The Western Maryland in Free-moN Modules

[PiperguyUMD]

Since these are starting to take over our garage, I think its probably time to give them their own thread!

Since moving into our home, there is not space to dedicate exclusively to a layout. To boot, the thought of trying to build "the big one" is overwhelming, building 2-4 feet at a time seems much more manageable. Besides, my favorite aspects of the hobby are building equipment and rail fanning layouts. Eventually I'd like to get into photography as well, so modular it is! The goal of each module will be to select scenes on the WM that I can model with as little compression as possible. Kicking cars around from one siding to the next would add some interest, but I'm not overly concerned with operations. Hopefully the end result is something that is fun to railfan, and immediately recognizable as a specific place on the WM. The only limitations I have on this are the size of my module storage cabinet, which limits module size to something that fits in a 18"x48" tray, and when assembled, the garage itself. The other design consideration, at least for a few of these modules, is that I would like to be able to assemble several of them into a loop for continuous running. I know the Freemo standard isn't intended for this, but I think if I'm careful in the construction, I can have a set of modules that I will function this way.

Locations to be modeled:
Bridge over MD550 in Saballisville MD
Thurmont MD
Hanover MD - to be home to Jim Coshun's amazing engine house kit!
Jack's Mountian PA
Owings Mills - also to be home to one of Jim Coshun's kits!

On the short list
Douglas WV
Big Savage Tunnel
Cumberland Station
One of the many Potomac crossings
Large coal mine

So on to construction!

As I mentioned, I would like be able to assemble some of the modules into a loop. Obviously precision here is a must. I have decent woodworking skills, but I didn't want to chance it with these 8 modules, so my birthday present this fall from my wife was getting the frames for these modules CNC cut!



To my eye, the most critical part of this will be the four corner modules, so I started with these over the holidays. They are 12" at the end plate as that was largest that they could be, and still fit in my cabinet. Radius is 22" with easements. Legs are of the electrical conduit variety, and slip into 3d printed leg pockets. I know that UV resin can be a brittle, but so far so good! Endplates, leg pockets, wiring, and first layer of foam get all four modules to a level starting point.







Since I was able to do some recon at Sabillisville in December, that will be the first project. More on that in the next post! Documenting this stuff is a new thing for me, so I look forward to everyone's feedback and pushing my abilities!

[mu26aeh]

Can't wait to see it come to life, especially since you're filling in spots currently missing from my Hanover Sub layout except for Hanover.

Here's my Jim Coshun engine house. 


And a little aside here, not to hijack the thread.  If you got an extra second while saying your prayers, if you're into that kinda thing, say one for above mentioned Jim.  He's been battling cancer and the fight right now isn't going the greatest. 

Now, back to building railroad !

[PiperguyUMD]

And a little aside here, not to hijack the thread.  If you got an extra second while saying your prayers, if you're into that kinda thing, say one for above mentioned Jim.  He's been battling cancer and the fight right now isn't going the greatest. 

Agreed, I message Jim on FB every now and then. I wish him the best, he is a wealth of knowledge for WM fans.

[wm3798]

I will be watching this with considerable interest...  While I took the easy way out and built a TTrak set for my Cumberland Station model, I've always tinkered with the idea of doing a Freemo N set that covers from the little highway overpass in Ridgeley, across the river and up to about City Junction.  Lots of interesting bridges, a brewery, urban chaos and a gently curving main line... 

Mmmmm.  Tasty.

I suppose you'll be using your model pooper to make the station model?

Lee

[PiperguyUMD]

I suppose you'll be using your model pooper to make the station model?

🤣🤣🤣

I haven’t gotten that far yet. I want to get a few simple modules under my belt, as well as assemble Jim’s kits to build up my chops. On the occasion that I pull out that edition of Model Railroader that has the plans for Cumberland station in it, I find myself thinking of using silhouette or laser cutter. The photon has served me well, but large flat walls are not its strength.

