1. screen48

    screen48 TrainBoard Member

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    Nice update - thanks
    You must be going nut as you have too many projects started. Time to finish some.
     
  2. Komachi

    Komachi TrainBoard Member

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    The big thing I'm going nuts about is with the bulletproofing of the track and wiring. Because I can't really finish the roadwork, or ballast until that's done.

    Once I get the track and roads done, things will go relatively quickly. Like I said before, I need to spend some "quality time" with my gluing jig and my paint bench. I'm going to do some serious gluing this weekend and maybe some paint starting after Easter.

    So, yeah, it may look like controled (or maybe not-so-controled chaos right now, but, everything will come together... eventually.


    As usual, more updates to come as they develop.
     
  3. Komachi

    Komachi TrainBoard Member

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    To paraphrase Lt. Kilgore (Robert DuVall's character) in Apocalypse Now...

    I love the smell of "Airplane Glue" in the early evening. It smells of PROGRESS!!!


    The glue bottle is out and structures are being knocked together. I think the bulk of this next week (minus time taken for "Holy Week" activities) and next will be spent working on structures. Gluing... and maybe some painting. Pics to come soon.
     
  4. Komachi

    Komachi TrainBoard Member

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    Ms. Evelyn's, the feed mill and the depot are all curing as we speak. I may even get another kit or two started tonight. (I have walls up, prepping them for paint, then windows and doors, etc. will be added.)

    So, progress, progress, progress...
     
  5. Komachi

    Komachi TrainBoard Member

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    Wow...

    I didn't realize it has been almost a month since my last posting!

    Lots of progress...

    * Foam core is down along the ROW for Minnesota State Highway 40 and Hill County Road 9.

    (And allow me a minor tangent here to explain the symbolism... Hope is in the fictional "Hill County," which I named after, you guessed it, James Jerome Hill. Minnesota State Highway 40 does NOT come through Fillmore County, it's a Biblical reference to the 40 years the Jews spent in the desert, which is how I felt as I was going through my experience with Cancer. County Road 9 was so named, because my Chemotherapy regimin was for nine weeks.)

    * The sub-bases for the enginehouse, the diesel servicing pad and the passenger station platform are almost completed. (Awaiting delivery on materials to finish said projects.)

    * I actually did a little scratchbuilding, something I have not done in a great while. I had some scrap V-groove styrene sheet lying around and the Hope IGA (International Grocer's Association... you guessed it, a grocery chain) needed a loading dock to receive their wares, so...

    * Many, but not all, of the structures have been glued together.

    * Quite a few structures have been painted in (Polly S) Oxide Red Primer in preparation for final painting. (Right now, a good majority of Hope looks like the town of Lago in Clint Eastwood's '73 film "High Plains Drifter," when "The Stranger" has the citizens paint the town red... LITTERALLY!!!)


    And that's about all I can think of right now. I've gotten more done in the past five days than I have in about five months (amazing what you can do when you actually get some free-time to work on things!!!). I'm going to go grab some shuteye and then back to the grind tomorrow.

    And, yes, there's a massive photo update that will be coming soon...
     
  6. Komachi

    Komachi TrainBoard Member

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    Didn't get a whole lot done on the layout this weekend, as it was our town's annual celebration and I was busy volunteering my time to a number of the local organizations I belong to. I might go down and do a little work yet tonight, but I thought I'd put up the photo update to bring you guys up to speed on the progress of the RF&L thus far...
     
  7. Komachi

    Komachi TrainBoard Member

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    So...

    Like I said back in April, I started putting the structures together...


    [​IMG]
    Here the enginehouse walls are being put together...

    [​IMG]
    That was followed by the Atlas passenger depot and Miss Evelyn's Cafe...

    [​IMG]
    As well as the feed mill.
     
  8. Komachi

    Komachi TrainBoard Member

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    I decided I needed to hit the streets as well...


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    A look down MN HWY 40.

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    An "exploded" view of the intersection where Hill County Rd. 9 meets Hwy 40.

    [​IMG]
    Need some cheap weights to hold your 3/16" foam core down while the glue dries? Here's an idea for ya... borrow a page out of Alton Brown's playbook, and use canned goods. Here I used some of my favorite Campbell's soup variaties.

    [​IMG]
    Our friendly, neighboorhood Minnesota State Trooper waits at the crossing as the RIT hopper rolls past.
     
  9. Komachi

    Komachi TrainBoard Member

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    I also began work on the bases for the passenger station platform and the foundations for the enginehouse and the diesel servicing pad.


    [​IMG]
    Here's a cardboard template of the rooflines for the Atlas station, the short extension that comes with the kit, and the add-on extension.

    [​IMG]
    The next step was to start cutting lumber. 1/4" square (.125 x .125) balsa is what I'm using here.

    [​IMG]
    Work continues...

    [​IMG]
    I had originally intended for the platform to butt up to the yard lead and extend across to the main, but have since decided to build to the edge of the layout. The "island" and platform oppositte the depot are 1/4" x 1/8" sticks.
     
  10. Komachi

    Komachi TrainBoard Member

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    I should also point out that clearances were checked using Atlas platform bits and an 78' heavyweight passenger car...

