ACME Marine Services

I have had an old JV Models grain elevator kit that has been laying around awhile now. I have another elevator and several mills that are much better in quality than this kit so it quickly became surplus. I have definitely been spoiled by the laser cut wood kits and their neat true edges and simplicity of handling door and window openings. This kit in comparison to one of them is a piece of junk and I don't think I had one true edge off of the supplied wood to begin to measure off of. Fortunately I have a true sander so I remedied that quickly. I realized that I did not have any sort of structures to go at the Wile E.'s dock so this kit became the basis for that structure.

I primed both sides of the wood once I had some true edges with a primer gray. I did follow the general dimensions of the original kit for both structures. However the grain elevator was shortened to only two stories. Windows and doors as supplied with the original kit were not great so I dipped into my supply of bldg. parts for some more doors and windows.



I used the crappy windows for the storage and shop bldg. and some metal cast doors for the loading dock side.



The sides laid out for the single story and the two story. A lot of bracing had to be placed on each piece on the backside because of the thinness and brittleness of the wood. The coat of white paint is a single coat not meant to completely cover. This bldg. is exposed to the elements and the salt spray.



The platform has had a coat of paint and this will be the loading dock side with the rail spur. The opposite side is a concrete dock for vessels.

 

Started work on the rail loading dock and the truck dock on the end. Hopefully tomorrow I will get the corner molding on the two story, touch up some paint, and then do a India ink in alcohol wash plus get a deck on the docks. Bldgs. have not yet been attached to the base.

 

Most of those were built over a year ago before the stroke slowed me down. I Just realized that the dock that the Wile E. was going to be tied up to had no structures for that area as of yet. Had the lousy grain elevator kit and decided that if I wasn't going to throw it away, sell it or give it away, I could used the materials in the kit to do some building. Thus ACME Marine Services was born. ACME was purchased by an old Commodore recently retired from WW2 service in the USN. His office is in the 2 story structure on the harbor side 2nd floor. Currently the ACME fleet consists of the recently commissioned Wile E., two newer tugs, a heavy lift floating crane, a pile driver, and a dredge/crane all barge mounted and a few barges plus a fuel lighter. This complex is the admin office and warehouse/machine shop/ supply. I will need to add a couple of Butler bldgs. to all of this at some point and a small house that serves some of the on duty crew. The Wile E.s crew lives on board ship. I also have one more structure that will be cobbled together from excess bldg. parts that will be the dispatch center and marine communications center.

Today while tending some slow cooked BBQ ribs I worked on the loading dock and pier some and almost finished the structures except for roofs and some paint touch up.

 

I have some I built using some Rix grain bins and there are some commercially available ones also.

 

Finally got to start applying roofs. All the surfaces got a wash of India Ink in alcohol which greys down the thin coat of white and catches any bare wood missed by primer and thin white coat. Applied some more decking to both dock and rail side. And I remembered that somewhere packed away in a box is a Butler Bldg. Typical WW2 era bldgs. that I saw much of overseas in the early 60s.

 

Starting to come together with the roofs applied and the tarpaper. Still some more roof work to be done. Did some work on the dock and started the com center bldg. Also taking the mini dowels in the grain elevator kit and creating stove pipes.

 

Applying some chemical blackening to the stove pipe plates on the roof. The other side is done and turned out a nice dark color with a slight green hue. Just what I wanted for a facility exposed to the salt air and its corrosive effects. Something that if I had tried to do on purpose would not have come out that way.

 

Hi John. Good to see another you started another marine thread. Nice build and the way you repurposed the elevator.

 

Thanks. The original kit I determined was to flimsy and crude as compared to some of the other kits I have done. With the height of the original elevator a lot of interior bracing would have to be done just to try to avoid warping. As I stated earlier I have a number of laser cut kits by several different manufacturers and I guess I have been spoiled by them. Easier and better fitting doors and windows even having to laminate several layers to get the finished product.