[PiperguyUMD]

Let there be legs! I went the 3/4"metal conduit route aided by the 3D printer. I had some ugly orange resin that I wanted to use up, so I'm experimenting with printing the inserts that hold the carriage bolts. The held up while cutting threads and seems to be holding up without any issues. Also threaded the leg pockets for the thumb screws that secure the legs in place. Again, I know that UV resin can be brittle, but so far so good. Worse comes to worse, I have a friend with a FDM printer that could churn out a few of these if needed. A coat of flat black on everything and we're off to the races. Did enough of these in one batch to take care of my four corner modules.

[wm3798]

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how we will colonize Mars.  One 3-D printed part at a time...

Lee

[CNR5529]

@PiperguyUMD, I really like this leg design idea and will be curious to see how they hold up over time. Would you be willing to share the stl file? I would happily conduct some tests out here on some modules...

[PiperguyUMD]

Spent some time this afternoon working on the bridge itself. In December I was able to visit the prototype and take a boatload of pics/measurements. Added the railings and paint. I used chalkboard acrylics to get a matte/textured finish.





 I'll add some weathering at some point, but in the pictures from my era, this bridge is surprisingly clean and, light in coloration.





I'd love to be able to recreate this shot - the 1952 version of course. Its going to take a bit of work to get the geometry right for the road as it passes under the bridge.

[wm3798]

It's easy to piece together "RAILWAY" from Micro Scale decals... you have to trim the T to make an I, tho.

Lee

[CRL]

It's easy to piece together "RAILWAY" from Micro Scale decals... you have to trim the T to make an I, tho.

Lee

RATWAY?

 

[PiperguyUMD]

Was able to get some track down this afternoon. I've spent the last few weeks weathering some Atlas c55 track. It was a tedious tie-by-tie process, but now that I have some down, I'm really glad I took the time to do this. Super elevation was added using a strips of painter's tape stacked 3 deep on the outside rail. The deck of the bridge has the superelevation built into it, so I had make sure that the inside edge of the bridge deck was level with the sub roadbed and remove the layers of painter's tape form the track directly on top of the bridge. I'll have to do some wiring this week then on to scenery. I'm liking that lean! Anyone have any advice on modeling slag ballast?

[PiperguyUMD]

After surviving yesterday's southern storms, I've been rewarded with a surprise day off! Earlier this week, I ordered some of this ballast in an effort to match the stuff used on the East Sub in the 1950s.

https://www.superiorscenics.com/product/rusty-battleship/

I slapped a little down and tried to replicate the shot above. It seems a little light in person, but when I compare the photos, I think it looks pretty good. Curious to see what TRW hive-mind thinks





Thoughts?

[PiperguyUMD]

Its been a crazy few weeks, but I've been able to do a number of small projects to the Sabillasville module.

First, Rt 550 was paved. I made forms with scraps of hardboard, then "poured" the highway using Dap latex concrete patch.



It took nearly two days to dry, when it did this is what I was left with. I was expecting some cracking, but nothing like this. Fortunately, a top coat made short work of it



Once dry, I was able to sand the concrete patch to the desired contour using 80 grit sandpaper. This lighted up the surface color quite a bit, so I dulled it down with an India Ink wash





After all that I had this great idea that I could make a mask to paint the lines by sticking .030x.030 strips of styrene to the surface of the road with double sided tape. This was a disaster, and resulted in sanding it all off, and starting over. This time, I used the styrene strips as a guide for drawing the lines with colored pencils. This worked very well. I'll go back at some point and add some tar lines and patches. With the road squared away, I planted the bridge abundments, using sculptamold, and finished the terrain around the bridge and the edges of the road



On to ground cover! I plan to use static grass, but want to layer that over a textured scenery base. I wanted to use real soil, but nothing around here is a good match for MD, but as I stood around lamenting about what to do, I remembered that I had a box of taupe unhanded grout. So I slapped down a base of a mixture of acrylic and white glue, then coated it with grout by sifting it with an old tea strainer.





So far so good! Hopefully I'll get a big box of scenery goodies shortly!

[LIRR]

the track looks great. I've also painted the ties individually....time consuming but worth the effort.