1960's OWNY/NYCish 7'x17' Layout

[M.C. Fujiwara]

I like foam.
It's soft.
I don't like plaster.
It's hard.

Foam allows me carve down until I see the landform that fits.
Also easier to plant trees.

I used the cardboard strips, fiberglass tape. and sculptamold just to fill the small gaps between fascia & ply sub-roadbed.
Probably no trees there.
At least I tinted the plaster & sculptamold so if there is a chip or if I have to drill there won't be chunks of white exposed.

But I'm a foam guy.
A pink foamer. 

[M.C. Fujiwara]

After filling in track gaps with replacement ties (probably my least favorite aspect of model railroading), I spraybombed the track with Valspar "Blindfold" (a poor man's "Grimy Black"):



On sidings I spritz with light grey and rusty red:



Will look better when cindered/ballasted.

Fitted & caulked together the layers of pink foam that will hold the trees behind the town of Monticello:



The large piece isn't caulked down to the town board yet so I can paint & ground cover it easily on the ground instead of trying to lean all the way over.

While there are access holes under the table to reach the track under the town, I'm also making the tunnel portals removable so dude can reach in if necessary:





The plastic wrap allows the sculptamold to fit close yet not stick to the portal.
I'l probably use some small velcro tabs to keep the portal in place.

Then started in on the basic ground cover (dirt, various grouts & ground foams, ground leaves):







Miles is almost done with Monticello, so I gotta get my butt in gear on the other structures.
Back to the workbench!
Thanks for looking.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Finished up the scenery forms at the far side of the layout, where the tracks "disappear" under a highway overpass.
Used blocks of pink foam to carve concrete block abutments:





Started scenicking the Monticello background blob (which, being 3"+ back, I made removable just for this very purpose!):



Painted & ground foamed Polyfiber bushes, static grass, mix of super & store-bought trees.
Mr. T-pins are holding the polyfill bushes down while the Aileen's clear Tacky Glue cures.



More static grass.
Non-prototypical-yet-highly-practical tunnel portal fixture can be pulled straight up and removed for access.
Compromise.

Used WS 2mm light green for the foreground park (will have a lit gazebo):





But am thinking it's too light, so will probably rip out & go medium or dark green short grass.
Or skip static grass for the park grass and stick with coarse ground foam.
We'll see how it looks tomorrow.

Also installed the Walthers truss bridge:



Tracks are usually on 3" centers, but the bridge forces 2 1/4" centers, thus the funkey-monkey curve on the approach.
Hoping all trains and cars still run well on the curves and no banging occurs.
If there are any issues, I can rip up approach tracks and begin closing curve radius farther back.

Back to the workbench!
Thanks for looking.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Easy bushes, underbrush, & background forest filler:



Tease out polyfill (old pillow fluff) to a thin blob.
Place on wax paper (important!), then spray paint dark grey / brown on both sides.



Spray with hair spray, sprinkle layers of coarse ground foam (I used WS dark green, then medium green) with a sprinkle of fine WS green blend.
Spray again with hair spray.
When dry you can rip/pull apart into long strips or sections that will add depth by filling in forests behind a thin line of trees:





As you can see in the above photo, I had to slap on & shape some sculptamold to provide some even ground for a few of the bungalows.
After it dried I scenicked it and installed the bungalows:



The bungalows are two kits of AMB's "Old Man Dan's House" expanded with some styrene backing into three structures.
There are 2 LEDs in the right bungalow as well, but need to wait until I install a third LED on "Slatkin's Bungalow Colony" sign at entrance to right.

3 LEDs + Resistor circuit connected to 12V wallwart = happy lights, as in this little shack:



Will try putting some gels / paint on some LEDs to get some color "variation.

"Poured" a road of lightweight spackle tinted with grey craft paint & a little water:



When it was totally cured I used sanding sponges to smooth the surface:





Then installed the depot, with 1 internal & 2 external LEDs"



Final step before the weekend: cleared off the industrial area, filled countersunk screwholes with spackle, and sealed fascia seams with caulk:



This weekend:
More trees (need about 200-300 more)
Build fuel dealer & industrial warehouses/factories (including one Downtown Deco plaster structure)
Start painting figures 

Back to the workbench!
Thanks for looking.

[pwnj]

Awesome! And great tip! I knew I saved those old couch pillows for a reason. 

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Awesome! And great tip! I knew I saved those old couch pillows for a reason. 

