New town schematics

Another thing I wanted to get done before the October OS Omaha was to redo the town schematics.  I had previously printed them out on plain white paper and taped them to the backdrop.  It worked.

But after repainting the fascia to solid black, I now had room to mount them to fascia.  Not that I didn't have room before, but with the striping, but it always looked too busy and confusing as it covered up some of the striping.

I had an idea to make them out of engraved PVC but then it hit me, if I changed the trackwork afterwards, I'd be in the same boat as I was with the striping on the fascia not matching the actual track plan.  So I decided to pick up a cheap laminator.  I also ordered some "Aged" looking paper.  Thought it might add some weathered character?

These are designed to be semi-permanent, or until I get the track work down where I want it and/or the buildings are in place.

I also found a picture of an aged and worn piece of painted wood.  Then I added some stencil fonts to it for the "Call Box" for the interlocking buttons.  It looks better in person...

Repainting the fascia

Years ago I visited an N scale layout and the one thing that I thought looked good and could be practical, his fascia was painted black and he applied them in yellow, a schematic of his layout.  When I asked him about it, he replied that it was intended for the ease of locating the track on the layout while operating.

So when I got around to applying my fascia I kept this in mind.  When I got it all done, it looked nice, that was until I had run several op sessions and needed to change the track arrangements.  It was at this point that I realized that the tracks now did not match what I had painted on the fascia and my efforts had all been done for not.

Realizing this was going to be a big issue with me, I just left it and proceeded to run ops and rework the track as needed.  Once I got things where I wanted them that I'd just repaint them (didn't realize that this would be years, not months).  

With the OS Omaha Ops weekend coming up soon, it was time to make things look more presentable and I took out my trusty orbital sanded and went to work.

I had painted the colored tracks with one color, then taped them off with 1/4" masking tape and rolled a coat of black over top then removed the tape.  It worked slick, but it also left a slight ridge where the tape had been.  To compound the issue, when I was done I had sprayed a coat of Krylon semi-gloss acrylic finish as a top coat.

Not to worry though, using an 80 grit pad and a little elbow grease, the ridges were reduced and it scuffed up the paint to give it some tooth.  

I had given some thought about using a muted green or earth tone to match the scenery as a lot of modelers have done over the past several years but decided to stick with black.   For me, it does a great job of diverting your eyes away from the fascia and skirting and makes the scenery pop.

For reference, here's a shot of the fascia with the stripes.

Interlocking signals at Ruston

I got the Iowa Scaled Engineering "Interlocking in a Box" system installed and working.  

There are several different ways of setting this system up in regards to different types of delay settings for the signals to change.  All of which can be seen in their manual that's on their website.

I opted to use two Momentary On push buttons to control the signals to hopefully give my crews a more immersive feeling when operating the layout.    While the ICG trackage that my trains cross is basically a dummy track with no trains crossing, the system is designed to make it feel and act like the crews have to stop and call the dispatcher for a green signal.

The way I chose to set up the delays is fairly simple.  You push either of the buttons and you will wait for a green signal anywhere from 30 to 60 seconds.  Once the signal turns to green, you can choose for a 15, 30, 45 or 60 second delay, I chose to have a 15 second delay to start moving before the signal drops back to red.  After that, the system is reset and is ready for the next train.

Here is a quick video showing it in operation.  I shortened the video so you wouldn't have to wait for the full length of the delay. 

 

Installing the Interlocking signals

I started installing the signals for the Iowa Scaled Engineering  IIAB (Interlocking in a Box) today.

The holes for the signal wires needed to be a bit bigger to allow for the plug on the Atlas Type G signals.  The bases of the signals are not very wide and did not quite cover up the holes, so a friend told me to add a piece of thin styrene under the bases to hold the signals and cover the holes.  

After sizing the styrene a bit bigger than needed,  I drilled a hole for the wires and cut a slit so I could slide it under the base.  I then glued it to the bottom of the signal base with MEK.  I also decided to drill four holes, one in each corner to allow for Atlas track nails, these will hold the base in place, but lose enough that if I bump them, there will be some give.

I think they are a little taller, but not by much. 

I placed them about 10" from the diamond, the one on the left kind of set the placement due to the house track siding, but I think this will still be ok.

Next I'll paint them a dark green and cover them with some ground foam to hide the styrene bases.   

Crossing the Ouachita River

 Rock Island GP7 1201 is in charge of the SB local, #775 as it crosses over the rain swollen and muddy Ouachita River. 

