Two more shots of work today, first rip rap around the culvert and roadside of the road approach. Then in South Seattle Yard we added more masking for the box storage yard. Only thing left in SSY is to put down the mask for the trailer storage and we'll be ready to paint the yard asphalt color.
Mike and I set out to get the roads "paved" in Black Diamond today. Here you see Mike laying down the paving tape. As he finished a section I came in with green frog tape, which the instructions recommended for protecting other surfaces. Here is the town with everything ready for the smooth-it. Here's Mike preparing the smooth-it. Then we set out to spread the smooth-it between the paving tape. The first batch did about 1/3rd of our road surface. Here are three different angles of the entire town paved. That's it for now, as we wait the 24 hours required in the directions.
One last photo for tonight, I spent some time after dinner laying down more masking tape in South Seattle Yard. I'm hoping our LHS has some 2mm Tamiya mask in stock so I can get the parking stalls masked and then paint the asphalt. Fingers crossed.
Just spent the last hour or so with my father-in-law Mike, working in Black Diamond pulling up the protective frog tape and the Woodland Scenics paving tape. This first shot is after pulling it all up and giving it a first thorough vacuum. Here is another view: The mess is substantial, but it cleans up easily with a vacuum. We found that pulling up the paving tape toward the middle of the road (as supposed to away from the road) gave a much cleaner edge. The areas that needed it were first given a light sanding with 80 grit, followed by 120 and 240. We vacuumed between each sanding to cut down on the mess. Here's Mike contemplating what to sand next: At the mid point we decided to put the buildings back in and see how things fit. Before we called it a night we started smoothing and trimming edges. A sanding stick and a sharp pen knife worked wonders. We'll hit it again tomorrow, more sanding and some touch-ups. Then we begin the sidewalks. All-in-all, I am very pleased with the Woodland Scenics paving system so far. Thanks for checking in.
This morning Mike and I set up for the sidewalk pour. The process is exactly the same as the roads, except you use a second layer of paving tape to create depth. Here is the scene just prior to the pour. Then about 20 minutes later we have spread the smooth-it in the openings. Now another 24 hour wait.....
After several sandings and touch-ups, a final building fitting and more vacuuming than I'll care to remember, Mike and I put down the first coat of Woodland Scenics asphalt top coat. We both believe it will take another coat. Once that's down and dried, we'll mask off the sidewalks and apply Woodland Scenics concrete top coat. We hope to be ready for road striping by tomorrow night.
Early this evening Mike and I masked off the sidewalks and gave them their first coat of concrete paint. Between coats we scribed lines in the sidewalks to represent contraction lines. Then we put down the second coat. We subsequently vacuumed the entire area and gave the pavement one more coat of asphalt. Here's how it looked at that point. We then reinstalled our buildings. First, merchants row: The Black Diamond bakery and the Black Diamond history museum, which is the old Columbia & Puget Sound depot. We also have the newspaper publisher, City Hall (under construction) and two more mercantile structures. All in all we are very pleased with the Woodland Scenics paving system. We still have several areas to touch up, primarily sidewalk edging and of course scenery, but I have been waiting to tackle this project with Mike for some time now and feel the wait was certainly worth it. I am very lucky to have a good friend that doubles as my father-in-law; the fact he's a great modeler is just a bonus. Until next time, thanks for checking in.
Regular work session tonight. I spent much of my evening finalizing the masking of South Seattle Yard. I used 2mm Tamiya masking tape for the parking stripes. Now that I am done, it's time to airbrush on the asphalt color. I am excited, and hopeful, this has all been worthwhile. Cross your fingers for me! Scott and Doug continued their great work on ballast. They added another 30 feet tonight, including the ballasted bridge: Then proceeding around the corner to the South side of the Franklin peninsula: Reynold worked on railcars, trailers and our container loader. It was a great night.
I spent some time preparing for the scenery project in Black Diamond last night. It involves cutting out patterns for the green space areas of the town. I used construction paper to make the template, using my thumbnail to push against the roadside edge. Once it was traced out, I finished the pattern with sharp scissors. I marked each template and the space it occupies before pulling it up and setting it aside. The next step will be using the templates to trace out the pattern on the 3mm grass mat we have ordered from Scenic Express. Scott and Doug continued working on ballast, then we all sat down with Ed and tested out the lamp product we are going to use to light the yards during night ops. Cool look, no pun intended. Thanks for checking in. M
Last night Doug and Scott taped off the South Seattle Yard area in preparation of primer. Here's how that looked: After they were done, I spent the next hour or so putting down the first coat of primer. I'll let that sit for the next day or so and check coverage, but by the looks of it, I'm thinking I can go right to the top coat rather than another primer coat. Just for fyi, we are using Vallejo Panzer Grey for the asphalt color.
