WM Western Lines Engineering Report

[wm3798]

White Tower is now open for business in Greenwood, PA.  Offering greasy cheap burgers, and an outstanding view of the WM Main line...

Lee

[sizemore]

That scene looks really good! I especially like the old pick'em-up truck. Have you considered using some fiber optics for the lights?

Tim

[davefoxx]

Is this the White Tower Tanning Salon?   

[MichaelWinicki]

Is this the White Tower Tanning Salon?   

LOL! 

Or the White Tower nuclear plant.

[Bob Bufkin]

Dr. Frankensteins lab!

[wm3798]

Turbo Charged Chicken!
Nuclear Tuna!
"Flash in the Pan" Omelets.

Just a few of our specialties!

Looks like we'll have to stuff some more french fries and paper napkins under that sidewall, too...

[GaryHinshaw]

Where is the blue light coming from?  Maybe the Hard Hat's neon sign from across the street? 

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Looks like Zool & Gozer moved out of Sigorney Weaver's fridge and into the White Tower 

Very cool scene.
Lee: you are the (Key)Master!

[wm3798]

Gary,
The blue light is emanating from the second floor apartment above the Hard Hat.  Under normal viewing, it's supposed to look like someone's up there watching Carson.  (If you were born after 1980, no that's not Carson Daly).

During a time exposure, it's pretty intense.  I'm working on the wiring, and will include a kill switch for the interior lights.  That way, when I'm blasting megapixels for 10 seconds, the lights will only be on for about 1.5 of them.  That's worked out pretty well in other night shots I've done.

Lee

[wm3798]

Tonight I experimented with slapping some white paint over those overly bright LEDs.  Seems to help.  Pictures when I get around to it.

Also finished painting the window bridge on the Thomas Sub leading into Elkins.  It was starting to bug me that it looked too "unfinished" as all that work was proceeding on the lower deck.

Started the evening working on my soldered wire trees...  Not sure how I feel about them yet.  The trunks looked fantastic, but adding the poly fiber and the flocking messed them up a little.  I'll have to go back and watch MC's video again.  I think my mistake was using the fine grain flocking instead of the coarse... which I don't have any of...

Oh well, I'm going to need a gadzillion trees, so these six should be able to blend in somewhere.

Lee

[M.C. Fujiwara]

The coarse gives more coverage and a better leaf texture.
Then I go back and sprinkle a little lighter fine foam to give variation and highlights to the top.

After I saw you solder your trunks, I got to worrying about my non-soldered ones eventually unravelling.
Hmm...  Hopefully the glue/sawdust bark will keep everything in place.
And at least I don't have humidity to worry about.

Looking forward to seeing your trees (all gazillion of them)!

[wm3798]

As I get closer to the final installation of at least part of the Highway 48 bridge, I made some good progress on the landforms above and below it...  Recall that in this corner, the upper shelf between the helix and Elkins pokes through the sky...  The trick is to make a reasonably seamless transition to fool the eye into thinking the world has a second deck...  Here's the before:



Note that the portal at Kerens is just sort of "there" and down below in Cumberland, there's nothing...

Here's tonight's progress...


While my hill may not be as anatomically correct as Ed's recent efforts, I think it works out pretty well to transition the main deck scenery up to the second deck.  Some more views:


This scene should stand alone pretty well once the trees are planted.  And yes, that retaining wall is indeed yet another application of the fabled vertical blind slats!



This view shows the freshly painted bridge module across the window on the second deck.  I've decided that I will concentrate on installing trees along this entire section from the Helix to Elkins so I can feel like I've accomplished something.  The whole section is only 5" wide max, so it shouldn't be too big an effort.

Last shot, a close up of the ongoing improvements in South Cumberland.
Before:


After:


Obviously, the bridge deck isn't there, but I've built up the driveway in front of the freight station, and installed the B&O interchange track there in the foreground.  By the weekend, I should have the tracks ballasted, the driveway paved, and the highway cut through.  Most of the scenery base is made up of scraps of foam, cardboard and even a little homasote left over from the old temporary loops of the layout.  I'll say it again:  "Never throw anything away!"

You may now talk amongst yourselves.
Lee

[Philip H]

That very first shot of the new hill an portal make it seem like some sort of Gundam monster that is stepping on Cumberland as it eats Elkins.  Just saying . . .

[wm3798]

I like to think of it more as "The Blob".

This is one of those instances where looking at photos (cropped and close up) will be better than actually being there.  Once the trees and some more details are added, especially around the Hoffman Manufacturing Company, I think it will look a little better.

I put the highway bridge back in place this morning, and painted the freight house lot...it's coming together nicely.

Lee

[conrail98]

I don't know Lee, you might be better running a fascia up to the hillside of the portal then dropping the hill down on top of that building. In person it's going to look a little weird,

Phil