The Silver Flash Mining Co. Hon30 small layout

[Scott1984]

Well I worked on a few things the last couple of days and thought I would post them. It's not a lot but it at least things are moving forward.

I put in some mine cart tracks that follow the front of the layout. They connect to the mine tunnels. I also painted the ore carts. The black plates on the ground are plates that the ore cart can turn on so you do not need a turnout.





I also mocked one of the tunnels to see how my lighting idea was working. Put in timber bracing to how it looks.








I know everything looks a little rough in the pictures, hopefully it will get better as I move along. I think it will look better once I get some dirt down and a bunch of other stuff! Thanks

[Scott1984]

I painted up 3 of the ore cars that Chris333 designed. I got them off thingiverse and had someone print them for me. No weathering done yet, don't have any weathering stuff right now but at least they look not too bad. i have a bunch more to paint so we will see how those go. Thanks!

[Chris333]

I don't think they need any weathering. Looks good as is.

[wazzou]

I don't think they need any weathering. Looks good as is.

Agreed.

[Scott1984]

I don't think they need any weathering. Looks good as is.

Thanks Chris!! Was not sure, I was comparing them to the prototype pics. Appreciate your input on these, thanks.

[Scott1984]

Thanks a lot Bryan!!

[Scott1984]

Thought I would post some progress photos of the mine section on the layout. I have only been able to work on it for a few hours a day so the progress is not super impressive but it is moving forward slowly.

Worked on the rock walls that make up the mine. The curve section is taking some time because I have to break the plaster rocks up and fit them together. I have a lot left to do on this so it will take some time.




Finished painting the ore cars for the mine. They turned out pretty good. They are 3d printed and needed some weight added. They only weighed 0.1 oz. each. I filled them with some BB's I had, filled the rest with HO scale coarse ballast to represent ore.



I was also able to get 4 tunnels scenes finished with figures and stuff. They turned out better than I thought they would.









The tunnel work has been pretty slow. I think the lighting has been the slowest part for me. Working with small LED wires was difficult but figured it out after some time and got a little better at it. The dirt in the mine area is just grey grout and the ore in the tunnels is also ballast. I think it be a decent representation of mining activity once it is all done. Thanks!

[Scott1984]

I am not sure why the pics are all goofed up. They were correct when I loaded them. Maybe I will try again to upload them.

[Scott1984]

Lets see if this works.

[craigolio1]

I think your lighting inside the tunnels is perfect. Really has that gritty flavour.

Your idea to use floral wire for the tracks is awesome. I’ve been planning an abandoned mine scene on one of my N scale mountain modules (the prototype does actually have an abandoned gold mine near where I’m modelling). I have some Micro Engineering mine cars and track but the track is perfect and straight. I need it to be not straight and look like it’s been shifting around for 100 years. Floral wire will allow for this perfectly. Thanks!!

Craig

[Scott1984]

Thanks Craig!!! I wanted that old look with yellow lighting and flickering. I want to upload a video of it but I need a you tube account to do it. Maybe I will make one so I can do that. The floral wire thing worked out pretty well. I had some mine track from a Grandt line head frame kit I will use for the mine on the top section. I noticed that the rail was pretty small and noticed the wire was about the same size. It is a pain some times to get it straight enough to use but with some patience, it was worth it. In reality, you really can not see much of it in the tunnels any way. i watch a lot of mine exploring videos on you tube. I get some of the inspiration from those. I would really like to see what you do with your mine scene, sounds like it will be pretty cool. Thanks for looking

[Scottl]

I agree, the lighting effect is excellent, I really like these scenes.  It is not something you see often in mine modeling.

[Scott1984]

Thanks Scott!! I hoped it would turn out like I had seen it my head, so far it has worked out well.

[Dave V]

Any updates on this? As I inch ever so slowly toward my own HOn30 micro layout, I want to see everyone else's progress!

[Scott1984]

Any updates on this? As I inch ever so slowly toward my own HOn30 micro layout, I want to see everyone else's progress!

Hi Dave,
I have made some progress but it is pretty slow. I plan on getting some pics up today sometime. I don't have a smart phone so I have to get my wife to take them for me. I have all the mine tunnels done finally, still working on the mine area. I do have a new track plan for the actual layout. I was able to buy some more turnouts due to some birthday cash that came my way. I really hope to start the top part of the layout soon.

Here is the new plan. I found it on the model railroader site. It was originally for On30 but I drew it up for Hon30.