The Turtle Creek Central arises from the ashes of the old.

John Moore Jan 11, 2018

  1. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Perhaps, but it helps that I set in front of an easel sometimes and dabble in mostly landscapes. And that has introduced me to a variety of mediums that can be applied to the MRR world. There is a far wider selection of colors in the art store than found in the MRR paint aisle.
     
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  2. Joe Lovett

    Joe Lovett TrainBoard Member

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    Just found this thread today John and it's a good find!!! Spent the afternoon reading your thread. I think your layout is great and really enjoyed going through your albums. You have been busy. Are most of the models from kits and some scratchbuilt?

    Joe
     
  3. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Thanks for the kind words on my humble endeavors. Some of the models that are from DPM or various wood structures are from kits and a lot of the others are either scratch built, or severely kit bashed. The Virginia Brewery is totally scratch built from plans in the Nn3 manual. The barrel house is from a railroad ice house kit. The original ice house was too large so it was cut down by half,with one half becoming a smaller ice house, and the other the barrel house. The ice house was yet again modified to serve as an icing facility for the fishing fleet and as a railroad facility for the reefers. Some small houses and mercantile were scratch built from styrene. The light house originally featured two houses. It was sectioned so the one house was with the lighthouse, and a dock and pier were added to make that the USCG facility. The other half of the base and house was used to make the NUMA headquarters and a pier for the research vessels.

    Some of my vehicles were scratch built such as the oil tankers. The small ships were based on my own resin cast hulls and so where a lot of the barges. The larger ships all started out as models in a different scale and were scaled up or down with commercial castings added to them. Only one of the research vessels is from a kit that was correct in scale from the start. Some of the fishing boats and tugboats are TomyTec N scale while the bigger vessels are scratchbuilt. One of the vessels has crab and lobster pots made from small scale metal screen. The container feeder ship fits my small port size and it started life as the USS Carronade. The superstructure being aft, and the long deck forward, made this model ideal for the kitbash. All of my major vessels range from around 180 N scale feet to a little over 200 N scale feet and will not overwhelm a small port. Even the railroad car float has been cut down.

    I have a very large collection of detail parts and scale wood and styrene. And I have a large collection of scale doors and windows. Roof shingles for some structures are made on my own printer using colored paper. Most of the foliage used is Woodland Scenic's fine foliage, and of lately I have started using Sedum for my hardwood tree armatures, which I have growing in my garden The fine foliage also makes excellent small bushes.

    A lot of N scale kits are too large for a small layout, so for years I have been cutting them down to a smaller footprint or building my own. Used to be a lot more in my albums but I no longer model or have large steam and diesel. The former TCC had 44 and 70 tonner locomotives for power in addition to Shays. Passenger service is now utilizing Bandai B Trains which have been slightly altered to resemble RDCs and the container service to the port is using Bandai container flats and 20 foot containers. Made an additional bunch of containers out of wood shapes and the containers are wrapped with a paper that was printed out on my computer printer. Got a load of containers for my ship from a couple pieces of wood trim and the wrappers off the internet from a free site. Since the Bandai cars all are based on using a 20 foot container, the feeder ship was designed for that size of container stack and the extra containers I made were all 20 footers.

    Basically now in my old age I am combining two loves, that of maritime and a railroad in my hobby.
     
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  4. badlandnp

    badlandnp TrainBoard Member

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    That mine building reminds me of the old kitbash Art Curren did in RMC article back in the 70's. It was an inspiration then, and your version is an inspiration today!
     
  5. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    The mine is based off a prototype that was featured in the N scale handbook if I remember right, and that is one of the books I can't find after the move. Again I scaled it down to fit a smaller footprint. It's multilevels staircased up a hillside, or mountain does create some challenges to modeling the unit and getting everything the right height for rail loading. Molybdnum was a whim largely based off the blue color some of the ore version have. Gives another scenic effect. And then there is the blue color of the mine and the ore cars. The decals for the mine owned cars were simple, just MMM for the name and basic car data off a data sheet. I am going to add one more detail to it though. An elevator shaft from the bottom to the top portion for the workers to get from rail head to at least the first level of the mine. That will be about an hour project.
     
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  6. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Set down today to work out the track arrangement for the mine, and after numerous tries got what works for me. Still working on the rock castings around the mine, but I did start some of the foam substructure to start bringing out the canyon mouth. Have yet to get to casting some more rocks.
    And now one can see the effect of the mirror. Once the scenic work is done around the mirror should look better.
     
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  7. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    My uncle, a metallurgist, felt the word Molybdenum was incompatible with the rules of English pronunciation, so pronounced it "molly-bend-um". LOL

    Come to think of it, his pronunciation is more compatible with the mine's official name.
     
  8. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Spent the better part of two days fighting with the turnouts and the further trackage coming to the front. Cutting, adjusting, running rail joiners up under my fingernails, and generally turning the air blue again. Was finally successful about 3 PM. Now transitioning between the foam and sheet cork to cork roadbed. Once this is all in and tweaked I can start on some of the terrain.
    And I have to get back there and take care of that open seam in the corner of the backdrop.
     
  9. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    You're moving right along there John...(y)(y)(y)(y)(y)
     
  10. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    OUCH!!! :eek: Oh well- you are not a real model railroader, until you have done this to yourself a few times!
     
  11. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Finally finished the section of track that was giving me fits, so now the mine spur is connected to the main. Then I cleaned off the layout and started building up the foam sub-base.

