Franksville Wisconsin N-scale modutrak module buildout

[GaryHinshaw]

Great scene.  This screams upper midwest to me; but you need someone out there actually mowing the lawn to be completely authentic.

[Dave Schneider]

It needs a Virgin Mary shrine in an upended bathtub to really be Wisconsin!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_Madonna
Devoted but cheap.

Best wishes, Dave

[Chris333]

lol l've seen those modeled before.

[GaryHinshaw]

Speaking of holy shrines, these were inexplicably popular when I lived in Ohio 30 years ago:

[mcjaco]

Love it when Jamie gets the bug to model.  Fast and furious.....and wonderful scenery!

[lashedup]

LOL - I don't know about Mary on the half shell, but we are working on a weber grill and other odds and ends.  Also thinking about ways to make lawn mower tracks in the grass. Could mist very subtle shades of light or dark with an airbrush, but I may need to experiment first. Large custom oak trees with a tire swing is also on the agenda.

I'm in New York the next few days for the auto show and will be back on Thursday. 

[tappertrainman]

LOL - I don't know about Mary on the half shell, but we are working on a weber grill and other odds and ends.  Also thinking about ways to make lawn mower tracks in the grass. Could mist very subtle shades of light or dark with an airbrush, but I may need to experiment first. Large custom oak trees with a tire swing is also on the agenda.

I'm in New York the next few days for the auto show and will be back on Thursday.

A ride-on mower with a width of 48inches ends up a little under a 1/3 of an inch in N scale.  That's some tiny tracks!  Maybe make a stencil out of cardstock so you can mist on a slightly lighter or darker color in stripes and make them (mostly) even across the lawn.

James

[Sokramiketes]

As I'm moving through the modules with signal wiring upgrades, I am now making it to the Franksville/Caledonia set.  Time to clean up a rats nest!

This is the Caledonia, WI module.  It was one of the early modules and wired from some rough instructions from me.  It all worked, but as I get ready to install detection and signal drivers, I really wanted to clean it up.  Here's where we're starting:



Step one is house cleaning:



Then we can start rebuilding.  I like to lay out the detector boards first when starting fresh.  The terminal strip represents what would be a signal cabinet on the prototype, the main bus wires will run at the bottom, be split out at the terminal block as needed, and then a subharness will feed the module.   I've started running the subharness to individual feeders on Main 1 (Blue/White).


And here's what it looks like with all feeders and Tortoise frog connections connected in the module subharness:

[mcjaco]

Any chance we'll see the tortoise at the one of the Caledonia siding finally powered?   

[Sokramiketes]

Any chance we'll see the tortoise at the one of the Caledonia siding finally powered?   

Red and black wires are next!

[lashedup]

Ok, some updates that I need to get caught up on...

I forgot to build in the service road leading to Tower A68 so I added some lightweight spackle to build up part of the embankment:



The siding extension module is going to mostly be covered completely in trees on one side just like the prototype so I added the underbrush that I'll add trees to later. It is just polly fill that is stretched, rattle canned with primer grey, rust primer and some green, glued down, hit with adhesive spray and sprinkled with fine ground foams.





Also added some initial static grass and sifted dirt to the pond banks before I pour the water:



I decided to try adding some EZ line to the fence posts in one of the farm fields and while it will work, the reddish appearance of the "rust" colored EZ Line is a little too bright for my tastes. However it is better than nothing being there:



I also started building up the land mass area where the Franksville Oil Company buildings will go:

[Pomperaugrr]

Very nice progress.  The EZ line looks good on my monitor.  That pond is going to look good with the undercut banks.

Eric

[lashedup]

double post...

[lashedup]

Pond is poured and algae bloom is in full effect. Banks will be fixed afterwards...



Started adding trees to the siding extension module on the other side of the house:







Service road is in...

[Pomperaugrr]

The duckweed and algae in the pond looks excellent.  Is that Floquil in Envirotex?  Very nice effect!

Eric