Fordson tugger hoist

[Franck Tavernier]

Awesome Chuck!

More, The traces of sawing on the boards are also present...

Franck

[Ray Dunakin]

Absolute perfection! I doubt anyone could make a full-sized replica that looked as good as this.

[Chuck Doan]

Thanks very much!

This is the saw mark maker, a simple basswood fence clamped to my 4" disc sander. I use a feeler gauge to set the distance from the disc. The adhesive sanding disc is stuck on approximately 1/16th inch eccentric to give me a flexible "cutting" edge. I just slide a piece along the fence past the edge of the disc to make the marks. I can vary the cut marks by the speed I move the piece. This setup can do about a 5/8" wide piece. It "cuts" either forward or backwards, and a piece can be redone if needed just by running it through again.



The wood is all basswood. I get my dimensional cut pieces mostly from Midwest Products. The inch fractional sizes match nicely to my 1/16th scale needs. I make sure to avoid any "speckle grain" pieces that won't take the finish properly.

The boards were made in this sequence:

•   Cut to length
•   Add knot holes; burr out a hole and spin sand some basswood sticks to a close fit with a slight taper, then glue and tap them in. Then cut off flush.
•   Run the boards through the saw mark sander.
•   Add very light wire brushing. This is not very old wood, just well used.
•   Add splits and cracks based on real wood photos.
•   Color with Silverwood stain.
•   Final color with oil paint mixed with oderless turpentine washes. Grey followed by browns mostly.
•   Seal with Dullcote when dry.
•   Add freehand Prismacolor Premier pencil graining. Several of the deck boards had some nice grain detail before someone covered them with oil.
•   Seal again with Dullcote.
•   Soda brush low pressure to dull. (Baking soda in an air eraser at 15-20 P.S.I.)

The oil stains (after boards were installed):

Mix Prismacolor pencil "paint", black and dark umber mostly.
Lightly apply to the the boards with a water dampened cosmetic sponge. The Dullcote sealed wood can take light dampening without issue.
Once a pattern is done, follow up with a mix of black and dark brown oil paint, dufted on lightly with the cosmetic sponge, a very thin coat. Then sprinkle finely screened bark and gently sponge press it into the oil paint and let dry.

I usually favor the brown more in my oil mixes because it's easier to bring up the black than to take it back if it is too heavy.

The final step was adding nails using Styrene rod pressed flush into drilled holes, and few popped nails made with fishline and heat formed heads.

[TRAINS1941]

"UNBELIEVABLE"

Jerry

[Lawton Maner]

Fantastic! 

Since I work in a smaller scale I'm going to have to scale the diameter of the cutter down so that the tooth marks are close to scale for me.  There have been several early 20th century models I've been stuck on because I couldn't figure out how to make the surfaces properly.

Thanks for the inspiration.

[Bernhard]

Excellent tutorial. That's what I appreciate about this forum, that you can always learn something. Thank you!

Bernhard

[Barney]

Yes I learn stuff all the time and Chucks stuff leaves me speechless !
Barney

[Chuck Doan]

A little better view of the loose nails. Put a piece of .015 diameter fishline in a pin vise. Cut it so 1/32 was protruding. Held it to a candle flame until it balled up and then pressed it against a flat surface. Same thing I did on a barn diorama some years ago.

[TRAINS1941]

Come on Chuck those are real nails.  Who you kidding?? 

Jerry

[shropshire lad]

Come on Chuck those are real nails.  Who you kidding?? 

Jerry

Quite frankly , Jerry , the thing is so damn big they might just as well be .

Nick

[1-32]

Chuck, once again you have raised the level great so realistic,
cheers Kim

[Dave Fischer]

Chuck-- Still the best entertainment on TV. Is that the finish line just coming over the horizon? The sled is looking fantastic, and I really appreciate your distinction between wood that has worked hard and wood that is just old. The saw mark jig is first class-- now I want to make something in heavy timbers. How could rough-cut tree trunks be so inspiring?     DF

[Chuck Doan]

Thanks! Dave, I try not to use that F-word. But I am enjoying the first wood modeling I have done in several years.

I installed the decking on the hoist side of the sled. This end would collect debris pulled in from the logs by the hoist ropes. It was also used to store cable rigging and tools; those still need to be 3d modeled and printed.

The debris is various grades of screen sifted bark and dirt, applied with water thinned PVA (Elmer's white glue) and a cosmetic sponge. Using PVA glue makes it easy to edit the debris if needed with a damp sponge or toothpick. Everything you see is glued down and has been brushed with a soft brush and blown off with a low pressure air gun. Now it's ready for some serious dust and lint catching.

[finescalerr]

Not bad. --  Russ

[Bill Gill]

Looks like the top of my work space without all the paint spilss
On the other hand, it is indistinquishable from a real sled!