The JACALAR RR

Awesome trackwork!

 

Thanks Jerry.

It was a long and interesting weekend for me. The wife and I went down to San Diego on an apt hunting expedition for our youngest, who is currently studying abroad in Scotland (she got to take a trip on the Jacoby before settling in for the semester). We were successful on our first day, so yesterday, after buying some Ikea furniture for her new place, and putting it in the storage locker with more of her stuff, I got to go the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park. The layouts there, all operated by different clubs, are amazing, but the best part was, after a couple minutes talking through the glass which separates the visitors from the layouts on the N-scale area, when they found out I was also an N-scaler, being invited in! A big thanks to Rick, Jim, Ben and the person whose name I have now forgotten (sorry). I will post some photos, tomorrow.

 

No problem at all. That Tehachapi layout is amazing. I hate using my wife's point and shoot camera. Whatever I did, the photos came out terrible, even though I saw it flash. Everything is blurred, as if slow shutter speed, and dark, as if no flash. :crying:

 

I agree that the layout is dimly lit, but the photo problems were mine (and not paying attention to camera settings). When inside the area, I should have been able to take fine close ups, if I had set the camera correctly.

 

I got a little carried away with a kit bashing of Paragon Heating and other modular pieces. Unfortunately, this turned out a bit too big for the space I intended it to go in, but it is still a neat building. Haven't done the weathering or finishing details, but figured I would share. A few of the side and corner pilasters ended up being scratch made





I was planning on putting the Cracker Jack sign on this building, you can see it is only propped up in the photo, now I need to find a different and slightly smaller mfg type building to put it on, and fit the space.

 

It has been almost two months since I made any progress on the JACALAR. Between pouring rains at the end of Nov and early Dec, trip to the UK, holidays, trip to San Diego to move youngest into new apt, and then freezing temps in the Bay Area, time and impetus to get out there were lacking. Well, it has warmed back up to normal, and I NEEDED to get back out there, so made some real progress today.

In the back corner, I finally got some background hills painted onto the backdrop, and attached the building flats to create the gas works and the industry near the gas storage tank



The gas works building on the left is just a modified wall from a Walthers Roundhouse. I have mounted photos behind the windows with heavy machinery, which really aren't visible, but when you look closely, in the room, you see "something" in there. The cracking towers are from a photo I found on line.

The building on the right is a flat from King Mills. I extended the ground up the backdrop, to give some forced perspective of the building being a bit distant from the tank. There are hills behind the tank and gas works, painted onto the backdrop.



I still plan to add some scrub and workers to the scene. But, now that this is done, I can finally clean up the area, and get trains running again. I had basically left everything non-operational since ballasting these mains.

 

Right before the holidays, after realizing my modular building was too large to fit, I went searching for something else that could work. I found this Model Power "General Electric" building, which I thought held promise.



This commercial photo is already worked on, as when I found it at the LHS, it as a really cheap red plastic look, no character. Well, I thought "what the heck" and brought it home to see what I could do with it. A little bit of weathering and dry brushing produced this



And, with the Cracker Jack sign mounted and how it will sit on the layout



I still have the streets to put in, here, and wiring for the lighting, but this gives an idea of how this section will progress. To the left, I will be putting in some of the Downtown Deco structures (haven't started that construction, yet).

 

Starting the Seedy part of town

Started work on my new Downtown Deco buildings (which were part of the holiday present haul). Clearly, these make a more seedy section of town, and will sit in the area around the industries and the front end of the yard.

I received the Adams Ave #1 and the Trackside Tavern. Actual assembly of these is simple, being four plaster cast walls. Just have to make sure the casting is cleaned up, and the bottom and side edges are nice and flat for a good joint. After assembly, I took Randy's advice and put on a light primer coat of white spray paint



I started with some basic tan/brown/burnt umber acrylic wash. I list the colors that way because I don't fully mix them! I blob the paint into the mixing cup, add water, and then gently stir. I let there be color gradients. Here is a front on, and two-side views of Adams Ave 1 after my first wash with this mixture

 

Following instructions (I always follow the instructions, except when I don't), I went on to paint/stain some of the details on the building. I used an acrylic Mudstone for the cement work, Sage Green for the tiles, and a Denim Blue for the two sign panels outside the store on right (pawn shop). One of the rear doors is boxcar red, the other is black forest green, while the small wooden is dry brushed Burnt Umber.

The actual stones are WS Slate Gray stain, over my first coat of browns.



The front doors and windows are flat black spaces, awaiting the installation of the door and window pieces.

 

Next up is the Trackside Tavern. Here, I primed it with a "light aircraft grey", which to me looks more cement colored than any "cement" paint! I wanted the base to be slightly different than the first structure, so that even with the same paint mixes, it has a different age feel





You can see how the owner of the building had some shoddy repairs done where the facade brickwork meets the side wall.

 

The really cool side of this structure is this wall. A mix of stone, brick and stucco



Again, the brick is the brown acrylic mix, the stones are the WS Slate Grey stain. The stucco is WS Stone Grey (over the brown wash). I put it on the window sill in direct sunlight, so the colors would stand out




All told, these took about 3 hours to do, after letting the primer coats dry overnight. Today is details day!

 

Thanks guys! As I anticipated, the detail work took a lot more time. Spent most of the time working on the Trackside Tavern, basically completing it.

This shows the bar from the "square" front corner. This was my first attempt at putting up "painted" signs, using printed ones. I used a combo of the sanding-the-paper method, and Randy's instructions, and overall am quite pleased.



Here we see the other front corner, with the cool side



This is the back side. I put the conduit on to hide a wide joint. Need to find a junction box in my stash to add, and some stuff for the roof



Finishing up the four corners