Madill 071 Mobile Tower Yarder

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Well worth the wait.

[Beekster]

Greetings again, guys....yeah, I've been away for a while. The problems encountered with the last attempt to mount the spar and the attendant repairs sapped my enthusiasm for a while, then the wife and I both encountered non-Covid health issues. I've got a new chronic condition to deal with and the attendant lifestyle challenges. Just within the last few days I've returned to the project, and the spar is now on, I hope for good:










The cab and exhaust aren't on for good, just to make sure that the lines clear them as they ought to. Three of the four fixed guylines are installed and tensioned, and they do support the spar. In fact (and this actually terrifies me!), the easiest way to manipulate the model now is to grab it near the top of the spar! Next will be some touch-up required after the repairs and tensioning these lines, and trimming and attaching the hydraulic hoses to the spar, and a bit of spray with Dullcote to seal the fresh paint and ensure a dead-flat finish.

After that? Well, things get harder. The spar end assembly has to go back on, and there are six lines that have to be re-rigged: Three to the big winch drums and three to the powered guylines on the left sponson. If I am going to break anything again, it will be during that process. I hope not. With the spar pinned in place at three places (Front bedplate mount, spar saddle by the cab, and hydraulic tube retention bracket) and supported by three lines things look pretty stable.

[JCON]

Sorry to hear about your health problems and welcome back, you have been missed!!! The Yarder is looking good!!!

[Beekster]

Thanks, Joe!  Turns out I've gone massively diabetic since the pandemic began, so that entails a lot of diet changes, more meds, and more exercise.  It's been just a month, so another set of lab tests in a few weeks will tell us if the changes are moving things in the right direction.  I've started swimming again for the exercise.  OK, all I really do is move water out of the way with my inefficient heads-up frog paddle, but I do it for at least half an hour three days a week so I hope that helps.  The wife had a colon cancer scare, and though the pathology isn't done yet the doctor thought that the offending polyps were still not malignant, but would have gotten there in another ten years.  So, yeah, we've been somewhat preoccupied.  I'm pushing 60, she's only a year younger, and this aging thing is a drag.

Something to notice about the photos:  There won't be many more of them in my usual lightbox.  Once the spar end is back on, I will have to drag a larger light tent out of the attic and set it up on a card table.  That's rather a pain in the posterior, since it is rather difficult to light properly and I can't leave it set up indefinitely because it is so bulky. But the model is going to get taller, not shorter; especially once it's virtually done and I proceed with the base for it.

The next lines to go back on will be the Main and Haulback lines, routed to their drums (center and right side) in the winch bay.  Those have to be done before I can add the spar end assembly and run the Skyline and the powered guylines.  All of the above have to be done before the final small Straw & Tag lines are spooled on.  The Tag line under the front cover will be fun; it has to be threaded through the fitting on the spar and through the top of the cover to get to the drum.  The other one will be easier, with access through the screen door on the side.  Both are very long, so the work will be tedious.

And to think there's another one of these percolating...

[JCON]

Glad its in your home and not mine, it would never fit, ha, ha!!! Sending prayers for you and your bride!!

[ogrejohn]

Excellent looking yarder! 

[Steve Ski]

Awesome rig wow, great work! Hope you're feeling better

[Dukemaddog]

Beekster it is a thrill to see you back! I can relate to your issue as I'm also diabetic and have to modify the food intake and exercise.

This yarder is looking magnificent! I'm so eager to see this finished, as are you too I suppose.

[Beekster]

You know it, Duke!  And it really does look like the finish line is in sight, despite this morning's mishap.  I was preparing to spool the little line at the front, and superglued the end into the hole I'd drilled in the winch drum.  Oops.  Discovered to my dismay that I had drilled clean through, so superglue seeped down and glued the drum to the axle.  No more spin.  And thirty feet of line to spool...

I took a break to go get the car re-registered,and came back to evaluate the situation.  Spooling by hand wasn't the problem I has thought, though a piece of wire going to the Wichita brake had to be cut off so that I could work in the area.  Spooling by hand went pretty smoothly, as did a wee bit of Dremel work to grind off the last bit of wire nubbin and some fine drill work to make a new hole for the wire.  That's been reinstalled, and after lunch I will bend the wire back under the winch bay where it belongs and touch up the paint a bit.  This is all massive overkill; the brake can't even be seen unless I remove the front cover...and that can't move very far with the winch line threaded through the top opening.  But I will be able to show off what's hidden if I choose, so I'll finish it right.

I should get some photos of this progress yet this afternoon, the last to be done in the little tabletop lightbox.  Next comes the spar end, and spooling the Skyline wire and the powered guyline wires.  As noted earlier, the height will force me to use a larger, less user-friendly lightbox.