 

The Ouachita gets poured

I got the river poured the other night, it's not exactly what I wanted but I think I'll take it.

When mixing the paint into the acrylic medium it was just like the bog, the Pouring medium is translucent and it's more or less a guess on how much paint to add to it.  In this case I used a bit too much Tamiya Flat Earth, or did I?

It turned out more of a solid brown than a translucent brown that I was hoping for but maybe that is a good thing?  It definitely took on a muddy look but not the bright orangish brown like I've seen in Google Map images.   

In the case of the bog, a few days after I poured it, it started to take on a lighter brown color.  After a month or so I noticed the light color receded and went back to the dark Coffee Brown that I originally wanted.  So we'll wait and see what happens after a few weeks?

One thing I am happy with is the surface texture.  It's not a smooth, glossy surface.  It's actually kind of wavy which adds to the reflection so it's not like a perfect mirror reflection.

In the meantime here is where the scene is at.  This is only one pour, about 1/16" to 1/8" thick.  If I recall the medium did shrink a bit, so a second pour might happen?

Note: I did edit out some of the clutter in the scene on the right side. 

I'm going to take a short break from this scene and give the pour some time to set up and cure.  In the meantime I'm going to clean up a few things.  

I need to get the wiring for the crossing at Ruston tidied up and then I want to work on getting a new toy installed.  Last weekend we went to the 25th anniversary open house at Spring Creek Model Trains where I picked up one of the new IIAB (Interlocking In a Box) from ISE (Iowa Scale Engineering).

Then I'll come back and add another pour if deemed necessary and start making trees and adding any details. 

River color adjustment, take two

I just couldn't get used to seeing the river with the Faux paint. A friend of mine told me that it looked like Shag Carpet and I just couldn't unsee that!!I started looking at all kinds of images of the Ouachita river in different locations and the more I looked, the more blind I became.

I don't think I liked the very muddy brownish orange water. Might be too stark for the scene?  Plus I don't think the surface would reflect an image very well due it being lighter.

So I decided to go back to a green tone, but I wanted it slightly muddy.  I opted to get more of the Tamiya earth and olive from Hobby Town today while we were out running errands.

This time I started with the earth and mixed a bunch of the olive to it and sprayed a coat, but it was too green, way too much yellow once it was on the river bed.

So I mixed more of the olive into the mix and sprayed another coat, still too greenish yellow.  Added more green and I think I got real close. Stepped away and came back in a few, but it still looked to green, more brownish, but still too green.

So I cleaned out the airbrush once more and sprayed a straight coat of olive, but sprayed it in a wide, random pattern, not a full coverage.  I think this looks better?

Painting the river, part 2

Before I got started on the next phase of the river, I decided that the Tamiya Olive Green was just a little too dark, it was very close to the foliage on the banks.  So I added some of the Tamiya Flat Earth brown to it.  It had the effect of not only lightening it up enough, it also gave it a brownish hue.

Once the river was repainted it was time to start painting the Faux pattern on the surface.  I followed Boomer's process, which was to use the "Golden" brand of gloss glazing liquid and add a bit of the Vallejo US Sand paint to it.  Mix it up thoroughly and using a damp sponge you dip it on the mix, wipe off the majority of it on a rag, kind of the way one "Dry Brushes" and then start padding or stippling the sponge on the surface of the river. 

My first thought was this was too light?  Even after letting it dry for a bit it just looked too light for what I was shooting for.  So I did some experimenting and decided to use the Tamiya Flat Earth, and then added a couple of drops of the Tamiya Olive Green.  This looked better to my eyes.

Once that layer dried, I got so wrapped up in choosing the next colors/shades that I forgot to take pictures, sorry.  The next color was more Flat Earth and a little less Olive Green.  This gave it a muddier look.  The last coat I used I mixed a bit more Olive Green than I had the first time so as to bring back a bit of green.  Here's how it turned out.

 

Not 100% certain I'm happy with the final color, but the more I look at it the better it gets.  I'm thinking once I apply the final coat of pure glazing, the glare might mute or distract from the overall color.  

From what I've seen of Boomer's final coat, it's not 100% gloss, as he mixes GAC500 (a high gloss acrylic) with some Semi-Gloss Gel which very slightly dulls the gloss.  If you look at the lower right corner of the last pic, right next to the fascia you can see a slight glare.

Now I need to add some driftwood and other debris to the river before I add the final clear coat.

Painting the river, part 1

My next project was to paint the riverbed.

