"Shoofly" Free-moN module (2'x6')

MC Fujiwara Feb 22, 2012

  1. Bob Morris

    Bob Morris TrainBoard Supporter

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    "I'd watch any thread that MC Fujiwara starts intently." Amen!
     
  2. MC Fujiwara

    MC Fujiwara TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks, guys.

    Here's a shot of the Anderson Powerpole connectors:

    [​IMG]

    [That's not a gang tattoo or snake bite on my right thumb, just a benchwork-building battle scar]

    In Free-moN, the track bus wires have the red connectors stacked vertically and following the "Left Over" rule: looking from the end of the module the left track bus is over the right.
    The accessory bus connectors are black and joined side-by-side.
    At first I was crimping the inserts, but they were slipping out.
    Took me 6-8 tries before I realized I should just solder them.
    (D'oh!)

    After drawing in the main and laying down cork, I played around with some track until the shoofly had decent curves and distance from the main:

    [​IMG]

    Didn't want a big arcing loopy thing, but also didn't want it too close to the main.
    N scale cork roadbed, like N scale Caboose groundthrows and so many other N scale things, seem to be sized more for HO than N, so I trimmed off a little less than 1/8" from both inner sides to narrow it down just a bit.

    In the above photo you can see some of my references: Armstrong's drawing on the right and a photo of a two-track shoofly around a four-track main that Chris333 shared.
    Lots of little details will make this pretty cool.

    To transition from the main down to the temp siding for the work train & crew I sanded down into the foam to create the grade and then laid a short section of cork into that:

    [​IMG]

    A bit of sanding tomorrow will smooth the cork out.

    So here it stands tonight as the caulk cures:

    [​IMG]

    Looks a bit boring, but that's because it's flat and it looks more like a passing siding.
    The main will have track taken up around the start of the shoofly, effectively isolating it, and all the scenery will be carved out of the foam.
    The stream will be around where the UTP panel is, so there'll be about a 9" section of that main missing.

    I also want the main and the shoofly track to be slightly different, with the main older and the shoofly newer, so I need to figure out how to represent that.
    Was thinking maybe having the main a basecoat of grimy black with the Free-moN standard grey ballast while the shoofly is rail/tie brown on the dirt bulwark, but I'm definitely open to suggestions.

    Tomorrow, while my wife & daughter are at Japanese school in SF, my son & I will embark on Quest For Dirt: the stuff that's around here that I used for Mt. Coffin & Columbia River is a little dark. The perfect dirt is actually just across the street right next to the BART tracks, but I'm not climbing that barbed-wire fence to get it.
    Hopefully there will be some good tannish dirt at some local parks, so we can scoop dirt between games of tag and frisbee (supposed to be another 70 deg "winter" day: gotta love California!)

    Comments and suggestions always appreciated.
    Thanks for looking & reading.
     
  3. atsf_arizona

    atsf_arizona TrainBoard Supporter

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    Very cool :).
     
  4. Railroad Bill

    Railroad Bill TrainBoard Member

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    Ahhh... to see a "Sho-fly" and see it built up. Thanks MC_Fujiwara. All content is instructive and helpful to me.

    Why is the diverted track not on roadbed material? Still to come or part of shoo-fly spec? Or am I not seeing the obvious?


    Thanks to jhn_plsn for pix of switch mechanisms under the table. Someday, I'll get to it... Sigh
     
  5. MC Fujiwara

    MC Fujiwara TrainBoard Member

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    That was just testing track placement.
    The shoofly is on cork, too, though it'll be all dirt in the end.
     
  6. MC Fujiwara

    MC Fujiwara TrainBoard Member

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    With the cork caulked down & sanded, I gorillaglued four pc board ties to the ends of the module:

    [​IMG]

    I had soaked the cork & endplate area with woodglue, so that was rocksolid, and with the gorillaglue that track wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.
    Seems the pc board ties drifted a little to the right under the weight while curing: the black marks are the actual track centerline (nothing some cosmetic surgery can't fix way later).

    I also spray-painted the area that will be under the turnout Floquil grimy black: as Floquil is a solvent-based paint and will attack the foam, I taped off the area around the cork.
    Even still, you can see a little hole on the left reminiscent of the affect of the alien's drool through the Nostromo's deckplates.