The modification follows the original plans footprint in both length and width, with the exception of the breezeway between the two structures with the extended roof. The small windows are all from the elevator kit. This structure will be located between the peninsulas having the inner harbor on the left when facing the soon I hope to be built layout, and the peninsula having the UCCG station, seaplane hangar, and ferry dock. So the view is planned to be looking across the docked Wile E. to this structure with a short rail spur behind it, and then the small train station. Behind the train station and across several tracks including the mainline will be the sawmill. All this is planned to go in a 30 inch depth. I may decide to build some sections of the dock on either side of this and just maybe the ferry slip.

 

I am now down to the added details for the main bldg. of ACME Marine Services. Installed the Commodore's radio mast so he can keep track of his fleet and made and installed on the deck of the dockside some chaffing blocks or fenders as they are known. The black strip in front is to be cut into small sections as rubber chaffing blocks (fenders) to go along the dock edge. I did this for two previous bldgs. and their respective dock sections. Behind the structure is the next one which will be the communications facility and radio shop and I am test fitting the radio antennae tower. Haven't started the additional docks yet, maybe tomorrow while paint and glue dry on other things.

 

A Company that Makes Everything

Are you sure that you want to call it “ACME”?

They don’t have a very good reputation for quality and reliability. Just ask the expert on their products.

http://www.purpletigercreations.com/Portfolio/portfolio/web/roadRunner/acme.htm

 

When you enter into ACME into Google you get all sorts of companies. There is even an ACME smoked fish. Hmm getting an idea for the fish market and cannery. And entering ACME Marine Services gives a number of hits there including an ACME Propeller.

Probably why Warner Brothers chose ACME for their cartoons. ACME= A Company that Makes Everything.

 

Got out my sprue of crates and barrels to add to the docks front and rear. Applied bracing to the Commodore's radio mast, and finally got a roof on the communications center/radio shop. Still have to cut and apply the rubber fenders to the dock edge. The radio tower area gets a generator added to it and a fence. However all must come to a screeching halt until I get myself out tomorrow to the store and get some more ACC. Running on dregs now.

And I am attempting to get a sheet of styrene metal siding to take a permanent curve having decided to try and build some Quonset type huts for warehouses. I remembered the one I had was a solid casting so with my own I can apply whatever type door or windows I want. The original Quonset hut was a British design of WW1 and in early 1940-41 the first US made ones under license were produced at Quonset Point by the naval construction folks AKA Seabees. One of the issue with them was the lack of headroom when near the walls. So a later development was to add 4 foot vertical sidewalls to them. These are the ones I am going to try to build.

The Acme Marine Services from both sides. Rail side first, dockside 2nd.

 

Got to what passes for a hobby shop today and pick-up another supply of ACC and while there was looking at their pitiful selection of N scale items. Dang if I did not find a Quonset hut model that I can modify because it isn't a solid casting. Started laying out the second section of dock area about 5 inches long for the ACME site. All together I will need about a foot and one half for this section. Again will be a dock on one side and a rail loading dock on the other. Also shown in the photo is my coil of styrene metal sheeting that I so far am having luck in getting it to conform to a decent round shape. I just wrapped it tighter and will again sock it in hot tap water.

 

Started in this AM trying to make some Quonset huts to set on the ACME docks. Earlier I had rolled up some styrene and soaked it in some hot tap water to get a curvature. I would have been better off and less trouble if I had had some .030 or .020 thickness to work with. Still got some permanent curvature out of it though. Since it would not hold the curvature I wanted I went to something that most of us old geezers have laying around, pill vials for the form. On this I laminated some thin plain styrene to be able to glue to. Seems that whatever plastic the pill vials are only ACC would work for me. Once I had the vials laminated I could then glue the styrene metal siding on. The ends will be board and batten.

 

Measure, adjust, cut, sand, talk to it not very nicely, and I think I am getting close to a better Quonset hut than trying the RiX kits I had previously. Time to take the ends out and install some doors and windows plus a tall foundation. These will be set in the framework of the dock and then the decking installed around the hut thus the taller foundation.