Sunshine, Palm Trees and a Food Industry...

As I had the day off, I decided to get cracking on concrete hard stand in two different areas on the layout.

The first area is around the Tropical Pallets building. The track here is surrounded by concrete and I'm using the same method as in post #251.

I have pulled the module from the layout to make this install a lot easier...

The area between the building and the perimeter wall will be filled in.

With my previous installs using balsa wood, I laid down 1.5mm thick first then layered on the 2.5mm thick sheeting.
Unfortunately when I went to the local hardware to purchase some sheets of balsa, they have replaced it with 'craft wood'. This is simply a timber veneer and does not cut like balsa due to it being a harder timber. It really cuts like cr@p so I decided to reverse the install, using the rough cut 2.5mm craft wood sheet underneath and I will layer 1.5mm balsa over the top.

The other area that has a hard stand is opposite Trujillo, which is the road that served Graulich International. Here I decided to lay in a section of track, just like the prototype, where it has been cut from the spur.

I have laid enough 2.5mm in to represent the hardstand which was only a narrow section.

Later tonight I will airbrush the rails before adding the 1.5mm sheet on top of the 2.5mm wood and the centre section between the rails.

Cheers, Gary.

 

You can still get balsa from Spotlight.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Have started on painting the sleepers and rail.

Will look a lot better once the ballast and surrounding scenery goes in..., and the missing sleepers !

Cheers, Gary.

 

All the balsa is now set in and awaiting for the PVA to cure...

Looking down the module showing the buried track.

The kink in the rail is always fun to sculpt a piece of balsa into and around...!

I'll wait until the morning before I continue on with this module and the Trujillo/Graulich module.

Cheers, Gary.

 

The balsa wood was sealed with a PVA/water mix, similar to what you would use for ballasting.
After allowing this to dry for some 24 hours, I painted the sealed balsa with Tamiya XF-22 Flat Grey. Once this had dried off, a layer of Golden Fiber Paste was been applied.
This took another 24 hours to fully harden and then I have given it a light sand, leaving various patches of the fiber paste.

I will look back into my thread to see which colours I had chosen for the washes to give the treated balsa that concrete look.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Today I spent time adding various shades of grey paint to the balsa/fiber paste. I used the same method as outlined on 13 page of this thread.

The variations of colour (is grey a colour ?) can be seen in these two photos above and below.

Some areas I left the tidal marks around some of the more raised fiber paste, creating a look of a low area in the concrete.

Overall it looks pretty good and will only look better once I start detailing the surface.

I had also removed the end module where the Trujillo and Graulich building sits, so I could airbrush the back side of the rails and to make it easier for me to add the fiber paste and colour washes.

Once this had dried, I treated the platform/loading dock with the same wet on wet technique. Having the various stains or mottling gives the surface a feel of aged concrete.

It does look like a lot of grey in this photo, but once the detailing starts, the grey will be broken up somewhat.

The roof of the Graulich building was also treated in the same manner.

You may have also noticed that the Graulich building has been painted white, as per the prototype was when decommissioned and the rails to the siding were cut from the spur.

I really should paint the face of the platform white just like the prototype...

Cheers, Gary.

 

Well, either I'm a fool or I just like pressure...

It's going to be quite busy over the next few months with getting the layout exhibition ready for the Goulburn Model Railway Exhibition to be held on the 30th & 31st August.
Between then and now, I'll have NMRA meetings once a month on Saturdays as well as monthly operating sessions on the Surf Line layout, then working on the layout on my rostered days off, which are every second Monday.
Maybe I can miss a Monday or two on the Surf Line in between, although I do have a trip to Albury between the 15th and 19th May and I have just committed to the North Shore Railway Modellers Association (NSRMA) 2025 Exhibition which will chew up another 3 days. This is on the 19th & 20th July...

With the NSRMA exhibition, I will only be taking three modules, which mean I need to build a few portable supports (legs), rather than using the shelving units I currently use. This will be happening tonight as tomorrow is an ops session at the Surf Line and then back again on Monday (7th April)....

I have applied for some time off between Good Friday and Anzac day (25th April), which will give me 9-10 days to smash out work on my layout.

As the saying goes..., "No rest for the wicked..."


Here is some info on the NSRMA Exhibition...

Cheers, Gary.

 

After a trip down to the local Bunnings store, I picked up the 1200 x 2400 x 18mm MDF sheet and three 915mm long piano hinges.

I had the MDF cut down to six sheets measuring 350 x 1200 (14" x 48"). It took longer to actually find a staff member in the store than it did take to drive there and back !

Anyhow, with that rant aside, I got home and started putting the pieces together...

Basically what I have made is a hinged set of legs, resembling an open book or display board. This will certainly be easier to transport than the shelving units I have.

