Returning to Modeling... LONG, Detailed layout construction.
rpl
I've recently returned to model railroading, and am currently building a
very simple layout, primarily with the goal of perfecting modeling
techniques prior to building a larger, more complex layout.
I'm new to N-Scale; I used to have an HO layout my father built for me when
I was a child, very simple, two loops, one elevated, no turnouts, a square
tunnel with "grass paper" stapled to it, with a tyco slot car set (figure 8)
mounted, as well. When I was young, it was awesome- hours and hours and
hours of fun. As I started to get older, I wanted something more realistic,
less simple. Too young to buy my own materials, I couldn't change the
situation. Somewhere along the way, the board was dismantled, and the
project was never restarted, but was promptly pitched out by my parents.
SO, now I'm older, have an electronics engineering background, and am
currently a programmer. I've got some time, and funding to build whatever I
want (within reason).
For the last couple of years, I've been picking up interesting magazines
about the hobby. I did what I thought was a fair amount of reading, but made
the determination that I didn't want to go all out on my "first" layout. I
didn't want problems cropping up that experienced modelers don't have. The
goal was to incorporate scenery that I would be using in a larger layout,
and to determine techniques that work for me.
The Simple Layout:
The base is all 1/4" ply, 2' x 4', with 3/4" x 1/2" strips for framing. The
outer profile is also 1/4" ply. The base board has cut outs in creatively
placed spaces for under-access. The "road bed" is cut from a 2' x 4' sheet
of masonite, 2" wide, resting on 2" stand off's from the 3/4" x 1/2" strips
mounted to the base board. Elmer's Wood Glue is liberally used to secure all
of the plywood, framing, stand-off's, and masonite. The intention was not to
get too costly in this "learning layout".
The trackwork is very simple, a loop with one siding from a turnout under a
mountain (again, roomy access holes beneath). The track itself is plain
Atlas Flex Track. The turnout is Atlas, as well. Feeder wires (24 gauge) are
connected to every ~30" section, with 16 gauge main feeds. The siding has
its own main feed (originally, to be controlled with a block switch). Rail
joiners are soldered on about half the joints, with others left for
expansion and flex.
The terrain is aluminum screen stapled to the outer scenery profile (cut in
an artsy rolling hills fashion). This was done with an office grade stapler,
as a staple gun readily spits 1/4" ply. The screen is shaped and brought
down to the masonite, hot-glued to the masonite with about a 1/4" lap. The
screen was covered with plaster of paris (in and of itself, nearly an
artform of its own, mixing to proper consistency). Tunnels are strips of
shoe box cardboard, about 1 1'4" wide, arched and glued to the sides of the
masonite using "CA+", which is like a slow drying crazy glue, used for model
airplane building. The screen is cut flush with the outermost edges of the
portals. The lake bed is a cut out piece of cardboard, resting on 1/2" x
3/4" strips, laid for 1/2" height, light coating of plaster over top. The
result is much less heavy than I thought it was going to be. I had intended
to put more realistic portals on it, but for the sake of staying away from
the plaster, I left them out on this layout (I think I'm alergic to the
plaster - just getting near the layout before it was painted, I'd start
sneezing). Originally, I had intended to smooth out the plaster, as it had
some effects remaining of the "spatula" I had been using (a two inch wide
piece of fiberglass, curved at one end). However, due to my sinuses, I left
out the smoothing phase of the plaster work- it was left fairly rough in
most places.
The base was painted all over, in cheap "Apple Barrel Colors - 20511 Brown
Oxide". Ground turf was applied (Woodland Scenics- Blended Turf (earth
blend?) mixed with a 18 cu in bag of "weeds T46") using two methods. Method
1: The initial complication was in getting a thin enough consistency of
water and glue mix (elmers white glue used for all turf application) that
was still effective, as to be sprayed from a finely misting bottle (in the
end, using an old "Febreeze" bottle). I think my final glue / water ratio is
like 1:5). I tried several different sprayers, but only one worked
substantially better than the others (even tried the "Scenic sprayer"- too
turbulent, doesn't spray a fine mist). Thank you, Febreeze. :) The catch is,
with any of the sprayers, not to hold it still while spraying, but instead
to move it side to side, spraying while in motion, as you would with paint.
First, I'd spray a fine mist onto the painted base (this keeps the turf from
blowing around when spraying later). Then, I'd sprinkle turf with a
home-made sifter (a large medicine bottle with a screen rubber-banded around
it, works fantastic!). Next, I'd spray several layers of mist over the new
turf, and let dry, spot check / re-sift / touch - up, and respray all again.
The water / glue mix is very thin, so repeated applications assure enough
glue ends up on the layout. The turf helped to hide unwanted roughness in
the plaster.