    Also drilled 1/8" holes for the Bullfrog throwbar actuator rod as well as for the wire to power the frog.
    Probably should have soldered the frog wire before laying the track (D'oh!), but it'll work out fine.

    Laid down some caulk, but left some space on either side of the gap between the sections to lay down some gorillaglue:

    [​IMG]

    [The section line is at the 11 o'clock position]

    I love gorillaglue (must be the funkey monkey in me).

    Tacked everything down with T-pins, got everything aligned (thank goodness for caulk having a long working time!), and then soldered the ends:

    [​IMG]

    I had already sanded the cork flush with the endplate.
    The rails stick out about 1/16", and I'll carefully file or dremel those later after everything's cured.
    I really hope it matches up to the other modules.

    So all of the operational track is down and the caulk is curing:

    [​IMG]

    [the weights are holding down the section being gorillaglued at the section seem]

    I probably won't lay down the mainline track until I carve out the stream and figure out how "built" I want the abutments.
    (Right now I'm leaning towards one done and the wood frame being taken down while the other is still encased).

    Also, my son & I had a successful Quest For Dirt--found primo tannish dirt right across the street from our LHS!--so we baked some while playing Monopoly, sifted it, so I'll see how it looks soon on a test diorama.

    But tomorrow I'll install the Bullfrog for the turnout, drop some feeders to the bus, and hopeful have some trains (or a train) running by the end of the day.
    (too bad the only place they can go is a 666 scale-foot drop to the concrete)

    Thanks for looking.
     
  7. TetsuUma

    TetsuUma TrainBoard Member

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    For the shoofly track, I would make the ties very dark brown i.e. new, and have less and cleaner ballast on the shoofly track.

    Ahhh, weekend Japanese school. The bane of my friends' kids. The younger ones don't like it but the older ones appreciate it now.

    Andy
    Tetsu Uma
     
  8. MC Fujiwara

    MC Fujiwara TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks, Andy.
    My daughter likes Japanese school, except when it interferes with soccer in the fall.
    My son starts Japanese 1st grade next month (Japanese school year goes from April through March), and he's not really looking forward to all the homework yet.

    So track is caulked, cured & secured to the roadbed.
    I dropped in the feeder wires, and managed to sneak the frog wire next to the guard rail:

    [​IMG]

    Doubt anyone will see it in a couple weeks.
    Test car rolls through smooth everywhere.

    Went to cut the rails where the two sections meet and found out why you should wear safety glasses:

    [​IMG]

    The thin Dedeco cutting disc grabbed some gorillaglue I guess.
    The other part bounced off my forehead (no cut or bleeding).
    I wear glasses anyway, but next time I think I'll slip some safety goggles over them.

    The Dedeco discs are fragile, but do give a nice thin cut:

    [​IMG]

    See also the isolation gaps on the frog in the first picture.

    So I wired everything up using suitcase connectors for the feeders to the bus.
    Also installed & wired the Bullfrog:

    [​IMG]

    Everything worked great until the frog wasn't getting power in only one direction.
    Took awhile with the multimeter to figure out that one of the suitcase connectors failed.
    Changed it & everything was ready to roll.
    Which means: TRAINS!

    [video=youtube_share;TcawDLz5I8k]http://youtu.be/TcawDLz5I8k[/video]

    Time to get serious about scenicking!
    Thanks for looking.
     
  9. MC Fujiwara

    MC Fujiwara TrainBoard Member

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    So now I have an operating Free-moN module, albeit a "pinkfoam prairie".
    While waiting for the caulk under the foam to fully cure (takes awhile as there's no air down there), I set about constructing a 4"x24" detachable extension so I can "stage" as well as have room to use the siding:

    [​IMG]

    All built outta scrap wood, and will just clamp on (though I may drill one hole for a dowel later).
    The vertical support is off-center to allow space for the wires to pop out of the endplate hole:

    [​IMG]

    The triangular gusset is centered, though.

    I ran a section of buswire under the extension with Anderson powerpole connectors on one side and U-prongs on the other (after about a 2' length of wire) to connect to either a DC powerpack or DCC panel.
    Caulked some pink foam strips on either side to create some low landforms to both prevent cars from falling the 666 scale feet to the concrete as well as give me more "test diorama" to try out different scenery techniques:

    [​IMG]

    [You can see the bus & suitcase connectors for the feeder wires at the bottom of that picture]

    The turnout I found in the parts bin that I made probably three years ago when I was just starting out back in the hobby, so needed to refurbish it a bit.
    Spray painted the "main" grimy black while the siding is "rail brown": never used that before, and seems a bit too brown. We'll see.

