3.4 Weldon Mill and Spillway √I kept the grist mill from the Greystone for its charm factor, which was going to have an animated water wheel from the very beginning. For the mill structure, I was going to use the Branchline Laser-Arts kit as-is, but based on dozens of reference photos I'd gathered, it looked as if it was a work of pure fantasy. Worse, the kit's water wheel was, in a word, pathetic. So I bashed the building and scratch-bashed a new water wheel. Because of its location nestled into the side of a hill (see the last reference image to get a sense of the topography), I heavily modified the mill walls, and constructed a random stone foundation from old Chooch castings. These had to be cut and shaped with great care to exactly fit the now irregular mill walls. Then I made the outer wall from the same random stone, which supports the outer bearing for the mill wheel shaft. The flume, bypass sluice and gates comprise a self-contained unit that gently press-fits into place, allowing access to the wheel for maintenance. All that remained was to detail and paint the mill structure, which took place on 27 August 2020. It seems a bit dark, so I may go back and lighten it up. Here's the mill roughly in its final position on the layout: On 19 October 2020, I permanently installed the mill (below). Reference ImagesMy research turned up these useful examples in New Hampshire. The first three are grist mills; the last two are sawmills. Named For...Railwire friend Lee Weldon was originally the pretend proprietor of the antique shop, but when he found Weldon Mills in North Carolina, he suggested a name change. I was happy to oblige. Previous < Return > NextCopyright © 2017-2020 by David K. Smith. All Rights Reserved | Site Map |