I love it!

That turntable is fantastic!

And I enjoy your current module, too.  It has an enjoyable backwoods feel to it...

Thanks

I have some more photos of the module on Flickr

When I was visiting the museum, I just took some reference photos because I found the turntable cool, but I didn't think at the time to model. But when the idea to build an engine shed came, I directly knew what I wanted in front of it. And seeing the turntable turned in real life made it even more desirable.

Below is a quick sketch I made before starting to work on the scene. At the time, I didn't noted that the prototype has a frog just outside of the turntable, but I will duplicated it because it is a nice detail and it will also reduce the radius of the second track.

Some progress

I made the central part, and was able to blank assemble it. I still need to add a lot of details.

As I'm building it in styrene, the used tools are very classic. I just bought this T ruler, it is perfect for such job.

More progress today

I started to assemble the turntable bridge. I first put some nice nuts detail in the central part.

Then  I put together all these parts. And started to add some Archer decal rivets.

It is starting to look like the prototype, but I still need to add a lot of rivets and the outside nuts, before adding the horizontal strip to have I beams.

Lots and lots and lots and.........

of rivets.  All exposed.  Good job on an excellent idea

Even more rivets

I finished the main part of the bridge, adding a lot of rivets. These Archer rivets are quite simple to use, I just destroyed one double row while brushing MicroSol on it (the brush griped on it).

Engine shed

I have also advanced a big on the engine shed design, here a rendering from Fusion 360:

Slow progress

When things aren't clear, I need more time to figure out what to do. I took a lot of time to have one of the four side wheel, and it is still not fixed.

On the other hand, I made the side walkway, which give at least a similar look than the prototype.

Not much more

Replicating the side wheels wasn't easy, therefore it took some time.

Upside down:

Now, I just need to add the flanges of the big beams, some more rivets, and the rails. But the big job would be to make the pit.

Going slowly

I didn't progress a lot lately, I formed the circular rail, and put the flanges on the bridges (I need to add rivets on them). The rails still need to be fixed.

Added all remaining rivets

It took me the whole morning to add all the remaining rivets, on the I beam's flanges. I only put these facing upside, as the other would not be visible at all.

All theses rivets took a lot of time, even with decals, but I think that it makes the model in this case.

Added the arms

Very nice!

Looks like it's shaping up nicely!  Can't wait to see the final product.  What comes next?

Thanks

I just need to finish the six small position locks, and fix them.

I plan to paint the whole turntable bridge, before fixing the rails.

After that, I will make the turntable pit with plaster.

Beautiful!

A work of excellence Prof. I lost count of the rivets at 259.  They do look nice. O scale?

Bernd

On30

Thanks. Yes it is O scale, narrow gauge. More exactly 0e, similar to On30 but with a scale of 1/43.5 (French/British O scale).

I like O scale especially for the level of detail I can build on the model. I never was able to something like that in HO.

I don't know how many rivets I put on it, at first I just wanted to buy one sheet of Archer decals rivets, but hopefully I bought two, and as I used just one of the size available on the sheet, I needed to use the second also.

Primer done

I primed the turntable bridge this morning. I used a simple plastic primer with a dark brown color, to have a correct base for the rust and wood colors. The decal rivets are hopefully still well visible (more than on the photos), but I would anyway do some dry-brushing at the end to make them more visible.

Casting of the turntable base

For modeling concrete, I like to use plaster. I carefully created a carton mold.

Unfortunately, I made the plaster too thick, it hardened quickly, not filling the whole mold. And Murphy law stroke again, even this bad casting show clearly the small defect of the mold (concrete "step" made with two layer of cartoon).

I hope to correct most issues with some more plaster, but I doubt that a similar mold would allow me to cast the vertical wall of the pit.

Things don't always go well

I cased the wall of the pit, but the result isn't great, the mold wasn't strong enough to keep the correct shape, and the ring is a bit too big for the turntable.

But yesterday I was able to correct the base part, it isn't too bad now.

I also painted the aged wood on the walkways, just several shade of gray I had. With some wash, it should look good.

Finish base paint

In parallel to the pit construction, I finished the basic paint, with already a faded color. I needed the hide the wood part.

As I used a chipping fluid before applying the red, I could remove some of it to simulate some rust.

It still need weathering.

Nice...

looking turntable.

To bad you didn't have good luck with the plaster. With a little patching of those voids I think it would make it look like a well used turntable in need of some wall repair.

Bernd

Thanks

I made a second casting, it was a bit better, but I still need to rework it.

Impressive

Hi,

wow, this is some very nice turntable!

Have fun!

One more time

I made for the 3rd time a mold for the pit wall, and then the casting. Doing it in hard wood made it more precise, but unmolding wasn't easy. Also, using brand new plaster made a cast of well better quality.

I was able to adjust the wall to have the correct height, and to fix it on the base. It seems correct now.