Completed train

[autobodyman]

Finally got the train finished.

A shot inside the engine.




A couple of shots of the caboose before I got the roof on.

The train is mostly walnut, maple and boxelder burl, the tender car is walnut & maple, the firewood is split oak dowels, the caboose is mostly mahogany, maple & walnut with oak for the floor and lots of brass rod all around. The train from cow catcher to the back of the caboose is 45 inches long.

What do you think?

Thanks ~Mike

[sachbvn]

*drooooool* That's pretty much all I can do!!


Zac

[fredbelknap]

Mike that is terrific. I remember the steam engine era. There was a track that was on a slight grade close by and some of the trains had two engines in front and two in back. Smoke and fire, a lot of noise. As a kid I loved it.

[dcarter636]

That is pretty spiffy Mike, where will it reside?

[larryh86gt]

That is excellent work.
Larry

[Joe Lyddon]

;D ;D ;D ;D

[imahic]

Very cool, Mike. Always enjoy your projects. Thanks for sharing.

Mike

[Stretch]

That is just too cool. Very nice.

[Doug B]

I am speechless. Incredible detail. Fantastic job!

[Ruffnek]

Mike, you are the consumate craftsman. There's just no end to the limits of your imagination or skill.

That train is wonderful and very wll executed down to the tiniest detail. Work that exacting is beyond my capabilities.

Thanks for showing and I, too, am curious as to where it will reside.

[sawduster]

Awesome, Mike, but I still say you have way too much time on your hands. Must be cabin fever from being snowed in. ;D Have faith, though, Spring is just around the corner.

You know, I only say this because I used to be an avid military modeler making extremely detailed dioramas. I was so AR with that, that I actually colored the eyes of the 1/35 scale soldiers in the models.

[boodrow]

Mike a great lookin project , u have rare skills to do tedious work like that and make it look so real. My hats off to u . And always enjoy seein ur work
Boodrow

[autobodyman]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the kind comments.

As for where it will go, it will be in our livingroom. Either on a built in cabinet in our bay window or more likely on the wall behind the couch, though that will require me to build some supports from the wall to the track and more troubleing I will have to figure out how to make some curved track and then build a couple Intarsia tunnels.

I'll snap a picture of it installed when I get it.

Thanks again, ~Mike

[brent]

Man, that is cool. Nice work as always.

[oakridgeboy]

Wow!! What else can I say? You've turned out more fantastic-looking stuff in the last couple of years than I've produced in a lifetime of woodworking!
Excellent work and talent.Please continue to share your creations with us.
Mike

[admin]

A couple of things strike me right off the bat.

1. Level of detail. It's just WOW. It seriously looks like two quarts of water, a small tinder to get the fire going, and it'd be moving under it's own power.

2. Speed. To achieve the same thing with 1/5th the quality would take me something like 2 years. I kid you not. You've been working on this quite a short time, since something like the 5th of Jan (that's the day you asked for the pics.) So basically, all that detail was done in a month not counting the time spent doing other things like the decals on the patrol car. That's kickin' speedy!

Very impressive indeed.

In the first thread I saw about this, you said after it was finished you'd have a good idea if you wanted to do another with more intense mods. Now, to this I have a couple issues.

1. How in the world do you follow this train with another? I know with my own stuff, I try to make my next item better than my last. In this case, that seems like one very tall order to do another better than this train!

2. Are you planning another in the near future?

I love it, and would love to see what you could do with another train. Or a '32 Ford Pickup. Or a '25 Chevy pickup. Or a 36 Chevy pickup. Losta stuff you could make that would do well with your attention to detail. Just imagine a 3' long 1936 Chevy pickup in spruce, with walnut 'boards' lining the bed. It'd be so neat!

TJ.

[jb34]

Well wow. I mean wow. Mike I an always impressed with your work. I only see the woodworking you do. I am sure its as amazing the work you do on cars since that is your main gig it sounds like.

I made a trains set for my 2 years old a couple years ago. I made it with the thought in my head that he is 2 and they will be taste tested and abused. So I didn't go this detailed. But even with that in mind I suddenly feel quite insignificant seeing this. amazing job. Yeah I wonder the hours on something like this.

[autobodyman]

TJ:
A couple of things strike me right off the bat.

1. Level of detail. It's just WOW. Thank you. It seriously looks like two quarts of water, a small tinder to get the fire going, and it'd be moving under it's own power.

2. Speed. To achieve the same thing with 1/5th the quality would take me something like 2 years. I kid you not. You've been working on this quite a short time, since something like the 5th of Jan (that's the day you asked for the pics.) So basically, all that detail was done in a month not counting the time spent doing other things like the decals on the patrol car. That's kickin' speedy! It seemed to me like it was taking forever, probably because it was taking up room in my shop and I was afraid if I started something else I would never finish the train. Towards the end I was getting kind of tired of the project.

Very impressive indeed. Thanks again.

In the first thread I saw about this, you said after it was finished you'd have a good idea if you wanted to do another with more intense mods. Now, to this I have a couple issues.

1. How in the world do you follow this train with another? I know with my own stuff, I try to make my next item better than my last. In this case, that seems like one very tall order to do another better than this train!
I doubt I'll make another, like I said it seemed like it took a lot of time. If I were to make another probably the only things I would change would be the types of wood (probably replace the walnut with cherry as eventually it would turn quite dark) use some 1.5 volt LED's threw out the train (headlight, fire in boiler, lights in and on the caboose, and put a battery pack in the caboose with an access door to replace the batteries.

2. Are you planning another in the near future? I won't rule it out completely but certainly not anytime soon. I saved the plan just in case.

I love it, and would love to see what you could do with another train. Or a '32 Ford Pickup. Or a '25 Chevy pickup. Or a 36 Chevy pickup. Losta stuff you could make that would do well with your attention to detail. Just imagine a 3' long 1936 Chevy pickup in spruce, with walnut 'boards' lining the bed. It'd be so neat!
Yea, an older pickup would be neat, maybe someday. I think my next project (once I get this completely installed on the wall) will probably be to get started on some end tables for my living room I've been planning for quite a while. They will be like my nightstand with a lighted maple carving in the top (western scenes, the wife said no busty chicks, will see ;D ) with glass over the top and cherry body and legs. I'm also hoping to re-side my house this Spring/Summer assuming I get some bodywork this Winter to pay for it. It's been pretty slow so far this Winter and as much as I like working/playing in the woodshop I like it to get broke up some with bodywork.

TJ. Thanks ~Mike

[sdb777]

That is completely unbelieveable! You have too much talent!

For your next project, let me introduce you to the Cog Railway Train. The wife and I rode to the top of Mt. Washington, NH in this coal powered steamer the summer before last.

Just the engine:


Roof of the passenger car:


The engine and passenger car:


Here's a photo of what the workers use to get back down the mountain on:

(A lot of people have tried to break this record of decent...some have died doing it!)

And finally, the boiler:




Just a thought for an interesting project that has a lot of history behind it!




Scott (Home of the Worst Weather) B

[autobodyman]

Got the track cut to fit my bay window cabinet, this is where it will be until I get around to making some curved track, track supports and some Intarsia tunnels to put this on the wall behind my couch.

The brightness threw the window caused either a black inside picture or blown out to white windows, combined the two images in image stacker, while playing with some filters trying to improve the resultant image (above) in photopaint got this result (below) using local equalization, thought it looked kind of cool.

I made the images larger since they have it shrink them down for display in the forum automatically, cool being able to post a image that fits the forum while still being able to click on it for a larger shot.

~Mike