The layout is looking really nice, nice work on the bridge abutments! Earlier you stated that you wish you had put down the plaster cloth before the roadbed. Don't! I learned the hard way and my main line was bumpy at best. Use small strips like you have been doing and all will be fine. Nice work and you certainly have the look of the north east.
Thanks for the kind words Jim. You have a point there. I guess it was dumb luck that I laid the plaster cloth that way then. Laying small strips at a time was tedious, but it saved a bunch of plaster cloth. Anyway, I finished the block work for the bridge abuttment. I used WS pigments to stain everything, and it certainly brought more realism to it. In this woodland climate most rock areas that see little sun tend to be damp almost year-round, so I went with a little more slate grey than usual. When this particular scene is finished I plan on some heavy foliage. So yeah, there you go.
Another thing I did while doing plaster cloth on my layout was to lay blue tape on the track. It helped from making a big mess on the track. Also, I see you have a turnout under the bridge. Is it down yet? I ask because the transition from the switch to the main looks like it has a slight kink in it and could cause headaches latter. Don't want to be a pain, just don't want you to get frustrated and stop work on what is becoming a great looking layout. The weathering and color on the bridge abutments looks great!
Nothing really very new to report. Digitrax sent me a fresh decoder for one of SD70M's. They definately have great customer service. If you recall from another thread I really had a terrible headache trying to get a sound decoder to work in one of my Kato units. The fresh decoder works great, despite a few little adjustments still needed with the mechanism. Also spent some more time trying to wrap up my SD40-2 High Nose project. I selected paint, which looks to be a pretty good match. Right now i am trying to decide if it is worth another $30 in parts to have operating ditch lights, or if I just want to skip them. Lastly, I installed some details to my #2599 unit which has an MRC sound decoder. Playing around with picture effects: I have off the next few days and plan on making some progress with the layout, and will be sure to keep you folks updated. Also, I will post my post-Christmas goodies (if any). Thanks -Josh
Well, I have had so many side projects going on that I have been neglected working on my actual layout. A few months ago, I decided to tear up a small switching yard to put some small sidings on the east end of my layout. Well, I must have measured incorrectly because after laying track and roadbed, I fired up one of my six-axles and set it off on a test run. Unfortunately the radius of the curve is just too small. I had previously measured about a 12 inch radius, but after everything was built, it turned out to be closer to a 9-10 inch radius. Live and learn. Here are a few pictures of said curve. I spent some time tearing it all up after I snapped these shots. I guess for now I am going to continue building some buildings and decide what to do with the massive void on the west side of my layout.
That's a splendid model railway you are putting together mate, well done. Thanks for shareing the building process.
Thanks folks. I recently had another track-laying issue that I had to fix. My inner loop was suffering from derail-itis. So I pulled most of it up and re-laid all flex. I sort of wish I had just went with flex for the entire layout, but I had such a surplus of snaptrack laying around. Cost vs. benefit. In any case, the new flextrack inner loop is well and truly laid. I had my SD's running on the main and my Geep high nose pulled coalgons on the inner loop, pausing to cross the main. For a roundy-rounder the trackplan is pretty enjoyable, letting the SD70M's run on auto-pilot while supervising the coal drag on the inner loop. I have also laid some more foam as I progress west. The neatest thing about having the layout based in the northeast is using hills to obscure ground-level views. There are a ton of neat spots to shoot video/pictures. Speaking of which I took some time to get a few video clips together. When I get a chance I will edit them and put them together in a video for your viewing pleasure. No scenary to speak of just yet, but I figured this was a nice way to celebrate my (hopefully) bug-free trackwork.
As promised, I put together a short video of some operations on the layout. Not much in the way of scenary, but I figured I'd share it with you nonetheless. Sorry for the shakiness, it was filmed with an iPhone lol. [video=youtube;bOoiwYWX0bI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOoiwYWX0bI&feature=youtu.be[/video] I'm trying to figure out how to MU my SD70M's together, which is proving to be quite difficult as one has a MRC decoder and the other a TCS. I'll figure it out. Next step for the layout is to put some more structures together. I may scenic one spot as it won't be occupied by any buildings, and I'll be sure to share it with you. Thanks for looking. Josh
I had some time for some more progress on the layout te past few days, so I did a bit more foam work and started plopping rocks down. I used WS rock molds and Hydrocal to make the rock faces, and slathered sculptamold on the back to hold them to the foam. I then used a bit more sculptamold to fill in the gaps and to simulate loose dirt under the faces. WS advises to use hydrocal to hold them in place, but for some reason, even with retarder, the hyrdocal solidified almost instantly when I tried to stick the rocks down. I have no idea why. The sculptamold worked better for filling in voids anyway, since the setting time is much longer. I know its a bit rocky for the northeast, but I think it simulates where hlls were blasted away quite nicely. Seems like this area has a lot of dark, slate-like rock when I look at the rock faces along the roads and rails around here. So, I will most likely be coloring them darker browns, greys and blacks.