As for the medical side of things, the doctor is pleased at my one-month progress as the various lab tests so far are well in the normal range.  We won't now about A1C for anther couple of weeks since the six-week mark is his schedule for evaluating that.  Hoping for good news from the combination of diet, exercise, and medication.

[Beekster]

As promised, the last images (or at least the last ones planned) using the small lightbox:






The Main, Haulback, Straw, and Tag lines have all been spooled now. When all the lines are on, there will be more finesse work to do. You can see that the lines aren't tight; that will take something like a black watercolor wash with white glue to accomplish. For the larger lines, and the Skyline line that isn't rigged yet, I want to figure something out to tie them together...the sort of thing that would be done to tidy things up for transport and undone on site when the logging crew is ready to run the lines out and downrange for yarding. Another shackle would work, but I'm not sure I want to waste another one of my nice brass ones from RB Model in a place where strength isn't required. Their product line has diminished significantly over the last several years, and I've only got enough shackles to fit out the eventual second yarder. So, I'll have to rummage through the spares warehouse for a couple of plastic ones, and try to carefully drill them out to make working pins for them.

Beyond that, the cab has to go on and more weathering to do. Sharp eyes will notice shiny orange paint in places that got touched up; a wee bit of sprayed Dullcote will deal with that. and then there's the base to finish, so this project isn't quite as close to finished as it appears.

[ogrejohn]

Absolutely beautiful work Beeks! 

[JCON]

Wonderful...

[Beekster]

Thank you, gentlemen! I can hardly believe I am saying this, but there's only one more powered guyline wire to spool, and that ought to be done yet this afternoon. With that, all the winch lines will be installed. The superglue holding the line to the rest of it already on the drum is setting up now. When the last line is spooled, I will put the cab back on and take a good long look at what remains to be done. Some of that I've already listed; add to that the need to re-silver some of the lines with the Sharpie before a black wash to blend everything together and stiffen the lines. Oh, and trim & install the last two fixed guylines.

[Beekster]

Getting closer, guys. The lines are all on, though not tensioned in some cases. The Skyline, Main, and Haulback lines are all hanging at about the same height, and I'm working up a cable to run through their loops that will tie off on the remaining turnbuckle. That one is usually used alongside the one next to it but not always, and when these rigs are in transit the three big lines are often tied off to it. Mine will be along those lines, caught in the middle of preparing to run lines out to set up for yarding. The base is just mocked up. It needs a second Celluclay layer, into which the log brow will be embedded. I will also add a gravel pad on which the yarder will sit. This shows off the plan. The bigger lightbox is harder to light, but I can find ways to add a couple more lights from the sides. I'll also play with exposures; I could adjust it upward to lighten the image. These were shot with the macro setting off since the camera has to bee a couple of feet away to capture everything, but I will shoot more images both with and without the macro setting.

[JCON]

Home stretch is in sight!!!

[JED]

Great work Beekster and good luck with the fitness, any movement is better than no movement. As our SAS boys always say "Always a little further" You'll get there and your blood sugar count will drop

[RLFoster]

Outstanding work, Beekster! Best of luck with the health improvements.

[Beekster]

Thanks for all the kind thoughts, fellas!

Today I did a little more touch-up paint on the yarder itself, and got messy with Celluclay, sticks, and rock mixture to make progress on the base. This is what it looks like now:






Looks pretty good so far. However, a flaw is revealed when I plop a tank on top to see how things look:



Yeah, the gravel pad needs to be bigger, covering almost the entire base. I should also extend it to the edge of the base where the yarder would drive onto the gravel. Rather than risk the tracks trying to make a tread impression in the dirt, more gravel eliminates that need. Granted, this is finer gravel but you can see how the yarder doesn't sink into the surface on this material:






I also have some finer grit stuff, some of which is mixed in with the lighter talus. I can add a layer of that onto this to even out the surface even more, and I should probably collect more of the stuff. I call it street gunk, and it is nothing more than that pebbly grit that collects next to the curb when it rains, which it has been known to do around here from time to time. I scoop it up, wash it with hot soapy water, and strain it through a coffee filter. I do this a couple of times, and finally pour some bleach over it and rinse some more before spreading it out to dry. A single expedition can get enough material to last years, at least at the slow rate at which I make bases.

[JCON]

Gonna be cool when done!!!

[Dukemaddog]

Outstanding work Beekster! Wow this is so awesome! Congrats also on your improvements with the diabetes. I also have it, but I've been steadily losing weight so things are improving a bit for me too.

I am so thrilled to see this thing so close to finishing!