Another HC door has been added to the TCC to make the port area and in the process I decided that I wasn't happy with the first section of it. 100_5286-1 by John Moore posted Feb 28, 2018 at 4:09 PM So it is going to be demo'd down to this level and most of the material recycled. The back cliffs will be retained and the far ridge line will stay. 100_5181-1 by John Moore posted Feb 3, 2018 at 12:23 PM On the other side of that far ridge line is the Macie Moly Mine and that is being retained. 100_5198-2 by John Moore posted Feb 8, 2018 at 9:44 AM The original section is on a 36" by 80" HC door mounted on two kitchen cabinet base units. The back ridge line is 6 inches wide with the layout proper on a 30" wide portion. The climb to the upper plateau was a 4% and 7% grade which was being handled by a 4 power lash-up of diesels or two Shays with a Class A Climax helper. So the grade will get reduced to probably between 1 and 2 percent. This is the port section which is a 30" by 80" HC door being notched to set back around the back of the fire place chimney. A transition piece will go in that angles to to port section. 000_0403-2 by John Moore posted Nov 10, 2018 at 2:47 PM About a year ago I posted about a sky with clouds wallpaper that I had found and it will be the port area backdrop. 000_0404-3 by John Moore posted Nov 10, 2018 at 2:47 PM Once the backdrop is done and mounted I will slide the section in place and it will be storage as I dismantle some of the previous section. This section will sit out from the wall to clear a hot water radiator and the visible HVAC vent which has already been fitted with a upward deflector. So whenever finally completed I will end up with a layout that is 13.33 feet long and 30 inches wide. Operating radius will be still 8 to 9 inch. Motive power are 44 and 70 tonners, 4 Shays, and two Class A Climax. The 44 tonners will navigate 6 inch radius and the 70 tonners and geared locos 7.5 inch. All rolling stock is a mix of 40 foot or under and with truck mounted couplers and container traffic from the port uses the Bandai B Train 40 foot containers flats and small containers. Passenger service are the 30 foot Bandai B Train cab cars and coaches modified slightly to look like mini RDCs.
The port area backdrop is finished except for doing a small tie in of sky. My artist's boxes on the small stool are holding the end piece in place while some Gorilla Glue sets up. They are topped by a 30 pound chunk of rail from mile 1 South bound of the old RF&P. 000_0410-5 by John Moore posted Nov 11, 2018 at 7:14 PM
The angled transition piece between the two offset HC doors has been cut and just needs to be secured. Meanwhile I have tediously cut out a section of backdrop that was just overlaid on the wall paper and connects to the existing backdrop. Where the two meet I will break out my artist supplies and blend it with some mist, fog, and clouds. Another scenic backdrop will be trimmed and mounted below the newest one and slightly overlap, creating a feel of distance and continue to bring the back ground scene lower in the dock area. Yet a third one even lower may be added. 000_0412-1 by John Moore posted Nov 12, 2018 at 12:58 PM
Three backdrop scenes are now overlayed and I just have to take some paint and make fog and mist to blend everything, but I got a successful transition from the high country to the port area. 000_0413 by John Moore posted Nov 12, 2018 at 3:22 PM The vertical white appearing line is just a reflection from the camera flash that is seen in the corners.