I toyed with a lot of ideas and wasn't happy with any of the options I looked into. Then I remembered watching one of Boomer's videos and how he painted his.

If you haven't seen it, it's worth a watch, while it's kind of long and rambling, like most of his are, it's chocked full of good info.

https://youtu.be/uSXTAMBIhOM?si=8GRIdlU9RouiebZ3

The first thing I did was to paint the river using Tamiya's XF-58 Olive Green.

It goes on kind of bright green, but darkens as it dries.  This is only the first coat.

Next I wanted to give a shallow water look near the sand bar so I watered down some tan colored craft paint so I could do as Boomer did and tried stain painting it on, but when it dried, I wasn't happy with it. It came out too blotchy because I think the pigments weren't as fine as good hobby paints are.

So I repainted that section with the Tamiya Olive and redid it using Tamiya XF-52 Flat Earth. 

I tried something a little different and painted it on full strength and did the same with the Tamiya XF-58 Olive, then I blended them together. This worked much better.

Most of this might be somewhat covered when I start faux painting the main river, but I know it'll be there. 

Covering the banks

The next step was to work on the sand bar and river banks.

I spread a thin layer of glue and using a fine sieve I spread out a thick layer of my Mocha grout.  I let it dry over night and then vacuumed up the excess and rubbing with my finger, I worked more excess loose.

I glued a thin layer of  multi-colored ground foam to the banks to help blend the colors so it will eventually add to the depth of the undergrowth.  

I used a mix of 2mm & 4mm light and medium green static grass for the weeds on the sand bar, leaving enough room for the River Rat's camp site and some tents.  I also sprayed hair spray over it and sprinkled on several colors of fine ground foam.

Once everything was dry, I took Woodland Scenics Poly Fiber and stretched it out very thin and applied it to the river banks, the fine ground foam glued down previously helped to hold it in place while the glue dried.  This will become the base for the 3D undergrowth. 

It's not very thick but thick enough that when the next layer of ground foam is applied it will take on a of look deep, shaggy weeds and tangles.

More work on the river banks and Abutments

After getting the banks carved, I painted them with a multi green filter before adding vegetation. This will help hide the earth color.

One thing I didn't do when I made the abutments and piers, I forgot to add a lip around the three walls of the abutments.  I was reminded of doing this by a friend who said they looked odd being solid concrete and the rails laying on top of the concrete.  I had always planned to add sleeper ties under the rails but forgot about the lips.

So I found some strip styrene that looked about right and glued it on the three edges of each abutment.  This will give the illusion that the three walls were poured independently and not a solid mass of concrete.

Once dry I took a hobby knife and carved the tops to match any crumbling edges that I had carved into the MDF abutments previously.  Then painted and weathered them to match.

 Next I glued the sleeper ties in place and added ballast.

The ballast looks awfully bright, but I'll take care of that with Pan Pastels later.

  

 

River banks carved and curved

So I've been steadily working on the river banks over the last couple of weeks.

I got the first set of foam blocks installed and got most of them carved out.  Things were looking good.  But then I had an idea, what if I could enhance the depth of the river, make it look as if it continues around the bend?  So I grabbed a small mirror and started playing around with it.

After a few tries it looked as if this could work?  I've never made use of a mirror, although I've always wanted to.  Hmmmm?

After placing the mirror in what I thought was a good place, I stepped back and took a look at it.  Not bad, but I was going to have to change the angle of it as well as redo the foam blocks along the backdrop.

So the trouble was, at this angle it made the river bend to the right and not to the left.  So I ripped out the rear two blocks of foam and started playing around again with a pencil line, trying to line up the mirror so the bank turned to the left.  I had to angle the mirror quite a bit to make the curved pencil line line up properly.  But this would work.

I ordered a new larger mirror and sat it in place, then I got the two new foam blocks installed and carved them to fit.  Using the line I drew as a guide I shaped the last foam block and got them glued in placed.

The next thing to do was to get the blocks shaped and painted.

   

Floral foam river banks

After a little head scratching and some test fitting, I got the ceiling tile and beadboard foam removed and replaced it with the floral foam bricks.  I glued the bricks in with white glue on the bottoms and where they touch the remaining ceiling tile.

Once dry I'll start the carving process.  I extended the foam out past the abutments just a bit so that I have enough to work with as I slowly carve it back. Most of the bank will be beveled back without much detail as the biggest share of it I envision being covered completely by vegetation.

I also used lightweight spackling to fill in a seam and any irregularities on the plywood then got it sanded smooth.