Brad I just went to your web site for the first time ... http://palisadecanyonrr.blogspot.com/ Thanks, many good things to learn there , Sumner
After I posted about my layout progress on Thursday morning, I spent the rest of the morning working on a friend's layout. (He, like me, is hosting a layout tour/open house as part of the convention in May). I've been putting up a stone retaining wall beside a road on his layout. The wall is a textured type of thick wall paper that is made in Greece for model railroads. The sheets are the metric version of about 8 x 10 inches and the "random" stone pattern of slightly larger and perfectly level course of stones (like capstones) sort of repeats itself 6 and a half times per sheet. This worked well, because the height of the retaining wall was conveniently close to the height of the pattern. The wall goes along side this road. by ppuinn posted Feb 8, 2020 at 9:14 AM I made a cardboard template to match the profile of the hillside, and then glued the paper strips to the cardboard for stiffening/support. The seams were good but still easily visible, so I wrapped some 1/8 by 1/16 inch balsa strips in the retaining wall paper and glued them over the seams, and half way between the seams (about every 3-1/2 inches). Clamping the paper to the card board by ppuinn posted Feb 8, 2020 at 9:14 AM Gluing the pillars over the paper seams. by ppuinn posted Feb 8, 2020 at 9:14 AM Glued pillars trimmed. by ppuinn posted Feb 8, 2020 at 9:14 AM This last pic shows the retaining wall with my first attempt at using the paper for the capstone temporarily in place. I don't like the way the paper capstone looks, so I'm going to use balsa strips painted gray to simulate a concrete capstone. Photo Feb 06, 11 14 25 AM by ppuinn posted Feb 8, 2020 at 9:14 AM
RailMix, This helix rises roughly 17 inches (48 inches lower deck elevation to 65 inches upper deck elevation). Other information about this helix: This is a bowl-shaped helix, and the bottom of the lowest loop starts at 15.75 inch radius where it enters the helix and gradually increases to 17.25 radius at the start of the second loop, 18.75 at the start of the 3rd loop, etc. At the top exit of the helix, the radius is (very roughly) about 25 inches radius. The continually increasing radius means the circumference of each loop is slightly longer than the loop beneath it, so that a 2 percent grade throughout the 6.75 loops yields an increasingly larger rise for each loop. The first loop climbs about 2-1/8 inches and the top exit is about 3 inches above the start of the top loop. Because there is a long easement out of the top loop of this helix, the outside diameter of this helix is about 54 inches. I created the bowl-shaped helix calculator that is pinned at the top of the Layout Design Discussion forum homepage to figure out bowl-shaped helix dimensions when given various combinations of grade, minimum radius, and width of the ramp (which is how much the radius increases from the start to end of a single loop). Assuming supports are set at the 8 points of a compass, then the calculator is set up to also determine the overall footprint of the helix, and the amount of rise from one support to the next. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Interesting. 17" is a very respectable amount of separation between levels. I have seen the spreadsheet but never took a close look as I had no idea about its purpose. I had never considered the idea of a bowl-shaped helix, but it makes perfect sense and looks like it gets around the need to use extremely steep grades. Not much progress on projects this weekend. Hope to post later in the week.
Didn't make any progress on the layout itself this week but I did sort and clean up the workbench. Found a few things I forgot I had that will probably make it onto the layout. Here's how it started out.
