Got the last components cut and assembled for the ferry landing and the seaplane dock and painted. 1/8th inch styrene rod has been painted for cutting into pilings to hopefully install all of today. 000_0689-1 by John Moore posted Jan 20, 2019 at 12:46 PM Thinking about installing this little aide to navigation that was part of the TomyTec fish market kit that included some concrete breakwaters that may be installed later. Not sure if that is supposed to be a bell or foghorn but I am thinking about installing a beacon light. 000_0690-2 by John Moore posted Jan 20, 2019 at 1:07 PM
Slow progress with some modifications being made as I go. But the ferry docks are now permanently installed along with Waterfront Willy's. 000_0692-2 by John Moore posted Jan 21, 2019 at 4:50 PM The boat repair yard has had the crane installed and the little aide to navigation was given two lights, and a foghorn then installed behind a concrete seawall section. The crane came from a kit that has long been on the market and was adapted to a tower made from styrene tubes. It is the same old style industrial crane that is elevated and runs on tracks that I have on the container pier. The ports 4th crane is a heavy lift barge mounted crane converted from a 250 ton rail crane. 000_0693-5 by John Moore posted Jan 21, 2019 at 4:50 PM Now working on some slight changes to Wicked Wanda's which will be the next structure installed along with 3 story hotel/boarding house. Also today the cannery and fish market were permanently installed. On the workbench are a bunch of pilings that I made that are slated to be installed at the corners of the stonework around the power plant.
Have reached a point where all the major components of the harbor have been installed finally. This shot is from the west end of the layout overlooking the mine spur toward Friday Harbor. 000_0697-1 by John Moore posted Jan 22, 2019 at 9:11 AM And a distant shot of the harbor. 000_0696-2 by John Moore posted Jan 22, 2019 at 9:11 AM I still have detail work that needs to be done in the town area and detail work in the harbor. Several sections of stonework need to be installed in the harbor between some piers, gaps to be filled where the piers join the main dock, and a few other details including some more vessels, people and vehicles. Last I need to install the track from the mainline into the harbor and onto the dock.
Well after a disaster of a ferry boat taking a dive off of the workbench last night, repairs have been made and both ferries are now completed and staffed by crewmen and passengers. One will be getting underway while the other will be loading. One will be heading toward Vancouver, the Canadian flagged one while the other heads to Lopez Island and then Washington. Still have figures waiting for the Hob-B-Tac adhesive to set on one of them. My ferries are modeled off of a much older boxy style ferry of the 1920s. 000_0704-1 by John Moore posted Jan 24, 2019 at 6:42 PM 000_0705-2 by John Moore posted Jan 24, 2019 at 6:42 PM I installed some more pilings in the harbor and caulked the gaps between the piers and the main dock today and then spent the rest of the day trying to clean up some things.
I finally got the gaps filled between the piers and the main dock where they join and now I can start figuring out where and how I want to lay the track into the harbor over the next several days. And once I vacuum the water and touch up any paint I am about ready to do my first water pour. 000_0706-1 by John Moore posted Jan 25, 2019 at 10:30 PM
Yesterday I worked out the plan for getting track into the harbor and then ran track down to the station ending up with one track behind the station and one through track in front of the station that connects to the cannery pier. In. addition two tracks run off the the left to what will be an engine house and service area next to the dry dock. However that area has to be leveled so some foam has been cut and glued in place held down by my one to one rail section. 000_0707-1 by John Moore posted Jan 27, 2019 at 11:06 AM A second track will enter the harbor on the lower left side and join up with the first track completing a wye and then continue on down the dock.
Well I had about a 3 hour battle yesterday to get my tracks in for the engine service area. Trying to work with flex track in sections less than eight inches just wasn't working out and any combinations of fixed track was working either. Then I had a moment of satori and started cutting sections out of fixed radius track and it went together thanks in part to those little Peco ST-5s and 6s which saved me space and have a sharper turnout. 000_0710-2 by John Moore posted Jan 28, 2019 at 10:35 AM The only section of flex in there is the third track on the right. The track is laid down to the cannery and this morning I brought the track off the container and ore transfer pier onto the main dock. There will be about a two car storage track in front of the fish market that terminates at the ore pier. And now the real battle begins as I bring the other leg of the wye down into the harbor. That track will continue on down the dock to feed the ore pier, car float pier and the NUMA and Coast Guard piers.I also want to bring a track up into the center of the wye to serve a possible stockyard or ice house. Problem is none of my stockyards fit in the space which may result in my tearing them apart and using components from them and my farm buildings to create my own custom fit stock yard. I still want to use my ice house so it may go on the main dock somewhere. 000_0711-1 by John Moore posted Jan 28, 2019 at 10:35 AM
A wye doesn't always have to resemble a Y in shape. In this case the far leg serves as the engine service access then curves around to serve as the station tracks access and then finally the port yard access. The near leg serves as serves as an industry entrance and port yard access. The top of the wye serves as the continuous run loop and transitions to double mains at either end. In all my wye occupies about 2 square feet of space. I am using two Atlas Wye tracks because of their sharper angle of departure on the curved sections, Atlas item number 2709. 000_0713-3 by John Moore posted Jan 28, 2019 at 4:00 PM I am about 3 turnouts short of completing my track work so an order will be placed for 3 Peco ST-6 along with some grade crossings and other items. In the meanwhile I will be developing my stockyard and doing some other detail work. And I just experienced my first giant tarantula on the layout, giant for N scale that is. It is barely 36 Deg. F. outside so I do not know where he or she came from but it is no more.
