Free-mo-N. BC Rail Rutherford Creek crossing.

[craigolio1]

I’ve been marching slowly along on my module. Considering how long it’s taking me to build 2ft of railway, I have a new appreciation for you guys with large layouts.

I fit an Osbourne Models wooden crossing, after which it was stained and weathered.






After this I got to work surfacing my gravel road. I wanted it to look like a hard packed, well travelled, rained on road. This one handles logging trucks. @CNR5529 suggested using ash from briquettes as the base. This I found super intriguing so I set to work making some.



But all I had was natural wood charcoal and it came out really brown.  Then I had a smack-my-head moment and used some nice grey ash that had been in front of my face all along.



I glued a layer of the ash down and was pleased with the colour and texture.



Once dry I sanded it down a bit as a loose cake had formed on top of the glued part. Once it was smooth I added a layer of slightly darker grey un-sanded grout. Once dry I scratched in some tire treads and added fine grey ballast to finish the shoulders.



I decided to have a go at weathering the rails. I masked and airbrushed some of my last bottle of Floquil Grimy black and then added to rust and grime coloured chalk powders to the rail and tie plates.





Next I added guard rails.





Finally I started on the legs. I’m following the design of Free-mo-N Nebraska and using 3/4” electrical conduit.

I feel like I’m in the home stretch here. I’m going to add a few more rocks in places to better match photos, and work on better matching the colours of the rocks and the bridge abutments. Then it’s trees and grass!

Craig.

[Mark W]

Finally I started on the legs. I’m following the design of Free-mo-N Nebraska and using 3/4” electrical conduit.

We're using 1/2" conduit, not 3/4".   1/2" is lighter and cheaper (and much less time to 3D print parts), but either will work just as well.

In any case, your module is looking amazing!  Any chance you're planning to attend the National Train Show in St. Louis (July) or NSE Convention in Nashville (June)? 

[craigolio1]

We're using 1/2" conduit, not 3/4".   1/2" is lighter and cheaper (and much less time to 3D print parts), but either will work just as well.

In any case, your module is looking amazing!  Any chance you're planning to attend the National Train Show in St. Louis (July) or NSE Convention in Nashville (June)? 

Thank you for your kind words.

1/2” ok good to know!! Thanks.

No I won’t be at any of those meets unfortunately. My life is insanely busy so I don’t stray too far from home when it comes to trains.

Craig

[CNR5529]

We're using 1/2" conduit, not 3/4".   1/2" is lighter and cheaper (and much less time to 3D print parts), but either will work just as well.

In any case, your module is looking amazing!  Any chance you're planning to attend the National Train Show in St. Louis (July) or NSE Convention in Nashville (June)? 

Thanks for the info @Mark W. I am currently working on a leg pocket design based on your and @PiperguyUMD's 3D printed pockets. We will be testing this on Craig's module and see how it holds up to trainshow (ab)use. Cheaper and lighter is better... as long as nothing goes wrong   

[craigolio1]

Couldn’t resist goofing around with a comparison.

[Scottl]

Awesome 

[RBrodzinsky]

I don’t see a gigantic coffee mug and box of cookies in the upper photo

[philippe.whyte]

Couldn’t resist goofing around with a comparison.

I love it!!  You are doing some fine work there.

[Hawghead]

I don’t see a gigantic coffee mug and box of cookies in the upper photo

I think the coffee mug and cookies were washed away in one of the floods. 

Craig,
Your module is looking great.  BZ.

Scott

[craigolio1]

Thanks guys for your encouraging words.

The next item to tackle is the cast off bridge seen to the right of the RDC in this photo.



After I learned of this bridge’s existence in the photos that @BCR 570 gave me (this is one of Tim’s photos) I felt that this bridge was integral to the scene.

I had a Micro Engineering bridge in a scrap box which I had cut up for a previous failed attempt at a module and thankfully I still had both pieces. I glued it back together and was good to go.

This bridge, having sat in the gravel for 8 years, was the perfect opportunity to try some extreme weathering. I have @tom mann’s  book (anyone who hasn’t should get it by the way)but I really have to thank @CNR5529 for walking me through this. Actually he’s been advising me on the whole module from the time that I started it. It’s nice to have a wingman when trying things for the first time. 

I shot the bridge with Krylon oxide red primer first, and then after a couple of rusty washes it looked like this:




Next I added crushed kosher salt:



Once I shot the black and washed off the salt I had this result:



I moved into a few brown and rusty washes:



Next I had to add the graffiti seen here in a closeup.



I tried a white pencil crayon and a white charcoal stick, neither of which worked. Then at michaels I found a .7mm tipped white paint pen and it worked perfectly. When it was dry I used a the tip of a knife to scratch out the middle of the lines, and shape the letters a little to better match the photo. I also issued the knife tip to add little bits of paint where needed. Finally I blended it in with black and grey washes.



The final step was to use powders to add some more build up of orange surface rust.



Here it is planted on the scene. I wish I could take better photos.




Craig.

[craigolio1]

Here’s a slightly better photo.

[Cajonpassfan]

Nice scene there, Craig. Enjoying your techniques.
Otto

[CNR5529]

That rusty washed out bridge makes the scene. You sure you never did any layout building before in a previous life? Well done, as always!

[BCR 570]

This is progressing well - neat to see something modelled from a photograph I took many years ago.

I am looking at the horizontal streaks in hte concrete abutments and the vertical rust streaks; that will be neat to see when you get to it.


Tim

[craigolio1]

This is progressing well - neat to see something modelled from a photograph I took many years ago.

I am looking at the horizontal streaks in hte concrete abutments and the vertical rust streaks; that will be neat to see when you get to it.


Tim

Thanks everyone.

Tim your photos have been a huge part of me being able to portray this area. I’m planning to do the abutments right before trees go in, but after the rest of the scenery is done. Right now the colour is off. I need to lighten it up a bit. I plan to use washes and chalks.

Yesterday I did a bunch of static grass in a few strategic places. Unfortunately photos don’t show most of the areas where vegetation might grow, so I just went by what I thought would be placed sparse growth would have accumulated. Photos of that later.

Meanwhile I got started on some conifer armatures. Huge thanks to @grove den for the tutorial.



These trees range in height from about 30-70ft which based on the photos I have, seem appropriate. I’m really looking forward to seeing how they turn out.

I truly did these the hardest using what I had in tbt garage. I always have boxes of Cat5e and Cat6 so I took about 10ft. Which once stripped yielded about 80ft of bare copper 24awg wires. The larger trunks are 4 wires twisted together and the smaller trunks are 3. I staggered the lengths of the wires so that the trucks would taper as they reached the top of the tree. This made it a rather delicate task to wrap the branches near the tops but I’m very pleased with the results.


Craig