Fuel barge finished except for weathering and now working on the ore transport barge. 000_0545-4 by John Moore posted Dec 15, 2018 at 8:30 PM
Probably the last maritime vessels I will build as I have a harbor full in storage boxes. Today I finished the 2nd barge and this is both side by side with the raw materials they started from, the Bar Mills case and a figure case. 000_0546-1 by John Moore posted Dec 16, 2018 at 3:13 PM The 2nd one is an ore carrier. Processed Moly ore is delivered by rail to dockside and then transferred to the barge for the trip to the mainland. The 1st one is used to ferry fuel oil to the power plant and other fuels to a small marine service facility which is already built. 000_0547-2 by John Moore posted Dec 16, 2018 at 3:13 PM When the water gets done this will be the location of the barge on the port area of the layout. 000_0548-3 by John Moore posted Dec 16, 2018 at 3:13 PM
I was not satisfied with the appearance of my stone and asphalt covered dock and fortunately the power plant complex covers most of it. So I showed the Wife our driveway and asked Her while She was at Walmart to check the art supplies for something close. What She came back with was a couple of small containers of Apple Barrel matte acrylic in a light khaki. So I just applied it this evening in addition to putting up some more of my sky wallpaper to cover where the corners of the backdrop meet. Being that She also dabbles in art She had a good eye I think. 000_0549-4 by John Moore posted Dec 16, 2018 at 5:21 PM This will be the NUMA dock and house the admin building some dock structures, a crane, and at the far end will be a short harbor light tower marking the entrance to the harbor. Two research vessels, the Cussler and Sandecker will be docked here along with the rescue tug Wily E. 115 foot vessel the Wile E. by John Moore posted Dec 24, 2012 at 4:06 PM
Still not satisfied with my concrete color I mixed some gray into the khaki paint and came up with a better color. Then I went digging in a storage box and came up with some mini modules I did about five or six years ago. They are all about five inches long by two and one half inches deep and can be rearranged as needed. Looking at them I realize I need another scenic backdrop behind them and keep the port entrance to the far right. Also I need to bring the modules up about a quarter inch higher. 000_0552-3 by John Moore posted Dec 17, 2018 at 2:03 PM 000_0552-6 by John Moore posted Dec 17, 2018 at 2:03 PM
This morning I spent about an hour digging through mounds of foam peanuts in several storage boxes the find my car float which i was at a point of needing to determine pier width and length. Naturally it was finally found in the last box and on the bottom. It is the Sylvan model that I cut down the length of and am glad I did. Next after some study I decided that all the rod steamers would become surplus thus eliminating the need for a wye or turntable and that the engine service would also go as an off layout structure. In place of the engine house a single track with fuel oil, sand, and water would go in. Water is staying because the Shays are staying. That frees up room to expand the port, water and docks area, put in a single end yard and a passenger depot and two tracks. A scenic backdrop is coming to put some land at the back of the harbor and narrow the entrance to the port. The Coast Guard station and the lighthouse is also being reconsidered and maybe just cutting back to a lighthouse. The area to the left will under go the changes. 000_0555-3 by John Moore posted Dec 18, 2018 at 1:18 PM
As Yul Bryner once said so let it be written so let it be done, the changes have happened. The harbor has expanded slightly and a space made for the ferry and the train station. Also gaining a small three track yard where the engine house used to sit plus a engine service track. I have at least two small single stall engine houses that have a small footprint and that might go there. On the front at the far right I am going to gain three storage tracks in a small pier side yard. The light house may go in the far back right corner. 000_0557-5 by John Moore posted Dec 18, 2018 at 2:44 PM Where the ferry now sits by the station I am going to cut a small slip in the foam there for it.
With the demo complete and the lighthouse and Coast Guard station no longer in this spot it is slowly being transformed into the transportation hub for Friday Harbor. I cut out a notch for the ferry that has to be lined and then pilings installed. Found one of my old train stations that is the right size for here and later a floating dock will be installed for the Beaver float plane. A railroad tug was converted to the ferry with added styrene parts and it is based on a early single ended ferry that had a elevator on the bow for areas where there was only a dock and no slip that I found through research. The station is a snap together kit found years ago. I haven't seen anything like this since. The Dehaviland Beaver is from a kit that has a separate kit for the floats and is all made of wood. 000_0558-5 by John Moore posted Dec 18, 2018 at 7:20 PM And the cardboard tubes are to protect the masts while in storage since they are made of .035 and .030 styrene rods. My scenic backdrop for the far side of the harbor has shipped and will be here this week. In the meanwhile I will be working on laying the harbor tracks and installing the car float pier in addition to this area.