Over the last several days I have laid in my thin cork sheet material and built up the stockyard area in between the legs of the wye leveling it off. Today I applied a layer of mixed turf and then another layer of earth all Woodland Scenic products. I start the process of the scenic material by first applying some random lines of Elmers white glue then a light over spray of water. Over this I spread my scenic material and again apply a light water spray. When the scenic material is sufficiently wet I then apply a diluted solution of the Elmers glue over it. I am using Elmers exclusively for my cork roadbed glue and other things so when I get a bottle just about empty, I add water to the bottle creating my own cheap scenic glue. Depending on the humidity level the scenic material will be set up solid in about 3 to 4 hours. Any scenic material that gets where I don't want it simply is vacuumed up since I did not apply glue there. I do not worry about an occasional bare spot since I am in the habit of painting all my areas before scenic materials are applied with a base acrylic color, in this case a light beige earth tone color. 000_0715-1 by John Moore posted Jan 30, 2019 at 10:37 AM Unfortunately my stockyard module will not fit in the area so I had to tear it apart, a job made simple by my using Elmers in the construction by simply wetting the module. Fencing and structures along with animals and haystack came off with relative ease. So the Wers D. Beaf Stockyards will get reconstructed on the site. Meanwhile I can move back to my engine facility and install strips of cut stone for walls now that the sheets of stone have had the paint dry.
Been slowly getting the engine service facility together and about ready to clean the track and glue the final pieces in. 000_0720-1 by John Moore posted Feb 1, 2019 at 11:15 AM The water tank has been stripped of its spout and just the water level indicator left on the side. Tanks for diesel fuel and fuel oil have been installed and then two columns have been added for oil and water and a small sand house has also been added. After the final pieces have been added then I will apply ballast. For my ballast I am using a fine calcium carbonate sand for reptile and hermit crab terrariums.It is the same consistency as the fine ballast but far cheaper which I found at Walmart. My oil and water columns are by Tichy Trains and are HO. But they are small and can be used for N scale and can be found on Ebay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tichy-Trai...284689?hash=item41f7cd0c91:g:3PwAAOSwcT5buNM- A lot of the available N scale water and oil columns are just to short and these are fine enough detail to do for N scale.
Well after a week of work I have just about got the stockyards done. I started by completely tearing apart the stockyard modules I had previously done several years before. Stockyards #1 and #2 by John Moore posted May 23, 2014 at 7:47 PM And then reassembling the pieces into a new format. 000_0721-1 by John Moore posted Feb 2, 2019 at 12:40 PM As usual I decided that one structure was to big so I cut a section out of it and I assembled a loading dock out of an old wood kit I had to install opposite the stock loading chute. 000_0722-1 by John Moore posted Feb 7, 2019 at 10:56 AM The stock watering and feed troughs are all handmade along with the haystacks and straw stacks. Wood shapes were cut and then Elmers glue applied. The the shapes were dipped in scenic materials and walla straw and hay stack and small bales of each. The little ford tractor is from a metal kit purchased at a train show to which I added a front bucket and a backhoe. 000_0722--2 by John Moore posted Feb 7, 2019 at 11:31 AM I spent some early years in Montana working on a Campbell's Soup beef ranch and they had some neat little homemade hay stackers. The consisted of an old auto sans the body and the steering turned around so they ran backwards and equipped with a fork for collecting hay bales. I have modeled two from memory. 000_0727-3 by John Moore posted Feb 7, 2019 at 11:31 AM The hay and straw wagons are by Wilkens. I am currently working on a sheep pen to be installed up by the stone works with a truck loading ramp while waiting for an order of ballast to arrive today and on locating and installing the Friday Harbor water tank. The former farm house module was also tore apart and remount in two pieces in the town. The farmhouse going up front and the gardens and chicken coop going in the rear behind the other houses. The area to the right will be the location for the water tower and pump house and the road will curve around it and cross the tracks to the port and ferry area. 000_0728-4 by John Moore posted Feb 7, 2019 at 11:48 AM And work continues on the sheep pen. 000_0729-5 by John Moore posted Feb 7, 2019 at 11:59 AM
