Airborne,
I have done a base coat of 2 parts Railroad tie brown and 1 part Mud (both Polly Scale). Once I have completed everything around it I will come back and do a mixture of 2 parts Polly Scale brown, 1 Part Mud and 3 parts MOD Podge gloss medium. That is the final mixture David did after a few tries. If you have the videos its in Part 16.
Cheers,
Steve
Thanks much!
Just can't get into the videos right now. Just renewed my subscription online, but MR hasn't recorded it as yet, so videos are cut off for now....:(
A few details added yesterday, including whistle posts and white picket fence. Ballast work completed.
I am a little nervous about clearances especially where the branch comes up...it looks very tight!
Mick,
You shot from the other end but from what I can see the clearances look fine. If you use the flexible rock it embeds under the branch cookie cutter but can jut out somewhat and provides a little bit more "clearance" on the top. All you are really looking for is enough clearance for the trains on the mainline to not hit the rock face..
The clearance between the yard and the upper branch also looks good. When you put in the hill between them it does look very unnatural (as its so thin and steep) until you have covered it, then it looks fine.
Excellent progress.
Looking good Mick!
Have been away from the forums for awhile, so here goes. Following is a series of photos of progress, including the creek area finished, waybills printed and already used, and of trains staged and hopefully a video here of a train coming down off the branch. Lots of other details have been added since my last update. I only have the small area where the truck dumps sit yet to finish....
And the rest:
Keep posting on progress. it looks good.
Airborne, I am down to finishing the creek, one structure,some landscaping around the truck dump area and one final batch of puffball trees. Then its just minor detailing like utility poles. Whats next for you. Run it, or build an extension ?
Steve, I just have minor details to add as well, including my utility poles. Then it's on to operations, which I've already had one ops session. At some point I'll add the staging yard, but not the thin branch extension
Nice video Airborne! Two questions; What is the sound system in the PC Geep, and how did you weather the caboose?
Tnanks.
Chris Ballinger
Modeling the Clementon Branch of the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines in HO scale
Chris, thanks much! The PC geep is an atlas product with QSI sound. The caboose was weathered with Bragdon weathering powders.
those most recent pictures look great!
I just started this layout. I am new to the hobby. Do you modify all Peco Turnouts or just the six that go to the Frog juicer? I tried soldering modifications and they are nerve wracking.
Moses45 I just started this layout. I am new to the hobby. Do you modify all Peco Turnouts or just the six that go to the Frog juicer? I tried soldering modifications and they are nerve wracking.
You need to modify any Peco Electrofrog turnout. Each turnout you have should have instructions with it to tell you if you need to modify it for standard DCC. If you are using the same track as listed you will need to modify the 6 turnouts connected to the frog juicer (all the Peco #5's). You will not need to modify the two Code 100 turnouts.
Soldering these can be a little bit tricky as there is not a lot of space and you can end up melting ties. The best way I found is to make sure you use a pencil tip on the iron, make sure you use flux on both the turnout and the wire, and pre apply solder to both the wire and the turnout. This means when you try and solder the wire to the turnout you just need to touch it momentarily with the iron. I melted some ties on the bottom, but you don't see this once you have ballasted.
Good luck, Steve
Thanks Steve. I need a LOT of luck with soldering.
Moses,
Its not luck, its practice, Make sure the iron is hot and you have a steady hand. If you lack confidence practice on other things first. Once you get the hang of it , its not too bad. There is also a lot of videos on youtube that show basic techniques. I used to solder quite a bit many years back and will admit that the Peco's are not that easy as you have very limited room to maneuver. One trick that can make it easier is to use a piece of wire about 4 inches long. Pre solder the first inch or so of the wire. This give you more to hold on to. Lay the first inch across the turnout and solder it in the 4 spots needed. Then you can cut it. Alternately, if you have not bought the turnouts yet, and really don't want to solder, you could go with Peco Insulfrogs. They are DCC ready and do not need to be soldered and you don't need the Hex Frog from TAM.
Thanks again. I find your comments very helpful. And I agree, there is no such thing as luck. I can easily solder feeder wires. But, I have already caused minor track damage to one turnout and it is still not soldered, Since I am retired, I have forever.
Dear Moses,
I modified 17 Peco Electrofrogs for my last layout and a trick I picked up from MR that helped a lot was to get a needle file and file off the 'shine' of the area to be soldered. I have found that this, coupled with flux, stops your solder running off shinny/smooth surfaces like the underside of the rail and helps it to adhere with less heat time reducing the risk of melting the ties.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Mick
Thanks Airborne and Steve,
Airborne, what ballast did you use? Did you use what was recommended by MR our some thing similar?
Steve, any update photos?
Has anyone any advice on minimum height for tunnels?
Hi all,
Latest photos. The first shows the test fitting of the flex rock that I have just received to ensure clearance.
The second photo shows the second main line tacked in. I will not go firm on this until I have test run my N&W J Class lead Powhatan Arrow that is on its way. Once I have this coping with the track I will put down the sub road bed for this line, complete the lower level wiring, ballast the in-tunnel track and put the upper level on before launching into scenery!
Progress is going to cease for a few weeks while I am away in the US so the above will have to wait until then.
Mick, I used strictly scenic express products for all the green ground cover, and their natural soil and dirt mixed with Arizona rock and mineral earth for all the dirt areas. For all my ballast I used Arizona rock and mineral NYC limestone for the main, and their yard mix for the rest
Mick, Thanks for your comment. I finally discovered that if I used a blade tip to solder, it is quick and easy. Also clipping the little plastic nubs off near where you solder helps.
No problems and the best of luck with the layout. Looking forward to seeing some progress photos if your able.
Mick, No new photos yet. As for the tunnels,I used commercially available tunnel portals from Chooch enterprises. These were between 3 1/4 and 3 3/4 inch height at the portal entrance. Once you have the roadbed and the track installed the 3 1/4 inch portals look more prototypically correct. If you actually were referring to the inside of the tunnels, I matched these to the entrance height.
I would use the nmra gauge for whatever gauge your using, that would probably be your safest bet
matthew
Started today on the last piece to finish on the layout: the truck dumps area. Got all the foam cut out, stacked and glued down to form the hills, then covered with plaster cloth. Tomorrow it's applying the Sculptamold. Then, since winter won't seem to give up here (four inches of snow forecast for Wed), it's on to painting the cloth/plaster with an earth colored paint, ground cover, and puffball trees. Photos when done!
I haven't posted here in quite awhile. Finally started texturing the layout with grass and trees. Made my first puffball trees yesterday and have some questions. In yesterday's small batch I basically followed the method as shown in the Virginian Build videos. I dunked the poly-fiber balls in a mixture of white glue and water, squeezed them out good, and then rolled the balls in the foam. This resulted in a lot of wasted foam gunk in my tray. I let the balls sit overnight and they were still damp this morning. Today I did another batch but this time I dunked them in the same glue mixture, squeezed them out, and before rolling them in foam, I set them in tray until I was done dunking them. Then after washing my hands i then took each ball and rolled and sprinkled foam on them. The foam seems to have stuck but the balls already felt dry even though yesterday's still seemed damp. Also, from what I had read in the magazine, I had the impression that the puff balls would dry somewhat hard on the surface, mine are still soft. What are your experiences with these trees?
Here are some shots of my progress so far. I just glued a few of the trees to see how well they hold.
My Layout Pics
Roger, what I did with my trees was to let them dry a bit before rolling in the foam, then I let them dry a wee bit more before planting. my trees on the layout when dry are still spongy to the touch, where you can push them in easily, and are not rock hard.