best way

Best way that I know to paint those windows is with a permenant marker.

Further progress

Here's a bit more progress. Still numerous details to be added and the waste bin bldg. to be built. Not sure how I'm going to tackle that. I don't have the funds for the additional kit that Jim Hediger used so I'll have to come up with another option. The one included with the kit is now too big for the reduced in size mine tipple.

Michael

Cut the rest down in size today

And yes, I know everything is weathered pretty heavily. That's what I want, I want to think on it a since I haven't decided yet what it is I'm mining for..... It's a simple matter to lighten it up a bit but I admit to getting a little heavy with the brown. Looks almost like wood rather than rusty metal which may end up being a good thing.

It's pretty much where it's going to go, backdrop still needs paint and the track is just partially tacked in place  with no roadbed as indicated by the nails.

Michael

I don't think the weathering

I don't think the weathering is too much necessarily, but something like using some alcohol to create some downward wash might make it look more convincing. 

I might try that.....

But the model was dull coated before using the Bragdon powders. Might end up with a whitish tinge. I'll probably test on an inconspicuous area first.

Rust varies in color. The

Rust varies in color. The brown isn't incorrect at all. The only thing you might consider is scribing on panels, but since the building is built, that's probably not possible. I think you did a great job, especially on the slack bin. I also agree with the idea of using a permanent marker for the windows. 

If you have the room, extend the track several car lengths beyond the tipple. Perhaps more than anything else, that adds to the realism of a coal mine. 

Thanks for the comments....

I have been working on just that. I had to shorten the original area for the mine branch about ten inches from what it was on Byron's plan because of my room and aisle considerations. This made the tracks beyond the mine  that much shorter. There is  a crossover beyond the mine that uses Peco medium length turnouts and I was going to partially compensate by using  the short turnouts instead. That still really wasn't enough though and so I made some adjustments in the tracks approaching the mine and was able to move it farther back which gives me the room I needed.  Think it's feasible to have a supply shed of some type located along the track that is beyond the mine so I can pull a boxcar of supplies up there occasionally? I think I have room.

Michael

Supply shed...absolutely, if it'll fit

Absolutely Michael. At Monty #4, I added one, right to the tipple itself. Here's a photo:

Just behind the Pittsburgh Southern hopper, you see a small shed structure; that's the building I'm referring to. It's not a part of the original tipple, believe it not, it's nothing more than...cardboard. The door is from one of those neat little American Models mini-kits, and the loading dock is from AM as well, it's the thin version. If you have room for it, they also make a wide version. It's a good kit and it's inexpensive.

One thing any decent sized mine complex needs is a company store. I have a scratchbuilt one, and a kitbashed one. IF you can find one, Bachmann made a white building that screams "Company store!" All I did to mine was add a sliding door on the track side. A loading dock will be added as well eventually. (When I get that store out of its storage, I will photograph it. It's a real nice find.)

Humm, I guess I have been

Humm, I guess I have been going at this the other way. I have been making them bigger!

-Doug M

Modeling the C&O in the River Gorge.  

Nothing wrong with bigger....

But this one just wasn't going to fit in the space I had allotted for it. I think maybe all the years I spent in N scale is making me slightly misjudge what will fit where in HO. I took an HO tunnel portal out of the box last night and the thing looks absolutely huge to me! I'm also having a hard time visualizing my scenery contours which is something I've always been good at before. I never used a reduced scale model of a layout when I did N, I just worked from my head and use my "eye" to tell me what looked right. I may be doing a scenery planning model for this layout.

I've never been much of a kit basher so thankfully the MR article came along when it did. Thanks for the help everybody and if anybody has suggestions or comments or even constructive criticism, feel free to post, you will not hurt my feelings.

Michael

Photos? I'd like to see how

Photos Doug? I'd like to see how you made yours larger.

The kit I referred

This is the Bachmann Silver Series kit I was referring to. It of course needs a foundation, and a loading door, both easily done. I used a Pikestuff door on the left side, but it could easily could be put on the right side or the rear. This is, believe it or not, a snap together kit, but a definite improvement over the older Plasticville stuff. It's true HO scale. The red kit beside it could probably be used for a company store also. Once I get my version out of its container, I will show what I did. There are 3 of these on Ebay right now at decent prices. They made it N also.

Speaking of Bachmann structures

A long time ago while i was still in N, I had a Bman built up called the " Blue Coal Co." I had it on a layout with a spur running under it but I remember not really being sure what it really was supposed to be. A tipple, some sort of coal dealer or what. It was really rundown ramshackle structure with holes in the roof and walls but I've been thinking I might want something beat up like that for the other tipple on my layout. I have a very tight space where I don't think even the reduced New River would fit. The tipple might literally have to be cut into a low relief structure poking out of the hillside with trees to disguise it's not a full structure. Anyway, anyone familiar with the structure I speak of and does it come in HO? What would be your thoughts on using such a beat up old structure since the slightly more modern  New River tipple will be on the layout?

Thanks for the info on that. Unfortunately I no longer do E bay because of a long unresolved dispute with them over  sales fee money they say I owe them that I don't. I pay my bills but I'm not about to give them money I don't owe them. I will keep an eye out for it in other places.

