Hi guys.

Thanks so much Michael, Carl and Frank!

I got a bit more done on the water tank and support tower. So after grovelling around in the garage looking for a suitable former for my tank I settled on a spare broom handle. I cut a piece to length in my mitre saw. I cut lengths of 6"x1" a little longer than the tank former and gave them a stain bath. I marked vertical center lines and a center line down the tank former top and glued the pieces on the end. I went half way, trimmed them off, and then used the off-cuts for the other half. When the glue was dry I used a single edged razor blade to trim them flush with the edge of the former.

Photo 1 - shows the first end glued onto the former.



Once I had done both ends I glued the strips of 6"x2" around the circumference of the former. The last piece was ripped to fit.

Photo 2 - shows the 6"x2" glued around the outside of the former.



I then carried on with the stand. I put in horizontal bracing to line up the legs, inside and outside the posts on the front and one side. I then added diagonal bracing.

Photo 3 - shows the bracing attached and the tank sitting in position.



I cut 4"x4" posts and cut rebates in the ends of the ones for the long wall, down to 4"x2"s to fit over the outside joist. The posts were glued into position. I then cut decking from 12"x2" and glued this on, checking the decking around the posts where necessary.

Photo 4 - show the posts in position.



I cut a piece of high tack painters tape to slightly longer than the circumference of the tank and taped it to my cutting board. I marked and cut strips to represent tank bands. I painted the tape a rust colour, marked five positions on the tank at four equal spacing's around the circumference, carefully peeled the strips off (when dry) and attached them around the tank. I put the joins at the bottom. For the ends of the tank I used 3 pieces of stripwood.

I also put the 4"x2" railings around the tank platform. I then cut a circle of thin styrene the same diameter as the tank, removed the center, and drew a square around the circle about 3mm bigger than the circle. I then cut these into four equal arcs with a flat bottom and sandwiched two pairs together with a piece of square strip in the middle to create tank cradles. These I painted cool grey and glued to the bottom of the tank.





More soon, cheers, Mark.

Good looking water tank, Mark.

George

Mark,

Wonderful work! Mike is correct...the build keeps getting better and better.

I'm enjoying the progress.

Hi guys.

Thanks very much George, David and Frank!

I had a go at some dry transfers on the water tank. I basically found the half way board join on the water tank and started from there working left and right and tried to keep the letters straight. I did actually measure the tank, convert to scale feet, do the 2 x pi x r squared x l to get cubic feet and then used my unit converter to get imperial gallons, so the number should be fairly accurate.



I then drew up some plans for the fish elevator tower. I've kind of spliced ideas together to make something that works for my project. It was hard to make out some of the finer details of the towers, but there appears to be a shaft, which typically seems not central. I assume the fish are ladled through an open hatch at the bottom of this shaft and a belt system something like water wheel transports the fish vertically up the shaft where I guess they could be sorted and put onto horizontal belts to transport them to the canneries. My design calls for two such horizontal belts, one transporting fish along the open walkway to the cannery being modeled at present, and one at right angles which will transverse the four yard tracks to a cannery towards the back of the layout. This second belt system will be in an enclosed walkway which will double as a disguise for a mirror doubling the appearance of the yard - much like Great Divide on the G&D. There also appears to be a small shed at the bottom of some of the shafts, which I will also model.

I was intending to build the model from weathered wood, unpainted, but as I used both sugar pine and basswood for stripwood (due to not having the sizes I needed in one or the other) I found they took the stain very differently. So I changed my mind and will paint them. Colours will be unbleached titanium for the trim, mud for the tower, oxide red for the covered walkway (and perhaps the shaft - otherwise mud) and big sky blue for the doors.

Photo 1 - shows two elevations of the tower.



Photo 2 - shows where I am with the tower build.



More soon, cheers, Mark.

Hi guys.

Next up was assembling the tower.

Photo 1 - shows the slot for the door chiseled into the front shaft door.



Photo 2 - shows the door glued into position and painted unbleached titanium. I added 4x2" trim to the outside of the shaft as bracing.



Photo 3 - shows the new scratch-built doors for the open aerial walkway. Door handles and a plastic flap door within the door where the conveyor belts carrying the fish will pass are still to be added.



Photos 4 and 5 show the tower from the front and on the angle.





I decided to do away with the small shed (although I may build it and use it elsewhere). I still have two diagonal braces to add, as well as roofing material and a few other details. There is also a bit of work to do re the siting, which will probably involve taking the model out to the barn, putting it in position on the layout and taking some measurements.

More soon, cheers, Mark.

Very distinctive. And well done.

I like the use of dry transfers on the water tank. The lettering looks painted on. You need to run a #11 blade down between the boards to cut gaps in the letters.

George

Interesting tower.

Well done Mark.

:up:

Hi guys.

Thanks very much Michael, George, Frank, Carl and Tyson.

Thanks for the tip, George. I'll do that.

A bit more progress to report.

Photos 1 and 2 - show the cannery in position on the layout while I check dimensions.





Photo 3 - shows the raised area (ground level) and the new retaining wall.



Photo 4 - shows the structural framework for the open walkover, and the jig I made up to hold things true while I built the sub floor and added decking. I cut out squares in the outside decking pieces for the posts. The structural framework is made from a bridge kit.



Photo 5 - shows the walkway in the jig.



Photo 6 - shows the front wall coming together. Its a little tricky as it is on a grade. All the posts will be vertical and the angle braces are at 45 degrees to the posts.



More soon, cheers, Mark.

Your scenes look great with all those intricate buildings.

Nice work! Buildings are loaded with profile changes, multiple color combinations, different levels and extra detail. A joy to look at and study!

Looking at all the different shapes, angles, colors and textures makes me wonder just how your creative brain works. Mark, this is a great thread to follow.

George