Rainier Great Western Const Update

Tonight's project, the Walthers 100 ton coal flood loader.



Lots of parts drying after painting. I am going to deviate from the directions a bit, by using scraps from another project to scratch build a catwalk around the loader so the observation platform is visible from the aisle.

On a complete side note, any of you smart guys want to guess what's under this mess?



Thanks for checking in.

 

Dale's broke down Freightliner lol.

No idea.

 

Maybe something that's not flat enough.

 

So here are the mystery pieces, the concrete footings for the food loader.



Out of the box they weigh nothing and are useless for any required stabilization. So, I added sheet lead to the bottom of each piece.



It gives the fitting rigidity, sort of, and much needed weight. I traced out the fitting on the lead, then used Snips to cut the lead to the rough shape. After scoring the lead along the lines, I used duckbill pliers to bend the lead back and forth until it split off. I CA glued the parts together, then used a file to smooth the edges to their final shape.

The reason it spent the night under all that weight is that after all of the above, the predominant part is the lead not the plastic. Therefore, if it is out of shape, so is the footing.

 

This is as far as I got tonight on the flood loader.





Not sure if I mentioned this before but in the spot this structure sits on the layout, the observation booth is not visible from the aisle, so I moved it to the aisle side. This required several modifications. The door to the loader is on the other side, so I'm building a 270° platform around the structure. I'm using a Tichy walkway kit to fabricate that.

I've only put the booth and it's super structure in place so far. The stairs are there for reference purposes. You can see the tape mark which I'm using as a target for the grated walkway.



That's all I've got tonight guys. Thanks for checking in. M

 

Making progress on the flood loader catwalk.





Used, Tichy kit 8001 for this build. It's required some jury-rigging, but it's come together. Used Plastruct I-beams for the support runners.

A quick test fit:





Now on to the catwalk supports and painting.

 

Well, after a late night getting the supports just right and the painting completed, first thing tonight is to get it assembled.





Then give her a spin on location.





Now I'll get to the conveyor.

 

Michael, you’re making the rest of us look like slackers! Excellent work and documentation!

 

Well I doubt that, but part of the deal here is that most of these structures were already started, I'm just finally completing them.

 

For example, the flood loader is in this picture from 2016 and trust me it had been there much longer than that.

 

So is this new one taking the place of the concrete structure? Or will there be 2 separate loaders on the layout?

 

There are 3. These two and one in Black Diamond. These two are on opposite tracks. The inside track runs counter clockwise, the concrete flood loader track runs clockwise.

I'm actually going to scratch build a surfactant application building right about where the nose of the sw1000 is. It will catch both tracks and the spur will be for surfactant deliveries.

 

Dale I resemble that remark but you are right that Michael is making us look bad.

 

Completed the conveyor build tonight, then went straight to the shaft portal.



The conveyor was originally 8 inches long. It was then test fitted in place, the end result was shortening it to about 6 inches.



The portal sits recessed into the hillside. As such the concrete footing is built at an angle. The concrete pillars are sanded to about 5° at the bottom to accommodate the slope. Sheet metal siding is added to the sides and used to form the roof.



The hillside was carved out with a razor knife. Here is where a thin scenery layer over blue foam comes in very handy as it is easy to carve out it. As you can see in this next pic, it doesn't sit all the way in, there are gaps. Those get covered up with the new scenery.



Once happy with the portal fit, I hooked up the building to check everything from the conveyor angle to clearance along the rails.





I'll be honest, this was a short but very rewarding build.



Thanks for checking in.

 

Looks Great M.

 

Portal all painted and epoxied in place. A little scenery to hide the gaps and this will be complete.

 

So tonight was a blast. Two of the regular crew decided to brave the elements and come over for a work party. Funny thing is we spent the first hour shooting the breeze and getting caught up. Then we each settled in and it was like old times. To be honest, I missed my friends.

As for my evening, I'm starting a new building, Cornerstone kit 933-3485, the Dairy Queen Grill & Chill.



The cover art for the kit is the picture above. There are no other pictures on the box. The online kit page has several photos including this one:



I looked this over last night and it struck me that the drive thru looked wrong. So I started to check Google for photos of the prototype. I came up with this:



As you can easily see, the prototype drive thru has a distinctive bump out section above the abbreviated roof. The kit has a flush mounted piece that is painted the correct color.



I spent my time tonight using 020 styrene to build my own version of the bump out.



Starting tomorrow I'll paint all the parts then see if I can get this one done in short order.

That's it for tonight. Thanks for checking in.

 

Didn't even notice the extended overhang until you mentioned it.

Good eye.