MC,yet again, great model. What are you planning to use for a bridge? Also, I can't wait to see what you can do for a bigger layout....have you thought about a HCD?
Bridge? BRIDGE?!? The whole point of doing a shoofly was so I wouldn't have to model any bridge! Just the abutments being cast in place. If I did though, I think this bridge in Sonoma would be kinda cool: Funny you should mention that: was just talking today with the owner of my LHS about building a portable N scale display layout for her (there's a huge HO layout along the wall, but that's it). And the space available is just about HCD size... hmm...
Neat bridge. What type of waterway is being spanned? Obviously some sort of marine traffic once went through, but what? Looks rather small for any significant sized boat or ship.
The Wingo Bridge, which at the far southern end of Sonoma county in the sloughs near the SF Bay, looks small, but it's a little trick of perspective and the fact the land is about a foot or two above the water of Sonoma Creek. This view from the water shows it's true length and height. But this photo makes it seems as if there's no water at all! Here it is on the map. The Wingo Bridge is a Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge that gets more truck traffic than trains, though in the past year or so more shipments are starting to roll over it. The bridge is cranked by hand, and lifting it is so rare that you have to remove some rail sections in order to lift the span. There's a November 1967 Model Railroader article with detailed schematics and steps how to build an HO version. Might have to build another module just for the great scenery of the sloughs!
Bridge kit! MC! I built that bridge! Well...kinda. This is what I started with and it's almost a dead ringer for that Wingo bridge: Just add rust! It's made by Faller. Of course I couldn't leave well enough alone so I 'bashed mine into a double track rolling lift bridge and extended the span. I know you said you didn't want to model a bridge, but...
That Faller kit looks like a good place to start. Definitely an interesting bridge. Hmmm... now thinking of the next module(s).... Well, today I was ec-static: fired up The Banananator and used an old piece of scenery as a "grass palate" trying different combinations of long & short grasses of various colors. Gotta say: It's going to take a while to get the static grass technique down, somewhere between too little and too much or too even. Also tried some small "super trees", though not too ecstatic about the results. But will get better with practice, I guess. That didn't stop me from starting to scenic the detachable extension with grasses, bushes, some trees and a wire fence: 'Twas not a great day for photos. The lighting gods were not on my side today (I really need to get some good spots: the CFLs from the hardware store just don't cut it). Got the grass a bit too uniform, even though I did "squish" some of it with the tweezers to break it up. Actually looks better in person, though a little "chia-pet" in places. Going to try some different mixes tomorrow. But it's nice to be back in scenery after the benchwork. Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!
Ha ha. "Chia-pet." I never would have thought about describing static grass in that manner. You work fast when inspired! It looks fine from here.
Thanks. It'd be great to have an N scale layout there for us to run on, and it'd be portable so we could take it outside on good-weather days (most days here in the Golden State) for fun and photos (and for her October open house / show). Also, if I build most of it at the store, people could watch the progress, ask questions, chat N scale, and see the "magic" in the making -- which would hopefully make N scale less intimidating and so we'd sucker, er, "win" more N scale converts We'll see if it works out, but first I gotta finish this module! (Need to at least get some paint and some basic ground cover on before taking it to the Pacific Coast Division Meet a week from today. D'oh! Not much time!)
Well, the pinkfoam prairie is no more. Now it's a brownish blob. This morning, after eroding the hill down into more of a rolling Sonoma shape and sanding the whole thing with a foam sanding block, I used some lightweight spackle to cover over the seam lines, smooth the riverbed, cow pond and some future dirt roads, and fill in some chunks: [I'll ream out the holes for the temp tubes later, when I get them] Then I took the latex interior paint I found in the mistint bin at the local hardware store ($3), and covered the whole shebang: I occasionally dipped the brush in water to allow the paint to flow into all the pink places. It's the same paint I used on the detachable extension, so I think it'll work out okie dokie. Then I went to go wash the brush before it dried and got all stuck together... STUCK TOGETHER??? D'oh! So I ran back and undid the bolts and separated the two sections before I had just one: Phew! Now I just hope everything stays in alignment when I put it back together! Thought about blending in the darker creek-bed bottom paint, but I'm going to have to touch up the bed anyway after I put the temp tubes in, so I'll do it then. I also painted the two rock castings I'll be using: Sonoma really doesn't have that many large bare rock faces. A weird change from the Mt. Coffin & Columbia River layout, which seems to have more rock face than foam. Tomorrow I can rejoin the sections, lay the real mainline track, paint the tracks, and start dusting some dirt. It will be interesting to see in what shape the scenery is next Sunday at the Pacific Coast Division meet! Thanks for looking.
Oops. Glad you remembered. Sounds like something I might just overlook. Those dowels will surely keep it all aligned?
The dowels & bolts will keep the section frames aligned. I more worried about the track: I didn't pre-bend the flextrack before caulking it down (which is why the tension snapped the cutting disc) and the foam/cork is more "squishy" than I thought, especially after carving away a lot of foam. We'll find out today! Worse comes to worse I can cut out a section of track & re-lay with pre-bent rails.
Busy day yesterday. Realized I needed to get the fascia cut & installed, so did a bit of tracing & jigsawing: If I had more time I might just glue & clamp, and for some reason yesterday I wasn't thinking about glue until after I'd screwed it all in (D'oh!). That's ok: I think the screw heads give it a solid, industrial appearance (yes, I countersunk them, but not all the way as it's waaaaay too easy to punch through the 1/8" masonite. Next time I'll try the 1/4"). I filled the spaces between foam & fascia with lightweight spackle: I made it around the module with the spackle I had left: literally used up the last drop (chunk?) so that saved a trip to the hardware store. Later I cut some 1/2" split cable tubing from Radio Shack to use as the temp tubes: I've looked at tubing in a lot of places, and that gets as close as it can. The tubing is spiraled, but by sliding the sections along the split you can make it concentricly corrigated. You can also see my custom tunneling tool: sandpaper wrapped around a marker. Worked great. [cont.]
After the spackle had dried, another coat of the brownish tan (or tannish brown) mistint-bin latex, and then I mixed in some muddy & black paints to color the creek bottom and cow pond: My daughter said sadly, "It looks so lonely!" So we fixed that: [though a single cow might make the place even lonelier] Installed the "true" mainline (the one being worked on): It'll all look better when painted! Almost forgot to make sure the track lined up towards each other on both sides of the future bridge! But here's how I left everything last night to dry: Today I'll prime the fascia sides and then start laying down dirt. Going to need a lot of dirt! Thanks for looking.
Just looked up what a countersunk type dress washer is: looks good! Guess for next module (though I guess I could back out one screw at a time & slip one on... hmm...). Well, lots done, just nothing very photogenic. Masked off the fascia, primed it & then painted it flat black: Then, after almost forgetting to slip in some replacement ties under the turnout (D'oh!), I masked off the track and spray painted it Grimy Black: [The weights are holding the temp tubes in place as the caulk dries] You can see I laid down some dirt (mostly tan, with some slightly browner stuff scattered here&there). I didn't do the left side because I ran out of dirt (D'oh!), so had to run back across the street from the LHS to get some, then bake it, then lay down the rest. The siding has a messier paint job because I had to hand paint that section with Poly Scale Grimy Black, as that section is down directly on the foam and Floquil on Foam is a good way to watch you foam melt into a moonscape (yes, I should have painted the latex under the track before laying it down: I'll try to remember for the next layout). Kinda looks like Mars right now. [cont.]