I just need to cut small notches out along the top edge to allow the wiring to safely pass. One down, two to go ! Overall, I'm happy how it is coming together.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Been almost two weeks now without any updates on the layout...

To be honest, it has been pretty hectic of late, but I have finished making the third set of hinged layout supports during the week and also made a few chain wire fence frames, although minus the mesh at the moment.

Since then, I have had NMRA meetings in the Blue Mountains last Saturday followed by an afternoon out with my son Jack. Sunday was a full on day meeting with two American guests at The Surf Line layout, then taking them out to anotherb layout in South Western Sydney. After that it was out to dinner with a friend.

I am having all of next week off so I can get up to speed on my layout, getting a good start on the scenery, which includes ballasting and finishing off a few more buildings. Two buildings I will leave for a card structure modelling demonstration at the upcoming North Shore Railway Modellers Association's exhibition to be held at Dee Why in Sydney's northern suburbs in July. With that, I'll be taking three modules of my layout as part of the NMRA (National Model Railroad Association) Division 7 stand. Busy times ahead...

Mean while I have pulled the corner module out of the garage and airbrushed the unseen side of the rail. After this had dried off, I glued the track down and then I joined this module to the Trujillo module and have started on constructing the level (grade) crossing.

The level crossing will be constructed using the same method as the hard stand areas elsewhere on the layout.

Whilst this sat for the PVA to cure, I started on making a few glass brick windows for the Bay Rag building. I recently purchased a cheap small clear perspex draw. I cut a section of clear perspex off the draw and scribed several lines into it, creating 2mm squares.

This was then cut down and filed to create the glass window bricks I needed. I have set these aside and cut the apertures for these to sit into the wall.

Tonight I will add the second layer of balsa wood to the level crossing and weighing that down overnight.

Cheers, Gary.

 

So its been just over 48 hours since my last post and I can say that the modules I have been working on have had a substantial change to them.

In the post above, you can see the weighted track, the start on the grade crossing and the glass bricks. Well everything has changed and I'll start with a picture of the corner module...

This don't look like what it did two days ago !

The grade crossing had more balsa added to raise the road profile to rail height and then sanded back to create a crown in the road.

This was the painted grey followed by a layer of fiber paste. Once the fiber paste had cured, it was given a light sand and then the colour was added to the top using the wet on wet technique. A huge change in the appearance ! The gap in the raod is where the two modules join, I have not fully tightened the baseboard modules together in this photo.

The Trujillo Foods end of the module has had the concrete hard stand added, which was treated with the same fiber paste technique. Ballast was then added on Saturday afternoon, which allowed me to scribe the concrete on the Graulich International siding and add grass and weeds in the expansion gaps and in the flange way grooves.

The buildings have also been added to the modules, although they are positioned temporarily.

Up next will be the chain wire fences and gates, more weeds, a few small trees and then all the trash.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Slowly but surely the module scenery is coming together...

Cheers, Gary.

 

So the latest addition to the layout is fences and gates. All of these have been scratch built from Evergreen styrene and tulle for the chain link.

Most HO scale gates are generally a brass etch if you want them to work, yet I have made a way to allow them to open/close sufficiently.

The four gates to be used at Trujillo & Sons...

A diagram on how they operate (manually). The diagram is self explanatory in regards to materials used.

In position on the Trujillo & Sons siding with the associated chain link fencing...

I noticed that a few gates were a tad wobbly, so I have made some top gate/hinge brackets. These still have to be painted. The holes in the bracket are 0.9mm diametre, making the whole bracket around 1.5mm wide by 3.0mm long !

There is a video on the Platform 1 MRC Facebook page showing the gates opening and closing.

The large silo I started scratch building in an earlier post (last year...) was scraped and I started again. I wasn't happy with the top hand rails nor the vertical cage bars on the ladder.

This is what it looked like...

The landing and the top hand rail has been replaced with brass fret from the Walthers range and is far superior to my efforts.

Still a lot more to do on this silo, but it is getting there !

Cheers, Gary.

 

One problem I had to solve to keep this silo upright was how am I going to keep it from falling over and also make it removable for when I need to transport the layout.

The solution was as simple as a plug !

Having an off cut of 30mm square pine, I simply trimmed down the corners so that it would fit firm into the inside of the silo. The position of the silo with the block protruding was marked on the layout and then the block was drilled and counter sunk halfway to take a 10G 60mm screw. The screw was thread through the hole and then secured onto the layout. The screw was long enough that it passed through the surface of the layout and the 30mm of insulation foam and into the baseboard.

This was tightened down firm and the silo slide over the top.

Job done, now to finish the silo details.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Thanks Gormo.

I'll be taking the layout to Goulburn again this year, so any large structure needs to come off the layout during transporting. This solution works well.

Cheers, Gary.