But if you find stuff growing in the stuffing, don't put the polyfill in the oven! 

Old pillows work fine (depending on the type of fill), otherwise, I got a 20 oz bag at Jo-Ann's for a couple bucks:
http://www.joann.com/20-oz-crafter-s-choice-dry-fiber/10706810.html#prefn1=prod_type&start=91&q=fairfield&sz=90&prefv1=Product

I've been using it for 2-3 years, and have barely used up 1/4 of the bag.
You really want to tease the stuff as thin as you can, and then tease it out some more.
Otherwise you get puffballs. 

[pwnj]

Yep, I know it well. These pillows are half foam, half polyfill, and no mold or yick growing in them. I also have part of a bag of polyfill left from sewing projects to use, too.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

My futbol fanaticism was fouling my modeling time, so I finally got a TV in the garage over my workbench:



So at least I can listen to matches while working.
[Workbench is somewhere under those piles of projects]

The trestle shown above was installed on the branch to the industrial district:



Looks a bit odd with the sheer stone wall right behind it, but I plan on filling the gulch with trees & bushes so it won't look like such the dramatic drop.

Also laid the track for the Industrial District:



The curved Walthers turnout is the only non-Peco on the layout, and will have an N-scale Caboose groundthrow that'll toggle the frog polarity.

The white shapes are outlines for the two rail-served industries, with the larger one on the right probably being a cut-away on the inside aisle.
Will probably "pave" the area with 1/8" styrene, which comes almost up to railhead-height, and with thinner stuff inside the rails.

Also finished (minus signs) Leland's Fuel, which sat at the end of the coal dump trestle:



This is the structure the Flying Diesel Corps' FT smashed through before their 150' flight:





And after I finish the layout, the client's welcome to recreate that famous event should he so desire.
(Though he'll have to really get the loco going, as the structure is pretty solid )

No soccer today  but S.F. Giants have a rare 9am (PDT) game against the Marlins, so it's off to the workbench!
(Love Kruk & Kuip on TV, but will probably listen to Jon Miller on the radio. Or both!)
Thanks for looking.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Inspired by that mountain of mess on my workbench in the previous photo, I spent the last 6 innings cleaning 



Which was a good thing (surprise!) as I found a bunch of detail parts and even whole projects I was missing (surprise!).
Bad news: Giants losing 5-3 going into 7th 

Back to the (superclean) workbench!

[RBrodzinsky]

worse news.  Giants swept by Marlins

[M.C. Fujiwara]

So it goes. 

Wired up & spraybombed the industrial park trackage:



Picked up a 18" x 40" sheet of 1/8" styrene that I'll cut out space for the tracks & then fit around.
I've never used styrene to make streets, so will try various techniques to create concrete & asphalt sections: carve expansion lines, rough up with sandpaper, etc.
We'll see! 

Installed background bushes behind the bridge:



Need to install a culvert, ground cover, lots of bushy trees, etc.
For the trickle of water am thinking a few coats of glossy ModPodge or acrylic gloss medium over dark paint.
Just something to give a hint below the vegetation.

Installed the coal dump trestle piers:



Will build the deck this weekend.

Ballasting all of the double main at once would drive me more batty, so doing it in sections.
Bridge side of Left Lobe done:



WS Fine Grey Blend ballast is a bit bright to my eyes, so will weather with a wash later.

Finished installing wooden grade crossings:



Also started installing bases for Caboose ground throws.
Seems like N scale sprung have the right travel distance--hoping they have enough "umph" to throw the Peco points.
I know I don't need the ground throws since Peco turnouts are sprung as well, but I'd rather the dude flip the ground throw than constantly poke his non-too-delicate finger into the points.
Plus, Caboose ground throws are fun to flip.

Giant's about to take on the Nationals in 5 minutes (at 8am!), so back to the workbench!
Thanks for looking.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Fortunately, I have a lot of N-scale ground throws (both sprung & un-) left over from earlier projects, and, fortunately, both sprung & un- ground throws work fine with the Peco turnouts:



Built the coal dump trestle out of stained scrap wood, eyeballing the gaps for two coal cars:



Installed it on the bents:



Probably should have installed the bents after I built the deck so they lined up with the supports better, but meh.
Was going to build a network of wood supports leading up to the deck, but I thought about the time involved and so:



Behold! The Tinted Sculptamold Slug!

