The JACALAR RR

Yep - I'm planning the streets at 40 feet, and 10 foot sidewalks, on the two "main" streets.

 

Made some more progress, this afternoon, on the corner module. Got the rock face attached, and terraformed using the newspaper and plaster cloth process



Here's the pump, just placed into its hole (still have to finish that). I also am playing around with an idea about a small storage tank. I took the cap from an empty spray can, and sprayed it a gray primer. Figured I could add a ladder, maybe some guard rails along the top, and oil company decal... should look fine.

 

Here's the module sitting in its corner



As I stain the module, I'll attempt to continue the coloration from the backdrop, so that everything blends together.

Here's the first unit to pass the module in place



I've got to sand the sides down a bit. I carried the plaster cloth over, and that little bit of extra depth pushes the module out, such that there is barely enough clearance between that center rock face and the overhang for the track. Those are 19" radii sections, there, so nothing horrible, wrt to overhang, but if I can move the module back even 1/8", I'll feel a bit better. For just a couple days work (but lots of "thinking about days"), this is coming out nicely.

 

Thanks Jerry,

I got the hills painted onto the backdrop, today, plus got the pigments onto the module. I'm thinking I'll need to get a dark aluminum spray to make that can top look like a storage tank. Also, since I have to run power here for the pump, I'll add a light pole, in case crew has to come repair the pump at night.

Going to put a dirt road from the pump to the upper right. Some trees on the right, and some static grass will help cut the starkness of the module (though not too much). Also some vegetation along the rock face at the top (mostly to hide the change in material from hydrocal/rock to the plaster cloth/joint compound).





And, of course, need to carefully cut out and mount the real "Rail Scene" backdrop, rather than my printer paper copy. And then, ballast the tracks, and then....

 

Thanks George - I hadn't thought about some of the old sprues that I've been stockpiling away (for those modeling purposes) LOL. They'll be perfect.

 

This morning started out gray and drizzly, so couldn't work outside like I usually do. Wanted to get the vegetation on the oil field before I had to stop and start cleaning and preparing for Passover (we have 10 people coming to join us for sedar tomorrow night).

Here's a couple in progress shots of the vegetation going on





Being indoors, I had a couple of small helpers



but, it was very hard work, and we wore ourselves out

 

With the flora attached (including trees and static grass), I converted that plastic spray can top into an oil tank, by using some sprues to create pipes. Also added a ladder, and a smaller fuel tank (left over from one of my kits).

Here's the module, out in the sun (once it broke free of the clouds)



Here's a wide view of it, in place, with the pump.



and close up



Now, all I need to do is hook up the electricity to the pump, put in a light pole with surface mount LED, and put the real Rail-Scenes backdrop up on the wall.

 

Very nice work! I like the helpers you have there too.:cat:

 

Progress is being made!

Didn't realize it has been almost a month since my last progress shots. Part of that is because a huge amount of the progress made has been non-visible! Spent a lot of time getting feeders dropped from almost all the track in the city area, and the rest of the mountain area, and wiring up underneath. Also installed block detection in the city area for crossing signal control on front tracks, and signal control on triple/double tracks along backdrop.

I did finalize my Rail Scenes backdrops, so without further to-do:

This is the industrial area of the town, which is the left hand side, leading to the yard. Note: I still have to paint the transition from the bench top to the bottom of the scenic backdrops.




Here's looking along Main Street from the front of the layout into downtown



I'll have a grade crossing on the track in the foreground, but since everything lined up on the crossover track in the back, I'm considering putting in an underpass for the road. It will go down into the backdrop, and I'll paint the other side coming back up.

Continuing to the right, the city becomes a farm town, leading to wide open country side



... concluding with mountains in the background, and the oil field.

 

Oil Field Complete!

OK, well nothing is ever "complete", but near enough (still have to place a vehicle and person, and get the pump to run smoothly, without my pressing on one corner).

Here you can see the finished RailScenes backdrop and oil field module. This natural light picture was the best this morning, but funky shadows



Was hard to see, above, but I've installed a working lamp. Here, it shows clearly, with the light on



Close up of lit lamp and pump

 

Oil field lamp

I looked all over for a good "beat up" lamp that one might find out in a working oil field. Can't be something fancy, just utilitarian. Finally, I decided to scratch build one.

I took a small strip of PC board, and mounted a surface mount resistor (523 ohm), which when painted, looks like the switch/junction box. The lamp itself is an Ngineering 24" lampshade, with a micro-LED incandescent bulb. I painted both the inside and outside of the lampshade first with an enamel rust (Floquil paint pen), and then dry brushed white acrylic on the inside. I just let the magnet wires be the attachment to the post, with CA, and when dry, I used dark brown acrylic. Power is 5 V, so the light has a nice incandescent look to it. At the bottom of the PC stick, I made junction pads, soldering 24AWG wire for going through the foam and bench, to the hook ups beneath

Here's the lamp, lit



unlit close up of LED in shade



full lamp (unlit)

 

Thanks Jerry - yes I am very pleased with how the backdrop has turned out. I am not in any rush anymore, now that the area is back to being able to run trains through it. Did want to get the majority of the "heavy lifting" done by this weekend, since won't have quite as much time for trains over the next 6 weeks. Figured if I could get to a point where I can putter and make progress, that was good.

Next up is the transition of the backdrop to the layout. You can see some of it already started in the countryside area. Then, will start working my way out from the backdrop, in the town area. Have to raise up the level of the land (so not so much rise of the track roadbed over city streets, just minor), and start getting the streets figured out. I'm going to try mocking up the underpass, using some left over foam, first, to make sure I can pull this off nicely. I'll be able to use more of the micro LEDs in the underpass / tunnel below the tracks.

I'm going to leave the countryside area alone for now. Have some plans for it, but that will probably be next year's project.

 

I got a little bit of painting done, Sunday morning, filling out the RailScenes backdrop to the track.

Here's a blow up of one of the above shots, showing the rural portion of the scene. I had just started putting some paint below the RailScenes, onto the blue backdrop



Here's the scene with my additions to bring the countryside "forward" to where the tracks are, emphasizing the forced perspective



Blending my "impressionist" style with the realism of the backdrop is a challenge.

 

Building a tunnel

Previously, I had showed how my town structures were laid out, and how the new Rail Scene backdrops create a nice busy city street going into the backdrop



In the image above, the roads are still just construction paper, to help me figure out final placements. For the single track in the foreground, I plan to install a grade crossing with crossing gates, but the back tracks were giving me pause. As is clear, I am sitting right at a switch - in fact two: a double cross over on the left, and a single switch on the right (just behind the buildings, so that there are 3 parallel tracks to the right -- they begin diverging in height). Clearly we wouldn't put a grade crossing over a switch, so I've been going back and forth over a tunnel or a bridge.

I finally took the time to mock up a bridge, and quickly realized that any bridge high enough to clear the trains on those tracks would block the view of that great street. So, tunnel it is!

Here, you can see the hole dug out (I made a bit of a mess trying to paint the foam, at first, but it won't show)

I have the hole dug all the way to the tracks, but there will actually be a street running in front of them!

Here's a close up of a side wall. I'm using Monroe Models Concrete bridge sections, stained with WS Concrete. They will be installed "upside down", so that the angle is at the bottom, with the top flat. Each side is an angle and a flat section