At the time I purchased that kit they were offered as a wheeled version with a separate kit available to purchase for the floats to convert it.
Before I literally tracked myself into a corner I finally stopped to install the wires for the power feeds to the layout. All three are withing about 2 square feet of each other and are run across the top of the layout. Random pieces of scrap cork roadbed were used to secure the wires and all were soldered together to larger feed wires and run through a single hole in the layout almost directly over the power pack. Both the back and the front tracks of the continuous running lop are fed and both entries to the port area. This way all of my wiring is in an easy to get to location and being an old codger I can get to it without throwing something out of joint. The wires will now be simply sceniced over using a water based adhesive that can be later removed with just a few squirts of water. From the power source in the middle the power just has to be transmitted 6 foot 8 inches left or right from multiple leads. 000_0559-1 by John Moore posted Dec 21, 2018 at 11:40 AM With the way that the port area is being laid out I needed to better define the port entrance to the extreme right rear so I thought of another scenic backdrop to do that. Looking at what Walther's had to offer in their Instant Horizons selection I chose country to city one for the terrain features. It will start low behind the power plant and rise to a bluff at the port entrance which is going to give me the effect I am wanting. 000_0560-2 by John Moore posted Dec 21, 2018 at 11:40 AM Because I installed a sky pattern wall paper I do not need the sky portion of this and it will be carefully trimmed off. Then the land portion will be overlaid over it using Elmers' white glue. I will end up with about 16 inches of nothing but sky on the far right where the lighthouse will sit marking the port entrance. The high snow capped mountain where the two sections of layout join was done in this fashion earlier. 000_0562-3 by John Moore posted Dec 21, 2018 at 12:24 PM What is left of the seam between the two sections of backdrop I will probably cover with a light column of smoke coming up from someplace at the base of the mountain, something I have done before. 000_0560-2 by John Moore posted Dec 21, 2018 at 11:40 AM The backdrop just arrived this morning along with some more Peco ST6 turnouts. The port area will be completely Peco turnouts using the ST-5 and the ST-6 series for their short footprint and sharp turnout for the docks and they easily adapt from their 9 inch radius to the 8 inch radius going onto the piers. All I plan on doing up until Christmas is to go back and clean the track already laid and run some track cleaning trains now that I have power other than a 9 volt battery to the track.
The last background scene has been installed and I started painting the harbor. The harbor bottom was first given a coat of black and today it got a swirl coat of three different shades of blue. Structures with docks go against the backdrop so I am not concerned with the gap at the bottom because it will be covered. On the far right I still have to fog in the blue to give the impression of distance which will be done tonight after supper. Right now it looks like a Tsunami wave. I am going to go over the harbor next with a light diluted green which will get a fine water misting to allow it to flow and not leave brush strokes. I am going to my artists box of acrylics for colors. 000_0563-4 by John Moore posted Dec 21, 2018 at 6:20 PM
Nothing much happened with the layout during Christmas. I spent about an hour looking in storage boxes from the move for the other parts to the boat repair and manged to finally find it plus another part to it I had forgotten about. Looking at both it and the fish market they are both huge by my standards and either something has to go, or I cut it down, or expand the port again and add about another foot and one half of space. 000_0582-1 by John Moore posted Dec 27, 2018 at 10:14 AM If I cut the boat repair down it most likely will be to just halve the ramp to the left of it. The fish market would involve a lot more, docks, walls and roof. Leaning toward just getting the hot knife out and expanding the port area. Opinions?
