New England Milling - Nashua Valley Railroad Association

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New England Milling

The New England Milling building is located in Ayer MA. This was designed and scratch built by Eric L. and took him about 8 months to complete.

This project page will detail the work done to bring the New England Milling building to the finished product it is today.

Links to document sections:

New England Milling Construction Phases

New England Milling Scenery Phases

Final Results

Acknowledgements

New England Milling Construction Phases

Phase 1 - Planning the construction of the New England Milling building

The mill project started with a drawing of what Eric L. envisioned as the final result. As you can see in the image below the initial drawing is quite detailed.

Overall view of the initial conceptual drawing of the New England Milling Building.

Closeup of the New England Milling building.

Phase 2 - Construction of the non-silo portion of the New England Milling building

The non-silo portion of the New England Milling building has numerous scenery details, a few of them are:

Windows
Doors
Ladders
Others

After one of the sides of the building was constructed the cutouts for the windows and doors were compared to the drawing to ensure that placement was correct. In this image the windows and doors have been installed. Also, a base coat off black paint has been applied and the safety ladder has been placed to ensure correct fit once the final paint has been applied.

After the final coat of paint has been applied to the side, the panel was combined with other panels that were completed earlier. The final wall has additional detailing installed such as:

Separation of panels
Installation of a safety ladder
Windows and doors
Concrete facing

Notice the detail of the blue color painted on the concrete panels that break up the wall.

Completed walls of front section of the non-silo portion of the New England Milling building

One completed front section of the New England Milling Building

Once the previous portion of the building was composed the side of the building was constructed.

Note the following scenery elements:

The doors that were completed in a previous step
Windows have been installed
Platforms were installed
Pads for vents have been installed

Note the outline on the side showing where the stairway and railing will be installed in a future step.

View of the progress of the left side of the New England Milling building.

This image shows the various panels after construction being dry fitted before all final details have been added.

In this image you can see the nearly completed side of the non-silo building. Lights have been added, the industrial vents have been installed and the completed staircase has also been installed.

This image shows the completed left side of the non-silo building and a portion off the front.

This image shows the final completed state of the non-silo portion of the New England Milling building.

Phase 3 - Construction of the silo portion of the New England Milling building

The first item constructed for the silos was the conveyor which resides on top of the silos.

Construction of the roof panels for the conveyor system on top of the silos.

There are two different silos used in the model four smaller diameter and three large diameter silos. Each silo was constructed out of cardboard shipping tubes and all cut to the same length. After each silo was cut to length all were coated in a base coat of black paint.

In this image you see the different silos that make up the New England Milling building.

After all the silos were painted black the three larger silos had their roofs installed and the conveyor system was dry fit to ensure it fit properly.

In this image you see the large silo roofs and the conveyor system.

After all the silos were painted black and had their respective roofs installed they were all painted with a air brush so they appear as being constructed with concrete, additional weathering was also applied to increase the realism.

in this image you see a top view of the weathered concrete silos and the conveyor system.

in this image you see the front view of the weathered concrete silos and the conveyor system.

Additional scenery elements were added along with the conveyor system. The conveyor requires motors to drive the conveyor belt as well as platforms and ladders to access it on each silo.

In this image you can see the conveyor system motors as well as the platform and ladder needed to access the conveyor.

After the initial construction of the silos, a portion of the non-silo building as placed next to the silos on the left side. This was done to verify that all pieces of the New England Milling building would fit when final assembly was started.

This image show the first dry fit of the silos with the side portion off the New England Milling building.

After all required adjustments were made to ensure a proper fit between the silos and the non-silo portion was completed the remains sections of the non-silo building were added.

This image shows for the first time the full New England Milling building.

The New England Milling building required some adjustments before final assembly, after all adjustments were completed the non-silo portion of the building had it roofs installed.

In this image you see an arial view of the finished New England Milling building.

In this image you see the front view of the New England Milling building.

New England Milling Scenery Phases

Phase 1 - Initial New England Milling Scenery

The phase 1 scenery efforts done on the New England Milling area were completed by the Eric L. who first scratch built the building.

The initial efforts consisted of:

Construction of the pine trees on the right side of the picture
The trees and clouds were painted on the background by Eric L. using a brush and a sponge
The sculpting of the ground was done using foil and plaster
The ground cover contains fallen tree branches, leaf/pine litter and various grasses

In this image you see the completed New England Milling building and the early stages of the scene.

Note the following scenic elements:

The future swamp was painted brown to have the water when added appear to be murky
The sculpting of the terrain is almost completed
The clouds were painted on the back drop
The track that provides rolling stock access to the mill has been installed
The beginnings of the road and bridge on the far right have been added

In this image you see the entire swamp area which is on a hinge and drops down to allow member access to the area immediately in front of the mill building.

In this image you see the left side of the New England Milling area.

After the initial construction of the New England Milling building additional scenery elements were added, such as:

Trees
Rocks
Weeds
Grass
Road bed
Additional trees were painted on the backdrop

All of these elements were scratch made and painted by Eric L.

In this image of the right side of the scene you see all the aforementioned scenery elements that were created by Eric L.

This image shows the front of the New England Milling scene.

In this image of the right of the scene you can see that an additional building was added behind the New England Milling building as well as the addition of a paved road.

Phase 2 - Ground Cover and Additional Terrain Sculpting

The area that spans from the rear edge where the pine trees exist all the way to the front of the scene was completed by Nick C..

This work entailed additional sculpting of the terrain so it gained a very realistic contour with small ups and downs. The area was then covered with various types of fine turf.

View of the right side of the New England Milling Area after terrain sculpting and fine turf

Phase 3 - Addition of Various Heights of Swamp Grass, Differing Types of Clump Grass, Trees, and Other Scenery Aspects in the Area Surrounding the Swamp

Area surrounding the swamp

Refresh of the dirt road in front of the New England Milling building
Additional of different types of wild grass along the forward edge of the dirt road
Application of 4, 6, and 8 mm light green, medium green, and dark green static grass over the areas on the left side of the mill up to the middle in across the swamp
Addition of various lengths of swamp grass
Addition of many different types of wild grass clumps, weeds, and some flowing plants
Addition of various small shrubs of varying heights and colors

Image of the area to the right of the mill building after installation of scenery elements

Image showing the area in front of the mill showing scenery elements in front of the swamp and in between the tracks

Phase 4 -Addition of Scenery Elements within the Watery Area of the Swamp

The grass islands within the watery area of the swamp were initially constructed with 6mm static grass which was simply sprinkled in place. Additional scenery elements were added.

This effort consisted of:

Additional of small multi-colored clump grass
Additional 4mm static grass which was applied using a static grass applicator

Image of grass islands in watery area of the swamp

Final Results

Final result after the aforementioned scenery changes were completed

Acknowledgements

The Scenery and Structure Committee wants to express our thanks and appreciation to the members who donated so much time to work on the New England Milling area, suggestions for features, improvements, and other feedback. Without their assistance the completion of the New England Milling area would not have been possible.

A very special and heartfelt thanks to Eric L. for his outstanding work on the entire scene. Eric not only designed the building g but spent a great deal of time making it and more time making the scene around it.

Special thanks to the following members for their contribution of time and effort listed in alphabetical order of their last name:

Nick C.
Jim F.
Claude F.
Matt P.
Larry R.