Sunshine, Palm Trees and a Food Industry...

Discussion in 'Planks, Switching and Shelf Layouts' started by Gary, Jan 6, 2021.

  1. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    Congratulations Gary on making POTW with what is another of your truly superb scenic builds. :tophat::tophat::tophat::tophat::tophat::tophat:
     
  2. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Thanks Paul. :tophat:

    Cheers, Gary.
     
  3. steve

    steve Full Member

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    Hi Gary.

    It is looking like a great project. I will follow this with interest.
    What is the advantage of Gorilla glue over PVA glue.

    Steve
     
  4. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Hi Steve,

    There really isn't any advantage, I just decided to give it a go !

    I will admit that I used PVA on my larger JSRR layout and in some places, the track lifted slightly, even after ballasting... I knew the Gorilla Glue would swell/expand, but it didn't lift the track as I had it well weighted. A quick run around with the scalpel soon fixed any bubbles of expansion. I can say that the track is firmly secured now and not going anywhere ! ;)

    Cheers, Gary.
     
  5. steve

    steve Full Member

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    Thanks Gary.

    I am using PVA on my Dual Inglenook with Dual Gauge layout that I am building at the moment. I saw you new layout using Gorilla glue, and I was not sure I was using the best glue.
    If I needed to pull the layout apart, would the PVA glue separate as well as Gorilla glue.

    Thanks
    Steve
     
  6. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Well, what better way to spend a very hot Australia Day than inside ballasting !

    But before I could ballast, I had to make the road and railway crossing, or if your American, a grade crossing...! ;)

    Primarily I used 3mm grey board for this. I cut a strip of board just under 7" wide and 18" long. This was laid over the layout and marked the edge of the baseboard first intersection of the grey board and the rails. This was cut and put aside.

    Using the next piece, I lined up the angled cut and measured to the next set of rails, marked it and cut to size. The third piece was measured and cut exactly as the first piece, with this piece being measured and marked at the edge of the baseboard.

    Each piece had to have 1/2 the thickness removed where it sat on the sleepers and chairs. A strip approximately 6mm long was removed from the edges lying on the sleepers, the middle piece having both sides trimmed up.


    Using photographs from Google Earth, I noticed that some crossings were narrower where they cut across the tracks than the actual street width. I decided to copy this as I did not want that straight across look.

    Footpaths were added using 1mm grey board strips. From the photo of the prototype, I noticed that one side the footpath did not run all the way to the rails, which I copied.


    Note the road has a verge beyond the cross bucks and telegraph poles...


    I marked out and cut the 3mm grey board to shape before I added the footpath strips. I glued the footpath strips on then measured 4' spacings for the expansion joins in the path.


    1mm grey board was measured to length and width and glued between the rails. Having all this set in position, I glued the lot into position on the layout, then applied layers of paint.


    The road way was painted a darker black grey before I added washes to lighten it up. I allowed all this to cure in place then started on the ballasting.

    I chose a locally produced ballast, light grey in colour called 'Cootamundra' from the Matt's Ballast range. This is HO scale ballast and quite fine and was easily spread down the layout, brushed and tapped into place before the usual PVA/water/detergent application was applied. With toadys temperature, it was dry in a matter of hours !



    In the above pic, you'll notice that I didn't ballast up against the buildings. I wanted the rest of the ballast to cure first, then I put the building back in place, added, spread and tapped ballast into position and then gave a light application of glue solution.

    My nest quest was to work out what I wanted to do to the surface of the foam, or what sort of sub ground finish I wanted.

    I was going to go down to a recycling plant and pinch a bag of recycled concrete fines and dust, but then I thought it may just make the layout too dull. I was after this look in the photograph below.


    I decide to go down to Bunnings and purchase a bag of coloured grout. The colour I chose is called Canvas, which is a sandy colour. I mixed this 60/40 with fine sand.

    Being grout, I guessed that if I wet the baseboard, then apply grout snad mix through a fine tea strainer. I should get the look I'm after. After I applied the mix, I misted the lot again with water. Where the crossing sits, the card sat up high, so I heaped the mix up and fanned it down with a light brush. These sections were first wet with isopropyl alcohol as a wetting agent, then sprayed with water.

    I can feel in places s few hours later that not every area has been secured down, so a misting of ballast glue may be the option here.

    So, this is what the layout is looking like now with the level crossing, ballast and ground surface applied...





    Next job will be to weather the rails with an airbrush, but that's for another day.

    Cheers, Gary.
     
  7. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    PVA will come apart readily by spraying the track with warm water, allow it to penetrate, then lift with a spatula. This is enough to soften the glue/ballast and make for easy lifting. :thumbs:

    Cheers, Gary.
     
