Another sawmill

[finescalerr]

I would love to criticize your modeling but, at this point, I see nothing yet to pick on. You need to get farther along before I can unleash my big guns. -- Russ

[marc_reusser]

Havard,

I think your overall coloring and mottling is pretty darn close to the real thing...it is though the circular marks that are missing.

I notice that there are sort of three general versions/levels of these:

The reddish brown mottling in the major center portion and on the teeth, the lighter grey oxidixed area just below the teeth, and then the faint dark lines in both.  The grey silver area seems like it will be tough to get/make so that it appears that warm dull grey....nothing comes to my mind at the moment.....using a pencil lead and burnishing stick will make it too shiny (however you could just simply try spinning the sawblade in a rotary tool and lightly touching an artists burnishing stick to the blackened metal....without any graphite/lead...it might lighten up the blackening just enough...though likely it will most also give you an unwanted sheen).

I was wondering af some kind of very light grey permanent marker could be used to create the outer ring....I know it won't show as grey and will likely end up darker than the center (I only suggested Lt. grey because of it's transluscence).....but it would maybe give you some form of differentiation/ring detail......another thought along those lines is some very light grey pigment, touched to the spinning blade using a small shaped piece of make-up sponge...or one of those premade make-up applicator sponge brushes....the Lt grey pigment might just give you enough of a stripe/detail highlight to imply the greyish/silver ring.

For the faint dark circular lines I was thinking if you maybe mounted the blade in the RT, before blackening, and used a fine grit sandpaper to create very shallow circular lines/grooves in the surface, then blackened the piece, these lines would blacken/show darker than the rest of the blade...especially after you very slightly rubbed off the residue from thr blackened blade with a soft cloth.

Just some wild meandering thoughts.


M

[Hauk]

I spent a two week vacation in the Olympic Peninsula looking for a prototype sawmill and on the last day of my trip at sunset I found it. I took as many bad photos as possible, with that stuff called "film" this was about twenty years ago. I have them and can scan them in for you, if you would like? It was a very small local mill with some drying sheds and a beautiful log pond parallel to the Puget Sound. I will find them and post one.
Gil

I would love to see your images, you can always learn something from prototype shots.

By the way, the two prototype images of my mill is taken by my trusty old LEICA M6 analogue camera. Poor prints and scanning ufortunately. But the negatives are immaculate!

By the way, thanks to all of you for the encouraging postings!

[james_coldicott]

Hi Hauk,

very nice work so far- hoping to build my own sawmill one day so nice to have a smaller mill for inspiration.

Here are some pics of sawmill blades both stationary and in use. Hopefully you will find them informative. Interestingly the blades were being hosed down while cutting in use which really took the visible shine off them. Will post the pics in series as I get chance to resize them.

Regards

James

[james_coldicott]

Another one in use...

[james_coldicott]

and another with a little bit of cooling water going on...

[james_coldicott]

one more with a bit of atmosphere (or poor focus!)

Good luck with your project, Havard. Look forward to seeing your progress

James

[Hauk]

A little progress report.

Chucked the blades in the lathe, used a fiberglass brush to make some threads in the blade. Polished with a graphite stick to get a metallic sheen:



In this picture i uses some MIG gun metal pigments on the "working" area. Not sure if the pigments made any positive difference:


Edit: tried to lighten the blades with a 2B pencil. Would have used an even softer one if I had it:


No difference, the blade is too shiny at this point to pick up anything from the pencil.

All in all an ok result, but I feel it would have looked smashing if the blade was etched in steel or nickel silver.
I will probably go for the blade to the right in the last picture and leave it with that.

The yellow of the brass gives the effect away, but it is impossible to get the rings to show without a little yellow showing. I could try to sell it as a rust color, but I doubt the judges  will buy it...

I tried to paint with some Vallejo natural steel color, but it did not fly, looked like it was (surprise, surprise) painted on.
Tried silver pastel chalck, it just gummed up. Disaster.

Feel free to suggest other approches!