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    It looks like it's going to be close, but I don't foresee any issues at this time.
     
  11. Komachi

    Komachi TrainBoard Member

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    After working ot the platform, I decided to turn my attention to the enginehouse...


    [​IMG]
    I began by making a rough outline of the foundation for the enginehouse and servicing pad, then cut away the excess material from the cork roadbed.

    [​IMG]
    I then used some 1/4" styrene tubing and .125 x .250 styrene strip to make the frame of the bases.
     
  12. Komachi

    Komachi TrainBoard Member

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    I should make note of an error I made earlier...

    The frame for the passenger platform for the depot is NOT .125 x .125, it's .250 x .250.

    .250 = 1/4"
    .125 = 1/8"


    Sorry about that guys! :tb-embarrassed:
     
  13. Komachi

    Komachi TrainBoard Member

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    This project also allowed me the oppourtunity for doing a little scratchbuilding. I had some V-groove styrene sheet leftover from another project, so I decided to build a loading dock for the grocery store.


    [​IMG]
    Here's the front wall of the loading dock, with a leftover freight door from the enginehouse kit.

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    After cutting the walls out, I set them together to get a rough idea of how I wanted them to go together. Also, since I didn't have the grocery store building on hand at the time I started working on the dock, I made an outline of the building's footprint on a piece of paper, and used that to get my rough measurements and orient the dock to the store.

    [​IMG]
    Originally, I was going to have the dock butt up against the back of the Farm Bureau Insurance building, but then decided I wanted a small walkway between the two.
     
  14. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I've thought about getting one of these jigs. Seems to me they'd be great. But every time I get a few pennies saved toward one, the cash gets diverted elsewhere....

    :eek:

    Boxcab E50
     
  15. Komachi

    Komachi TrainBoard Member

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    [​IMG]
    Here's a front view of the modified dock...

    [​IMG]
    And from the rear. I'm going to cobble together a refrigeration unit from some scrap bits of styrene and sprue (got plenty of THAT on hand!) and put it on top of the smaller section of the loading dock, and that will represent the refrigerated/frozen storage area of the store. (The grocery store I work at has a similar setup, which was the inspiration for this mini-project.)

    [​IMG]
    After the building and semi tractor-trailer arrived, I could further "tweak" the design. Here's a bird's-eye view...

    [​IMG]
    ... and lower and from the side.
     
  16. Komachi

    Komachi TrainBoard Member

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    And since the loading door on the kit was going to be obscured by the new loading dock, I needed to blank it out. I had some scrap sections of currigated steel material leftover from when I cut the access doors out of the lumber yard building, so I decided to use that.

    [​IMG]
    Luckily for me, the grooves in the steel spaced PERFECTLY, so I didn't need to do much trimming to get the wall section to fit the opening.

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    After I trimmed it flush with the bottom edge of the structure, all I had to do was cement it in place.

    And, since the back of the IGA (International Grocers Association) butts up against the side wall of the Farm Bureau building, I'm not goiing to worry about blanking out the rest of the windows and doors on the back wall.
     
  17. Komachi

    Komachi TrainBoard Member

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    I also decided to get started on another major industry on the layout, MMA Vander Plas Lumber Supply LLC.

    Arv Vander Plas ran Preston Lumber LLC, which donated the 1x4s, 2x2s and 4x8 sheet of plywood for the layout. His brothers Mark and Marlow helped him run the business... hense the MMA. So I thought it would be fitting to give them a nod on the layout in appreciation for all they did to help get the layout built.


    [​IMG]
    The lumber yard building consists of a Pikestuff Distribution Center and an add-on office and showroom kit.

    [​IMG]
    And here they sit on the layout, along with Miss Evelyn's Cafe. The building to the left that is sitting on Hwy 40 is the creamery building.
     
  18. Komachi

    Komachi TrainBoard Member

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    Before I put the grain elevator together, I decided I wanted to paint the floor of the grain dump to match the approach ramps. (I don't know too many vintage elevators that had stainless steel or aluminum floors in them, although I suppose one could argue that the layout occupies a parallel universe where stainless and aluminum are the cheif building materials in construction...)

    Anyway...


    [​IMG]
    I began by masking the rest of the plinth, so that only the floor of the grain dump got painted.

    [​IMG]
    The colors I chose were Floquil Polly-S Aged Concrete and SP Scarlett (for the grate in the floor). I used Floquil Polly-S Zinc Chromium Primer as the base coat before I applied the color.

    [​IMG]
    Primered!!!
     
  19. Komachi

    Komachi TrainBoard Member

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    Of course, once I started with that, nothing was safe...


    [​IMG]
    Not the crew shed...

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    Not the passenger station...

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    Not even the feed mill and main building for the oil distributor!

    [​IMG]
    ** EVIL LAUGH **
     
  20. Komachi

    Komachi TrainBoard Member

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    [​IMG]
    Even the white, RIX house couldn't escape!!!

    [​IMG]
    I was seeing red all over!!!

    [​IMG]
    It was as if a 1:87th scale version of Clint Eastwood rode into Hope and reinacted that scene in "High Plains Drifter" when he had the citizens of Lago paint the town red (litterally!).
     

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