Hoboken Manufacturers Railroad Micro-Layout

[Noah Lane]

Thanks for that shot, David. You can pretty easily sharpen them in place if ever necessary.

[DKS]

Experiment: making snowbound track. I was faced with this same challenge for the JCIR, and now I'm glad I changed plans because Unitrack has made this process infinitely easier. My original idea was to spread plaster over the track and then trowel it away with a special tool to make flangeways. But this method raised several concerns. For one thing, it's messy, and requires taking special precautions with things like switches. I was also concerned about corrosion of joints; maintenance, such as cleaning rails (ideally the snow surface would be just below railhead height); and durability, given how soft plaster is and how readily it stains. Granted, I could use Hydrocal and seal it, but that would add more mess, and I really wanted a "clean" approach.

The solution was sitting in a pile on top of a cabinet: Fun Foam. I use it to line drawers to protect rolling stock and other models, and out of habit I just happen to prefer white. A quick measurement showed the foam is just slightly thinner than the rail is tall, which was perfect. So I decided to do a quick test using some leftover Unitrack parts.

First, after laying the track on a scrap of Gatorfoam, I sprayed it flat white so that all visible surfaces were "snowy."



Next, using a paper cutter I cut a narrow strip of foam, and glued it between the rails. The trickiest part was getting the width just right. Bonding it in place was no problem because foam is very "CA friendly," so it bonded quickly and securely with thick CA.



Then I built up the surfaces to either side of the track with plain 3/16-inch thick Foamcore.



Finally I added foam strips along the outsides of the rails. The inside edges of these strips had to be beveled to prevent the track "spikes" from raising the foam up above the railhead.



The finished effect is just what I sought; later I can add more strips along the sides to simulate piles of snow plowed off of the track. In addition to being a clean process, it's also darned fast, so it won't take me a week to do the whole layout.

[Dave V]

You learn something new every day...  "CA-friendly foam."  Who knew?

Are you worried the snow between the rails is too uniform?

[wazzou]

Are you worried the snow between the rails is too uniform?

With recent train traffic and a plow on the loco...wouldn't it be?

[garethashenden]

Looks good but check the trip pins don't touch the top of the foam.

[chicken45]

I'm sure fluids will leak on to the fresh snow. I'm excited to see how this plays out.

[DKS]

Are you worried the snow between the rails is too uniform?

Edit: see my response to Ed's post.

Looks good but check the trip pins don't touch the top of the foam.

The surface of the foam sits just below the railheads. Therefore, if all trip pins are property set (that is, ~.010 above the railheads), then there should never be a problem.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I think you hit that look, but is that really what track in industrial areas like this looks like beyond the first day of the snow fall?

Take a look at these: https://picasaweb.google.com/103328750375507168249/January42014Baltimore80macHunt#5965277562251779954
https://picasaweb.google.com/103328750375507168249/January42014Baltimore80macHunt#5965277593445661554

I think it'd be much more impressive if you could reproduce some of the less "clean" aspects of it.

[DKS]

I think it'd be much more impressive if you could reproduce some of the less "clean" aspects of it.

Absolutely. Remember my "dirty snow" experiment? That's still the rule of the day, and the finished effect will be far less "pristine" than appears in this test. I was simply looking for a clean (modeling-wise) and simple way of getting snow onto the tracks merely as a starting point.

Eventually things will start to look more like this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/63255278@N08/6816671010

But still not sure about this: https://plus.google.com/photos/103328750375507168249/albums/5965277521460676193/5965429572543017586?banner=pwa&pid=5965429572543017586&oid=103328750375507168249

[M.C. Fujiwara]

I wonder if blowing a shrink-wrap gun, or a hair dryer, or hovering a soldering iron over the foam would warp it enough to create that uneven texture.
As opposed to relying only on adding your fab "dirty snow" to create the effect.
As you know (and thus why you're using the foam), the more you can do with the "base" layer, the more you can focus the detailing on details, rather than um-teen layers to get a basic effect.

Will be very groovy!

Perhaps install some straws under the upper level so, when everything's done, you can drop a little dry ice in a chamber and "animate" the layout with all that steam seeping from locos, buildings, people, etc. 

[DKS]

I wonder if blowing a shrink-wrap gun, or a hair dryer, or hovering a soldering iron over the foam would warp it enough to create that uneven texture.

Tried that once. All it does is shrink and get kind of gooey.

[Scottl]

Rand Hood published great methods using modelling paste and paint.  He spread it like frosting with an palette knife.  I think it would work very well over the foam.  The foam is a great idea.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Tried that once. All it does is shrink and get kind of gooey.

I was looking at your reference photo, and seeing the little dips near the spikes / ties.
Wasn't thinking of melting, just heating up so a finger or dowel could more-easily slightly squish/form the edges of the foam along the center of the track.
Maybe even just pressing with finger?
Just something subtle to get rid of the sooper-clean & flat line/edges.

I'm sure you have your tricks & looking forward to seeing the magic

[davefoxx]

1) Hard to believe there's Unitrack under there.

2) I never would have thought to paint the track white, but now it seems so obvious that if you painted it a rusty or grimy color, the dark color would emphasize the oversize flangeways.  Good job!

3) How in the hell do you get such precise cuts such that there's no gaps between the rail and the "snow"?  Sure, you can press on the foam and get an impression of the railhead, but then you need to think ahead to allow for and cut the bevel.  I'd never get that as tight as you have it in this picture.

DFF

[crrcoal]

How about Mike Confalones method of making "snow". I believe he uses white foam that is similar for use in pottery type projects? Whatever it is it's VERY convincing.