Foss Landing and The shipyard at Foss Landing by xodar461 - Sierra West Scale Models - 1/87

[xodar461]

These photos were taken from a log on the SW forum and shows how the rails go on the planks.  On the outside of the rail, the boards cover part of the rail base almost up to the rail. On the inner part a plank is used as a spacer to allow for the wheel flanges.  I'm building a flatcar that will be incorporated into the diorama, so I'll see if there is enough clearance for the wheel flange if boards cover the rail base on both sides.  It seems to me that if only half of the base is covered, the rail would be unstable.  And a dock / platform like this does not seem to be an optimal location for spikes.   I'll see if I get any answers from the SW forum.  

jeff

[wefalck]

The rails would need to be tied down to sleepers or something. Railway wheels are designed to exert some outward force onto the rails, this is what keeps them 'on track'. However, the covering looks as I would have imagined it. So one wouldn't see the sleepers anyway - hence you don't need to model them.

[Canute]

Wefalck is correct about not modeling the sleepers/ties, since they are unseen. if railcars are rolled out onto a pier, I'd expect a series of pilings under the dock where the rails run. Pictures of the railroad docks in the New York harbor area clearly shows this, especially in more recent years with the wholesale abandonment of the rail marine facilities.. There is a comprehensive website where you can climb into the proverbial rabbit hole. http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/IndustrialLocos.html

[xodar461]

Welfack and Ken, thanks for the advice.  I did a test by placing a plank between the rails covering the base and there was no interference with the wheel as it rolled freely down the track, so I'll forgo any spacer for the inner planks (the white plank seen in photo above) and have the boards go right up to the rail.  I will post some in progress photos when I get to that part.  

 

Jeff

[xodar461]

Greetings!

Work continues on the main dock.

The knots in the boards were randomly placed after the boards were glued to the beams. When all the boards are down, they will be given a wash with A/E to darken the knots. I decided to lay the planks to the red line (see photo, last post). I put together a scale 40-foot flat car and the trucks run quite smoothly over the tacks with the wood placed so. I also like the look of the track "buried" in the deck. Here are a few photos.



And finally, the main building on the foundation beams and the deck. Some wood scraps were used beneath the foundation and the various platforms to get them all at the correct height.







I need to straighten the rod at the top of the cupola as it seems to be off in one axis.

Next up,  2 small sheds and the saw shed.

jeff

 

 

[Old Collingwood]

Superb  work.

 

OC.

[gjdale]

Nice work Jeff - it’s all coming together very well.

[Canute]

Looks very good, Jeff. 👍

[Baker]

Great work 

[xodar461]

Greetings!

The derrick dock shed and the upper yard storage shed have been completed. Not much to add as the instructions and construction are both very straightforward. Here's the derrick dock shed...


...and the upper yard shed below (the first photo shows the "strip wood trap" where just a mm or 2 of the first plank is glued to the underlying template, thus creating a space where the side walls will be glued.  The joint between the walls is barely visible in the photos below.)...






note the crow resting on the roof.

Onto the saw shed. The frame has been completed. It is quite delicate at this stage.


Jeff

[xodar461]

Greetings!

Work continues on the saw shed. The floor was next. Instructions were a bit contradictory as the floor boards are to be the same length as the crossbeams however you are instructed to cut a notch in the boards to accommodate the vertical beams. This notch would not be needed if the boards are as long as the crossbeam so I did not do this. The 4 trusses were easy to construct using the template.


The trusses were then glued to the upper crossbeams. That takes us to constructions of the saw table. Construction was straightforward using the supplied plans as a template.

Some logs show 3 boards used to cover the table sides however I just used 2, similar to what is shown on the plans. 3 were used on the side where the end plate will be placed.
Next up is the hardware. I have several questions I hope someone on the forum can answer.

1. There is motor that sits on a platform above the table that has a drive shaft that is connected to a pulley and belt. The belt connects with the drive shaft wheel on the end-plate of the saw table. Connected to this pulley there is another drive shaft (pink circle in photo below). What would this shaft be connected to? The exact layout is not described in the instructions as it is hidden under the table so no need to build it. However this leads to the problem of how exactly does the saw / roller system work (see Q2 below).  I am assuming the motor runs the saw, but maybe not? If it is the saw, wouldn't it be more appropriate to line up the end-plate with the center hole of the saw (yellow circle)? I guess it could be offset with another set of pulleys and a belt to drive the saw.

2. Given the layout of the saw table rollers, I assume the path of the wood along the table would be the pink arrow in the photo below. The yellow line represent the saw blade.


If this were the case, would there not be a mechanism to move the blade up and down to accommodate movement of the wood? Either the blade would have to move downward to allow the wood to roll past and cut the wood as it is moving back up, or the blade move up and cuts when moved down like the illustration below.

My assumptions at this point are the drive shaft runs the blade and there is another set of pulleys and a belt under the table. As such, the blade would have to move downward to allow for the planks to roll past and be crosscut.

It seems to be an unusual set up and when looking at other build logs of this kit, I've always wondered how this set up would work

I am probably over thinking this but I would like to hear some opinions before i start to glue the gear on.  If you want to see a detailed description of how the motor and drive shafts are set up, refer to the log by gdale

thanks

Jeff

[xodar461]

Greetings:

Having finally decided how I want to deal with the saw, here's what I came up with. A pendulum saw would be appropriate for the type of roller table featured in the saw shed. Here is an example:

With this in mind, it was time to go to the scrap box to see what I could come up with:

The wood plank sits nicely on the rollers with just a bare minimum of clearance of the 2 wooden beams on either side of the saw. The saw machine is double hinged allowing it to be pulled across the table to saw the plank.