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  8. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Side stepping away from the scenery and back to scratch building at the moment. It's good to mix things up as it helps to keep the momentum going and not getting stuck on one task.

    So, finally I have started on the silos for the food processing plant !

    I contacted a facebook friend (Alcan ManOne) regarding the size of the silos he has on his switching layout and I was told 4 1/2" tall x 1 1/2" wide (diameter). With this in mind, I converted that to be around 40mm in diameter, so a run down to Bunnings I bought a length of 40mm diameter PVC pipe. This was cut on the drop saw to 4 1/2" or 115mm.



    Looking at several photographs of the prototype and Walthers Cornerstone offering, I noted that there are four main bands of steel plate, forming the tank. I measured this up on the PVC pipe and marked it out.


    Vertical lines were drawn around the tank too. I measured the circumference and it was just a tad over 39 scale feet. The vertical lines were measured 13' apart.


    In scale this worked out to be just a tad over 8', which allowed for the bands, or weld lines. I chose the finest Evergreen Styrene strip I had to replicate the bands, this being product #110.


    I started gluing the strip on by applying a small amount of MEK to one point and fixing the strip on. This was allowed to cure before rolling the strip around, applying MEK as I went. When I got back to the start, I ran the strip parallel to the start and cut the length with a scalpel. This was then glued and held in position before I attempted to do the next three weld bands, two lower and one at the very top.


    Once this had cured, the vertical strips were applied. Same technique, spot of glue at the top, allow to cure, trim above lower band and glue.


    So far the silo looks like this...


    At the moment, a piece of 30 thou styrene sheet is curing on top. This will be trimmed around and sanded smooth. Now to continue work on the second silo...

    I'll follow up this soon.

    Cheers, Gary.
     
  9. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Back onto the silos today and they would be approximately 80-85% complete...

    The following day I trimmed up the 30 thou sheet at the top of the silos and sanded smooth. Another larger sheet was glued to the bottom of both silos as a scenic base. After this had dried, I raided my scratch building boxes and drawers (yes boxes and drawers, as I have a lot of scratch building supplies now) to find hand rails and caged ladders from previous models or from bits I picked up at exhibitions in the bargain bins.

    I found my Central Valley HO scale fencing and also the caged ladders.



    The fences have an assortment of stair rails, hand rails, fences etc and this is the one I chose for the silo tops.


    I marked the top of the styrene sheet and drilled holes to take the legs of the fence, but unfortunately the fence snapped as I tried to fix it to the model.


    The holes were filled with a suitable diameter styrene rod, glued and sanded smooth.


    So, how do I keep a consistent roll on the fence ??

    Easy ! Tape the fence to a piece of PVC pipe (same diameter as the silos) and allow to sit in boiled water

    .

    This was stood in boiled water twice (after the first lot cooled off a little) then into very cold refrigerated water to set the curvature.


    Whilst this was being cured into shape and cooled off, I worked on the caged ladder. I had already had a ladder glued into one half of the cage. This just needed cutting to the appropriate length. The other half of the cage was fixed on, leaving a larger gap at the base and a higher protective section at the top.

    Now the fence was ready and was measured out using the same method I used on the weld lines and trimmed to length. Instead of fixing it to the holes in the top, I applied small amounts of glue to the legs and fixed it to the silo sides.


    Next was to connect the two silos with a walkway. This was simple enough to make out of some scale mesh and some Evergreen Styrene 1.5mm L angle (#291).


    This was mesh was fixed onto the styrene with super glue and then the whole lot secured to the silo tops with MEK.


    Next up was to add hand rails to the second silo following the same procedure as the first silo. After this rail was added, I needed to add the bridge hand rails and the short sections of railing to the ladder. This was possibly the most tredius part of the build, getting the rails the right length and level ! Slowly but surely it was done !


    from the opposite side (non viewing).


    This what it looks like on the layout in position...


    So, that's it so far... Next up will be silo vents, lower inspection hatches and a myriad of pipelines....

    Cheers, Gary.
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2021
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  10. Andrew Laing

    Andrew Laing Full Member

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    Looking great so far. Nice attention to detail too.
     
  11. steve

    steve Full Member

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    Hi Gary. Quite amazing. The use of off the shelf materials, a box of selected bits and pieces, with a touch of creative skill does my head in!!
    Nice work.
    Steve
     
  12. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Thank you Andrew and thank you Steve. :tophat:

    This afternoon I got on to building the inspection hatches for the lower front and vents/valves for the top of the silos. Digging through my spares box, I came across a few bits and pieces left over from a Ratio kit(#530 Oil Tanks), and I utilised some parts from this kit for the top roof valves/vents.

