MPC steam locomotive "The General" 1:25 scale by Popeye the Sailor - finished

[Canute]

Denis, if you have azaleas, the cut off branches make good "logs" for the tender. Let them dry out if they're recently cut. Guys use them in HO scale pulpwood cars; in that scale they are about 4-5 feet. In this scale, they'd be good for the fuel wood.

[popeye the sailor]

hi Ken..........no,  just my stargazers and assorted lilies.   I was down in the field with Gibbs a couple of years ago,  and we passed by a pile of gardening refuse that someone had dumped.........out of the center of it was this lone Lilly.....about a foot tall and had one flower on it.  the flower was really neat and it looked relatively healthy,  so I dug it up and brought it home.  I put it in a bed by the back door........the ground could've used some fertilizer,  but it been there all this time,  and now it's about three feet tall,  very bushy,  and looks like it's going to have several flowers this year!  enough Botany  

 

I'm going to try and paint the wood load....I've already given it a wood tan base coat.   one more day in Wally-hell,  and then I'll be on the week end...for me anyways   

[popeye the sailor]

I do have a small update on the General.   I made the hooks for the chains..........this started a small chain reaction of it's own.   every move I made with the loco,  I'd knock a part off      ...fix that problem..........then knock something else off with the next process.   anyway......the holes were drilled and they are in place.  the next thing was these two parts that go on the front of the valve chests.  all they are,  are the hand holds to climb up on the front of the loco.  I thought they went one way........so I drilled out the holes....then,  looking at the instructions again,  I stood corrected.  I installed them,  but I need to paint them because I scraped the gold chrome off......oh well >shrug<.....not a biggie there.  time to make the decision her about those hoses.

    choosing a good place to drill the holes,  the deed was done,  and the hoses are now in place.

this was not without consequence either........I knocked one of the rear foot steps off.   it's back on now.    then I got to thinking..........was rubber invented at this time?  the answer is yes.  it was introduced in France in 1735......but the Mayans and Aztecs were the first to make use of this material.   the first rubber ball was invented by these cultures   go figure!  blows my theory that Disney invented it    BIG G.D. JOKE!!!!!

 

.........a brief pause............................................................................

   took Gibbs out,  and then set upon doing something that I think will make Ken smile   should have more on him soon   

[CDW]

You've been a busy modeler, Denis. Lookin' good!

On the subject of trains...my daughter and son-in-law are taking us for that 5+ hour train ride through the mountains in New Hampshire when we come up later this month. Can't hardly wait for that. The photos of it look spectacular.

Disney invented "Flubber", not 'rubber'. 😄

[lmagna]

1 hour ago, CDW said:

Disney invented "Flubber"

AND perfected the flying car! But it took Universal to invent the flying/ time traveling steam train!  

[michael mott]

Nice work on the general so far Denis it will be a great display when you are finished. It also crossed my mind that locomotives and ships are closer sometimes than people think. Erebus and terror had locomotive boilers in them.

 

Michael

[popeye the sailor]

totally aware of Flubber.........I grew up with Disney     used to have most of the major movies on VHS for the boys........now my grandson is interested in some of the ones I enjoyed as a kid.  so far,  I've been able to give him a preview of the Scarecrow {Dr. Syn}......this one was my favorite    there are videos on you tube if your interested........and a fellow did some videos on the comic book character Magnus the robot fighter

 

thanks for the good word all.........there's not a lot to do to finish the model.......the big focus now is the wood load.  Ken has been very persistent with his suggestion of modeling actual wood for the load.  now I can't get it out of my mind      as a mater of fact,  the spare room has become a veritable wood shed .....hosting branches of several different types of trees around here.   the admiral is up in arms about it.......ticks and such,  don'tcha know........no big concern   all the wood was carefully screened before I brought them in.........no bugs will be harmed in the making of the load  

     one thing I'm having trouble with......is I can't seem to find a wood splitter in this scale    at the moment,  I'm in the process of setting up a jig for the scroll saw to cut the cord wood....it will be faster..   more on this soon.

