Stumps Hot Out of the Oven!

The shop is so messy! I have got to get it cleaned up before Friday when the guys come over. When I cleaned up the scenery materials I found a lot of things that belonged in the shop so I just sat it on the counter. I did clean up the coffee materials.



Tubs and tubs of stuff everywhere. Maybe I'll get some time tomorrow to go pick up.

Here is my tree/stump carving station. It consists of a hardwood plywood base (cabinet grade, 1/4 inch) that has rounded and sanded corners. This gives me a stable working platform. The turntable is from Michaels and is heavy aluminum with bearings to it stays stable and spins very well. It is a lifesaver! I built a tool holder next to it for my carving tools, knives and the like. On top is a small stainless steel cup for holding balls of clay. So far it has worked very well. Mostly I take it upstairs so that Marie and I can chat and I can work. I also can watch the big TV.
I bought another set of carving tools today. This set was about $15. Frankly, I like my dental tools better. There are several repeat blades in this set and its not that great.
The stumps are moving right along. It takes about 20 minutes to carve one, including about five minutes to study the photograph and draw the design. Yes, I sketch out every one. This way I don't get duplicates and the detail is realistic. These are very tall stumps because about 1/2" of the stump is under water in the swamp.

Here is the carving table at work at the kitchen table. A large Coke, some all natural animal crackers from Trader Joe's and some Sculpey clay, and we're in business! I put a small piece of aluminum foil on the turntable (which is not mounted on the board, btw) and I begin to cut away anything that doesn't look like a cypress stump.


Here you can see the early shaping of the stump. The buttresses are smaller and more tapered on this model (from a picture of a real stump) and it will have more ridges. There are three types of cypress in the Okefenokee and the stumps are very different on each species.

The turntable is heavy and gives me a very stable work space. The top of the turntable is removable so that I can take it off and do very fine work up close.

My daughter is learning the hobby now at the ripe old age of four. Here she is learning how to paint. She's got a single alt brush and is practicing her fine moter skills. She is going to be GREAT! Fourth generation model train nut.

The first six stumps are ready for the toaster oven. I'll bake them for 40 minutes since they are quite thick. Its 15 minutes per 1/4". They are pretty and white now, but will come out brown and purple when done. I don't really care about the color as they will only be masters for the molding process. This is about a pound of Sculpey on this tray. I like a toaster oven better than our big kitchen oven. You can move it to the garage and get the fumes out of the kitchen, plus, it doesn't heat up the whole room which is a big consideration here in 96 degree Georgia. For some reason the fumes aren't as bad in a toaster oven anyway.

Here are all the new sculpting tools. Several are duplicates so I'll weed them out.

This is a more rounded and tapered stump. The loggers didn't want to cut through the thick buttress, so they would cut at the point where the tree tapered off. I start with a lump of Sculpey that has been THOROUGHLY kneeded to make it soft. Sculpey is hard as a rock and I'll take a ball with me while I drive in traffic or at the computer and squish it to get is soft and pliable. Then I'll make a rough shape just a bit larger than the finished stump and work it down with my fingers.

Here is the first dozen just out of the oven. They aren't a finished stump yet. I'll sand the bottoms perfectly flat for mounting and will remove the small clay balls that form from the wire brush. These match the photos perfectly!

Next week...we start the cypress knees!

Got a question or a comment? Post it here!

Building a Battleship For the Train Layout

It's hot here at the Swamp. Air conditioner number #2 sprang a leak and the upstairs is a balmy 89 degrees, and its 99 outside so we're not opening the windows. AC #1 is pumping as hard as it can go, but the coolest place is always the basement, so that is where I spent the hot part of the day.
Taylor and Marie came to visit alot as the cool breeze from the shop fans made it right comfy here in the Swamp.

I went to Ace Hardward and bought the flat washers and fine threaded nuts to put the castors on the bottom of the gurney. Some people call these moving layout segments "battleships" or "mobile modules" but I still like gurney. The new castors roll very nicely.

The legs will be made from ripped 3/4" plywood stock cut to 3" and 2" board widths. One 3" to one 2" per leg in L-girder fashion. I do the work on my 8 foot heavy workbench. One thing that I believe all layout builders should do is make sure they save room for a work area. Many layouts I work on are short of space and that makes for sloppy and dangerous work. I have two large rooms, a shop and a two car garage as well as the back yard to work in so we're good.

I brace up the 2" board then glue and screw the 2" board along the 3" board making an L shape beam.
Using the new L to support the other board, I repeat the process.
Once the four legs were built, I screwed them into the bottom box.

I used a level to make sure they were straight and did the work up on the benchwork so that I wasn't bending over or sitting on the hard floor. Looks good!
I dropped the assembly to the floor and positioned it under the layout.
A fan keeps the air circulating. I have not installed the air conditioning yet, but really its not that warm down here. The fan keeps it cool while its 99 degrees outside here in Georgia.
The legs were checked for position and then the whole assembly was carefully leveled. Once level in every possible way, I anchored the legs onto the top benchwork with 1 5/8" drywall screws. She's solid!
I rolled the gurney around and she moves great! The heavy base keeps her very stable.
The gurney can be shoved into the back of the layout room to make way for work on the layout area behind the gurney. Its a little tight, though.
This one corner needs to go on a diet. It's not a problem since this buildge is a scenic area and not critical to the main line.
I made a note to myself to cut it back.
I rolled the gurney out of the room and into the area that will be the crew lounge. Moves great!
The ultimate test was to see if I could get it into the shop. I was able to get it inside fine!
I can even turn it 360 degrees. This way I can do detail work on this section in the comfort of the shop where all my tools are, and in a climate controlled environment. I'm also next to the airbrush.

Oops! Scratch that idea. I could get it in to the shop because of the angled cut on one side. However, it wouldn't come out! This could be a pain. I had to tip it over to get it out.
The final step was to build another shelf in the gurney. This shelf will hold the DCC system when the gurney is on tour as well as tools and models. It is much more shallow than the bottom shelf.
There! All done! Now my rolling display can go anywhere.

There is still just a little more benchwork to do, and I still don't have the right sanding belt, so I'm off to the Home Depot again. I may finish more of the benchwork tonight.

Clean Up! Everybody, Clean Up!

It's spring cleaning time in the basement. We've made a lot of saw dust over the past few months, so I thought I should do a clean up session. My daughter and our club mascot Taylor came down to help. She will be four years old next week and actually is a very good helper.

I vacuumed up the saw dust, put away tools, sorted screws and wood, and plugged up the dehumidifier. It is really really muggy in the basement today and raining outside. The back room where I store things is a little musty. So I opened up all the doors and kicked on the dehumidifier.

After a good floor sweep, a rounding up of coffee and drink cups and a few more cleaning jobs the basement is ready to be wiped out again! Yeah!

I made a list of some things I need to get at the store.

1 5/8 dry wall screws - one box
Regular pencils
A regular size pencil sharpener
2" masking tape
Flat counter sink bit without pilot drill
Spackle - small can
Belt sander belt (take old one with you!)

More benchwork...

Working solo this afternoon I gave the basement a good cleaning and got rid of all the sawdust. I put the tools away and moved some things around a bit so that we could work better. I'm a safety nut and have all my fingers to prove that being a safety nut is a good thing.

Then, I went back to work on the layout and put in another L-girder. For some reason five guys can do it a lot faster than one. It's at least a two man job.

After that I cooked London Broil and took a hot shower. That's it for me today. Tomorrow I'm painting the Slaughterhouse.