The Canal Line

[coosvalley]

Some progress...

First, I made a pair of bumpers. Basically, I file 2 pieces of rail to meet in a "V" shape and solder them together, then I add a U-shaped piece of wire for the front legs...Now I don't have to worry about cars going off the end of the sidings..



Next is this structure from Bergen National Laser, I'm still working on the second section..These are AWESOME buildings, and losing this MFR is a huge bummer ..But, I'm glad I got my hands on some !..(Thanks David!)



And here you can see the bridge taking shape.Piers are done. The small bridges in place are there just to hold the track up, and were part of an earlier layout. I managed to fit ME bridge ties to most of the turnout and track sections, I will "fake it" with the remaining parts of the turnout with careful placed decking. I will be trying to incorporate the slide switch into the bridge to power the frog, and this will be the only turnout that is "hand" thrown..The rest have or will have switch machines..





And last up we have a snapshot, just cuz..



Thanks for looking!

[coosvalley]

More updates..

First up this kit is 90% completed, just need to add some trim pieces, and weather it more...



Next up is this group of cars that I converted to Accumates, no more slinky!



The bridge has begun to take shape...Hey it's starting to look like a layout!



And last up we see the temporary bridges being hauled off..Thanks for looking!

[LIRR]

Nice weathering job on the southern gon

[central.vermont]

Looking realy nice Joe!!!!
Jon

[OldEastRR]

I thought you were going for a wooden deck wooden piers look for the bridge, like the prototype.

[coosvalley]

Nice weathering job on the southern gon

Thanks!..Not much to it, I made dents with CA and then colored them with gouache.

Looking realy nice Joe!!!!
Jon

Thanks Jon!

I thought you were going for a wooden deck wooden piers look for the bridge, like the prototype.

The real bridge is steel, and has stone abutments. I will be adding decking to the bridge, but I have not gotten that far yet, heck I haven't even glue the bridge down yet!..Here is a pic of a nearby sister bridge, though without a turnout on it..

http://imagestorage.nerail.org/photos/2012/05/04/201205042143334249.jpg

[coosvalley]

First this week, vehicles:

OK, my quest for some tires for detailing led me to purchase some from DM toys. This led to the purchase of this snowcat that is a keychain, but is also N scale. I have wanted an N scale model of one of these for years, as I run one about 60 hours a week for almost half of the year. I even got to run them for 2 seasons in California, and could see the the UP(SP) Donner pass line while working, which was pretty sweet.

Here is the model, and also those tires(and wheels) on a GHQ truck that's been on my workbench for years. Now it has that beefed up truck look...



I also repainted this buggy I found on ebay, I hope to someday modify it to look more like a pulpwood loader..You can also see the tires on the Athearn C truck that I weathered this week..



And the layout also reached some milestones this week. I received the last 3 turnout motors, and installed them, and wired up the frogs. I also installed a slide switch in the bridge, and it throws the points, and powers the frog. So now, except for any changes, the trackwork, switches,motors and frog powering is 100% done. The corresponding additions to the control panel were completed too. This lead to being able to finish the bridge abutments, which you can see here...No more playing with vinyl tile bricks!(that is, until the next section )



Thanks for looking!

[coosvalley]

This week I tackled a few projects.

First I was unhappy with the operation of the track on the bridge now that all of the track is finished. I made the whole thing one piece, soldered together instead of using rail joiners due to the bridge ties. When installing everything for the final time last week this piece suffered some solder breaks and was re-soldered. After some careful re, re-soldering I got it back to smooth operation, body mounted 60 ft. flats now glide over it, so I glued down the bridge track and I'm calling done. Later I will add the bridge decking and walkway on the side, and maybe some guardrails too.

Next I finally toned down the canal walls somewhat, using india ink. I can't decide if it needs another coat, what do you guys think?





And finally this week I also glued the fascia on, and blended the front of the layout to that using lightweight spackle, which can be seen here..

[sirenwerks]

Luke Towan has a nice tutorial that include some neat tips on doing water - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dug-ffEhqZU

[Blazeman]

Might take some dexterity, but consider tide lines on the wall and of course vegetation that has managed to exist growing over the top and down the side here and there.

[svedblen]

Excellent work! This is turning out great!

Might take some dexterity, but consider tide lines on the wall and of course vegetation that has managed to exist growing over the top and down the side here and there.

I second that.

Regarding toning down of the walls. I think you should do a second or event a third coat. Compare the photo you linked to a few posts back:

[coosvalley]

Luke Towan has a nice tutorial that include some neat tips on doing water - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dug-ffEhqZU

I'm leaning towards using the Woodland Scenics products for the water, but if I change my mind, this will be handy!

Might take some dexterity, but consider tide lines on the wall and of course vegetation that has managed to exist growing over the top and down the side here and there.

I want to add a "tide line", but I'm worried that when I do pour the water, I won't be able to get it to match up with my paint job(the layout surface isn't totally level).  So, instead, I'm hoping the tint used in the "water" will add this effect for me(fingers crossed). Vegetation, however, will be included.

Excellent work! This is turning out great!
I second that.

Regarding toning down of the walls. I think you should do a second or event a third coat. Compare the photo you linked to a few posts back:

I agree. I will add another coat this week. Before doing that I will try to give some individual bricks a very thin wash of either a rusty color or some with a dark greenish color, to make them look a little more random. Once I am happy with that, I will also give the areas under the abutments some rust streaking from the bridge.

And I have decided that all scenery adjacent to the canal will be finished before I tackle the water..

And finally, last night I painted the lightweight spackle on the front edge of the layout, so now it's on to scenery, and acquiring structures and building them. After that, detailing, the part I'm looking forward to the most....

[OldEastRR]

With hindsight .... since you cut all the stone blocks individually, painting or staining many batches in different colors before you assembled them would given you that varied stone look pretty easily. An even tide line wouldn't be hard either, just put all the darker stones at one level. No criticism, these kinds of "oh I shoulda .." things happen to me all the time. But anybody else making blocks like you did could use the tip.

[coosvalley]

I did consider taking small batches of "bricks" and dipping them in some sort of stain or wash. But the bottom 3 layers on each side are not individual bricks, just strips of the material, so that would have looked a little funny. One thing about the vinyl tile "bricks", is that they "sparkle", like mica in real rocks. It does not show up great in photos, but in person the effect is pretty cool, which is why I've avoided painting the "bricks" and so far have only used a wash of india ink and alcohol, which does not cover up the "sparkle". Staining some bricks beforehand would have worked, though, and was considered!

Oh, and no update  this week, because all I've done is run trains! (It feels good to say that)

In this pic you can sorta see the sparkle under the car on the right, it's much more pronounced in person

[OldEastRR]

Do briks covered with grime, oil, moss. etc. sparkle? The sparkle is good effect for the upper, ungrimed bricks along a waterway, tho. Too bad I don't have a canal on my layout or I'd try the method. I will have a millpond so I need to figure out how to model that "comb of water" going over the top of the dam.