, Arizona about 3 hrs North East of Phoenix.

 The train system will be about 400 feet of double and single track.  The Layout will feature an 11 ft. Hell’s gate bridge and a suspension bridge.  Also we’ll be making a replica of the Molly Butler lodge itslf and one of Santa’s Work Shop.

 Here are some pictures of this project.

The Construction of the Sciotoville Bridge.

 19 Jun 2009

Hello All,

 I have a new project.  I’m building “The Sciotoville Bridge”  Here is a bit of information about this bridge

The Sciotoville is a steel continuous truss bridge across the Ohio River between Limeville, Kentucky and Sciotoville, Ohio in the United States. Designed by Gustav Lindenthal, the bridge was constructed in 1916 by Chesapeake and Ohio Railway subsidiary Chesapeake and Ohio Northern Railway as part of a new route between Ashland, Kentucky and Columbus, Ohio

The bridge is continuous across two 775-foot long spans, and is considered an engineering marvel. It held the record for longest continuous truss span in the world from its opening until 1945.

Today the bridge is used by CSX Transportation, one of the seven major Class 1 railroads operating in North America.

 

Wild Eagle Rail Road

Dan Hoag’s Wild Eagle Railroad
Established 1997

This railroad began as a few small loops around a pond in the backyard. It didn’t take long for it to grow into one of the largest and most elaborate garden railroads that you will find in the Phoenix area, with over 500 feet of track.

The railroad snakes its way through series of towns in various geographical settings, representing any/all time periods. There are three loops (all connected), switches, tunnels, and sidings, each with their own role to play in the operation of this railroad. There is also a cog railway (going up the mountain), and several reversing units working nonstop in both major sections of the railroad. The railroad has multiple power sources; battery power for the main part of the railroad, and track power for the two cog lines and the reversing units.

My empty Spot

  Hello Everyone,

 This time I want to show you what I did to this one spot in my layout that has been empty for a while.  I had no idea of what I could have there until not to long ago.  This is what I came up with.  

 See if you guys like it and if you have a favorite scene or detail.   I hope they are the same as my favorite details, which some of my friends came up and helped with.

Eaglewings Housing Project Update

Here are some pictures that show the new Eaglewings Houses on our Wild Eagle Railroad.  

 

 

 

 

Now with more detail

 

Mainstreet USA

Mainstreet USA