Quanah, Acme and Pacific (QA&P) - West Texas - Fictitious Model Railroad Layout Agriculture Industry

Discussion in 'Freelance' started by skyraider, Oct 13, 2019.

  1. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member Staff Member

    Looking back now, I am impressed at the greys, reds and other colors of dirt that was present in the Pease river breaks.
    I think your efforts look great Paul.
     
  2. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    Thanks, Tom. It's fun, and my wife's help has been instrumental. My color vision is terrible!!!
     
  3. gstout

    gstout Member Frisco.org Supporter

    ...however, this module looks really good, too.

    GS
     
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  4. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    Your earlier post regarding colors looked interesting. It sounds simpler than the acrylic method I'm currently using and worth checking into!
     
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  5. gstout

    gstout Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Think of it this way: Most of the "bare ground" on most layouts is eventually covered to a large degree by some sort of green ground cover/static grass/trees. The brown underneath is just background.

    GS
     
  6. patrick flory

    patrick flory Member

    Great tips, thanks. I wanted my first layout of 60 yr ago to be west Texas but back then there was no way to get that kind of information and living in the humid green Deep South, I could not observe first hand.

    I recognize the building at the end of the spur. The one I fixed up for the club disappeared into history several years ago.
     
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  7. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    Got started on the agricultural industry siding. The back track is going to be grain bins and an associated business (the quonset hut) and the front track will be a cotton gin. The cotton gin is being scratch built in it's entirety. The cotton / hay wagons were scratch built, stick at a time. The process of building and attaching the stakesides is still being thought out.

    The loading dock was scratch built. etc., etc. Cotton gins are interesting from the perspective that no two gin buildings are alike, from the research I have done. They have similarities, but each is it's own individual structure. Mine is far, far from being done. It will have several roof vents. There will be dust cyclones (three of them) on the tall end. There are two more door and 2 more window openings to cut. But it's coming along pretty well.

    The warehouse end (styrene) will be clapboard and the actual gin portion (corrugated wood siding that will be painted a galvanized color) will be simulated corrugated metal. Not only are models expensive right now but scratch building supplies are, as well. As a result, I had some stuff I'd been carrying around for 20 years I decided to just use. One interesting thing about cotton gins is that they tended to get pretty dilapidated looking. Patches were of anything that was laying around. You would find three or four types of siding material to keep costs down. That's why I decided to take the route I did. It makes the end product more realistic.

    Anyway, there it is. Any and all suggestions are welcome and appreciated!!

    Paul Moore IMG_450.JPG IMG_452.JPG IMG_453.JPG IMG_457.JPG IMG_458.JPG
     
  8. mark

    mark Staff Member Staff Member

    Paul,

    Depending on era, consider a small boiler / power house for the cotton gin. It could be operational (older), converted to electric or gas system support (newer) or abandoned. The structure could be adjacent to but stand alone or adjoining the balance of the building. If separated form the gin building, overhead steam (larger diameter) and return condensate (smaller diameter) pipes were common between structures. In either event the power house would be fully enclosed by masonry walls on all sides to reduce potential fire spread. High fire walls facing any structure were typical. At least a single stack should be present, with some free standing if self supporting, while others had guy cable supports.

    This would also present an opportunity for an occasional delivery of fuel. This could come in an open hopper with coal or tank car of oil for the boiler. A portable or fixed conveyor would be appropriate for coal unloading or valve and hose for liquid fuel. Exterior fuel storage is also an opportunity to model. Consider options like an open pile or inclosed bin for coal or tank(s) for liquid fuel. Fuel supplies could also be sold "off season" of ginning operations to local customers. Related "off season" sales were often used to provide income to offset expenses (minimal staff, basic utility charges, taxes, etc.), while providing additional services to and building loyality of customers.

    These thoughts should add structure interest, commodity options and freight car type variety to your operations.

    Hope this helps.

    Thanks!

    Mark
     
  9. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    Thanks, Mark. Great ideas. There's a small space to the left of the main gin that might work for a small power generating building.

    Paul Moore
     
  10. skyraider,
    A 99% perfect model. A lot of talent. To get the other 1%, as a 1964 employee of ACF, I hope to see an ACF cyl. Centerflow covered hopper car.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2021
  11. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    I don't have any of those. The only covered hoppers I have are the shorties with the ribbed sides like Kadee made.
     
