dptydawg

The last issue of Dominion Iron (the newsletter for the Historical Construction Equipment Association of Canada) had these two photos on the back cover. They were captioned "Fort McMurray Hot Tub" A quick google search found the originals and they screamed diorama to me. I had an old remote controlled New Bright model of a Cat 245 excavator that was long past its prime. So I hung a beating on it and gave it a CIL tune-up (new paint job) found a base and ground the clothes off a Fujimimechanic/Tamyia Campus kid. Eventually I will replace the soapy water with some clear casting resin. Its built as a 1/25th scale diorama Please enjoy my project and remember "Its just a hobby" Thanks for looking

I stuff the tires with small bits of high density foam. In perticular I use the little filler chunks of foam that come in the Puz-3D jigsaw puzzles. This will pop out the sidewalls for a tight fit with the rim beads. Thanks Carl

Using the measurements given I think that the trailer is close to 1/29th scale, based on the differene between an 88" wide trailer and a 102" wide trailer Thanks Carl

Hi Nick Your off to a great start on your dio. If you ever get to using metric you may find it a lot easier to scratch build. Just measure the real thing in inches then mark out your model the same number of millimetres. It gives you 1/25th scale. For example: A 36" X 80" door would scale out at 36 X 80 mm. Nice job on the figures. What type of paint did you use to get the dead flat finish? How did your mechanics manage to get grease on their arms but keep their shirts spotless? A little drybrushing of a lighter shade on the uniforms might add a little depth to the wrinkles. I sometimes comb my figures hair with a razor saw to bring up a bit more detail. Looking good so far. Thanks Carl

Fall Ploughing I think this diorama is just about complete It is depicting a typical fall day on some farm. We're plowing down corn stubble to get ready for next years crop. It usually doesn't take long for the gulls to find out that there are free meals to be had in the worms and grubs that come to the surface. Its too cold here to take outdoor pictures. I hope you enjoy these ones though. The base is expanded Styrofoam on plywood. The Plow is an an old Ertl kit and the tractor is a repopped AMT/Ertl kit. The corn stubble is straw from and old broom and the seagulls are mostly scratch built from epoxy putty. The diorama is 1/25th scale. Thanks Carl

Hi Nick for snow I have used Styrofoam, both extruded insulation and beadboard. beadboard works well for snowbanks. these I cover withdrywall coumpind then paint with latex paint. I have also used the window decorating snow in a can as an overspray from about 3' away just to get a freshly fallen look. Here is a picture of a snow diorama I did awhile back Thanks Carl

Wow! Super job on scratch building your Cedar Rapids. I like job you did on the hydaulic grizzley on the feed hopper and the return drum. I would suggest that you maybe try using ribbon for the conveyor belting and elastic ribbon for the drive belts. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only modeler nutty enough to build a gravel crusher. looking forward to seeing more pictures of this great model Thanks Carl

Thanks Guys for all the kind words about my model. The real chariot used on the TV show was based on a Morton Thiokol snow cat. The Moebius model should be a fairly easy (thats what I thought when I started mine ) conversion to a ski hill groomer. The multi-way blade would probably be the most difficult task. It would also work as a brush truck too. Aaron, Bombardier uses a simmilar undercarriage. Tim, I havn't fouond a use for the robot yet. Its still hanging out in the parts box. Here are a couple pics of Hydro One's 150' off-road bucket lift. It has a 1000 lb. basket capacity. It us a Hydra-trac HT500XL. Its sort of the grand daddy of off road machines. Hydro One is Ontario's electricty distributor. They have several smaller versions of these cats for line maintenance in snow or swamps Thanks for looking Carl

Its been a long time coming but this project is now essentially complete. I still have to do some light weathering and add tools and other widgets to the body. This is an of road power line maintenance vehicle. It's what happens when these two model kits meet up with a razor saw. Moebius 1/24th scale Lost in Space Chariot DG Productions Topkick bucket truck This is what I ended up with It is a bit different but it did get a lot more involved than I originally planned on. Thanks for looking Carl

Thanks again guys. You folks were realy digging back in the archives to find this one. Its guys like you Chris doning things like this: that inspired this build. Thanks Carl

I'm old like Ed And I agree with him. An old Evenrude or Johnson outboard would look good on that boat Thanks Carl

This is another 1/24 diecast conversion that I have recently completed for a friend of mine who has two 1/1 55 Desotos. The starter car is a diecast 55 Chrysler 300C from MotorMax The plaque on the base is a new car "Dodge-Desoto" dealership badge from the garage he used to work for. Seem I just have to beat on my diecast a bit Thanks Carl

Here is a labled photo of some of the components that form my power plant dio I'm not sure how legible it will be but hopefully it will explain why some of the things are there . Thanks Carl

