Woods Mill delivery update 06/26/2017

Hello again everyone.  I want to thank you all first, for buying the preliminary kit and second, for getting back to me to let me know you have your kit.  So, for the time being, all is well with the mill.

Well, not quite all.  The water wheel is turning out to be a real bugger.  I consider myself a fair model builder.  Maby a bit better than average.  I have put the basic wheel together and it is a handfull.  Maybe two or three handfulls.  I can’t release it in its current state.  I need to be certain that the average builder has at least a shot at getting it together without a lot of stress.  I know most of you that are following this could handle it, no problem, but I must keep working to develop assemply methods that will work for all, or at least most.

This will deffinitely not be for the first time builder.  In the mean time enjoy the mills you have.

Comments

[Ron]

Dave, I love the Mill but your statement today certainly includes me. Still, when it finally becomes available I intend buying it. Will you ever offer the Mill that people already bought on the models site. The previous offer sounded to complex for me. Do you remember our conversation about White Castle? I never heard if the revised model was available. I gave up on my copy on one of the disks I bought.

[bob bruce]

For those who are interested, a discussion of the prototype and photos is at Wood's Historic Grist Mill on Vimeo (Google it) The neat thing is that the original DID NOT HAVE A WATER WHEEL. It was powered by a water turbine (which would not show). Water turbines date from the 1850's. If you watch the Vimeo, be patient. Old pictures of the mill are at the beginning and at the end (be ready to hit pause) The narrator tells us that the water wheel was added during restoration... for artistic purposes.

[John Humes]

Dave, perhaps you are underestimating the skills of your customers. :) John

[Dave]

Hi John,
Believe me John, I know what most of my customers are capable of, but I do want to, at least try, make the kit build-able by the average modeler. As I've said in the past, the instructions are 75% of the design process, so I really try to develop methods that most can master. I think I have come up with a good process for the wheel. It will involve some techniques we have really not used before, with our kits. Not new techniques, just new to our kits. We will be providing some jigs and alignment guides to wake sure everything is good BEFORE gluing. I mentioned previously that you might need 3 or 4 hands. Well, at least one of them will be card based.

[Dave]

Ron,
I thought I sent you a preliminary of the revised kit. If I didn't I apologize, I meant to. I only have the brick HO version kind of ready, so I won't officially release till I get the steel and O scale done.

[Ron]

Thanks for your reply. No, I never received the revised kit. I'm content to wait until it is released and buy it again. I really appreciate the work you guys do and your concern for customer satisfaction.

[DanBeresford]

The mill is a fantastic kit, and I've already got a place picked out for it on a new layout I'm building. It's going to pretty much carry one corner of the layout all by itself, and I'm very eager to get to that stage of the build so I can really show it off.

In the mean time, I'm building structures to go on the layout, so that when I get the benchwork and track laid I'll have the buildings ready to place.

The mill kit is next on my list. :)

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

Hi, here is a link to Watermill (boat mill actually) that I made.

http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/architectural-models/36032-water-mill-boat-mill-variant.html

This is actually a build thread and the wheel is pretty small scale. I though the method of the assembly for the wheel may interest you - it went together without any real issues, as you can see.

With the wheel being fictional you could have the added advantage of being able to add metal angled plates to hold the paddles in place - similar to the bent tabs on the wheels to which the paddles are attached. The assembly this way was easy and the end product lined up without any effort.

The start of the wheel build....

http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/architectural-models/36032-water-mill-boat-mill-variant-7.html

The actual wheel build......

http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/architectural-models/36032-water-mill-boat-mill-variant-8.html

If you look through the thread there are also some pictures of real water wheels, including this one........

http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/architectural-models/36032-water-mill-boat-mill-variant-4.html

Hope this helps a little for possible ideas......