    I just put down a layer of the "new" dirt my son & I found this last weekend, as well as some old dirt, gravel, and ballasted the tracks.
    After it dries I'll post some more picts.

    Also "built" a small hill out of scrap foam & caulked it down:

    [​IMG]

    [Even after benchwork is completed, your drill and circular saw come in handy!]

    I'm guessing I'll carve about 80%-90% away to create a gentle hill (it'll look taller, too, as the surrounding foam will be carved to slope down & the stream goes next to it), but my experience with the mountains of Mt. Coffin taught me it's easier to get the foam in way taller than you think at the beginning, because you can always carve it down faster than adding foam can cure.

    And a video showing off my curves with a lovely Spielbergian crane shot dropping down into the extension:

    [video=youtube_share;8TxLd4swuRk]http://youtu.be/8TxLd4swuRk[/video]

    Thanks for looking.
     
  10. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I notice your use of "T" pins. I keep a healthy supply of those on hand for my own use. They are a great tool.
     
  11. MC Fujiwara

    MC Fujiwara TrainBoard Member

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    They are great.
    These, however, are "Mr. T Pins": every time you jab them in your own finger, they growl "I pity da fool!" ;)
     
  12. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    If they do growl that, I can't hear it for the blue streak I'm letting loose! Ha ha! :)
     
  13. MC Fujiwara

    MC Fujiwara TrainBoard Member

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    Detachable extension with first layer of ground cover:

    [​IMG]

    Mostly tan dirt with some older brownish dirt, gravel and some cinders here & there.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    The ballast is WS fine grey ballast with some fine-sifted gravel mixed in (60%-40%??) to break up the uniformity of the WS ballast color & texture.
    Let me know if it needs more gravel or something else.

    The siding ties are darn bright brown, so I'll be weathering those a bit.
    Goody bag of static grasses & foliage from Scenic Express comes on Friday, so will get to play around with greening up the sides soon.

    Today's task: figure out what I want to do in the "orchard" area. If I'm going to model Sonoma, I guess I could have a lush vineyard (pun intended) in contrast to the dead one by the old barn, or I could make it a waterfront boat launch (with the stream coming to feed the river just off-layout), or I could go with some other type of crops.
    I've always liked the Tamales Bay Oyster Company siding from the old North Pacific Coast line (interesting industry, waterfront), and the tracks have been torn up long ago but the grade is still visible (and part of the picknick area now), but I think I'll save that for another project.
    So feel free to suggest any Sonoma / Marin crops or scenes for me to consider. Brainstorming is good.

    Will be pouring over moocho pictures today and will try to compose the module's scenery in my head (talk about a blank slate!).
    See you when I return ;)
     
  14. dstuard

    dstuard TrainBoard Member

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    Great work MC! I've always been a fan of Free-moN myself, and your shoo-fly set is exactly the type of thing that it displays best.

    I am curious about your issues with crimping PowerPoles. If you use the ratchet crimper, you should get solid, no pull out crimps every time. Hand crimpers not so much.

    http://mysite.verizon.net/dstuard/powerpoles/PPcrimp.htm

    In any case, we'll be watching the thread. I'd come to the show, but it's a bit far <G>.
     
  15. MC Fujiwara

    MC Fujiwara TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks, Doug.
    The rachet crimper sound great, but I've blown my "new toy" (tool) budget for the year with the mitre chop saw ;)
    Soldering works fine (it just took me a couple of ineffectual crimps to figure it out: D'oh!)

    Sorry you can't make the show (what's a couple-three thousand miles?) but over on Railwire people were talking about getting Free-moN in your area.
    Cheers!
     
  16. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Nice work! How did you build the short retaining wall?
     
  17. MC Fujiwara

    MC Fujiwara TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks, Hemi.
    When I carved the long rectangles of pink foam I caulked onto the sides, I intentionally left a section "square" and untouched:

    [​IMG]

    You can see it in the middle-back of the far side.
    After I painted the foam & it dried, I slapped some caulk on that area, took similar-sized pieces of stripwood left over from the Mt. Coffin cannery build (and currently clutting up my workbench), and pressed them against the the side.