Well on a rainy and chilly morning the demolition is half way done. All the structures have been extracted thanks to using water based adhesives and most of the track and turnouts were successfully removed from the ballast again thanks to a water based adhesive. All the trees in the areas also were successfully removed. My beaver ponds were cut out and can be reused on the new version and it looks like I am going to be able to remove my waterfall that was made with Water Effects due to its remaining pliable. A good bit of the foam used in construction of the plateau was able to be salvaged to be reused. The only thing in doubt will be the wood trestle but I have another in a box. Hope to have the demo completed today so by tomorrow the third version of the Turtle Creek Central will start. 000_0417-1 by John Moore posted Nov 13, 2018 at 9:59 AM
Got the first section back to the pink foam base and just need to remove some track and roadbed. 000_0418-3 by John Moore posted Nov 13, 2018 at 1:51 PM The future port area and town of Friday Harbor is currently the storage for all the recycled items. 000_0419-4 by John Moore posted Nov 13, 2018 at 1:51 PM I call this the bridge to nowhere. My long Kato bridge that accessed the plateau which along with the section of track that runs above the mine is yet to be removed. 000_0420-6 by John Moore posted Nov 13, 2018 at 2:03 PM And one of the two beaver ponds that I salvaged. I just have to take the Dremel and trim up the bottom to reset it into the new terrain. 000_0415-6 by John Moore posted Nov 13, 2018 at 2:03 PM I am giving some serious thought to daylighting the tunnel on the mine spur. Although I had no derailments there it is a candidate for Mr. Murphy to cause one and since I am ripping and tearing anyway. Also going to get rid of the two powered turnouts that were on the canyon line in favor of manual throws.
Well I turned thought into action and daylighted the tunnel. Later I will mount a small level piece of thin pink foam on the top of the cut down section then some plaster cloth to cover the ugly and some paint and rock castings. That level place will be the location of my second light house and maybe a few other small structures. 000_0421-7 by John Moore posted Nov 13, 2018 at 3:56 PM
Today laid another section of Owens Corning pink foam over the former plateau area bringing it up to 1 inch of foam over the HC door. Where I day lighted the tunnel and cut down the front high cliff section got a piece of pink foam topping and now is being melded in with the rest by some plaster cloth. 000_0424-4 by John Moore posted Nov 14, 2018 at 8:51 PM Tomorrow as the rains continue to fall I will remove all the weights from the new foam board and start laying the foundations for my sloped talus base at the cliffs. This morning I ordered some more plaster cloth and two Kato bridges along with some more rail joiners. Two of my old Atlas deck girder bridges are going to be turned into a road bridge that will run from the lowered cliff to another small hill I am creating in that area.
I finished up applying plaster and plaster cloth to the day lighted former tunnel area. 000_0427-3 by John Moore posted Nov 15, 2018 at 7:33 PM Then I installed the base at the cliffs for the talus slope. 000_0428-4 by John Moore posted Nov 15, 2018 at 7:33 PM Next I installed a foam piece to bring the transition piece between the layout sections up the the port HC door level. 000_0426-2 by John Moore posted Nov 15, 2018 at 7:33 PM And finally I had plenty of supervision while doing this and the layout structure got a weight test by the Big Guy in all his 32 pound glory. He went to sleep on it for about an hour. 000_0425-1 by John Moore posted Nov 15, 2018 at 7:33 PM Tomorrow I will start applying some water based artist paints to some of it and then once that is dry some talus material at the cliff bases. After that I will begin to lay some track in the area.
Got a base coat of black on the raw plaster last night and today I will add in some gray. 000_0430-2 by John Moore posted Nov 16, 2018 at 1:16 PM This morning I cut out the new stream bed. Above it is the upper stream bed from version one of this layout that will be tied together with the waterfall I managed to salvage in the demo. The deepest part is an inch and a quarter below the layout surface and the banks have been sloped. I decided that I wanted a double track bridge both front and rear of the layout and Kato had what I wanted to fit. While Atlas has some nice bridges they are only a little under 5 inches in length. The same bridge from Kato is a little over 7 inches long giving more flexibility in a single span, An Atlas bridge is shown and the two marker pens show where the same style Kato bridge will come to. 000_0429-1 by John Moore posted Nov 16, 2018 at 1:16 PM Making my own large talus with some thin plaster allowed to set in a shallow foil pan. Then my smaller Woodland Scenics talus with be spread around that. I mix some latex based artists paint in with the plaster mix so when I break it up it is all uniform in color.
