After many days of track planning and general nothingness, I started a module. It is 2x4 feet, and is built to my club's standards. I have the roadbed for the main line glued down, and some basic features drawn on the table. The file attachment button isn't working, so I'll get pictures later. It really isn't much to look at yet.
There is something to be said for getting to watch a project move through its stages. When you can, please do share photos as you go.
Finally some pictures, after we get hacked here. Some are from last weekend as well. I haven't got much done. Track and roadbed is glued down. There are leads soldered to isolate the module to operate a shows. I'm deciding what kind of scenery that will be on it.
If you want to switch that module at home, put a temporary extension on the end w/ the LH switch on the main. Then add a LH Xover between the two mains so they can be used like yard tracks.
It has been a while, so here are some pictures. New supplies The track is airbrushed with a grimy black/olive green mix to simulate treated ties. I don't have a specific picture, but the rails were later brush painted with a rust/grimy black mix. These next photos are of the paved areas I made from joint compound. I painted it today and installed grade crossings made of ink-washed balsa wood. The first picture is also pre-sanding, so the pavement is not the smoothest. The lighting is bad. The grey is not as dark in real life.
It is DAP joint compound airbrushed with Tamiya sky grey. It sands very easily. It cracks if it is spread on too thickly, like the incline to get over the tracks on the front of the module. It is worth it to patch low spots and cracks. It dries pretty fast in the sun. I'm happy with how it turned out.
Those old boards seem to be a thing of the past around here. I kinda miss the sound they made when you went over them. Yes, very nice work!
I didn't work directly on the module, but I ordered the Walthers Magic Pan Bakery, which I have been building. Here are all the parts out of the box. The warehouse walls are modular, so they don't have to be built by the instructions. Non-rectangular buildings can be made as well, as inside corner panel connectors are included. If the warehouse is built in the 2x3 panel shape as in the instructions, an extra two panels are left over; an added bonus to another project. Here is everything I built yesterday. They towers are not attached, and the elevator will not be connected to the warehouse on the module. Once details are added, I will get some different pictures.
I have been forgetting to update for awhile, so here is my current progress. I am getting pretty close to completion. I painted a base coat of brown for grass later, and paved a new loading dock for the warehouse, since I did not have an exact plan when i made the previous roads. After that, I went and completed the buildings. They are painted an assembled, and I am starting some interior detailing for the warehouse. I am also looking into lighting. Not all the doors will go on, so the interior can be seen. The brick front office that connects to the warehouse will need to be repainted. Adding the mortar messed up the brick paint. After finishing most of the buildings, I went back to work on the scenery. The new paved area was painted, but with a lighter gray. I ran out of the original color, so it will take some weathering to get them to look more similar. The picture also shows the ground foam I put on. The brown places I didn't cover will get static grass on it, to simulate more unkempt areas. A chain link fence can be seen to the right if the road, although the camera angle makes it hard to see. This picture shows the static grass added. The glue is still wet, so the beads are much more visible. The contrast between the ground foam and grass is a bit stark, so I will have to come back to fade that together, probably with some brown grass. The brick building in need of painting is on top of the warehouse, with a mask to protect the parts I don't need to paint. The back corner shows some of the coarser bush and groundcover material being added. I'm not sure if that will play out in the foreground. I still need to cable the power lines. I don't know why this picture does not right, but I can't flip it over.
A new locomotive arrived to switch the module. It is a Walthers Proto 2000 BNSF SD9 with Tsunami sound. The picture is a bit out of focus. I'm a big fan of the patched BNSF units, so when I found it pretty cheap, I knew this was the one. I was looking for smaller locomotive for switching, and even though it is 5 scale feet longer than a GP, it is about 10 feet shorter than modern three axle locomotives. The compromise was definitely worth it.