The remaining features of the saw shed (upper level, motor, drive shaft and belt) were next completed. These are all very well described in Grant's log so I won't repeat. There was no variation from the instructions. The final steps were construction of the cupola and the rusted metal roof. Here's a photo of some of the roof pieces after etching and some rust chalk applied.
 

 

Roofing in progress with cupola installed:
 

Prior to placing the roof supports and roof, I added 3 LED hanging lights. The wires are so small i just glued them to the overhead supports and vertical beams so the wires end up under the floor. These can be seen in some of the photos below of the completed saw shed.

And here are some photos with the lights on (with a worker wiping his brow):
 

Next up is the base which will begin the process of combining Foss landing and the Shipyard at Foss Landing.

jeff

Edited June 10 by xodar461

[Egilman]

21 minutes ago, xodar461 said:

The final steps were construction of the cupola and the rusted aluminum roof.

You do mean "rusted steel roof" don't you? (aluminum doesn't rust) It has no iron/carbon content and physically cannot rust... (ie an engineering impossibility)

[xodar461]

48 minutes ago, Egilman said:

You do mean "rusted steel roof" don't you?

Fixed it = "metal roof".  The material supplied was aluminum.

 

jeff

[gjdale]

Nice take on the saw table Jeff - as well as the rest of the shed!

[xodar461]

Greetings !

A few weeks have passed since my last post but progress continues. Now that all the structures are complete, it's time to work on the foundation.  1/2 inch foam board home insulation is used for the various levels,  glued to the MDF base measuring ~ 36 in x 18 in). Some sheet-rock compound was used along the sides and the seams and to cover the upper level of the Foss landing side (right). Pilings and mussels were added to the 2 docks of Foss landing and the one for the Shipyard after the support boards were added to the pilings  . After a coat of spray paint, the RR ties were laid down on the left.  Rather than tape them to a template and glue them all at once (nicely demonstrated in Grant's Shipyard log), they were laid by hand using a long piece of wood for the boundary on the left and wood spacers to keep the distance between ties the same distance. Here is the work in progress:



Before proceeding with the ties on the right of the shipyard, a bit of compound was used to build up the base so the ties would fit snugly under the rails. The "ship in progress" was also completed. As in Grant's log, the wood was left unstained to simulate newer, non weathered wood.





Other things to think about is how to run the wiring from each structure through the base to the batteries. More on that later. Here are some photos of progress so far. I've been taking it slow as I have to go between the 2 instruction manuals so I don't get too far ahead on on side or the other.



One modification of the Foss landing kit - a cement wall is called for that starts behind the launch Co building and goes to the side of that building and then forms a cement wall under the Clam and Oyster building below the dock. The Shipyard kit has 2 walls, one of brick and one with larger stones. To tie the 2 kits together, I've decided to replace the cement wall with bricks at the back and side of the launch co and larger stones for the wall under the Oyster Co dock. Here's a sample of the bricks and one stone:


Jeff
 

[Bruce K]

It's looking good!  I know how much work is involved with the shipyard build.  I have two suggestions for the shipyard dock that should be added to make it more realistic.  For some reason other builds seemed to have neglected these two simple items which are really no brainers if you have ever been around docks and boats in coastal/inland sea waters.

 

First off install a bullrail along the outer edge and one on the shipyard side which will go all the way to the loading dock.  I didn't do one on the rail side.  The reason for this should be apparent, to keep stuff from rolling off the dock and into the drink.

 

Second, the kit has no ladders for the dock.  I added four, on the outer side I put three, and I put one on the shipyard side. 

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Bruce K

 

 

[gjdale]

Looking good Jeff. I like the way you are tying the two dioramas together into one cohesive whole.

[xodar461]

Greetings! 

Work continues with the shipyard.  After all the RR ties are placed, the base was painted where the water will eventually go.

 

There are wires poking through the MDF and insulation base.  These will be spliced to the various buildings and light poles.  Here are 2 photos of the underside of the base.  MDF is perfect for gouging out small trenches for the wires which will then come out the back and eventually get spliced into 2 on/off switches.  Each hole is marked to identify the

structure associated with the wire.

 

Next up was the brick wall that replaces the concrete one on Foss Landing.  The wall below the Clam and Oyster building was made up of larger blocks, much like the wall near the RR tracks on the Shipyard kit.

 

The RR track was next glued to the ties after they were weathered.  The flex track I purchased came with plastic ties so, before the plastic ties were removed, the track was centered and marked on the weathered ties.  One rail was glued first then spacers were used to keep the second track even with the first.  

 

 

When all was done it was tested with the RR car previously constructed - perfect fit.

I wanted to add the rail spikes for extra security.  However, what is commercially available looked out of scale.  I ended up using standard paper staples - still a bit out of scale but closer, I think.  He is a photo.  It was a lot of drill holes and spikes!

 

The rails were then weathered, and a sanding stick was run across the top. 

 

Next up is the sculptamold for the Foss Landing buildings, followed by the Shipyard pit.

 

Jeff

 

Edited Thursday at 06:31 PM by xodar461

[Old Collingwood]

Lovely work,   how  did you make your  brick wall.

 

OC.

[gjdale]

Great work Jeff. Nice to see you going the extra mile with the lighting and RR track ties.

[yvesvidal]

18 hours ago, xodar461 said:

 Beautiful track and very realistic. This module is going to be gorgeous, once you complete the water and place the structures.

 

Yves

[xodar461]

thanks for the comments.

OC - the bricks I purchased on etsy.  Just search for ho scale bricks and you will find them.  I they were laid like full sized bricks, one at a time.  White glue on the bottom and a small amount of joint compound on the side to simulate mortar.  In between rows I used a thin strip cut from a 3x5 card for separation and some more joint compound when the wall was complete.  Here is a sample of some loose bricks.

Jeff

[Old Collingwood]

Thank you for the explanation Jeff.

 

OC.