Finished the sheep pen installation next to the stone works and hardware across the creek. 000_0732-1 by John Moore posted Feb 12, 2019 at 11:40 AM Since I scrapped plans for a log camp the bunkhouse are being re-purposed here and four of them are being used. I built the bunk houses out of parts from my parts box and scrap wood. The fire wood piles are Azelea twigs that were spit. The sheep herders wagons are also from one of my building projects and are modeled off of Basque herders wagons. The stock trailer is a modified trailer. I also completed the last tracks on the layout finally installing the remaining harbor tracks. The tracks now feed all the piers and include three storage tracks. Extensive use of 14 Peco ST-5 and ST-6 turnouts made this track work possible in this tight space. 000_0733=2 by John Moore posted Feb 12, 2019 at 11:40 AM Since the trains are limited to ten car lengths and the cars consist of cars under or at 40 foot and the power is 44 and 70 tonners this works out just fine. Now will be working on inserting ties where there are gaps, ballasting and maybe next week finally pouring water in the harbor.
Probably should have snapped a photo with the container feeder ship at its dock when I tried it out. The biggest vessel that will be in the harbor. The far right wing of the U shaped fueling dock is now gone when I realized it would interfere with harbor traffic so it is being repositioned.
Finally got the harbor ready and poured water this evening. 000_0745-2 by John Moore posted Feb 18, 2019 at 5:55 PM 000_0746-3 by John Moore posted Feb 18, 2019 at 5:55 PM I am using Parks Super Glaze, a product I found at home depot. 000_0747-4 by John Moore posted Feb 18, 2019 at 6:03 PM I have a big harbor nearly 30 inches wide by 7 feet long and it would cost me a small fortune to try and using the normal hobby products taking at least 5 or 6 kits so I did some research and came up with this product. And as you can see from the photo some fairly big bottles. It will take 8 hours to cure and a full 72 hours for the max cure. But since I live in a higher humidity maritime environment it may take a little longer. I estimate I have completely covered the harbor with about 1/8 inch and may go for another pour once this has cured because I would like the bring the water up just a bit deeper.
Thank you. I am really pleased at the way this water has come out. First product I have seen that gets the reflections of the structures on it. And there have been no adverse effects of the resin compound on the piers or plastic objects and virtually no smell as it cures. It mixes thick and so doesn't have a tendency to want to run and in some cases I had to trowel the water up to the piers and docks.
Love this nice find on the resin. And the harbor looks great with all the variety of colors you laid down it's come full circle Kudos .
Thank you. This morning after sitting overnight the water is dry to the touch and still clear. I prepared the base using Apple Barrel acrylic paints available at Walmart in the art section. I basically laid down a base coat of black which was fully dry in an hour. Then in some areas I applied a gray which was misted with water spray allowing it to flow some. The colors of green and two shades of blue were applied lightly and each application was water misted when applied allowing the coats to flow and mingle. The water near the harbor entrance is more blue with some streaks of green while the upper harbor near Wicked Wanda's is more greenish in color. The light misting technique allows the colors to flow thinning out when going from color to color and allows a gentle transition of colors without any brush strokes. The cost for this application was $24.98 and a simple drive of about a mile to pick it up. The package contains 32 ounces of fluid. Buying the leading product at my discount hobby supply would have cost me $22.49 for 12 liquid ounces and I would have needed three kits for a cost of $67.47 plus $7.50 shipping. I will need to do yet one more pour to get the depth I want bringing my total cost to $50. Buying another three kits of the leading hobby product would bring my costs to $149.94 when I factor in shipping cost to. I have also found the the leading hobby product develops heat when curing that can increase with the depth of the pour and since I have used this product in the past I also know it can have an odor while curing. The Parks Super Glaze did not develop any heat nor did it develop any odor while curing. One other thing I did prior to the pour was to seal all edges of the harbor area with a clear silicon caulk and allow several days of curing time and there have been no leaks.
Probably epoxy, which generates no heat when curing vs. polyester resin, which does. Sounds like a significant savings. I like the reflection and "depth" of the look!
