A Sling of Pulpwood

Just happened to have a few sticks of pulpwood left from the bobtail truck project.  Used the cap from a pill jar to line up sticks and collected with rubber band.  First tried Woodland Scenics cement but either didn't wait long enough to dry or cement just wasn't strong enough to hold pulpwood together.  Went with full strength white glue!  Made a loop out of chain by gluing with CA cement.

In the back of my mind, I remember a sling rounding off the bottom of a pile of pulpwood, but a few sticks were left a bit more "out-of-round" on top, so a few extra sticks were added that didn't fit the pill jar cap.  Just doubled the chain for sling.  Oops, looks like black thread -- cable -- is too long.

Finished product looks pretty good, but will need to glue tracks to layout to get rid of knife counterbalance!

Woodyard Crane

Received a kit for a 30 ton Erie crane with clamshell bucket this past week.  Not cheap, but would seem to be a good fit for loading pulpwood from truck to rail, as I vaguely remember it being done in the woodyards of the 1950's.  Will not need clamshell, but will use cable or chain to sling ordered pile of pulpwood and transfer from bobtailed truck to pulpwood rack.

The kit, from Model Tech Studios, was satisfactory, but not the cleanest castings I've seen.

Instructions suggested to paint after assembly. That would seem to be difficult unless spraying -- how would you get inside the boom?  So, parts were laid out and painted:

The metal wire provided in the kit didn't seem to be a good fit for the red disc seen in photo, above, so a plastic rod was pulled out of inventory to use.

Just about assembled.  Installing black sewing thread, I mean, cables was one of toughest tasks!

 

Detail parts came from LASER cut cardboard or something similar.  Now will have to find small chain and some pulpwood.  Have misplaced forklift previously positioned to load railcar so timing is right to add crane.

Closest picture to concept I could find, albeit rubber tired:

Lumberjack Finds His Tree

I couldn't help myself, I had to find those lumberjack tools and paint the handles to look a bit wooden....  Then, the repainted lumberjack and his double bit ax found a resting spot under a tall, Southern yellow pine.  I even included a two man saw -- guess maybe that's why he's relaxing, waiting for the number two man!

Relaxing with two man saw.

Note small chip out of tree and double bit ax!

Somehow I'm reminded that if you have to explain the punchline to a joke, your joke isn't very successful.  Maybe I shouldn't have pointed out the missing chip.

Relaxing Lumberjack Take 2

OK, so I couldn't live with the jockey racing silks look, so I tried again.  Repainted shirt with red, but had to do it twice to come close to covering prior black paint job.  Used Sharpie to add black plaid.  Looks better, though not perfect -- but the whole layout is a "representation" anyway, right?

Original

Take 2

Should I try hair, eyebrows, and eyes. . . ?  Do they make paint brushes with only two bristles?

Relaxing Lumberjack

As a student (a few years back) of NC State's Pulp and Paper Department that was in the Forest Resources College, I saw a logo that I really liked:  a lumberjack relaxing under a tall pine tree, a double bit ax leaning against the tree where one chip had been removed, smelling a flower.  Well, even Woodland Scenics didn't have that figure, so I figured I'd improvise.  I did find a guy relaxing at a Backyard Barbecue that came close.  Only, he had on shorts, loafers, and a T-shirt.  So what, just a little repaint and he could be wearing boots, jeans, and a buffalo plaid shirt, aka:

Buffalo Plaid

Barbecue -- Before

Lumberjack -- After

OK, so the plaid is a "bit" big and he looks more like a jockey than a lumberjack, but just wait until he's leaning against the tree.  From 20 feet or so, it will almost be obvious.  I'll also have the double bit ax. . . .  Notice that he now has a yellow "Cat Hat" as in Caterpillar Tractors -- you can almost read the C A T!  And to heck with the flower.

Pleasantly Plump

So, I've about lost participation from the grandsons what with football and things.  Both are playing offensive line on there respective age group teams.  With a visit from a couple of granddaughters over Halloween, I was instructed as to placement of some figures on the layout.  They had given them to me in September for my birthday.  Woodlands Scenic calls them "full figured", but the girls like pleasantly plump.  They thought too many of the current figures looked too healthy!

I probably should have removed some of the cobwebs before photographing, but, after all, it WAS Halloween!!  And, while I was blowing the dust off of another package of figures, I blew a few of them onto the floor.  There may still be one down there somewhere. . . .

Waiting at the station. . .

as the train pulls in . . .

trying not to let hat blow off.

Having a hot dog outside at Ebenezer Grill.

Farmer admiring his cotton field.

We decided to leave out the guy with the beer belly and a can in his hand!?!?!