I need a small fishing/boat pier for my pond that I am modeling. I had
thought of trying to find one at the hobby shop. And then it hit me… I have
seen everything I need to build a pier at Walmart in the crafts department.
I bought some small dowel, some wood strips and some stain. In all
the project cost me less than ten dollars. And I have enough wood left
to do probably fifty more piers… if I needed them. Anyway, here’s the
finished product. What do you think? And be honest. Thanks, Dave
It looks good to me. One minor criticism is that the diagonal cross brace does not look like crosses the left upright enough, but then again, this may be out of sight on the layout when installed. Good job.
Thanks Simon,
I was thinking the same thing. I will probably need to raise it anyway or it will be “under water”
when it is in place on the pond.
Ken,
Wow, a 95 out of 100… you’re just being nice. I plan to “old” it up a little. I picked the
stain color for the cresote look… I can almost smell the cresote now[:D]. Dave
BRAVO!!! You’r Getin’ smart!!! [^]
I would place a second cross-brace on the next bent - opposite in direction to the 1st., forming a “cross” in the “mug shot”.
How will you “install” it on the layout? What do you expect to use for “water”?
Now that you are learning to scratchbuild, start thinking about getting two of the most important tools you can have: a calculator and a digital or dial caliper. With the calipers you can measure thicknesses, spacing, etc of materials, plus dimensions from drawings and diagrams. With the calculator its a snap to convert betwen scales or from real dimensions to scale dimensions. Virtually every project I make I have my calipers, calculator, pencil and pad of paper handy.
A scale inch is .011" so it becomes fairly easy to estimate lumber sizes, every .010" is about an in thick. A 2x8 in HO would be a .020 x .080 piece. If you used 1/16" wood, that would represent about 6" thick boards. If the real board is only 2" thick, and you can measure things, next time you choose 1/32 or 1/64’ balsa or go to .020 styrene. As you start to think about the sizes of your materials, you start to use finer materials and your modeling improves.
Dude, you have been found skillful by a jury of your, uh, piers. I can hear the waves lapping at the posts, and your girlfriend saying, “No, you have to gut it.”
And if you make 50 more, I’ll take one. It would look great on Moose Bay.
First of all, thanks everyone for the words and encouragement. This was a “get my feet
wet” project. I would like to do more… and hopefully get better. If I could scratch build like
some of the guys on here, I’d quit work to stay home and build stuff all day.
Dave H.,
Thanks for the advice.
I have dial calipers and micrometers from my machining days. I know the boards on the
pier are a little too wide, as well as too thick. They actually scale out to about twenty inches
wide[:O]. Thanks again, Dave
Dave–you just showed me what I’m missing at Bullard’s Bar lake, and I thank you. That’s a nifty little dock, and REALLY well done! Now I’m off to Michael’s to get some supplies and build one for my WS Fishing guys. Nice job!
Tom [:D][bow]
Very nice![:D] My first attempt at scratchbuilding was a little loading ramp. It didnt look near that good. By now I have moved on to making buidings and rolling stock. You will find that scratchbuilding is much easier then people think it is. I have still yet to get a caliper due to the cost, I just rely on markings on the packages of material. Good job and keep on building!!!