Railmix, On a previous layout, I had built a double track traditional (stacked) helix with an outside edge diameter of 36 inches. That gave me about 16 and 17 inch radii on the inside (descending) and outside (rising) tracks. I had made each loop rise 4 inches, which gave me (Pi times diameter) circumferences of 100.53 and 106.81, which yielded (rise divided by run) grades of 3.97 percent and 3.74 percent. The climb was so steep that it limited train length to 9 or 10 cars, even with two locos. Loops were 1/2 inch Homasote on 1/2 inch OSB panel, so maintenance space between the railhead and underside of the next highest loop was 3 inches, and support for the loops was metal angle tabs screwed onto eight 2x2s which were spaced around the inside of the helix. The outside of the helix was covered with the backdrop for the lower deck, so the only access was by crawling on hands and knees under the lower deck, which (in my infinite wisdom...NOT) I had set at 36 inches. Clearance between the floor and the underside of the L-girder benchwork was only about 30 inches. Maintenance and repairs were a nightmare, because I had to contort myself up into the 27 inch diameter cylindrical center of the helix, and then would have little elbow room to work; there was no place to set down tools (which I had to remember to take with me or risk facing another trip out and then back into the helix); illumination from the room lighting was poor, and the incandescent clamping work lamp gave off a lot of heat; and the narrow confines prevented bending my body to see into the 3 inch high and 4 inch deep space of the loops unless I bent my knees in a partial squat to lower my eyes to that particular loop (think: invisible chair sitting!). Reaching around the 8 supports when cleaning track with a Bright Boy was difficult, yet do-able; but trying to repair an out of gauge rail that had broken its plastic spikes was impossible without deconstructing the entire helix, because the lower deck backdrop prevented line-of-sight alignment of the track, and the total lack of vertical clearance hindered finding the holes in the flex track to nail down the replacement track, and interfered with soldering rail joiners and feeders. So, when we moved to our current home in June 2003, I designed all four of the bowl-shaped helixes on my layout to give myself adequate access. The lower deck elevation of 48 inches allows me to sit on a wheeled stool, bend over and roll myself under the 42 inch lower edge of the L-girders. Inside the helix, I can sit or stand in a (roughly) 24x30 inch hole at 48 inches with a 6 inch lip on one side for tools and increasing elbow and shoulder room up to the 65 inch high and (depending on which helix) 44 to 54 inch diameter top loop. Every inch of track on every loop of all 4 helices is vertically accessible except for the 1.5 inches where the track enters at the bottom of each helix by passing under the second lowest loop. This easy access let me remove a section of track on the Bartonville helix and the Homasote under it, and put in a larger piece of Homasote that supported the turnout and track in that section of the second loop inside the helix and supported the track that allowed trains to exit to the outside of the helix from the second loop without affecting any track elsewhere on the helix. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
On Saturday, I went to a clinic about how to use Pan Pastels to weather locos and cars put on by a Master Model Railroader who is a member of our NMRA division. I'd tried some uninformed and ill-conceived attempts at weathering with chalks decades ago that were worthy of an Epic Fail video, but this was my first effort made with any kind of understanding of how it should be done. We were using a Pan Pastels weathering set of 7 or 8 colors (black, gray, white, a red color (umber or sienna?), a rust color, and 1 or 2 browns). I started by putting rust and dark brown on the trucks and wheels, and just enough light brown dirt along the bottom of the ITC transfer caboose to kill the shine of an unweathered car. I was putting rust on the sides and floors when I realized I could use the gray to simulate where paint had worn off of the steps. Here's the results: Weathered ITC Caboose by ppuinn posted Feb 10, 2020 at 11:32 AM Edit: Sigh. The camera doesn't lie: I guess that clinic hasn't made me a weathering master...yet. In looking at the enlarged image in RailImages just now, I noticed that I'll need to: apply some more rust to shining spots on the wheels; do a better job of blending the rust on the side of the caboose (because you can see exactly how wide my brush was and where I stopped it at the bottom of the stroke(s)); make the worn paint on the tread of each step fade less abruptly into unworn paint, and have less (or no?) worn paint on the riser of each step; apply a continuously fading layer of "dirt" from denser closer to the bottom of the sides to thinner at the tops of the sides, and have more rust close to the ribs and less rust farther away from the ribs;and weather all of the roof (all edges, all the top [not just a small section around the pipes], all of the pipes [they should not have any shine at all]). End Edit I weathered the trucks, outsides, and insides of 2 gons and then used the pastels to weather 2 of the pipe loads made and painted in primer gray a week or two ago. Weathered scrap load and gon #2 by ppuinn posted Feb 10, 2020 at 11:32 AM Weathered scrap load and gon #1 by ppuinn posted Feb 10, 2020 at 11:32 AM The clinic was almost over