The Welcome Center.

Here are a few shots of the Welcome Center. There are a few more things that need doing yet before I can truly call it finished. It is BalsaFoam with cast resin parts of my own manufacture except for the St. Christopher figure. That is a commercial dollhouse part. It sits atop a cliff made from torn foam rubber. The stones are hand carved and the finish is stucco ( Spackling Paste). The doors are styrene built-up with cast bolt details applied. The roofing sheets are my own Spanish Tile resin castings. The window bars are cut from dollhouse gate sections and all else is pretty much carved from foam to be really light-weight. The patio tiles are styrene chips painted to look like tiles and grouted with Spackle. The steps are chips of foam coated in Spackle to represent stone and the palms are hand made.

Forum or Againstum?

It has been a little while now since I stared this blog. I was hoping it might turn into a discussion forum of sorts about Gn15 and associated issues. I have long not been able to post on the Gn15info site for some undetermined, strange reason and I started this site in hopes of airing my ideas and creations and looked forward to some discussions. I know times are lousy for a lot of us, but that is all the more reason to get lost in our hobby. There's a lot of things we cannot do or change right now, but we can create, build and discuss our models. Most of us have a stash of unbuilt kits and parts already on hand. We don't necessarily need to spend much or practically any money on projects unless there is a need for a special part or something. Let's get away from in front of the news on TV, forget about it and build something and have a little fun. Let's share our results too. 

Welcome Center

Finally finished the first building on the tiny island of The Last Resort. Really a tiny structure that is only about 9' x 17' and that includes a walled patio! Everything must be small on the island. This structure sits right next to a cliff 24' above the ocean. There is a wooden dock below where the tiny launch drops off and picks up resort guests with a winding stone stairway up to the gate.

I will post some photos in a few days if I can. After it is "planted" in its location, it will need to be blended into the terrain. Next door will be the owner/operator's cabin. This will be a rather rough affair built from found materials and jutting out over the sea, as land is at a premium. On the other side of the Welcome Center will be the engine shed, such as it is, and the tiny fuel facility. A tiny storage track occupies the area immediately adjacent to the cabin on which can be stored the probably three pieces of rolling stock. As a guest steps out of the Welcome Center, she boards the little train immediately outside for the ride up the hill. 

More on Cementos #3

Here are a couple of detail shots of the building of the saddle tanker. The pilot beams were made of styrene and carved to resemble wood. The coupler pockets are resin castings from another project. That's one reason why I cast things. You never know when they will come in handy again! The interior shows here. Most of the items are my own resin castings. The small fuel oil tank is on the left side of the cab with a low engineer's seat on the right. The steam gauge is a Cambrian styrene part.

I am working on a detailed article for this loco along with scale drawings to come soon.

Work on the main island continues

Cementos #3 is now complete. The squat little 0-6-0T was bashed from a Bachmann On30 2-6-0. Nothing but the frame was used as usual. Everything else is either styrene or cast resin. Believe it or not, this loco is built from a photo of a real locomotive, manufacturer unknown. The main change I made was converting it to an 0-6-0 instead of the four drivers of the original. The boiler is a plastic tube and the square water tank was fabricated from styrene sheet. The cab is also styrene. Both pilot beams are carved from blocks of glued-up styrene to resemble wood. Two sanding boxes are mounted at the front of the tank and are linked to the cab by a long line. Ok, she isn't quite finished yet. You caught me! The sanding pipes need to be added yet.

The finish is to represent a pit engine that receives as little care as is necessary to keep it running. The color is a much faded and chipped blue. The lettering is dry transfer that has been painted and weathered over. There is a small oil bunker in the cab. This will be one of several Cementos locomotives needed. I am working on a 2-6-0 with tender and an outside frame 2-8-0T+T as well as a tiny diesel converted from an old steamer.

Saint Francis comes to the island.

A short progress report, but alas, no pictures yet. The patio area for the welcome center is well underway. The tiles are down and grouted as well as the three surrounding masonry walls. The end wall has a niche at the center and a figure of St. Francis has been installed. This is a really nice little sculpture for the dollhouse  modelers. It fits perfectly! The walls are rather run down and they will still need finish painting. They are currently undercoated in a white. I have one more small wall section to finish before the patio area is complete. Then it will be on to the main building; all 4x5 inches of it! I have made individual Spanish Tiles for some of the roof details and these cast perfectly in resin. These tiles are for detail rows and not complete roofing sections unless they are of other than flat, equal rows. I have a cast sheet for those areas. Once the final little wall piece is installed, I can add the iron gate. Dollhouse again!

Work continues on the boat that takes travelers from the big island to the tiny resort. Its been in dry dock for some time now. Paint and weathering has been applied and cushions are being manufactured from Super Sculpy. All that remains is some final details. Photos will come upon completion.

The Welcome Center

Very shortly it will be time to start work on the first structure on the island. It will be the Welcome Center. This is the first stop guests take when they arrive by boat to the island. Here is where they register for their stay and board the little railway for their circuitous trip up the mountain side. The structure is of the typical stone and brick style that is covered with stucco and has a tile roof. It was repurposed from the monastery registration building that had been there for seemingly,  eons. It has a little patio area with fountain and statue in a niche in the stucco wall. It is but a short, steep, walk up a stone stairway from the wooden dock. This is on the Gulf side of the island, so the water is not as rough as the Atlantic on the opposite one. This area also houses the shops with its primitive assortment of tools, fueling depot; a greasy spot of track, and the island's owner's house. A very short spur track angles off of the main here to store the other two pieces of rolling stock; a flat and a tiny box car or shed on wheels. As stated before, there was no extra room to store the lines first loco. It was not a very successful piece of machinery cobbled together by the proprietor, so it was dumped off the end of the shop track into the Gulf where it pokes its nose up for air. depending upon the tide.

This building will be made from BalsaFoam with my own cast resin Spanish Tile roofing. But first, I need to order some black foam for the rock work. All of the rock work will be made from this. No plaster will be used in an attempt to conserve weight.