Thanks for the kind words, Dave. It is a fun build. Since thee is no exact prototype to follow it is an evolving diorama that looks nothing like I had in mind when I started to plan this thing out. We have a Canadian source for modeling supplies http://www.modelbuilderssupply.com/ their website has the feel of the one you gave me from the UK. There is a few more tweeks to do to the diorama before a show this Sunday. With that deadline in sight , this thing will be finish very soon Thanks Carl

Great work, Scott This diorama is very impressive for a first time effort. There are lots of interesting details and weathering. Carl

I thinnk that the last of the plumbing has been run. I finished adding the pumps and control valves for the cooling water circuit. The painters still have to add some dirt to various places to make it loopk used. and the millwrights still have some pipehangers to install. The I&C techs have a bunch of control lines to run and some instrumentation to install. This power station is close to going on line. There is still more work to be done to the operators before they are ready for duty. Thanks Carl

Very sharp looking dio, Eero. You have lots of realistic details, nothing looks out of place or overdone. Great work Carl

Thanks Ed. I generally try to stick to one project at a time. I try to complete it before I tackle something new. Otherwise I would end up with a basement full of partially completed projects. Now I just have a basement full of unstarted projects. Besides if I don't finish it I won't have anything new to take to the shows this spring. Thanks Carl

Its been a month since I last did an update on my genset project. I have been making some progress on it. The cat is essentially complete. Most of my time has been adding details to the Silzer engine. The yellow piping coming out of the floor is the fuel supply. It goes into some filters and through scratch built injector pump to the blue (engine coloured) fuel system piping. The other yellow pipes (top and background) are for the lube oil system. The generator was then installed . I added power output and control cable conduits to the generator. The windings of this generator are water cooled. To ensure very pure low conductivity water the piping is all copper. The heat exchanger is a plate type and the purification ion exchange columns are under the gray control panel box. Some of the equipment is located off stage. The piping ends at the base's edge. The engine uses a drysump lube oil system. Oil drains via gravity from the bearings to a sub-floor storage tank. It is then pumped via a gear type pump through another plate HX to a filter then back to the engine and gen bearings. The filter is made from a Nascar fuel can. The green pipes are for the cooling water system. I still have to install the cooling water pumps in this are. Thanks Carl

Excellent diorama, Ed! You have preserved some lost automobilia history in miniture. Its unfortunate that younge folks today will never get a chance to experience the corner service stations as a hangout like we used to. The village I grew up in had 4 gas stations all with their own characters and personalities. Now there is just one gas bar and the locals don't use it unless they have to. Thanks Carl

Did you use styrene or some other type of plastic for your hinges? The problem may be with the plastic not the metal. Superglue and epoxy doesn't stick well to some plastic types such as polypropelene. Just a thought Carl

I also am from Ontario on the shores of Lake Huron where the snow falls sideways Carl

This rulers give values in feet and inches. When scratch building mark off the pieces in using the 1:1 values in feet and inches. The first 4 scale feet in the ruler also have inch measure ment as well, hence the 3,6 &9 's. Personally when I scratch buiold I use 1mm = 1 inch. Measure the 1:1 in inches and mark out the piece in millimetres. that gives a scale of 25.4:1 which works for 1/25 and most 1/24thscale stuff as well. thanks Carl

A bit more work to show When I started to put the cooling water lines in for the genset I quickly realised that I had to install the cooling tower. I needed to have a reference point to run my piping from. So I finished up the yard under the tower and installed the suport structure. addded some hold down bolts and a little rust here and there. I added some power and control conduits to the cooling tower and installed some safety screens over the fans. The roll up door has done so for this shot. The expantion joint was machined form a plastic knitting needle (one of my favourite raw materials) The finished cooling tower. Thanks Carl

Since the last update I have finished with the Cat genset. The battery rack is now glued in and the cables attached to the starter solenoids. I have been struggling with the cooling water plumbing for the big engine. Since this is a fictitious engine then there is no specific prototype to follow. I'm trying not to let the laws of heat and thermal or fluid mechanics get in the way of a good story. But I am trying to keep the final product believable (I hope) The biggest problem I have is finding wide radius elbows for the piping. This is a pic of the inlet and outlet headers before painting. Most industrial plants use colour coded piping to identify the contents. While there is no universal standard I'll be using the old Ontario Hydro standard colour coding. Red = fire suppression, Yellow = oil systems including diesel, Blue = air, Green = water. Black = waste water and silver = steam. Electrical conduits are normally natural metal colour. The cooling water outlet headers have been installed on the block along the top of the intake log manifold. The outlet of the intercooler is also tied into this header. The valves are made form plastic beads with handles added. The inlet pipes are maybe sitting in place along side the exhaust manifold. I'm still trying to decide how best to route these pipes. Thanks for looking Carl