when I started the loco, so I still want to add some other colors. Weathered ITC 756 by ppuinn posted Feb 10, 2020 at 11:32 AM Earlier in the clinic another participant and I experimented with using a foam wedge and white pastel to simulate white paint bleeding down from large letters on one of his cars. Very nice effect for a single stroke of a foam wedge! (Sorry, didn't get a pic on Saturday; but I'll post one when I use the technique on one of my own cars.) Later today, I hope to make some more progress on my lower deck. First, I want to finish the backdrop behind where the track exits from the 2nd loop of the helix and passes over the track that enters the bottom of the helix. The backdrop needs to be easily removed and returned, so I can access the tracks between the backdrop and the outside edge of the helix loops for maintenance. Then, I've got to create view blocks in front of the tracks, so I can hide the two holes in the backdrop where the tracks enter/exit the helix. I bought some expanded Styrofoam sheets on Saturday that will become tree-covered hillsides in front of one section of the track and behind another section, and I'll probably generate some cardboard mock-ups of buildings to serve as view blocks in front of the rest of the track.
I know it's only been a few days since my last update but I have been getting some things done that I wanted to share. The top frame of the scenery window box got painted to match the other trim in the train room. Got the initial coat of Acrylic black paint down on the riverbed under the long bridge. Still need to blend in some other blue / green color and a coat of gloss medium to make it look like a river. Then the bridge and track can be installed. The sub roadbed has been extended another 16 inches on the upper track and cork has been installed on about 12 inches of the right of way. This will allow for the bridges and track to be installed on this upper track. Where the cork ends on both lines adapters to Kato Unitrack will connect to the temporary turn around loop. I am not much into graffiti but while weathering the bridge abutment / retaining walls for the skewed bridge I thought this would be a great place for some. I did have some decals left over from the weathering contest of a few years ago and used a couple of those. I still need to mask this off and spray with some flat finish. And I applied two coats of the smoke gray enamel to the fascia in this area.
I'm late to the party! (I'm late to every party, lol...) But it's still Winter, so here we go... I model a 4x8' N scale layout called the Union Pacific Vallealmar Subdivision. It's a proto-lanced, modern-era (I love the challenge of modeling the real world, and railfanning inspires my modeling, so that's why I've always done modern era) line depicting a fictional connection between Bakersfield and San Luis Obispo, California, linking the UP's Coast Line, I-5 Line and Mojave subdivision. I started my layout in November, 2006 as a recent convert to N scale after 26 years in HO scale, and in fact, I joined Trainboard around that time to learn more about my new scale (your feedback and discussions greatly influenced me today as an N scale model railroader, so thanks all). My layout has been around for 13 years, but most of the scenery has lacked major progress since 2015 or so (though I did work on my yard trackage last year). I realized that this "new" layout is only 5 years younger than my previous (HO) layout that I had for 18 years (granted half of it was just gathering dust), so I really should concentrate on my scenery instead of just hoarding locos and rolling stock . Anyway, this pic should show what I'm trying to do. I think I worked on this around 2013 or so, but I realized I could do a better ob with what looks finished, and finish what's not complete. This involves adding and painting plaster castings, and applying static grass. As a bonus, I plan to carve a hiking trail onto this hill (as hiking is one of my other hobbies, so naturally it's appropo to depict hiking on my layout). If you're on Facebook, you can follow more of my layout/modeling exploits on my layout's FB page: https://www.facebook.com/UPVallealmarNScale/
Late to the party. Wife and spent most of last year (2019) DIY finishing our basement. Here it is late Nov 2019 after passing inspection. I saved basic benchwork from my previous HO 10x18' layout which was torn down summer of 2017. Two 2x8 foot sections formed the starting point for the first 16 feet of my staging yard. Those went in last December, 2019. Since then I've been plugging away adding newly build sections in January and this month, February. Staging is sandwich of painted Homasote and half inch OSB. I prefer Homasote so I can lay staging track with Atlas track nails and/or MicroEngineering spikes. The other corner (other end of staging): Start of benchwork at other end where a helix will go to bring trains up to the main yard above staging. Basic track plan - yes, old school graph paper plan to scale. One inch = 2 feet. I have yet to fill in industry in Grand Junction yard (left and bottom). Have plans for Walther ADM grain elevator there and also coal mine along mainline to perhaps represent Sunny Side. Area's in red represent benchwork errected and on legs so far. Benchwork is progressing around the outside left (per plan) I've mocked it up on the floor to check full size vs. scale drawing. Up on legs - that's as far as I have gotten since starting last december. BTW, no potato chips hanging from my mouth. Tortilla ships more likely!