In between trips to the kitchen to tend my soup pot I have been shuffling structures and modules around trying to come up with happiness. I did expand the harbor at the far left and back by the power plant. At the moment it looks like the boat repair will go at the location to the far left and the side ramp will be cut by half width wise. This gives more harbor space in front of the fish market and I may tuck it back further giving even more space and widening this area to give me additional vessel berthing. One of the two modules with Quonset huts on them is probably going to be disassembled and mounted behind the boat repair. The small engine service area is up in the air right now as to where it will go. Still shuffling module with an eye to maintaining a ship channel and access to vessel berthing areas. I will be messing with this into tomorrow probably. 000_0583-2 by John Moore posted Dec 27, 2018 at 12:43 PM
Well just about when the seaweed had settled in the harbor I remembered two important structures. 000_0584-4 by John Moore posted Dec 27, 2018 at 6:34 PM Waterfront Willy's and Wicked Wanda's two of the finest wood kits anyone has come up with. Both have floating docks I built out of the scraps left over. Wiily's has just about as many configurations as does Wanda's and both adapt to land based track side structures well. Okay now to plan Z on the arrangements to fit them in.
I may have made a break through in the harbor. I disassembled the fish market to cut it down and then realized that it could go on the same pier as the cannery if I sectioned the base to smaller footprint and then used it for part of the pier. Facing back to back I can run a single track to serve both. That opens up the area next to the power plant to put my marine service station where it was and the boat repair to the far left along with Water Front Willy's and Wicked Wanda's. I also gain the space to put my floating dry dock next to the boat repair. 000_0585-5 by John Moore posted Dec 27, 2018 at 9:29 PM
Set out this morning with just staring at the harbor and letting my old mind work and process. Then I set about cutting my marine tank farm in half and lowering the height on both Wicked Wanda's and Water Front Willy's. Dug out my floating drydock from storage to placed it next to the boat repair to see how it fits. Decided to notch both Wanda's and Willy's back into the foam some more and not have them project out except for their small floating docks. And I reassembled the fish market and placed it next to the cannery where it will go, Still not totally happy with the far back line up and I have dug out my bag of scrapped 50 flatcar bodies thinking about some docks. 000_0586-1 by John Moore posted Dec 28, 2018 at 1:01 PM
Not a lot of progress this week and weekend having been busy with other things. But today at least I gave the expanded harbor section a base coat of black along with the exposed foam sides. The foam is being sealed so when I pour water it doesn't eat the foam. The backdrop seam now exposed in this area was sealed with some silicon caulk of the clear variety. I cut a number of stone sheet strips to line the edges with after the paint dries. The sheet material came in 8 by 11 inch sheets and I have had it so long now that I have forgotten who made it. I have pre-painted it and weathered it with a greenish tint to simulate algae growth on the stones. An angle strip of styrene forms a cap. Then come the small finish nails for bollards. 000_0589-2 by John Moore posted Dec 29, 2018 at 5:26 PM This evening I hope to have the stone strips glued in place. In the foreground are visible two small piers that are made from my scrapped 50 foot flat cars. Two are glued end to end to make a 100 foot pier.Several layers of thin cork are used to raise them some. The side sill will get a coat of paint, concrete color, and then the tops will get a wood tone. Last is to get some bollards glued in place. This set will bracket the floating dry dock.
Got the stone facing glued in place yesterday so pretty much ready to paint the new harbor section. Meanwhile I have started working on a timber and piling facing for the cannery pier. The boards are made up of four different pieces of styrene and the pilings are cut from styrene rod and the bollards a little larger sized rod. I made four 1 to 1 size feet of the timber facing, enough to do the cannery pier and some more piers in the harbor. I have to thank Hytec for some technical information on bollard spacing so you will see some differences in bollard spacing depending on what vessels tie up there and how they are oriented to the pier. I have three sizes of fishing boats and the smaller tie up bow or stern in to the dock so the bollard spacing reflects the size of the vessel tied up and the small ones are spaced at 14 feet apart, the middle sized ones are spaced at 21 feet apart, and the big one ties up along side the dock so the spacing there is 33 feet. 000_0604-6 by John Moore posted Dec 31, 2018 at 5:14 PM The timbers have had their first coat of paint a blend of territorial beige and black that I mixed. Once this dries it gets another color brushed on light. Meanwhile as paint dries I have started the dismantling of one of the Coast Guard PCEs down to the hull to fabricate a smaller car and passenger ferry 000_0605-7 by John Moore posted Dec 31, 2018 at 6:26 PM