 

thanks for look'in in Michael.......I never knew that.   in the mini series 'The Terror'.....I do believe there is a reference about them,  as a means to keep everyone warm.  I don't recall if they were part of a propulsion unit......screw driven and such......I keep look'in for the DVD collection.

 

your talking about the Cog railway........they just celebrated a birthday or sorts!

Mount Washington Cog Railway, Bretton Woods, NH 03575

you'll have fun for sure!

[popeye the sailor]

OK.....all that chopping has me puckered! .......and I'm only part way done  of course,  I'm not going to totally fill the tender,  so I need to make a platform to base the load on.   when the thought hit me.......I went in and traced the wood load on some 1/16 basswood sheet stock.

I had to cut the hole for the water fill port.......that I'm going to try and leave visible.   the grab handles were cemented on the valve chest boxes,  as I mentioned earlier.  I didn't break anything else off.......clumsy oaf that I am {ask the admiral,  she'll tell ya}

I was concerned about the weight of the wood on the platform,  so I added some supports under it.  you can see that I cut a section out of the front.  there is another part that fits in the gap between the tender walls,  in the front.  this needs to be filled in as well.....I may have to cut in deeper {not sure yet}.

once dry,  I checked it to be sure I didn't have to adjust them at all.  >film on that at Eleven<  this brings us to the actual wood.......I started to cut it up today.   I'm really not sure how much I'll need........of course I'll have to split some of it.  the jig did move with all the vibration....I'll have to trim some of the wood back to the proper size

supposedly,  they are all to be the same length as the wood on the plastic part........I'll just have to periodically check the jig and reset it every now and again.   splitting the larger pieces can be done with a razor blade...but I think I'll try a utility knife blade {no bar across the non blade side}.  I did buy one of those 'choppers' from Micro Mark.......but I think what I'm about to do will void the warranty    here's what some of it will look like/

did my bess ta keep the lichen on them there logs ........gotta love it........nature's detail   

 

Edited July 11, 2019 by popeye the sailor

[CDW]

The firewood looks like the real deal. Nice addition that ups the level of realism.

[mtaylor]

Now that's dedication to he hobby..... firewood made of wood and perfectly dimensioned.  Looks super, Denis.

[Kevin]

LOL - how dare you simulate wood, - by using real wood, what is the hobby coming to 

[popeye the sailor]

 glad I'm not getting chastised for cutting my own wood.  believe it or not.......I'm sitting here at my desk,  and that's all I can smell.   hopefully I won't need much more,  but all that I cut has been split and ready for stacking.  as luck wood have it,  I happen to have some testor's in the green tube for the wood to plastic adhesion........I can use white glue for the rest.  I should have more on this later on.....stay tuned   

 

thanks for the kind word and to those who hit the like button   

[Jack12477]

Denis,  Sven says you did a pretty good job cutting and splitting that firewood for the locomotive

 

[popeye the sailor]

well....tell Sven thanks for me........and thanks to you as well    if it wasn't from the subtle 'push' from Ken,  I wouldn't have tried to do it.  I hope I can pull it off........so far.........so good!  big thanks to you Ken 👍

 

not to disappoint you.....here is a small but productive update.   I had trimmed the larger pieces of wood and split it all........guess I'll have no use for the pseudo wood load.

looking at the platform I made,  I felt that it should fit lower in the tender.  I trimmed a little off the three sides,  and was satisfied with how it fit.  it is now cemented in place.

filling it out starts in the front.......I have to build up the load front face first,  then pile over it in somewhat of a heap.  I'll do fairly neat rows until I get back to the water fill,  which I want to leave accessible to some degree. I only used the testor's green tube glue along the bottom.......the rest is done with white glue.

while this was drying,  I installed the headlamp.  there are no braces or brackets for it,  other than the two that connect it to the loco.  I will leave it braced up until tomorrow.

things got rather busy 'round here,  so I didn't get much further with the wood load.  I did manage though,  to paint the edging around the platform with flat black,  so it wouldn't be seen through the piled wood.  I hope to get back to it later.

thanks to everyone who hit the like button........and thanks for look'in in     more to come soon!