I got home from work tonight, and since I'm a second-shift man, I can't just go right to bed. Trains! Anyway, I decided I NEEDED to see what the rock faces look like with some color to them. I referenced the above picture (taken at Glen Onoko Falls near Jim Thorpe, Pa) for color hues and moved right along with staining. WS suggests a "leopard spot method". So I promptly mixed up my Burnt Umber, Slate Grey and India Ink stains and got to work. I took a few pictures of the process for those who have never used this method before (cuz, you know, there's gotta be one person out there). Burnt Umber Slate Grey India Ink One things for sure, when I first used this method on my very first layout (back in '09) there was this stupendous tendency for the darned rocks to have a few stubborn spots that would just not stain. No matter how much stain I blotched on the the spot, it just stayed bleach-white. Well, this time around, nothing has changed. Again, no matter how much stain I threw at it, some stubborn little blotch of white just kept presenting its middle finger at me. Comfort comes in the picture of Glen Onoko, as there are several spots in the rocks that show through some off-white tones. Anyway, here are the remaining pics of the work done with the rock face rockfest. One thing I tried to keep in mind with laying the rock casts was the pitch at which the layers of rocks are in great old northern PA. I will never forget taking a tour of Ashland PA's athracite coal mine and seeing the ridiculous angle the Mammoth Vein was at. The downfall of WS's rock molds is they really are stratified (or not so much so) at random angles, so one cast to the next just won't match up. I just don't think I'm interested in handcarving rock faces at this point in time. -Josh
Nothing too spectaular here. Tonight marked another first for me. I embarked on the simple task of painting my rails. This was something I was always fearful of, due to the large investment in track and the fear of mucking it up. But after some quick reading, it seemed pretty foolproof, and man the results are impressive. Being from the rustbelt, Most of the rails around here area a healthy color of rust. Also, the ties are cut from wood and some are pretty darn old. I used a rattle can to blast a quick covering of brown on my rails. I then used a scrap piece of styrene to wipe the railheads while the paint was still wet. Code 80 never looked so good. 2608 showing off for the camera For such a simple task, the results are more realistic looking ties and a shorter-looking rail. I like it. -Josh
I think it looks like its coming along wonderfully! I can't wait to get into the stage you are in, every step shows the progress more and more. I still have track issues to work out, but I'll get there! I haven't touched mine in about two weeks out of frustration, LOL. I admire your determination. Keep up the good work!
Man, I have been working my butt off lately. Tonight I put ballast down. I used a few different techniques I read about, and so far I think it turned out pretty damn well. My first layout's ballast looked like a huge mess. So this is definately an improvement. There are still some spots with wet glue on them, so don't let the pic fool you, I knocked every little speck off the ties. :teeth: And the newest addition to the fleet. Dash 8. I gotta say, I like the details Atlas added to this loco. It has cut levers, painted handrails, grabs on the short hood, and MU hoses. This is one reason why I LOOOOOVE Atlas's Locos.
The track looks really great too! Don't you worry about those white spots on the rocks. Once you add some greenery they will look like highlights instead of white spots.
Just a short update. I have had a few main focuses lately. Aside from a few Loco builds, I have been focusing on finalizing trackwork (adjusting kinks, gluing down track, painting and ballasting), building houses for my unnamed town, and getting the geographical landscape engineered. I have been working third shifts lately, so having last night off, I put in a shift down in the basement 2-6am lol. I finished ballasting up my mainline to the turnout, and cleaned up the wiring for the reverse loop. I also worked on a bit of planning for my only tunnel. It was inspired buy the tunnel cut under the RT 93 and Rt 209 Junction near Nesquehoning, Pa. Unfortunately this is the only shot I have of the tunnel. Back when a small company out of the Jim Thorpe, Pa area owned and maintained a NJC F unit to give scenic train rides. Not sure what the fate of that F unit was, since the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway uses an SD50. So I fashioned the terrain from a bit of foam. I will be cutting it down a bit once the ballast underneath dries. I don't want to risk getting foam shavings all over the place before the glue is dry. Obviously this "land bridge" will be a lot less "arch-like". One side will have a concrete portlal and WS concrete retaining walls, the other side will have a portal cut out of the existing rock. Similar to this... In the meantime, I have some more hyrdocal surface rocks drying for when I'm ready to form the rock faces. Finally another house on the cutting mat. Waiting on laser cut shingles to finish the roof and then a porch will be added. Yeah, a lot of hurry up and wait going on the BRN...