After that dried, installed the track:





Before I installed the track, I followed Dr. Dave Vollmer's time-tested technique of coating the base of the tie-less rails with Pliobond (use a toothpick: that stuff gets everywhere!) and the letting it DRY.
Caulked down the track, pinned it, then used 3-point gauges to hold the rails in place on the wood deck while I heated the rails with a soldering iron:



[Normally my fingers are holding the gauges in place while soldering, but difficult to take smartphone photos with mouth]

The heat activates the Pliobond and the rail sticks to the wood. Poof!



Later I'll paint the track and stain the coal dump rails with neolube or ?

Back to the Industrial District:
I got a piece of 1/8" styrene 18"x40', spray painted the rails again, and then pressed the styrene on top to create a guide:



Used a piece of flextrack to outline the ties, then cut out the section from the styrene:



1/8" styrene is pretty thick, so PITA!
You can see where the sheet snapped at the bottom of the left siding.
No biggie.

Caulked it down & let it set for a couple days, then "painted" on some lightweight spackle tinted with craft paint & thinned with water:



On the left I spackled the outer ties first, while on the right I "poured" both inside & outside of the rails.
Spackling first probably worked better, as the soupy spackle tends to weirdly wick:



Turns out I should have made more of a conscious effort to caulk closer to the track, as you can see some slipped under the styrene.
No problems, as no matter what a second application (without as much water) is needed:





This coat can be scraped level across the rails, as it'll be sanded down later.
(After totally dry!)

While that was drying, I finished up the mainline ballasting:



After the spackle totally dried, I took a triangle file and excavated the inner rails.
There was still a little undulation caused by the ties under the spackle, so I tried two paints:



Usually I prefer the Valspar "Blindfold" as my poor man's grimy black, but this is one situation where the thicker, sandable Rustoleum dark grey works better.

So a full coat of that:



It's still wet, not magically modeled as Prof. Klyzlr's Brooklyn: 3AM http://www.carendt.com/small-layout-scrapbook/page-87-july-2009/
But should provide a good base for the warehouses of the industrial district, especially with some tar, cracks, chalks / weathering powders, etc.



Still need truckloads of trees.
Should have trains back running by Wednesday!
(Then we'll see if we need any frog juicers  )

Back to the workbench!

[johnb]

Very nice modeling, your detailing is amazing. As for the Giants losing, that's good news to a Diamond Backs fan

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Thanks!
But Giants just swept Phillies to end break over .500
Humm, Baby!
Oh, and it's mostly Giants at the All Star game (which usually doesn't matter, except this year no LA LA Land Dodger Kershaw there... wait, what?? DAMN YOU SCHERZER!!!)
Knowing L.A., they'll probably count Dee Gordon as one of their's, too. 
And Bochy will probably have MadBum go 6+ deep anyway, then return to close 

And because every post needs a photo of own work, here's a POV after getting burned by a Giants' ground (throw) rule double:



Time to get back to work & focus! 

[M.C. Fujiwara]

The thick Rustoleum auto primer dried and created some groovy cracks here & there:



And a light sanding with a fine-grit sponge produced a more asphalt-like surface:



And--more important--trains run!



Meanwhile, to build a lightweight staging shelf, I caulked an 8"x58" strip of leftover 1/8" hardboard to some leftover 1" pink foam:



[Purposefully moved the hardboard as far over as possible to allow room on the pink foam for another go if oops]

After a couple days to allow the caulk to cure, I just cut along the hardboard, and POOF! instant lightweight shelf:



The hardboard underneath will allow me to screw into the wall brackets, as well as stiffen up the pink foam.
Because who wants floppy pink foam?

I painted it flat black, but forgot to take a photo 

Started building up the coal dump retaining wall with scrap stripwood:



Supports & dirt fill to come soon.

Just happy trains still run after all the scenicking:



Loco still stalls over some electrofrogs with points thrown only in certain directions: blade contact fine, it's after the jumped cut (for optional isolated frogs) that's not getting any juice.
If it was my own layout, I'd keep fiddling, but dude is mechanically challenged, so I ordered some Tam Valley Hex Frog Juicers and am in process of adding feeders to frogs (good thing I left a little of the stock Electrofrog feeder sticking out of the ties  ).

[If you're wondering why a Weyerhaeuser switcher is on a NYCish layout, dude did a lot of business with them out after moving out West. And it's his layout. So there.  ]

Back to the workbench!