Not quite a cabinet!

[chiloquinruss]

It's not quite a cabinet or a 3d carving but it was done on a Bot and that's what's important!
This is the first of a whole series of structures done in 1/8th scale for a miniature outdoor railroad. It measures 43 x 35 x 24h. Bot time a little over 2 hours, 2 days painting parts, and 1 day assembly. Used to take about a month to do one of these critters! Next up a passenger station. I love my Bot and Aspire, what a combo! Russ
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[myxpykalix]

That is very cool, but what gauge train do you make this size house for? Will this be placed outside? What material is this made from? Were these individual pieces you made or a wall section made with components in it? I'd love to see the whole setup when its done.

[chiloquinruss]

The track gauge is 7 1/2 inches, 1/8th fullsize.

The siding was done with a 1/8th ballnose, the door frames and the window frames are inset with a 1/4 in end mill, also the windows prior to cutout are inset with end mill. I used tabs on all cutouts and everything worked just like the preview in Aspire showed it. The inset areas were filled with cutstock I did on my band saw. Some 3/4 sq stock and the rest was 1/2 sq stock. I also glued some 1/8th plexi behind the window openings. I've built these in the past and they took a real long time as everything had to be hand cut and assembled. Not it's just a matter of routing out. Oops almost forgot the rest of your question, the stock is 1/2 in marine grade plywood, finished 1 side. Everything gets 2 coats of outdoor sealer/primer and then 2 coats of outdoor paint. The roofing is just regular roofing. The railroad that these are for can be found at:
www.trainmountain.org (http://www.trainmountain.org) The worlds biggest outdoor hobby railroad, 31 miles of track and counting!
Russ


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[gundog]

Russ it is a small world I control a portion of the power grid for the Chiloquin area. That is my regular job. Marine parts is my side business that I use my SB for.

I was looking at your web site and I thought that is interesting I wonder where they are from.

Mike

[gene]

Thats cool, Please post after they set it in location. Are you building small towns too?

[Brady Watson]

Awesome stuff, Russ. Thanks for posting!

-B

[harryball]

Wow... more photos when it gets installed please! You should make dog houses that look like that too, someone would buy it.

/RB

[chiloquinruss]

My original business (side business that is) was building custom model railroads for folks. I have built over 80 different railroads over the years. Now I'm into outdoor (live steam or rideable) trains. My love affair with ShopBot has always been to do these kinds of structures. Next up is a single story station with freight house (should be done by tomorrow afternoon). Yes there will be many towns and villages. Also many industrial sites for the freight traffic to switch into and out of. The railroad currently has 15 actual miles of mainline and another 15 miles of yards, sidings, and industrial tracks. Very few buildings though! The major projects right now are that in the next 5 to 6 years we are going to double the mileage of the mainline. That's 30 miles of mainline, not scale miles, but real miles. The property is 2800 acres big, so we have the room. With what's installed right now I'm only 23 stations short!
Russ

[beacon14]

OMG

[khalid]

Incredible
i would love to see the whole project

[dana_swift]

7 1/2 inch gage railroading is more fun than we should be allowed to talk about on an open forum like this. Next thing you know lots of shopbotters will be building their own live steamers and putting track around their houses!

Russ, its good to see another railfan with a shopbot! This photo is from a friend of mines track last summer. Notice there are working signals.. I have done a lot of work on developing reliable signaling for 7 1/2" gage railroads.


688

This particular railroad goes around my friends yard, has lots of alternate routes, and the automated signaling adds greatly to the experience.

D

[bill.young]

And then there are backyard monorails...this has been on my "sure would be fun to do" list for a long time.

http://www.monorails.org/tMspages/Niles.html

Bill

[dana_swift]

Bill- Quite a project! At least with 7 1/2" rail roading you can run your train on a lot of other peoples tracks! That is most of the fun, going around and getting different scenery and folks to visit with. (Alot like Shopbot camps!)

I got a laugh out of seeing this guy bending wood by first soaking it in his swimming pool. I once thought it would be a good idea to first soak wood in my hot tub before doing the final heating for bending. It was a terrible idea! The residual sap dissolved into the hot water and made a mess of everything!

Oh well, I get a laugh out of myself sometimes...

Kind of like the time I came back from a camping trip when it was raining. I thought I would just throw the tent in the clothes dryer! (Very bad idea!) One new tent later.. more self inflicted laughter..

And so it goes!

D

[chiloquinruss]

In the world of my hobby there are many with cnc machines but they are in the metal side of the house. Not to many of us 'wood' folks!
Here's the next project hot off the Bot! 38w x 92l x 26h. Russ
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[carlosgmarroquin]

That is really beautiful. Congratulations

[myxpykalix]

Russ,
You know what really pisses me off?

The fact that you haven't invited us all over to play with your toys! lol

This reminds me of a section in the park near our home when i was a kid where some people had created similar size houses out of stones and glass and bricks and were set in a large garden type setting. I hope that young kids get to enjoy your work and recall stories of it to their children. Nice work.

[chiloquinruss]

Thanks gang. You folks are my inspiration on what can be done with the proper tools and software. I have been building model structures for years and well now they just got a lot bigger!
The best part Jack is that on summer Sunday's a two mile portion of the railroad is open to the public for rides. We are very remote in Southern Oregon and EVERY Sunday we get over 400 folks to come and enjoy the rides. On one train last summer the youngest was 6 weeks and the oldest was 92! All this on one train! Pretty cool! The next building will take a little longer. It will be a machine shop of the 1950's era with an arched roof!. I've experimented with the 60 deg V bit and cut some grooves .25 into .5 plywood on .5 centers. When I got done it would bend very smoothly and still leave enough meat to allow it be strong for the outdoors and our winter snow load. I've also tried my hand at simulated brick and that seemed to work pretty good to!.. I love Aspire and I love my Bot and I especially love the support that I get from all of you. Thanks. Russ