Gave the stream bed a base coat of black and glued some large stones to the slope. Modeling the falls at low water thus the falls will be split into two falling streams merging at the bottom. 000_0431-5 by John Moore posted Nov 16, 2018 at 8:00 PM Tomorrow when everything is dry I will add the moderate and small sized talus to the slope and then start overlaying some more colors in the stream bed.
This morning I added some coarse talus and fine talus to the cliff base along a five foot section. The coarse talus was made from some plaster that was tinted with some latex paint and then crumbled. The fine is a mix of Woodland Scenics coarse and fine ballast of different colors. A thick water based glue was first used and then all the material was sprayed with a fine mist of water and then a dilute scenic glue was applied over the top. I make my own scenic glue by adding a little water to an almost empty Elmers glue bottle and shaking it well and then transferring to another bottle. Still working on the colors for the stream bed. The area once dry will get a thin wash of diluted water based black paint applied with a spray bottle. 000_0432-1 by John Moore posted Nov 17, 2018 at 10:31 AM 000_0439-6 by John Moore posted Nov 17, 2018 at 1:10 PM And after some blended paints and a spray with diluted black to blend things in. Now that the base is nearly done I will apply some blended turf and coarse turf and then some small shrubs. Verdict is still out on what I will use as water. The blue that is appearing is the presence of Molybdenum ore. In keeping with small is better the mine is serviced by a small fleet of 28 ft ore cars, some with loads of blue processed ore in gray cars carrying the lettering of MMM for the Macie Molybdenum Mine. Those cars are transported to the port and a car float where they go to the mainland to connect with the GN, SP&S. and NP for the trip East.
Today I got some more turf installed along with some trees. But the major thing is slowly restoring the salvaged waterfall in its new location piece by piece. Last night the waterfall was soaked in a pan of water and I was able to peel some of the layers apart. This morning it was cut into strips and using a gloss Mod Podge as cement I started from the bottom layering my way to the top, stopping for the Mod Podge to set up and dry. I have a small fan with a heat element that I am using to accelerate the drying. 000_0440-1 by John Moore posted Nov 18, 2018 at 11:44 AM
Finally got the last section of the waterfall installed, it will take a week or more for the falls to cure and lose that whiteness. Also installed a few more trees and then started to relay my mine spur. 000_0441-3 by John Moore posted Nov 18, 2018 at 7:58 PM This is my 8 inch radius round tuit so there is plenty of room for a double track curve and I may go back to a 9.75 r. here. My entire loco fleet can operate on the 8 inch and some as tight as 6 inch. 000_0442--6 by John Moore posted Nov 18, 2018 at 8:05 PM
Finally laying some track but not without a fight. The mine spur is at a lower grade than the main so it has taken some shimming to get that right. Also had to shim up the track at the Kato bridge. The outer main is at 10.5 inch radius and the inner one is going to be 9.75. I am going to try to bring the stone works spur off of that inner main and to do that I am going to have to use one of my Peco ST turnouts. 000_0443-1 by John Moore posted Nov 19, 2018 at 9:57 PM
Finally after several hours of cutting track and adjusting got the 2nd mainline in. Now I have to come off that turnout on the inside main with my stone works spur and once again I will be taking the track to a lower level so a bunch of shimming is in order. The cork roadbed is painted a Pewter Grey a matte acrylic paint that can be found in the art supply section of Walmart. I can go lighter on the ballast and not worry about a spot that may be thin. A Woodland Scenics fine gray ballast will be used here. 000_0444-1 by John Moore posted Nov 20, 2018 at 1:29 PM
Finally got the stone works installed and added two more terrain features to wrap up todays work. 000_0445-6 by John Moore posted Nov 20, 2018 at 7:19 PM The stone works is a wood kit that I cut down by about a third. It is part of my Sabat stone company that has a small fleet of cars lettered for the company. 000_0447-4 by John Moore posted Nov 20, 2018 at 7:19 PM
Really enjoy how this empire evolves. Your willingness to make drastic changes exceeds that of most of us.