But, they have to do for now. Off to buy plaster for the hardshell.


Regards, Håvard

[marc_reusser]

I think a very commendable experiment.

I would probably have considered re-blackening after the fiberglass texture to get rid of the brass....the done the rest of the steps.


M

[Hauk]

I think a very commendable experiment.

I would probably have considered re-blackening after the fiberglass texture to get rid of the brass....the done the rest of the steps.


M

I tried that, but I felt the blade got too dark, and the stripes sort of disappeared. So it´s a "damned if I do, damned if I dont" experience. The one to the right is good enough for me, the other one does not pass muster. So this one will be sanded down, reblackend and rusted after maybe braking off a couple of teeth. Thought It could be put to use as a discarded blade placed just outside the door to the mill.

[RoughboyModelworks]

Hauk:

Have you tired coating the blades with Neolube, then buffing them up... it gives a good representation of burnished steel and doesn't look like paint.

Paul

[Hauk]

I have not given too much tought about how my saw should be "powered", but after doing some research it seems that a mobile steam engine like this would be quite prototypical for a mill set in the thirties:



Anyone have drawings of something similiar? Or are there any kits available?
This would be a nice scrachbuilding project, but it might be wise to go for something quicker...

Paul: I have not tried Neolube, but from what I can tell from pictures online the color seems a bit too dark. Its an interesting product though, and I will probably get me some as I can see several other uses for it as well.

[marc_reusser]

Havard,

Here is one of my many shelf orphans. Scale is 1/48. It is far from perfect, as it was intended as a piece stored in an old shed as to be part of a larger diorama...but alas that never got built either. It is still missing the cylinder and mount, as well as some of the valve/piping detail that goes with it, and the bracing and tow-bar at the front axle.

This started out many years ago, using an old a so-so/fair quality plaster boiler casting from Tom Yorke. The rest was scratchbuilt or scavanged from my parts bin. It is not based upon a specific model or prototype, but rather onan assemblage of bits and pieces/ides borrowed from various photos on the web, and pages in catalogs. These things varried so widely in their details that it made for a fun build, because I could just sort of imply/freelance everything, and still have a plausible looking model...at least from my viewpoint of not knowing anything about these portable boilers.....and for a model that was just to be background clutter anyhow.

Sierra west makes a sim. portable boiler kit that could probably be used as a good starting point if you didn't want to scratch one.  I have more photos of these on my HD, but I don't believe I have any dimensions, and the old boiler catalog I have shows the boiler only by itself mounted on a pair of skids.

Sorry for the pic quality, I just took some quick snaps to post here.

Marc

[Hauk]

Havard,

Here is one of my many shelf orphans. Scale is 1/48. It is far from perfect, as it was intended as a piece stored in an old shed as to be part of a larger diorama...but alas that never got built either. It is still missing the cylinder and mount, as well as some of the valve/piping detail that goes with it, and the bracing and tow-bar at the front axle.

This started out many years ago, using an old a so-so/fair quality plaster boiler casting from Tom Yorke. The rest was scratchbuilt or scavanged from my parts bin. It is not based upon a specific model or prototype, but rather onan assemblage of bits and pieces/ides borrowed from various photos on the web, and pages in catalogs. These things varried so widely in their details that it made for a fun build, because I could just sort of imply/freelance everything, and still have a plausible looking model...at least from my viewpoint of not knowing anything about these portable boilers.....and for a model that was just to be background clutter anyhow.

I think thats the approach I want to take. I don´t want the steam engine to be the centerpiece of the diorama, so it don´t have to be a supermodel. I have found several pictures of engines that have been operating in my part of Norway, and one is apperantly preserved at a museum in my home town. I will try to get some measurements and pictures soon.

Here is a picture:



I dont care for the red wheels, I think I prefer a black one thats quite weathered, but not a wreck.

[Ray Dunakin]

Marc: Nice looking model, even unfinished.

Hauk: Cool photos, those are both interesting prototypes.