Been a while since I updated, but I've been spending the past week and a half learning the finer points of Fast Tracks fixtures. I always found N scale turnouts a little on the flimsy side so I planned to use Fast Tracks from the get-go due to the soldered connections to the ties, and after a couple of false starts have come out with a method that produces an extremely solid turnout. Will be using it to transition down from the main right-of-way down to baseboard level industrial track. I've also been making plans for scratchbuilding the freight depot (pictured below), and have finalized dimensions I'll be doing a cardboard mockup of so I can finish laying the track around it. Minot Division HQ/Freight Depot by Gary Helriegel posted Feb 15, 2020 at 2:34 AM
Didn't get far on the station this week. Got the milling fixture under way, but not finished. It's been plain cold in the garage, so wasn't too enthused about going out there. Finally got some kerosene this afternoon and ordered a new dial indicator which should be here this week. The fixture looks crude, but all it has to do is hold the part flat and solid. It's been planed flat and all of the holes are there to provide clearance for the posts and the ejector pin locations. (Ejector pins are a few thousandths below flush with the surface of the mold, so cause the part to have small projections that would interfere with location.) The blocks of wood will be clamps to hold the part solidly in place while the pattern is being milled off. Just have to install some adjustable locators (drywall screws) in the sides of the block. Also ordered some Plastruct brick sheet to cover the platform. I don't remember the stuff being That expensive last time, though. If this works decently well, I can think of a number of kits that could use similar treatment. Also got the wall sections cleaned up, washed and ready to paint. I watched videos (a couple of times each) on painting brick walls by both Jason Jensen and Luke Towan, hence the different colors of craft paint. This project is going to be an adventure on a few different levels.
Hi everyone, It's great to see a couple more people jump in here in the last week. Since my last update I have been mostly working on getting everything ready to install the 200 ft BLMA bridge on the lower line. For this bridge I am using Micro Engineering bridge track and it's the first time I have used this so I took my time to try to get it right. I built an assembly of standard to bridge to standard track about 24 inches long. I cover this in more detail on my latest blog post.... http://palisadecanyonrr.blogspot.com/2020/02/working-with-micro-engineering-bridge.html Then I turned my attention to the bridge itself. I already have one of the 150 ft versions of this model on the layout so I knew what I wanted to do. Some weathering really improves these especially the walkways. The walkways are a bright stainless steel and the handrails are painted but are shinny. So what I did was to pop both walkway assemblies out and air brush oxide red. I wanted to give the bridge a black weathering wash like I did the other one I have but found that my black weathering wash had dried out. My local hobby shop did not have any either so I had to order it and it won't get here until March. So I ended up using a brown weathering wash and then some powders. I can also add some weathering after the bridge is installed. I used E6000 adhesive to attach the track assembly to the bridge, held in place with clamps while it set. After the adhesive had set I tested with several cars for clearance. Hopefully I can get the bridge installed today.
