Brian’s been back in touch, this time with his HO barge:
“Hi Alastair,
First off, an industrial barge project.
I saw a photo of a model industrial barge which I liked and thought that I could use one on my waterways around the layout. I love anything boat wise.
After searching the internet, I found a file that had the barge that I was looking for.
I sent the file to my friend who does the 3D printing and asked him if he could print one for me in HO scale please. A couple of days later (after 14 hours of print time) a slightly shorter barge modified to fit his build plate in his printer, I had my barge.
The raw resin hull shown below. (Top view)
It is 250mm long by 70mm wide and 18mm deep. (The original was 310mm long)
The painting process started using Tamiya Red oxide fine surface primer for the hull.
It turned out to be the perfect colour. (Especially after it was weathered).
The inside all rusted up from hard use using various colours to get the correct effect.
Wear and tear on the top side. (And the rust)
I used some details from my bits box to fill up the hull. (Note the 3D printed generator sets at the back in the 3D printed hull). Scrap vehicles on the way to a scrapyard.
Afloat in the harbour and must still add the tow ropes at the front. I have some chain around somewhere that can lay on the front deck of the barge or inside.
HO Barge:
A resin Tug boat kit painted and weathered many years ago towing the barge.
A close up view showing the weathered hull with tyre bumpers on the sides.
The wood loads need a bit of weathering. (Possibly a black or brown wash on them)
Here, it just fits on the waterway in front of the freight terminal at Pelican Bay.
Found the chain in my bits box and weathered it with rust. Note the seagull found a perch at the front.
Second project – another small fishing trawler.
The one below was already in my small fleet of lobster boats for my layout.
I had another one incomplete. I used my Dremel tool to cut out the bait box.
I painted the cabin interior and lightly weathered it, then added a floor to it.
Added a mast and guy wires to keep it steady. I also added some fish boxes at the back. The loop at the back will be used to bring in the nets. I also added working lights, one inside the cabin and a spot light on the cabin roof.
A boat captain was added to the inside of the cabin with a steering wheel.
Here I am making sure that would look perfect in the harbour. It is 37 HO scale foot in length.
It now needs to be completed – the hull painted then the deck edges, bumper tyres painted and a final weathered coat and a lobster cage on the roof. I will add fine netting used to catch the fish at the back.
Another two short term projects almost completed and ready for placement on the layout.
Thankfully I have a lot of water on the lower level around 3 sides of the ‘U’ shape.
Thats all for now, until next time.
Brian – The HOn3 guy in Knysna RSA”
A big thanks to Brian for sharing his HO barge project.
You can see more his work in the Hall of Fame.
(Have a look at another of his barges: HO scale river barge.
That’s all for this time folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if today is the day you get started on your layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Best
Al
PS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.
Need buildings for your layout? Have a look at the Silly Discount bundle.
Wow, Brian, this is excellent. Always enjoy your updates. (I also remember the days at your hobby shop in Port Elizabeth, and the modules at the station building. I have all but one of the locomotives my dad kitbashed. The one I don’t have anymore was the GEA garret that he used 2 big boys for. It fell of his layout and got badly damaged so I gave it to someone who was just starting in the hobby.
Regards
Henry
Another excellent article to inspire other modellers to have a go . You don’t need expensive tools or a degree in engineering to achieve great results just your imagination and determination
Like the boats and the attention to detail.
Nice work on the barge. Water and railroads certainly are linked in this country. Well done.
Rob McCrain
Wonderful workmanship and ideas. You have excellent talent!
GREAT WORK! We all can see how much fun that was!!
Awesome job on the barge, I also liked the tug boat and the lobster boats. Great job !!!!!
Brian
Really great to see your talents displayed here. Love the barge & the boats. After its all complete it will be hard to figure out if its real or a model.
Big Al
thanks
What does it cost to get something like this 3D printed? Where did you find the 3D file? Thanks in advance.
Great work Brian- the barge looks terrific. Always nice to have a South African update from you and I look forward to seeing more of your layout’s progress.
Amazing details. Your modeling skills are incredible.
Thanks for sharing.
Jim AZ
You’ve done a marvelous job on your waterfront scene and the boats and the barge. Kudos to you. I’m always drawing attention to the edge detail so please don’t take this personally. The gray color on the fascia in the Pelican Bay scene detracts from the wonderful detail in the scene IMHO. Why not paint it a brown stain wash to kind of match the dock wall beyond to draw the eye in? Or perhaps the color of the water would be better which would probably be harder to pull off. The hard stop at the edge does not add to your overall scene…again IMHO. Like I said, I’m always wanking about this so please don’t take offense. Your craftsmanship and attention to detail are superb!
To Jeff Robb, it cost me ZAR 400.00 to have it 3D printed. Do a search on the internet for 3D printer files and then search in those files and find what you are looking for. Thingiverse is one of the searches that will come up.
Brian – the HOn3 guy in Knysna RSA