    And the track gang finally reached the stream where the B&B gang already had a bridge across.

    Once the glue has set maybe in a day or two I will take my hot knife to it and do some carving and then set in some rock castings. Still more build up of this area with foam and it will be where the tracks approach the upper level on an incline and trestle. This area will be fun with two bridges and a trestle. So it is about time I order my Woodland Scenic's incline and order my track cleaning car.

    Not much work may get done later this week depending on how I feel. Going in to get a broken tooth extracted and in the same procedure the bridge and building gang will set up camp in my mouth to install a dental implant. Wonderful experience getting a steel spike screwed into my upper jaw. This will be my 2nd one.

    And I fixed that gap in the scenic backdrop I mentioned. And once again I will hide a seam, this time with smoke from the mine's four smoke stacks. Did that on the original Turtle Creek.
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2018
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  12. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    The foam was built up further last night and trimmed this morning. Laid in more foam at the corner to make the narrow and sheer walls of the canyon leading to the mine. Here looking at it from the mine side.

    And a shot from the front side.

    The hot knife foam cutter is in the foreground. Most craft stores who stock foam have these and they are relatively inexpensive. Tool has a lot of flexibility on getting into the tight spots.

    The corner flat mesa is going to be where the track curves to on its uphill journey to Lonesome Cove, bridges the mine canyon to the next mesa, and the bridges the canyon containing the staging tracks. That is also going to be a location for a small lighthouse on top.

    Looking at one of my Walther's Cornerstone trestle kits last night I realized that there is no wood grain at all and the bents could be steel depending on paint. So I am going to kit bash it with a Atlas bridge and it will make to job easier going across the staging tracks.
     
    Last edited: Jan 31, 2018
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  13. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    This evening I applied some Pewter Gray Acrylic paint to the foam. I also decided to try and do some carving with the hot knife to save on some plaster rock castings and some weight. Still going to put some castings here and there.
     
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  14. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Taking some time out while I get it together from a visit to the oral surgeon to get a broken tooth removed and a dental implant of a steel screw into my jaw bone to attach a new tooth to. Novacaine is just starting to wear off so a pain pill and a nap are called for.

    I ordered supplies that consisted of a few bridges and the Woodland Scenic's incline ramp and then I called Aztec and placed my track cleaning car order. I am getting two. The Predator and the 36 foot Roundhouse car. Had a nice chat with the gentleman about tight radius and his cars and it was nice to find that he is also an N scaler. I am able to get the Roundhouse car with MT trucks rather than the Roundhouse trucks. So in three or four days I should have my cleaning cars.

    One of the bridges I ordered was the Kato Unitrack 9 and 3/4th inch truss bridge since I have found I needed a longer span bridge. I will assume that the track section can be removed like the Atlas bridges so I can lay my flex track straight through.
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2018
  15. wazzou

    wazzou TrainBoard Member

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    John

    Wouldn't the track flow a little better on the right of the Styrofoam if you switched those turnouts locations?
    Put the right hand one on the main and the left hand one off the diverging route. It looks like it would flow better and eliminate a couple of the "S" curves that are present.
     
  16. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Probably would but I am working with what I have in my inventory of turnouts and trying to stay within a budget so the track design reflects my current inventory. Also this is a low operating speed layout and using short cars. I could have gone with the turnouts all right, or left, and done a simple ladder. A few curves are no problem with the short wheelbase of my locomotives which will easily take a 7 and 5/8 ths radius.
     
  17. wazzou

    wazzou TrainBoard Member

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    Understood, but it would simply be a matter of flip-flopping those two turnouts.
     
  18. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    But with the pain and time it took me to get everything to line up I am probably just going to leave it be. Somewhere in the world there is a prototype for it. I was going to use a Peco short Wye track there but it gave me fits too.
     
  19. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Finally finished the foam work for the west end and decided to fill in the gap in the wall and eliminate a bridge by installing a tunnel last night. A flashlight is illuminating the tunnel and it is only 6.5 inches long. The left side is about 1 inch lower than the right at the top and it will be sloped up.

    When the paint finally dries I will install the rock castings here and there to accent the foam carved area. Then I will use a rattle can of gray primer to blend things in. The Acrylic paint protects the foam from the rattle can paint eating the foam.

    Next up is to route some wires for power and the two powered turnouts then I will use Sharpie pen to trace out where the lower track is going and the cut out for the stone works. I also have to plan where the incline is going to reach the top level and where the bridge and trestle are going. The trestle is going to be part of the incline and be inclined itself. On the original Turtle Creek I had three short trestles that all were part of the incline.
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2018
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  20. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    I have been applying rock castings to the areas where I did not carve the foam. Using Gorilla Glue to adhere the rocks to the foam and bent paper clips to hold the rocks in place during the cure which takes about a half hour. Full cure is in 24 hours.
    The Gorilla Glue is water activated and it will sometimes foam out from the casting. No sweat there as I just paint over it The fully cured Gorilla glue can be sanded with a Dremel and a drum sander.
    I had some drip on the tunnel tracks and had to scramble to get it off.

    I was toying with the idea to build one of the trestle kits but I came to my senses and realized that I would have to build it to fit once the sub-terrain was in place. This is a case where the trestle is not going to be built according to the kit but kit bashed to fit my particular need. As I said before poor instructions with this kit, but after studying it for awhile I figured it out
     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2018
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