Damn you N scalers!


Here are some pics of the Union City Station I'm building. I deviated on the paint and have to do some touch ups. The roof is copper so I tried to simulate patina. Verdigris can be different shades of green, it's hard to pick a single color. The pictures don't show it well but the copper color does show through the light green. Anyway, Need to finish the concourse and touch up some paint before weathering the whole building. All in all, the kit is very nice and I like the way it is turning out.
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Olie,

Am in the middle of a few things and will respond later this evening but, as Mike said, looks like a great station. Sorry to bug you but can you tell me its foot print please? Might get one for my layout if it isn't too big.
 
migalyto,

It has been fun to build. Only real issue is the instructions are a bit unclear at times and I found some errors which caused me to cut some pieces the wrong length. Fortunately, Russ Kaufman and the crew at The N Scale Architects were quick with replies and sent me new parts right away. Couldn't ask for better customer service.

Tony,

Man, you're NEVER bugging me. I feel honored to be able to share anything with you. Here's the footprint diagram and the instructions:

P.S. The kit has an add-on expansion platform giving you the ability to go out to 4 tracks behind the station.
http://thenarch.com/products/union-city-station-n
http://thenarch.com/products/union-city-station-expansion-platforms-n
 

Attachments

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Olie, thanks mate and the station isn't as large as I thought it might be ... could be an option replacing the station I have - maybe :)

Water has always been a bit of a pain in the posterior to create. The picture of mine that I posted got changed something like 2 more times AFTER I did what is in the photo. Lakes present in one way, "major or large rivers" another and country streams yet another. Just to press that point, there is a Lake just outside of Adelaide (Australia) and on a clear day the water is a brilliant pure blue color. As soon as it clouds up, it turns a dark green/grey color and you wouldn't think it was the same body of water.

Ocean water around the Greek Islands is crystal clear so you CAN see the bottom, thereby creating an even more challenging water scenario. Rivers on the South Island of New Zealand that are fed by Glacial waters are a murky green due to the sediment. Keuka Lake, just up the road from me, is a muddy brown color. A mud bottom river, lake will color the water different to a sandy or rocky bottom river/stream. You probably know all of that stuff so the bottom line is - you really can't go wrong with the color you make the water.

What, in my humble opinion, makes water is the "clear" you use over the paint work. I've tried lots of things but the product that gave me the best finish was (and I hate to say this as I am not a Woodlands fan) Realistic Water by Woodlands. Being Woodlands it is over priced but does go a long way and does look good when it dries, about 24 hours for it to become completely hard.

Okay, rambled on enough so should wind up by saying your last water pic looks pretty good and adding a bit of color to the "clear" can create some very interesting "current effects".
 
Tony,

Thanks for the insight. I have been playing around with different water products. The upper river portion is actually done with realistic water by Woodland. Only issue with that stuff is you can't use it with PVA glue, makes the water cloudy. For the lake I'm going to use Woodland Deep Water just because of the depth of the lake. I got a little too excited when creating the lake with the torch and probably went too deep. Believe it or not, this whole layout and especially the tunnel/mountain/waterfall/river is our learning piece. Momma has joined in as well so the both of us are doing things that we haven't tried before. The real test comes when we start her layout. She has the full collection of Hallmark Nostalgic Houses and Shops and wanted a layout to display them all. That is our next project so we're using this one to test the "waters" (pun intended). This current layout runs the wall in my living room. It is designed to be movable so when either one of my teenage sons decides the real world looks interesting and moves out or Uncle Sam sends me to another place, the layout can be moved to a new location. Once we finally settle down to our retirement home, I will then build it into a much more permanent location.

Anyway, I'm rambling. Thank you Tony and everyone else for your insight and advice. Progress will be slightly slowed as the contractors are putting in new windows today so layout and stuff is all moved.
 
