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Submitted by: Major Brooks Wilson USMC
(retired)
I have finished my steam donkey with the
exception of adding a second cable drum in the front.
The steam donkey itself is an Ozark
Miniatures kit. The rest of the unit is scratch built using
pictures from "In Search of Steam Donkeys - Logging
Equipment in Oregon" by Merv Johnson. One nice thing about
steam donkeys is that every one was different, so it would
be hard for a rivet counter to complain about some aspect of
a model, not that I would care a whit.
Weathering was accomplished using brown
and black shoe polish applied with a tooth brush and rubbed
in. Later I used the Floquil Railroad Paints to enhance the
weathered look as described below. I still have some fine
tuning to do on the painting, but will wait until I get the
second drum in place.
I made the oil/water tank out of PVC
pipe and flat styrene plastic modeling sheets cut for the
ends. I took small amounts of flat plastic, cut ovals and
heated them to curve them a bit to make access covers to
each part of the tank (oil and water). I then drilled about
250 holes and glued in the small Ozark Miniature nut/washer
units they sell. All of the piping is cut from 1/16" and
1/32" brass wire sold in packages at hardware and hobby
stores. Elbows, tees and valves are form Ozark Miniatures,
as is the steam and water pump. The elongated tank on the
left side is made from two CO2 pellet gun cartridges cut and
soldered together. The water hose is wire painted and formed
for hanging on the hook.
The Sodders Corrugated metal was etched
with vinegar, then primed and painted with silver to
give it the galvanized look. Next I weathered it using the
Mac McCalla "look." Mac is one of the West Coast gurus of
weathering model train equipment. I took a class from him
and subsequently bought a Badger Air Brush 100LG. He uses
Rust, then Roof Brown, then Black, and finally Earth Floquil
Railroad Paints. One can play around as desired for the
right "look." The central roof is made in such a way that it
can be taken off for viewing the detail underneath. |