Ballasting was a whole new pain for me. I used WS Gray Fine B75. To apply
the ballast, I started out pinching small amounts with my fingers, and
putting it where I wanted it - too slow. So, I took a straw, put it in the
bag of ballast, and pulled it out level, put between / beside ties, tilted
upwards, and eased a nice line of evenly proportioned ballast onto the
tracks. To finish up, I would run my finger down the middle of the track,
leveling the ballast between the ties. For the sides, I would use a 1/4"
brush to pack the ballast against the track, and then I would hold my finger
to the rail, and run the brush by at a consistent height to brush ballast
off the top of the ends of the ties. I started out with a 1:1 mix of glue
and water dribbled from a bottle with a needle applicator (used for lube on
RC Cars). This worked terribly. The ballast would move around, onto track,
ties, etc. I thinned the solution, and things got better, but still not
easy- I'd put a drop of solution on each tie, and watch and wait for it to
soak into the ballast - once the ballast saturated, I applied more where
needed. Then, I'd go over each tie, removing ballast with q-tip, or brush,
or paper towel. And then, I got an issue recently of MR that mentioned a
detergent solution before the glue solution. Hmmm... SO, I took my febreeze
bottle, filled it with water, and put in a few drops of dish washing
detergent. I misted a dry patch of ballast, and then went to applying drops
of glue / water mix. I ended up strenghting the glue water back to 1:1, and
proceeded to finish the remaining 1/10th of the ballast work at a pace that
was astounding, compared to my previous experiences.
For turf up to the track, I used 2" masking tape along the ballast line I
wanted (I had purposefully let the ballast from the ends of the ties extend
farther than I wanted, for two reasons: to have a quick place to spread
excess ballast to, and in that it would be covered by turf anyway). Spray,
sift, spray, touch up, spray.
The bridge was an Atlas Warren Truss bridge, with its sides cut and ground
smooth, glued to the sides of a piece of balsa running over water. The balsa
is painted black top and bottom in place (smoke, no, mirrors yes).
The body of water is a pond, with a source coming from the edge profile of
the layout. With the problems in leveling the rough plaster, I turned to a
new method. FYI, leveling with pouring more plaster is out of the question,
as I've found, with the most watery of plaster mixes, it tends to cure
almost immediately after it contacts dry plaster. I thought about a layer of
epoxy to level it out, but that could shrink and crack, especially with the
heat of the WS Eazy Water. SO, I ended up pouring on some left over ballast
(had plenty left over), and leveled it with a screen. I sprayed on a
detergent solution, then dribbled on a lot of glue to saturate the ballast.
Then, I painted the ballast with Apple Barrel Colors 20538 Forest Green.
This took two coats to get the nooks and cranies of the ballast filled.
Ballast takes a LOT of paint to cover. Then, I used some WS Field Grass FG
174 Medium Green, and made some tall weeds. I took an old comb, and placed
the grass evenly across the comb (comb held upside down with forceps). Then,
I applied CA+ to the field grass, closely to the comb. I let it cure for
about an hour (stinks terribly). Then, I pulled it loose from the comb, and
used a pair of cutters to separate reasonably sized chunks, then trimmed up
with scissors. The CA'd end was cut blunt for mounting. I used contact
cement around the edge of the lake, letting it set for about 5 mins before
sticking the grass clusters to it. Then, I heated up some WS Eazy Water in a
can, and poured it into place (sort of). It cooled quickly, and I had
terrible mounds of "water" at the edges of the pond. I bought a heat gun,
and was able to re-work the water enough to have a very eye pleasing result
(though, some of my tall weeds got singed, and a couple are sideways from
the eazy water reflow). My complaint about easy water: the surface scratches
with as little as a paper towel, and air bubbles can be a problem.
Buildings! I bought the Walthers Cornerstone series Trackside Structures
kit. One crossing bar half was cracked right from the box. Things MUST be
trimmed to match up, as the molding lines are pretty severe in this kit. The
water tower base is going to be scrapped, and I've bought some brass square
stock to make more of what I'm looking for as a base. I've also bought some
lights for structures, and the crossing shanty will get one (I've decided
NOT to elevate it, as in the kit, but mount it down on the ground).
Cars! I bought some N Scale Kato cars (crown victorias, I think), a 6 pack,
and I took one out, and with some fiber optic cable, put in 4 headlights
(cable runs out bottom of vehicle). Tedious, but very cool when done. I'm
still impressed that I was able to cut out the molded head lights with an
exacto knife. The tires need painting, and I want to put on a thin dark wash
for the molded lines in body panels, but cars will be on hold until I do
roads. For roads, I'm planning on using ballast, and painting it. I'm
thinking a sanding would give a nice road - looking effect, leveling off the
pointed pieces a bit.
Projects remaining: I'll be building a DCC system mostly from scratch, to be
run by a PC. I've got an I/O controller board (LPT, printer port) I built
with 48 lines of control on it for lights, etc (the board can be hopped up
to 96 lines, once I order two 8255's). I've got some Futaba Servos I'm going
to use for crossing gates, and even animate the water spout on the water
tower. The servos will need a signal generating chip I'll add using
PIC16C84's. Slow motion control without Tortoise... hahaha.. The DCC system
will also most likely use PIC chips. The control program on the PC will use
MS Access (Currently, the I/O board is controlled in Access, and has a DS
1620 temp sensing chip attached to it - don't ask... LOL). I'm also figuring
on using a sound card in the controlling PC, using OLE'd .wav's in tables in
Access for effects. DCC is overkill for this layout, but it'll allow me to
design a system for the successor to this layout.