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  12. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    That's the only model of the popular ACF Center-Flow LO the Frisco ordered. Other roads really liked this version of a LO. So be it - Frisco preferred Pullman-Standard it seems.
    These ACF cars were generally found in silica sand, cement, dry chemicals, etc. service. These cars had a 2970 ft3 capacity.

    K
     
    Last edited: Jun 17, 2021
  13. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    That's absolutely correct. The short covered hoppers normally carried extremely heavy bulk commodity like sand, etc. The grain cars were usually longer. I like the short covered hoppers; the longer ones were normally later than what I model, so I will probably stick with the short hoppers and box cars. Who manufactured the car that mountaincreekar posted? Maybe I could look for one or two of those.

    Thanks,

    Paul Moore
     
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2021
  14. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    A tiny bit of progress on the cotton gin. We've been extremely busy so there's not been much time to work on it. The left (styrene) end is the shipping and receiving part of the gin. The ground level loading door on the left is where the raw cotton comes in from the field. The actual gin is the wood (simulated corrugated siding) part on the right. The doors and windows are nearly done.

    There will be three cyclone dust collectors that mount on the far right tall wall. A gin in the 1940's may not have had them, but they look cool and add interest, so this gin will have them. There might be a cylindrical bin on the right for cotton seed oil or something else. I've got one and am debating on using it here or somewhere else.

    There are two wagons for cotton or hay. Since it's off season, one has it's stakesides mounted and the other doesn't. The reason it's off season is that there aren't any commercially available HO cotton bales, and I can't think of a reasonable method for making them.

    The photos are all cell phone shots so they're fairly poor. That's it for now.

    Paul Moore IMG_20210613_140244872.jpg IMG_20210613_140255211.jpg IMG_20210613_140301459.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2021
  15. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    Mountaincreekar,

    Here's a perfect solution to the 1% dilemma: send me your ACF car...:D Just kidding...mostly. I'll see if I can find one.

    Paul Moore
     
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  16. I apologize, ...from the age of automobile parked at your gin; the pick-up truck at the Quonset hut style shed
    and the old camper ....those all are a lot older (~ 3 decades?) than the first ACF Centerflow designed in early 1960's.

    When the aged vehicles are not placed on the layout, then ACF Centerflow might be a fit.

    The Quonset hut style shed really adds a lot of character to the gin site. ... love it.

    The layout's Quonset hut need not be like this below.

    [​IMG]
     
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  17. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    Something weird happened when I sprayed the cotton gin. The left part (shipping and receiving) is a super light gray color. No issues there. But the tall gin portion came out extremely dark. I resprayed it with a bright silver and then dullcoated it. It's still dark!! IMG_20210616_135911589.jpg IMG_20210616_135858758.jpg

    By the way, the dust collectors are pretty close to the right color. Everyone we've seen out here is an off-white color. My wife calls it ceramic white. My color vision is terrible, so I depend on her to guide me on color choices. We're both baffled on the simulated corrugated metal, though.

    So on to weathering, and we'll see how it comes out. It's going to get tons more dust, cotton dirt, etc. Maybe with enough weathering it will lighten up some.
     
  18. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member Staff Member

    Thats some great progress Paul. I dont see anything wrong with the colors at all.
     
  19. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    Thanks, Tom, but it just seems kind of dark to my eyes. There are metal buildings that dark, but it's not what I envisioned. Here's a small grain bin on some property just west of here I saw on a bike ride and took a picture of it. This color looks good on the grain bin, but seems kind of dark on the building.

    Paul zzzgray conical storage bin.jpg
     
  20. skyraider

    skyraider Member

    Added windows, a few doors, some weathering, and some details to the gin today. It's too hot to do anything 0utside, so it's a great time to model! One detail I've always wanted to attempt is a non-operating hanger assembly with the rollers on the ground level sliding freight door. It came out ok. They're difficult to see, but there are small rollers behind the vertical hangers. Untitled-1 copy.jpg Untitled-3 copy.jpg Untitled-4.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jun 17, 2021

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