Michael

The other tipple

That Blue Ridge kit mold has been owned by every company in the known universe. It started out as a Pola kit. A company (Mainline and Siding) even did a craftsman version of it. It should have been marketed as an abandoned tipple, because it was sho-nuff falling apart. One thing about coal companies and tipples: coal companies made sure their tipples were in decent shape. Tipples were the lifeblood of the company; anything keeping a tipple from doing its job was quickly and properly fixed. 

What kind of space are you referring to, maybe I can suggest a tipple? Also, if you don't have it, Kalmbach's book Model Railroader's Guide to Coal Railroading has plenty of examples. One thing no company has ever manufactured however is a tipple flat. There have been industrial building flats in droves, but never a coal tipple. 

Tipples

The look of it reminds me of a much larger mine kit by Pola that I believe was based on a Jack Work  scratch build.

To see the space you have to reference the plan I'm working from again.....

http://www.layoutvision.com/imagelib/sitebuilder/misc/show_image.html?linkedwidth=actual&linkpath=http://www.layoutvision.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/HO_8X10_Track_Plan.gif&target=tlx_picrlfs

It's on the left, behind and above the yard and behind that "dotted line siding"  It doesn't have to be rundown but I want something decidedly different from the other tipple. Maybe something composed more of wood construction like  the model in the pic here

http://appalachianrailroadmodeling.com/modelphotos/lnwilkesclosplint.jpg

I can scratch things to a certain extent but that's probably beyond me to build. It's a gorgeous model though and it's the inspiration though for the look I'd like to have. I don't know that the tipple in this location has to be so much of a low relief flat as it just has to be about 3/4 of a tipple with the transition into the backdrop disguised by trees.

Michael

Do you have pics of what you

Do you have pics of what you personally have built so far layout-wise? That will help. I don't know what kind of access you have to the siding you reference. Is that siding against the wall? Can it be reached easily to allow coupling and uncoupling? 

OK, heres a pic

This is the area where I want the second tipple. I have not laid the spur yet but you can see the turnout lying in place on top of the track.  The spur goes in the downhill direction of the grade so I will actually build up a level surface for spur and tipple. It's a tight space but the view angle should allow me to just model some of a tipple either by cutting down a kit of just scratching something. 

OK

Large single track tipples aren't real common, but a truck dump would fit. Maybe one of the Blair Line dumps? I forgot to ask your era. Are you running modern stuff or transition era or 60's/70's? Seems like a dumb question, but  it would determine what sort of facility occupies the area. I see there isn't much slope between the tipple area and the yard tracks below, but it looks like you could trim back a little without hurting things. If you go with a building, it would be tall and thin. I scratch-bashed a tipple using the bin from an old WIAD (Euro-kit, also distributed under the AHM logo many moons ago over very high mountain, LOL.) loader, and Evergreen styrene that would fit that space most likely. I will dig it out and get a pic of it. You could copy it using say a Bachmann or Life Like coaling tower kit's bin.

Passing siding

There is actually an optional passing siding that would run in front of the mainline there. That's why there is the extra width of plywood. My hobby finances are tight though and I have to get things as I can so I don't have the two turnouts I need for that siding yet. I might still can trim a little from the top level once I get the siding in place but it's pretty much a situation of a vertical rock face and retaining walls separating the two levels. I had thought of a truck dump but I already had a space picked out for one elsewhere on the layout and I don't want to overdo them. I guess I could always put some type of "non coal" industry on that siding but then I would have one tipple and a truck dump serving the layout. The era is planned to be transition with mostly steam and just a bit of diesel power. Main coal hauling stock is going to be USRA two bay hoppers. I'm a freelance guy, I don't live and die by the prototype like some folks do but I do like to keep a sense of plausibility to my layouts.

Michael

Make coke plant. (Not Coca Cola)

Nice call Den!

A coking operation is a good call. So would be a mining supply company, which would take a number of various types of cars...and make for an interesting operation when dynamite and/or explosives is/are needed. 

We're both in transition era, this is a good thing. Now I know best how to help you since we both model similar things.

Here is the tipple I mentioned previously. It's very basic. All it needs is a conveyor. I have part of one from a New River Mine kit. 

I do understand the budget thing. I will look around and see if the M&WV has any USRA hoppers to help out a struggling shortline.

Which size rail are you using?

Chances are I have a couple of extra turnouts. I use code 83 (mostly #6s)

Code 83

That's what I use too. Atlas track but Peco turnouts although brand doesn't really matter. I'll have to think about what I want to put in that space. I have a lot of New River Mining pieces left as far as conveyors and such but no wall pieces. Going to research coke ovens and see how hard that might be to model. I like the idea of a mining supply too.

Michael

Here's an idea

Mike, do you have any of the large conveyor left over from the NR mining kit? If so, that's really all you need. You wanted something surrounded by trees extending say over a hill, as I recall? Simply place the conveyor wherever you want it on the siding, put a support under it and then cover the conveyor with trees/undergrowth to make it look like it's coming from a tipple over the hill. I will mock it up and show you what I mean if you need a visual. It's an easy thing to do and a money saver. Not only that, it can be moved later if you get something you decide you like better.

TAG