[Canute]

Denis, the wood load is turning out great. Superb job!

[popeye the sailor]

thanks Ken    was going to start painting the plastic parts...but I just couldn't do it......I had to see how this would work out.  

[lmagna]

Glad you went this route Denis. It is going to look so much better than anything that could have been done with the plastic part.

[mtaylor]

Now that is dedication to the craft, sir.   I'm impressed.   You might want to think about painting that whole surface before putting the wood on, maybe black also?  If there's any caps in the wood pile, you'll see the white and not be a happy camper.

[popeye the sailor]

thanks Lou.....I am too    the plastic parts were tossed in the trash.....after filling in the front area,  I knew there was no going back  

 

thanks Mark......yea,  I only painted around the water fill and the edges.  I had that thought too,  but as I filled it in,  I worried about it less and less.   I made sure that the first layer covered everything  

 

thanks to everyone for the likes.......I am so glad I went this route     .....and to think,  I was going to use that pseudo plastic thing.  it took about eight rows to fill it in.......I even had to cut more wood.   I did get a couple small cut from the first batch.........the second batch,  I could have done some damage,  but I only took a sliver of skin off the side of the knuckle of my index finger.  the blood sacrifice to the modeling god 

four rows into it........as the wood is stacked,  it totally hides the platform.   another two rows will bring me to the row that will begin to encircle the water fill..

add another row......it can be seen that I didn't quite catch all the firewood pieces that were longer than the others.  I just blended them in as I went along.  once reaching the water fill,  there was a row that met the sides........one more beyond that,  and I couldn't make another row.  I just fitted them as best I could at the back of the tender.   so what the results are I am very pleased to show    you deserve a hug Ken!  .....brotherly though, 'an not that lovey dovey stuff      

I was hoping to get the tender hooked up to the loco........next and possibly final update perhaps.

[Jack12477]

Now that is a nice looking load of fresh seasoned firewood, Denis. Nice job.

[CDW]

Outstanding! Love it...this is what scale modeling is all about. You done good Denis.

[Canute]

Well done, Denis. 👍

 

And yeah, we tend to add a little DNA to our builds.

[mtaylor]

A lovely load of wood, Denis.  Looks great.  And yes, the model gods must be appeased via blood sacrifice. 

[popeye the sailor]

thanks to all for the kind comments and the likes.   the best thing,  was that there are no extras........I kept piling till it was all gone     I still have to get rid of a few branches in the spare room though..........and even the admiral likes how it looks.   I'd love to get another one and do it in a different color.

   a couple more work days........then I perhaps put the finish on him  

[popeye the sailor]

now into August.........poor thing has been sitting on the table,  waiting for me.  the time away has done wonders for the lichen......as the wood seasons up,  the lichen kept growing.  note the one in the left front area   

hope to get back to her this week end

[Kevin]

 

Thought you might like to see this

 

 

Edited August 15, 2019 by Kevin

[Canute]

Nice video. Gives a good understanding of what it took to keep a steam engine running. One reason for dieselization.

[Kevin]

5 minutes ago, Canute said:

Nice video. Gives a good understanding of what it took to keep a steam engine running. One reason for dieselization.

Very labour intensive 

[CDW]

32 minutes ago, Canute said:

Nice video. Gives a good understanding of what it took to keep a steam engine running. One reason for dieselization.

When I was young, some old railroad men told me the steam engines were very hard on railroad tracks due to the way the engine pulled the wheels in reciprocating fashion left then right (sides). This tended to create problems with the tracks.

[thibaultron]

Yes and no on the maintenance issues. Toward the end of steam, they had progressed mechanically with roller bearings and better counterballancing to where they did not require much more maintenance than the diesels, but the die was already cast. Yes they did dent the track over time, but the diesels did, and still do, wear the track just about as much, but in a different way, the drive wheels slip more and burn the rails.