Farm House

I like the way the house turned out.  The peeling paint and weathering looks very convincing, IMO.  Nice work as always Bernie.

That's a good idea using cardboard to give the roof the right look, it's subtle but really adds to the realism.

I'm not sure a guy who can laser cut his foundation, walls and shingles should be allowed to claim the structure is mostly scratch-built though...but that's probably just jealousy rearing it's ugly head! [wink]

Very interested in the rumor that you may be doing a backdrop painting clinic one of these days!

Thanks for sharing as always.

I feel odd giving you advice, Bernie, but here goes.

The place looks great, but the roof isn't as visiable sway back as the proto picture.

One thing I've done in the past is sand down the ridge pole before installing it, with your set up, you could probably cut it out with a soft  curve already present.

once the curve in the pole is in, than using a light and fliexible base for the roof (I had my best luck with very think plasticard) can give you a nice sway once it's glued tight to the ridge pole.

Still looks great though.  I was thinking at first you salted the paint, I'm impressed with how well you did with scraping.

The prototype roof has nine mortised 3 inch square rafters but no ridge beam based on the drawings from the HABS web site. That is probably why it sagged. I replicated that construction technique but my scale materials are stronger than the prototype so my roof did not sag. I used a piece or cardboard instead of thin purlins. A solid plane works better than purlins with self adhesive laser cut shingles.

My brother suggested sanding an hour glass figure into the roof joint but at that point I just wanted to finish the model. Will try to get a sway back on the next building. Next challenge is the remains of a burned station. As to scratch building with a laser cutter, would it to better to say homemade?

I'll be interested to see the burned out station, and how you replicate the effect. I've seen a fair amount of folks use real fire, and to me it looks - off, almost a bit out of scale, if you know what I mean.

In part that's because the model is never "complete" like the prototype - no wiring, insulation, plaster, framing (sometimes), etc, and it maybe these missing elements that make the use of real fire look off to me

As to scratch building with a laser cutter, would it to better to say homemade?

Actually it would be better to say, "don't be jealous of my laser cutter!"

Call it what you will, it's a fine looking structure and it's about as scratch built as they come.  Just jokes Bernie...

 One thing my wife mentioned when she say the model, "Wow that is huge." I have her eye calibrated to N Scale and she has not converted to O Scale yet.  I think I may have made the conversion. One thing I noticed about the larger scale is that certain model materials are more suitable. Wood is better suited to O scale. I never found wood that looked right in N Scale. The window mullions are right on scale size in O. You can actually build each window like the real ones, with separate frames, sashes, etc.  

As for the burned station, first  step will be the crumbling remains of the stone or brick foundation and chimney, which will probably be brick.  All that will be left of the rest will be ashes, as soldiers would have removed any usable wood for shelter construction or firewood. This shot shows what I mean.

The laser is just one more tool in the scratchbuilder's arsenla...just like the plastic injection machine or the lost wax brass casting method if the modeler so happens to have such facilities at home!!

The only thing I can't figure out is how the porch doesn't collapse towards the house.  The end beam seems to be missing the rear pillar...:P

True, the porch is supposed to be resting on piles of stones once installed at the final spot, but I may just add another wood post. I also need to add the steps, again, pieces of stone.

Excuse me but I need to go check the Cincinnati Milicron 200T Avenger, it's milling a new 4-4-0 for me in the garage.   

Well done - a beautiful structure!

Rick

Excellent looking model!