    This is what I had created by cutting a return feed pipe, valve wheel, tank caps and some very short lengths of 6mm Evergreen styrene tube.


    I think those bits on the roof do justice ! ;)

    The inspection hatches were made from short lengths of 6mm Evergreen tube, two small pieces of thin Evergreen sheet and valve couplings from the Ratio kit. This were put together like this...


    I measure 8mm up from the base of the tank and marked out areas I need to drill. I first drilled a 2mm hole, followed by a 6mm hole. The back of the tanks had a hole drilled as well to let out any build up of fumes from the MEK.


    The two inspection hatches were pressed in and glued into position.


    Again, I think these look the part. After all, if the look like right and look as if they belong, who is to judge !! ;);)

    Now these are ready for primer which I'll allow to cure overnight, followed by a covering of white, then weathering.

    Cheers, Gary.
     
  13. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    The three Corn Syrup wagons I ordered from Hog Trainz in the USA arrived today. These are made by Atlas and do look pretty good. I ordered two x GATX and one Union Tank Car (UTLX) which are almost identical. The only difference is the shroud over the filler on top of the Union Tank (Corn Products) wagon...




    I can now start filling the silos ! Speaking of the silos, they have also been painted all white and are just about ready for permanent planting on the layout.


    Cheers, Gary.
     
  14. James76

    James76 Full Member

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    Gary, I've got a similar "Corn products" tank car, except it's reporting mark is CCLX not UTLX. I guess there were a number of reporting marks for those types of cars over time.
    Regards, James
     
  15. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    You are right James. :thumbs: As you have seen from my post above, I have two different marked cars, GATX and UTLX. Also available are the CRGX, SYRX, NJTR, ADMX cars. They were all built by Trinity Industries between 1984 and 1998.

    If I'm correct, CCLX is Crystal Car Line ??

    Cheers, Gary.
     
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  16. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    When I arrived home today from my weekend away, I found a parcel at my front door....

    The new motive power had arrived ! A brand new Atlas Gold GP40-2, equipped with ESU Loksound. The locomotive is boxed quite carefully with two screws through the display plinth into the fuel tanks.


    On the track, it looks pretty good to me with all the details...




    Two crew are onboard...



    Note the rather large holes above the cab side windows... This is where the sun shades/rain shields are fitted, which come in a separate bag.

    Along with the crew, there are carefully fitted windscreen wipers and all the handrails all over the long and short hoods, lift rings and all the MU, air and brake hoses.


    Even the fans look good under the grills...


    Not only does it look good, it sounds equally as good too.

    Cheers, Gary.

    ps, I'm contemplating a CSX equivalent.... :scratchchin:
     
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2021
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  17. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Here is my latest video update....



    Cheers, Gary.
     
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  18. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

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    There`s some great stuff going into this layout Gary.
    I love your silos.....nicely done....:thumbs::thumbs::thumbs::thumbs::thumbs:
    :tophat:Gormo
     
  19. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    I got around to adding roofs to the four buildings on the layout this weekend.

    The roof is made from card and supported underneath with either 2mm supports or 3mm beams of card. After I had measured, cut and glued the roofs into place, they were painted and weathered, including the tar lines that waterproof the individual lays of concrete. The weathering was done by stippling the paint brush before each layer had dried. I'm pleased with the effect.



    I made up a template for the tarred sections and dry brushed the lines into position. This building below also had some paper strips, painted black glued in around the roof facade.


    The roof now needs some additional details such as air conditioning, vents, exhausts etc, so I rummaged through the left over bits from a Walthers kit I purchased several years ago.


    I still had plenty to choose from !


    I selected a few items and glued these together. They have been painted with enamel spray paint, but are still a little tacky to handle/photograph. Tomorrow if they are cured, I will weather them up as well then place them on the roofs with additional conduits and pipe lines.


    This afternoon I was busy cleaning up the palm trees I had bought recently. There is a lot of flash from the moulding process and this had to be removed.



    This was completed with a sharp scalpel and it did change the appearance of the trunks.


    I then mixed up the correct colour of acrylic paint for the trunks, as the red/brown is not right. These palms have grey/tan coloured trunks. This was applied in several layers, followed by a light wash of black, followed bya wash of burnt sienna, just to high light the junctions of the former branches. I also painted the tips of the yellow branches with the same colour I applied to the trunks. Eventually, the foliage will be repainted a 'proper' shade of green, but that is for later...


    Comparison between the before and after...



    Cheers, Gary.
     
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  20. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

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    Good home made and kit bashed solutions there Gary,
    Your layout is going to have a very unique look to it with the palm trees installed.
    It`s all coming along very nicely........:thumbs::thumbs::thumbs::thumbs::thumbs:
    :tophat:Gormo
     

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