Wood's mill update

Sorry its been a couple of days since posting about the mill but it moves forward.

Working on the fiddly bits, primarilly the wheel itself. Lots of clearance issues that will have to be tested. I started by modifying the wheel I had made for another model but I’ll likely do most of it from scratch. The hardest part is the troughs that catch the water on the wheel. They are at a pretty severe angle between the two wheel faces and I think it will be hard for many people to model well. I could of course just make it a paddle wheel but that’s not prototype. Anyway I warned that it would slow down. This happens often with kits where 90% of the design happens in 10% of the time and the last 10% takes 90% more time.

Comments

[bob bruce]

Hang in there, Thom. One look at the pictures of the waterwheel and it is easy to
see that it will be as time consuming as the whole rest of the mill. (both in your
development phase and later during kit assembly) But it adds a lot of visual
appeal, so it will be worth it. Regards!

[Dave]

Not to get you guys drooling, but, just for grins, I have been experimenting with Rust-Oleum ®, NeverWet ® waterproofing product. It is a two component spray that truely does repel water. I have tried it on paper and found that it is a fairly heavy (thick) liquid. It leaves quite a buildup. Right now I playing with brushing on as thin a coat as I can and seeing if it repels as good as the heavy spray. I doesnt seem to affect cardstock very much, but I'm a little concerned about ink smearing. I think if a thin coat repels as well as a heavy one, I may be able to turn the wheel with water. I was looking at this before because the outdoor G scale guys wanted to know if our stuff would work outside. I'm pretty convinced that this will work, but I'm still not thrilled about 1:24, 1:29 or 1:32 structures. Too much splicing. Even the smallest kits would have to be totally redeveloped. Not something I want to do.

[Paul Egri]

I have the mill listed as a must have structure and cant wait tor you to finish

[bob bruce]

Dave, I have experimented with your structures for large scale. First, your details hold up well
at larger scales (this is a compliment!) Secondly, there are several ways to accomplish the
larger scales without any redevelopment on your part. I found that backing up with foam core
is desirable for structural integrity. That being the case, you can print out the sheets with the
tile feature on the printer and splice as you laminate to the foam core. Fussy, but it works.
The next option would be to settle for 1/24 scale, which will fit on a Super B sheet (13 x 19)
which will print on a large format printer (such as the Epson Workforce 1100) (!3 x19 sheets
can be cut from larger bristol boards purchased at an art store.) And lastly, the easiest is to
put the file on a flash drive and take it to a Fedex (or similar) print shop and have them print
it out at any scale you want on bristol. (They can even print it on weatherproof vinyl which can
be laminated to foam core with spray adhesive like Scotch Super 77)

[Dave Rarig]

Thom, your comment about the fiddly bits is right on. My builds generally go the same way; the basic structure goes up quick but the layering and other detail additions seem to take forever. Of course I'm always in a hurry to see what it will look like in 3D so I usually have about a half dozen builds in various states of completion at any time!

[Dan H]

That millstone is quite accurate. Bob's Red Mill has a combination retail store and restaurant in my neighborhood -- about a mile and a half away -- and I sometimes walk over there for breakfast. They stone grind all their grains, and they have several millstones on display outside. I recognize that pattern of grooves!