Comments welcome!
Thanks,
Paul
rpl
eh? :)
Side note: Method 2 of the turf application (forgot in prev msg):
Spray mixture of detergent onto dry turf sprinkled onto layout. Apply drops
of glue mix to layout. This resulted in areas that looked darker than the
previous spray method. Also, this method caused problems, in that the areas
where dry turf was applied, and detergent applied, it became difficult to
determine where locations of fresh turf existed. SO, I ended up returning to
my previous spraying method, spraying all turf in site with a misted glue
mix, applying new turf where it was "darker", and I've ended up with a more
consistent look.
Thanks,
Paul
rpl wrote in message <4DPd8.21114$BW5.8...@news1.rdc1.va.home.com>...
Train Man
No responsez wasn't the result of no interest, your post just takes some
time to digest. I have a few comments, and I'll try to keep them breif...
Benchwork- I didn't really understand what you are describing but it
sounds a bit flimsy to me for a layout base, unless I missed something.
WS Ground foam et al.. Apple Barrel paints seem a bit expensive to be
using for a base. Try some cheapo laytex earth colored paint next time.
Do about 18" square at a time and while the paint is still wet, apply
all of your ground textures. When finished with everything hit it with
your fabreez spray bottle shooting about 50% water to 50% plain old
elmers white glue (buy a gallon of it). That's method one. Method 2.
Start with a base of 70/30 glue/water, brushed on liberally. Put down
your dirt, gravel, foam etc. When finished wet the whole mess with plain
water from your other fabreez sprayer to re-activate and draw the glue
up from the base. I imagine you could also paint the base first, let it
dry, and then use method 2. With both these methods don't be afraid to
soak it. When the water evaporates the glue WILL be holding everything
in place.
Ballast.. Finger, straw, ballast spreaders, in my experience are no
match for a cheapo $1 1" ACO hardware paint brush. To glue the ballast,
wet it first with wet water (detergent, photo-flo, etc). Then take the
50/50 mix using an eye dropper and squirt some glue between the rails
and along the sides, and don't skimp on it. The only place you need to
be really careful is at the switch points.
Leveling the pond base. Next time you get up the nerve to try it, wet
the base plaster before pouring the new. This would also be true for
adding plaster rock castings to existing work. The problem is the dry
plaster is sucking the water out of the new wet plaster.
Grow your own DCC. Sounds very interesting to a fellow EE.
Most of all, Don't over-engineer the layout itself. Just jump in and do
it. Don't be afraid to get a bit sloppy (with the scenery). If it fails,
you can tear it up and start over.... and that sometimes is half the fun.
:-)
Jeff.
Mike Tennent
> DCC is overkill for this layout, but it'll allow me to
>design a system for the successor to this layout.
>
>Comments welcome!
>
Actually, DCC is as useful, if not more so, for small layouts as large
layouts - especially if you run trains alone.
The only thing I really question is doing your own DCC. Other than the
feel of accomplishment, why spend the time to duplicate what's out
there? It's like deciding to build a computer and building your own
hard drive and writing your own bios. It'll be hard to significantly
improve on what the commercial manufacturers have done, and the time
spent doing it could be better spent working on other aspects of the
control system, animation, etc.
If I was you (and I'm not) I'd use a commercial product as a base and
develop a customized control system (detection, computer control, etc)
around it. Sure would save some time and headaches, and you might
develop a system that could be shared with others more easily, if so
inclined.
As a PIC user myself, I share your interest in using them to control
servos, lights, animation, etc. It's an almost insurmountable
opportunity. <g> If you'd like to swap ideas off line, please email me
and we can chat.
Mike Tennent
"IronPenguin"
Operating Traffic Lights
Crossbucks
Special Effects Lighting
http://www.ironpeng.com/ipe
rpl
My apologies for not being more clear about the base's construction- it's
actually quite rigid- I thought it was going to have some flex, but it's
been handled quite a bit, put on end, moved room to room, and no signs of
cracking (most of the moving around was in the plastering stages). I'd read
the "wet paint" method, but wasn't sure how effective it was - glue on top
makes sense. :) Let me see if I can describe it a bit better- 2' x 4' of
1/4" ply base. Profile boards also of 1/4" ply, highest point 10" at a
corner. 1/2" x 3/4" strips glued into corners, two braces across the middle
for bracing, and in staggered locations where the profile meets the base.
Roadbed, 1/2" x 3/4" wood cut to 2" lengths, glued endwise about every 8 to
10 inches. Masonite cut out road bed glued to the tops of these 2" pieces.
Screen construction, liberal plaster applied to screen. In all, it's pretty
strong. :) The paint was $1 a bottle - took two bottles to paint the base
brown... :) My wife found them at a local craft shop for her dollhouse.
You've mentioned a few things that I hadn't thought of, and thanks for your
advice!
Paul
Train Man wrote in message <3C79E0C4...@home.com>...
Train Man
wasn't there, I just did see it. But, I can see clearly now...... ;-)
Jeff