Box factory update 4 - finished interior

The box factory interior is now finished - I think.  All of the machinery, belting, workbenches, etc are installed and it has been populated with a variety of figures.  The most tedious part was installing the machinery belts.  I used carbon copy paper (remember when the means of creating documents was to use the typewriter, and if copies were desired you added black carbon paper and thin carbon copy paper - ah those were the days - yeh!).  The carbon copy paper is thin, white and fairly strong - perfect for thin machinery belts.  I stained the belts a light tan color.  Then with the machine glued to the floor I threaded the belt between the pulley on the machine and the pulley on the line shaft, while at the same time reaching through the rafters that had been installed to hold the line shafts.  Lots of fun.  The rest of the detail installations were fairly easy.

Above is a front view.  It looks busy as a shop should look.  In addition to the six machines there are two workbenches, two box assembly tables, shelving, several barrels - one open with scrap wood sticking out, several pieces of lumber on the floor and leaning against the walls, a toolbox, a handcart and seven figures.

Above is an elevated view of the shop area.  I find doing interior detailing to be fun, but this is probably the first structure in which I put interior detailing that will be relatively easy to see since it will be at the edge of the layout with the aisle facing wall removable.   I am thinking of adding lights hanging from the beams to make it even easier to see inside.

My next task will be the loading dock on the trackside away from this view, then the roofs.  I could have built a whole building in the time it took me to do the interior detailing on this.

Box factory update 3

The box factory model is moving slowly, due in part to considerable time spent figuring out how the internal machinery should work and constructing details for the interior.  It is all fun though sometimes frustrating.  I have added a box storage room at the back of the main structure (facing trackside) and the engine and boiler room on the right side.

In this view you can see the box storage room through the door in the center of the back wall.  I have stacked a number of boxes in the room.  There is a door on the right side of the box storage room that leads to the track loading platform (yet to be built).  On the left side of the rear wall is a storage shelf for  work materials such as nails, glue, etc.  I built the shelves from card stock and added bits of plastic, wood, etc. to populate it.  I have installed two rows of line-shafts with pulleys for running the machinery which will be installed on the floor.  The engine/boiler room on the right will have a wide open doorway for viewing the details inside.  You can see the ends of the line-shafts and the pulleys - one that will connect with the engine to drive the shafts and the other two for belting between the two line shafts.  The boiler of course is on the right.

This view shows a work bench in the main room and the boiler which is unfortunately in shadow.

There are still many details to be built, painted and added to the interior before I complete the roofing.  I also have to do some weathering as I like weathered structures.

Box factory more progress

This was a busy week but I did get some work done on my box factory model.  The first photo shows the structure with 3 walls in place, but more work to be done.  The figure was set in the photo to give an idea of size.  The doorway next to the figure is the entrance to the completed box storage area, which will have a door to the rail loading platform.

The next photo shows the structure with the front removable wall in place. That side will face the edge of the layout for viewing of the interior details.  The windows on this wall are awaiting installation of the tilt-out windows at the top.  The windows are by Tichy.

Lastly is a photo of the steam boiler that will drive the engine.  The boiler and engine will be in a partially open shed at the right of the main structure.   The boiler front is a commercial casting from my scrap box - the rest is scratch built.

My grand daughter's graduation was quite nice.  She graduated with high honors and will be attending college in the fall.  We are very proud of her.

Box factory progress

I have made some progress on the box factory.  Below you can see one partially completed end wall, the floor, and some of the machinery set in place as an example.  I have not yet decided exactly which pieces of machinery will be used but these are the candidates.  I also assembled and painted the steam engine that will drive the machinery.  The boiler is still in progress.

The engine and boiler will be in a shed on the side where you see the engine sitting.  On the side of the factory away from the edge of the layout will be a box storage shed and a platform for loading rail cars.

Below are a few boxes I have assembled.  They are made from a Tichy kit and are plastic which I painted.  These boxes look nice when complete but are a pain to assemble because Tichy imprinted the part numbers on the back of each piece reversed making them a sort of puzzle to read.  Each box consists of 6 parts.  There are 8 boxes of various sizes.  I may add more boxes later after I see how well these fill the shed and dock.

The coming week is a busy one for me as my granddaughter is graduating from high school and there are several events I will be attending, so I am not sure how much progress I will make, but this is a hobby - not a race.