Painting the Paper Mill

 Another "step" along the way.

Chose flat red for the walls of the mill.  Added a light overspray of darker color, Expresso saitn used with windows but hard to tell:

 Chose a lighter color for most doors, Nutmeg satin

Large door with gray and spattering of Canyon Black flat

Set aside to dry before assembly.  Will need to do a bit of weathering, but may look pretty good as is. . . .

Will probably add "glass" and then spray flat black from the backside.

Walls, Bales, and Headstones

Sorta finished construction of fourth wall of paper mill -- still needs windows, painting, gluing together, and roof.  But, it felt good to get this far.

Another HO modeler had some leftovers.  It's the little details that count. . . sometimes:

Headstones for three of the most influential parishioners at the little Baptist church -- Mr Jones, Mr Tyler, and old What's-His-Name (couldn't read the tombstone).  Hoping white glue will dry clear: or strategically bushes will need to be planted:

And a few hay bales behind the tobacco barn to be hauled up to the cows later in the afternoon:

 

Wall 3

 Started working on Wall 3 of Paper Mill.  You'd athunk that with all the parts I had, I could just pick out the ones I wanted without any modifications, but nooooo.  

Premods:

After four cuts:

But it's progress!!

Progress (?) at the Paper Mill

I found second ebay offer for DPM parts:

   To go along with the first

 Seems there’s enough to keep me busy for a while!  But I got a start:

Gluing up second design with additional section.

Even with all those pieces, I needed to trim a piece for the extra section to get:

Taking shape, but lots of work left to do! 

 

 

 

Paper Mill Ideas

So, the May, 2024, Model Railroader Magazine had an article by Charles Trevey that featured a paper mill in the Southeast -- sounds familiar to me!  I inquired of MRR if there were more photos (since the article didn't really show any) of the paper mill or if they could put me in touch with Mr. Trevey.  Well, by the next day I had an email from Charles and pictures of his paper mill!

I liked what I saw, so I asked where he had gotten the structures and piping -- DPM and Walthers piping were the answers.  Then, off to ebay to find some deals, maybe. . . .  One was a package of DPM (Design Preservation Models) modular parts.

This was 1 2/3 kits for about the price of one.  Even though the "era" and number of windows may be off a bit, maybe we can work out something.

Pulp and paper mills are pretty large -- the Panama City, FL paper mill measures about 700X100 feet via Google Earth -- Charles suggestive a good bit of  "selective compression".  This setup measures about 100X40 feet!?!?!?  Oh well, what the heck.

The piping arrived yesterday,

That ought to get me started.  Again, on ebay, this gave me two Walthers Cornerstone Piping Kits, 933-3105, for about the price of one at retail.  The decal for one set was a little dirty and the staples on the packaging for the other were rusting!  Didn't hurt the pipes.

Just gotta find time to work on these new parts. . . and figure a way to close off some of the windows on the paper mill.

Another Grandkid Recruit

 Over the Easter weekend, another grandchild has shown interest in the Blacktop Crossing extension.  We had a few instructions while his uncle worked on the Element:

Then we made a few trees out of grape stems, polyfiber, a little course foam, and hair spray.  Maybe the best place might be on the shores of Watson Bayou?!

Products of Lakeland, FL

Thanksgiving often means a visit to in-laws in Lakeland, FL.  It also means I will take some things to do, like a bike to ride (it's really flat!) or kits to assemble or books to read so when the ladies are chatting or cooking or crafting, I'll have something to keep me busy.  Yep, got in a bicycle ride, ate LOTS of delicious food at in-law's and at Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City, AND did some train stuff.

If you're going to have a pulp and paper mill, you gotta have pulpwood racks.  I had been collecting racks at various shows and stores so figured it was time to put some together.  Had THREE Tichy Train kits:

Don't know why I would have waited so long to try one before obtaining another.  These kits are VERY detailed and "fiddlely".  At least on one, the brake system is almost installed properly. 

Hoping to get some insight into assembling these kits, I went online. . . .  Found one guy who had done a similar thing, purchased a couple of kits and let them sit a year or two or three; then decided to assemble.  At one point he comments that assembly of these kits might better be done by paying somebody.  Nevertheless, he forged forward and confirms:  would be better to pay someone to do them.  I might agree!

Made some progress on two and had a third, non-Tichy that needed trucks and couplers:

Not real sure where side panels go and sent email to Tichy.  Still have not heard.  Waiting to figure where to put them before placing decals.

Also had a C&O boxcar kit.  Much simpler although brake system is pretty detailed.  Made an attempt at weathering; needs a little refining. . . .

If you're in Ybor City, it's just a hop, skip, and jump over Old Tampa Bay to HR Trains in Pinellas Park.  Used to be one of the three largest model train shops in USA; now claims to be largest in FL.

Since a friend of a friend was cleaning out her attic, found a 1957 HO scale Lionel train set, and gave it to me but the Rivarossi Loco didn't run, I was in the market for a replacement motor.  HR Trains repair guy pulled out a couple of old motor boxes while Alice and I looked for pulpwood racks and other cars.

Walked away with another Tyco rack (not highly detailed), a tank car, another Tichy Train kit (oops), hopper car, and possible replacement motor -- all for a "steal" Dennis suggested!  Whether or not I got a good price, they were certainly fun to deal with.

Just means more work, I guess.  Tested motor quickly; not confident it's going run :(