1:24 Heywood Wheel & PAP Project...

[DaKra]

same here, thought it was full size!

[Philip Smith]

Super job!

Philip

[finescalerr]

The only real give-away in the whole photo is the texture of the green ground cover -- and you would need a reason to have looked for it in the first place. Most satisfactory. -- Russ

[RoughboyModelworks]

Thanks for the good words guys... much appreciated.

Marc: the problem with this particular center is purely aesthetic, not functional. The lettering is a little too small and set round too large a diameter base line, too far from the hub. The upper surfaces of the letters are also slightly chamfered which contributed to the "soft" resolution. The revised wheel (rendering a few posts below) has larger type, minus the chamfering set in a tighter circle closer to the hub. Doesn't seem like a really big deal, but after going to all this trouble I figured it might as well be right. Next step is to print the four final centers...

James: as this sample center came from PAP, it was very close to concentric and true. I was very pleased with the geometric accuracy. All I had to do was bore out the axle hole in the lathe. I haven't turned the tyre yet. I have some nickel silver bar stock that I had earmarked for this project when I originally started in 1:24. However, since I changed the scale to 1:12, the diameter of that stock is not big enough, so I have to order some larger nickel silver stock for the tyres. Such is life... Although the center is quite light, it is surprisingly robust and structurally sound. I don't foresee any problems using the acrylic center in combination with the metal tyre. I plan to use the same process for the remainder of the rolling stock and loco wheels. Since the loco wheels have external cranks, the acrylic centers should work just fine.

Russ: Yep, figured someone would pick up on that old foam stuff. If I'd taken the trouble to plant some taller weeds in that area it would have been that much more convincing. This diorama base has done a lot of traveling since I did it in the early 90s. It's starting to show its age... I'm actually kind of surprised it has withstood the abuse as well as it has...

Paul

[Hector Bell]

Paul, not that I'm likely to do 1/12th scale ever myself (apart from shiny boats!), I have always wondered how you big scale guys portray foliage and vegetation generally as in that scale the "normal" materials start to look a bit inadequate.
I have a good old mate who is embarking on the scale with some lovely wooden wagons and he wants to make a small "in the shed" layout which will then go outside for a run.
Although he's busy on a Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter for sailing at the moment, like most of us he swaps around as the muse takes him and I know it'll come up in conversation at some point during his regular phone calls.

Martin

[RoughboyModelworks]

Hector:

I haven't crossed that bridge yet, though I am working my way up the embankment so to speak. What I have in the back of my mind is to assemble a tree or two (hardwood, no evergreen) from natural materials, tree branches and so forth. I did this for some 1:48 hardwood trees many years ago to good effect. To that end I've started collecting various material samples from the woods around us looking to come up with just the right combination of form and texture. I "harvested" a trunk full of Manzanita wood and branches a few weeks ago up in the high country and it appears to hold some promise. It has a very fine, thin bark that weathers naturally to a lovely grey, textured appearance that appears satisfactory for 1:12. Its dimensions seem about right, but as I say, I haven't really investigated this in detail yet. As far as leaves, I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet, but since that part of the project is some time off, I've got plenty of time to come up with a solution. I may just do a fall scene with few leaves on the tree and most scattered on the ground. The drawback with that approach though is the tree structure has to be both fine and complex... not an easy task. The one thing I'm more concerned about is how I'm going to do the hedge that ran along one side of the right-of-way boundary... that's going to take some more thought and research. The one drawback to this scale is you can't get away with any inaccuracies or impressionistic renderings.

The original plan is to replicate the Belgrave Shed. But, in 1:12, if I do this, the shed itself will be sizable: 39" long, 20" wide and a little over 16" high. I may just decide to do a portion of the shed in a display case type of arrangement... not sure yet. Though as I say, there's still plenty of time to work out those issues.... assuming I live that long... ;-)

Paul

[artizen]

When you get to the top of the embankment - try this site http://www.skullcrafts.com/base_supplies.htm

[RoughboyModelworks]

Interesting site Ian... thanks for the link. Have you used their products or seen them in use? What's your impression?

For a 1:48 diorama I did years ago back east, I chopped up actual fall leaves and scattered them around the base of the tree to good effect. Because they were so small in 1:48, you just assumed they were leaves, an impressionistic approach. However, in 1:12 this won't work. The leaves will have to have a leaf shape and heaven help you if you put maple leaves underneath an oak tree or vice versa. The nitpickers would have a field day...

Paul

[Hector Bell]

Hmmm, nice leaves, but what the hell is skullcrafts on about?  What a weird website. I've never been so far into a site and still not know what the hell the geezer's rabbiting about!!
Basing?  What the hell is Basing!!??
Are all Oregonians that mad?

Martin

[artizen]

Hi Paul. I only sell laser cut leaf materials down to 1:32 scale so don't know if the Skullbase stuff is suitable for your scale. I will be using some of the leaves I source on my 1:24 scale diorama because it still works fine visually. I have access to lasers and can have leaves cut to scale but it gets expensive. I would think a more natural product would work better in 1:12.

[RoughboyModelworks]

Ian:

It's definitely going to take some more research... fortunately I'm nowhere near addressing the issue seriously at this point. I just hope I don't have to be cutting individual leaves by hand. I spent one summer when I was in college working in the properties department of the Shakespearean Festival Theatre in Stratford, my home town. That year, one of the plays being performed was Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and the properties department was assigned the task of building a full-scale cherry tree. We cut literally thousands of leaves by hand and glued them individually to the branches of the tree that had been assembled from carved foam, covered with glue-soaked tissue paper and painted. It took weeks to make this tree and when finished, the art director for the production decided he didn't want to use it and scrapped the tree. That was the last time I worked in the theatre.

Paul

[W.P. Rayner]

Small update to the Heywood wheel project. Made a further correction to the raised lettering. The face of the lettering now parallels the contour of the wheel face like the prototype. In previous versions, the face of the lettering was 90° to the axle hole. This is a small change that would only be visible upon close examination in 1:12, but I'm also preparing centers for a client in 1:6, so the correction becomes necessary in the larger scale.



Further Update: 2/06/11

Each of letters was angled back so that the side faces of the letters are now 90 degrees to the surface of the wheel. Prior to the change, the letter sides were parallel to the axle axis and the resulting angles were a little odd. Setup of lettering shows clearly in closeup below.



Paul

[james_coldicott]

Paul,

...nice work.

James

[finescalerr]

You can design all my projects; excellent work. -- Russ

[W.P. Rayner]

Thanks guys, appreciate it. Whenever you're ready Russ... 

Paul