    Same way I "built" the river bulwark on the Mt. Coffin layout:

    [​IMG]

    Cheap, easy, looks decent, and it puts a small dent into the piles of stained stripwood you have lying around your desk being "board" ;)
    (Hey, maybe I should start marketing them as a "Wood Plank Retaining Wall Kit"! Hmm...)

    Anyway, here's a close-up of the incredibly-costly-&-labor-intensive retaining wall (before dirt & ground cover):

    [​IMG]

    The vertical posts are just smaller pieces of scrap stripwood dabbed in caulk and squished on.
    Hope this helps.
     
  18. MC Fujiwara

    MC Fujiwara TrainBoard Member

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    Well, it's a pinkfoam prairie no more.
    Now it's pinkfoam puffball puddle.

    Started by carving out the stream, place for the abutments, and old barn/abandoned vineyard on the right:

    [​IMG]

    You can see the garbage bag I kept open under the edge to try to catch as many foam flakes as I could (not that many, it turns out, as wrangling foam bits is about as easy as hearding cats). Guess I could have put a large dropcloth under it, but actually it wasn't as messy as previous pinkfoam perferation parties I've thrown.

    After the stream I worked left and got the gentle slope of the cow pasture:

    [​IMG]

    Then the real fun began.
    In the photo above, notice that it's still light out.
    After about an hour of rasping, I carved out the downstream side of the waterway as well as the large Lush Vineyard that will extend along almost the whole side and will definitely be a challenge to model:

    [​IMG]

    Yup, it's dark.
    I used a steak knife that's been "missing" from the kitchen for a couple years for some work, but mainly that was all forming tool.
    No reason to go to the gym now: probably put on five pounds of muscle in my right arm and back with all the exercise.

    I'll get better pictures tomorrow after I carve & rasp some more.
    Today I just started blocking out the shapes to get a feel of the composition and flow of it all.
    Part of the fun is to see what landforms appear as you form away.

    Don't worry: that big hill will get eroded down quite a bit by the time I'm through.
    Had to stop on the hill because, even after 3 days, the caulk isn't totally cured between those small sections.

    But it's fun to see things take shape ;)

    Thanks for looking.
     
  19. MC Fujiwara

    MC Fujiwara TrainBoard Member

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    Someone made the fabulous suggestion of having some olive trees as part of the Sonoma scenery, and that got me thinking again (D'oh!)

    Earlier I was seriously considering olive trees for the orchard area until I thought about twisting all of the wire for 40 trunks. For some reason I think twisting all of the wire for 10 rows of grape vines will be easier.
    But now I've got olives in my head (it's the pits!), and I'd love to have them on the module, but right now I"m envisioning the trains rolling slow past a large expanse of lush grapevines.

    I could swap the old vines near the old barn with some olives.
    Or, since many vineyards have groves of olive trees, too (it's the off-season crop):

    [​IMG]

    I could stick a couple olive trees next to the vineyard between it and the river or on the other side towards the endplate.
    In the photo in the previous post, the depressed area at the "front" is for the vineyard. The olives could go either left of it at the bend or on the right before or after the drop-off.

    That way I'd need only a couple of olive trees to suggest something larger, and it would be cool to stage a picking scene:

    [​IMG]

    Or a more realistic, prototypical picking scene:

    [​IMG]

    Or a planting scene:

    [​IMG]

    Usually I think "less is more" and so I was thinking "either / or" with the grapes and olives and would have to give up one, but in this case I think "olive" it could work out very well.

    Time to press on!
     
  20. MC Fujiwara

    MC Fujiwara TrainBoard Member

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    Not much done today.
    Did get the bumpers put in on the detachable extension to prevent the 666-scale-foot drop to the concrete:

    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]

    The crew is waiting for Hank to get off the ties so they can start working.
    Problem is that Hank's as slow as molassas or gopher fannies stuck in gorillaglue, so looks like no one's going anywhere anytime soon.

    But I did get a rather large package from Scenic Express today with my "weed" and "grass" shipment, so hopefully this is the last time you see the extension as bare as this:

    [​IMG]

    Hope everyone has a groovy weekend!
     

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