Modeling the inside, outside
Then, the sections were glued together, forming a square. The completed footer was centered from the sides and in- stalled with a space of six feet between the wall and the side of the footer that supports the drive shaft.
Additional concrete supports for wood sills were glued to the floor using a pair of .060″×.060″ styrene strips. One set of these strips was glued to the floor in front of the drive shaft, run- ning from one side of the foundation to the other, and a second set was glued to the foundation floor on the control side of the hoist footer. Additional pairs of these strips were glued on both sides of the footers that support the steam cylinders.
After the glue cured, the foundation
was airbrushed with Pollyscale Aged Concrete. This was followed by a liber- al dusting of Bragdon’s Soot Black weathering powder. Now it was time to add the stone Plastruct produces styrene
work.
sheets with patterns, including field stone. Strips were cut from this sheet to cover the styrene foundation walls on the inside and outside. I tried to keep the continuity of the stone work matched for the outside walls in order to keep the mortar lines aligned. The inside walls do not matter. The strips were cut a little oversize for the height of the foundation and were then air- brushed with Pollyscale Aged Con- crete. Using makeup sponges, I dry- sponged the walls with alternating shades of Reefer Gray, Grimy Black, Roof Brown, and SP Lark Dark Gray Pollyscale paint.
Dry-sponging works similar to dry- brushing. To do it dip the sponge into the paint, remove as much of the paint from the sponge as possible, and dab it on to the stone wall. Only the surface of the stones should receive color dur- ing this process, leaving the Aged Con- crete color for the mortar untouched. When dry, the strips were glued to the outside and inside perimeters of the foundation. Using a disk sander, the edges of the slightly oversize stone walls were sanded until they were flush with the top of the styrene foun- dation walls. The outside corners of the stone foundation were filled with Squadron Green Putty. When the putty dried, a file was used to dress the cor- ners, adding mortar lines that continue from one side of the stone wall to the adjacent side. The corners were then touched up with paint, using the same techniques as before. The wall was capped with .060″ styrene sheet cut to 25″×9″ on each side. The middle of the sheet was cut out, after measuring 18 inches from the outside edge. The result was air-
68 MARCH 2014
The Rio Grande Models hoist engine (above) has been painted and weathered (taking abandonment into account) and is now ready to install. The overhead and angled photos (below and opposite) show how the hoist engine and other junk have been arranged.
brushed with Pollyscale Aged Concrete and finished with a dusting of Brag- don’s Soot Black weathering powder. When completed, the piece was glued to the top of the wall.
Adding floor joists
The floor to the hoist house is mostly missing,
leaving the joists exposed.
Continuing the story, most of the floor was pried up and reused somewhere else in the mining operation. In reality, whoever pried up the floor would have
probably removed the joists, as well. But, I left the joists in since they add a lot of visual interest. To start, I glued lengths of 2″×8″ stripwood to the foundation’s concrete sills. These strips were bed plates that joists were toe-nailed to. I also glued lengths of 2″×8″ stripwood on edge to the bed plates. These were the sill beams that the joists were also toe nailed to.
Before adding the joists, it is time to add a little scenery. I wanted weeds
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