We like to use a master to drill all our faceplates from at Nland Pacific. Funny that a new guy recently pointed out that the holes are not centered properly based on the dimensions we use in our standards. After a few years of using it as a guide all our modules go together fairly easy, but we plan to have one of the members create one from some hardened steal with guides for quick and accurate drilling.
...a little bit of progress After the first successful tests in Lauffen, I had to take my Dremel and cut out the track section across the bridge, because I just laid a piece of regular flextrack across the segment for the first use at a FREMO meeting. I prepared the flextrack before, so it was an easy task to take out two ties at each approaching section. I will replace the normal flextrack with ME bridge track. As you can see in the picture below, I didn´t made the cut right at the end of the bridge but some ties behind. You see the gap in the tie stripe under the truck of the loco. I cut the piece of bridge track to fill the whole gap, pulled out the superfluous bridge ties to match the length of the bridge and prepared all four profile ends with a needle file to get rid of all burrs. Then I carefully inserted short pieces of regular tie stripes. Another detail that has to be added to the bridge are the bulkheads. Instead of individual boards I used a stripe of 0.4" x 0.03" basswood. I scribed in the individual boards and cutted them in the desired shape. After staining and drybrushing it was time for a provisional "assembly". Later I will glue the bulkheads to the last trestle bents. You can see in the picture below that the bulkhead will fit in the tie spacing between the two tie types and will be at the same hight than ties. When the bridge is finally installed, also some piles will be driven into the embankment to "support" the bulkheads.
first test photos with trees... To remember: the link to the prototype photo And for the Google Earth aficionados I uploaded a kmz-file with some profiles and the modul footprint. To my surprise the prototype landscapes surface at the locations where the module ends are almost as flat as the americaN endplates. I hadn´t recognized this before. Also intersting are the historical images: the storage yard for the utility poles (?) is rather new. And the small ponds didn´t exist 20 years ago.
Longhorn cattle... ... is a rare species in N scale. So I started my own breed of longhorn cattle. The first cow: I started with a Preiser cow, cutted away the original horn, made a small groove in the cranium and added a new horn. I made it from 0.025 piano wire and used CA to bond it. A little bit acrylic paint did the rest.
Drainage ditches.... ...and some minor corrections at the embankment and a thin layer of spackle for the street is all I´ve done this week :thumbs_down:
Ready for scenery Meanwhile I bonded all bridge parts under the painted bridge track,... ...this is the view from above throught the bridge... ...and on top of the module. I finally spackled and sanded the surface and added a first coat of earth color. About 120 decidous trees are on the way from the manufacturer to me, so I soon can start with the scenery.
Time for scenery Last weekend I made a lot of test for modelling a wheat field prepared for seeding. Remember that winter wheat in Kansas is seeded in August or September. Since the season we model on our modules is summer, the wheat fields have to be empty.
and more scenery The track on the segments is now ballasted, the gravel road is finished and the trestle now "stands" in the embankment. And I started with the first layer of grass this evening: Don´t wonder about the green stripe. When I analysed the aerial pictures of the vicinity of the bridge I noticed that a 50 feet wide stripe on both sides of the track is unused for any agricultural use. So I decided to model this stripe as well. The big field in the foreground will become the prepared wheat field, on the other side a lot of trees will be planted, just like the situation at the prototype bridge.
Basis scenicing fpr ight of way completed... An overview over the whole module, as it looks this evening.
Bernd, excellent work so far. I noticed no one answered your question on this. The reason for the "T" sections is simple, they are keeping the bridge properly centered over the concrete piers. There should be matching "T" pieces on all 4 corners (unless they've been broken off or rusted off) because the bridge is not actually attached to the piers. As with most Railroad bridges, they simply "sit" on the supports. Thus, if the bridge was ever to be hit by a passing truck and they did not have the pieces of beam to hold it centered, the bridge would simply slide right off the pier.
Obviously they only count with trucks or farm machinery from the south side cute:, where both beams have those Ts: No Ts on the northern side of the beams, but a height restriction sign on N 143rd St E about 600 feet away from K-254 for a 12'3" clearence.
I just finished reading through this thread. I really like these types of modules. Makes me think I should be having a look around for just this sort of thing in my area. You really nailed the feel of a long open stretch of track, exactly like most of the "real world" railway is. Gonna have to keep an eye on your progress now!
Ben, become a member in the Free-moN YGroup: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Free-moN/ and ask for members in your area. I think that Free-moN will become the modular standard in N scale with the best possibilities for realistic scenery and operation in North America. There must be a lot of progress in the next days, because on 10-15 MoPac Bridge will be part of the americaN layout at the US model railroad Convention in Rodgau/Germany...
Love the progress, especially the wheat field. Could you share some of the details how you made the wheat field? Jamie
Jamie, I used a mixture of the two finer grades of the soil Parabraunerde from a german manufacturer and some fibre grass. I applied a thin layer of the mixture and used a comb to create the furrows. Then I misted the soil with a water / isopropanol mixture and sprayed over a small amount of selfmade scenic cement (1 parts white glue, 4 parts water and a drop of dish washing detergent). Since it is real sifted soil, it´s important to get enough glue in the soil, so it hardens after drying, but not to use too much liquid, because then the field will look after a thunderstorm with heavy rainfall...