Here's another update. (I really should make a layout thread). Poured the water for the lake. I started out on the wrong foot as I originally mixed the deep water pour with the wrong ratio. Fixed that on the fly but I think I ended up being a little short on activator. I went with the lighter tint amount, should have gone darker in my opinion. Issue I really ran into was bubbles. They weren't in the pour, they came up from the layout. This lake has NUMEROUS layers of paint and even a coat of mod podge. I did water testing to determine amount of product I would need and if there were any leaks. Nothing showed up. Once I poured, out came the bubbles. The pour hardened a lot faster than the instructions said, especially around the "bubble wall". What you see in the pics is there permanently. Fortunately, the water effects that I will do over them should hide most of it but still frustrating. I had a little left over once I was done so I poured it into an aluminum foil "bowl" I made and it cured just fine so I know it was my prep work that created the problems. This is my first attempt at a large water scene so I really shouldn't be that upset about it. Next will come the rapids falling from the lake and then tapering to a calmer river running under the bridge. I will be sealing this with multiple coats before pouring to avoid the issues I had on the lake. Anyway, here's some pics.
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Been a while, I apologize, but here are the finished water area pics.
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I tooke them with and without flash. I'm glad to say I'm done with the water as that was a bit of a PIA. Now on to landscaping and then building the town. I've decided to move the station and change the track some but won't know exactly until I get some buildings down. Waiting on some Faller structures to arrive from Germany.
 
Looks very good Olie, especially your water fall and "splash". You'll have to do a "How to" on how you did it and what you used ... please.
 
For the water scene, I used the following water effects:
Upper river: Woodland Scenics Realistic water and Water Effects.
Lake: Woodland Scenics Deep Water Pour Water, Water Effects and Water Ripples.
Waterfall: Woodland Scenics Water Effects and White Water Highlights, Hobby Lobby quilting batting for the splash.
Lower river: Woodland Scenics E-Z Water, Water Effects and Water Ripples.

Here's how I did it all. Once I had the upper river and lake poured, I measured the width and length of the waterfall. Using the Water Effects, I stippled it onto freezer paper. Once dry, a few brushes of White Water Highlight. Using the Water Effects, I glued the waterfall to the upper river and lake. Once that dried, I used quilting batting. Stretching it out and gluing it down with more Water Effects. To give the water droplets on the batting, I used a stiff brush with Water Ripples on it. Using my finger, I pulled across the bristles to "fling" the Water Ripples onto the batting. Makes a little bit of a mess but works fairly well.
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For the upper part of the waterfall, I placed more batting and repeated the droplet procedure like the splash area.
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For the splash area in front of the batting, I found mixing a drop or two of White Water Highlights with the Water Effects gave it a more realistic look. Using this mixture, I stippled the area working out towards the middle of the lake. The swells on the lake are done with the Water Ripples. Trick is, once you have the ripples on the water, spray with isopropyl alcohol. This flattens the tops down making a more subtle effect. Use multiple layers to give a better effect with different lighting.
The small falls from the lake into the lower river is with the White Water Highlight-Water Effect mixture. I was experimenting with the E-Z water and I will NEVER use it again. The foam melted even through the plaster coating. Plus, I think it's too yellow. The rest of the river is down with a combination of Water Effect mixture and Ripples. Same angle, take 5 seconds apart but the 2nd pic is with flash to show the water ripples.

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Here's another view:
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For my first real attempt at a water scene, I have to say, it turned out fairly well. I know what I will and will not do next time. For the water, I will use a two part epoxy. For waterfalls, I'm going to try the technique Lex Parker uses with angel hair and an epoxy resin. You can see it here:
Putting the "white" in the epoxy makes the look very realistic. More so that the batting ever could. I hope this sheds some light in how I did things. Kind of haphazard with the different products but I was experimenting as most of these are the first time I've ever used them.
 
I also use Realistic Water and Water Effects but didn't know about the White Water Highlights stuff ... I used plain old white paint in the past.

Thanks for the time taken to post your "how to" ... very informative.
 
I also use Realistic Water and Water Effects but didn't know about the White Water Highlights stuff ... I used plain old white paint in the past.

Thanks for the time taken to post your "how to" ... very informative.
I think white acrylic paint would work fine. The thing I don't like about the WS stuff is if you put directly on the water, is dries a flat white. Doesn't look right. Plus, it has a grey tint to it. Dried it looks fine but just seems an off white. Plain old white paint, especially a gloss, would work equally or better than the White Water Highlights......I think..LOL. I will try some next time I do some water effects to compare.
 
Thanks and in that case, think I'll stick with the paint :) One thing I do, to get the white water streaking effect, is put a layer of Realistic water down, wait for it to dry then "dab" white paint, or the color I wanted the water, onto it where I wanted the water to start "flowing". I then, while the paint was "wet" poured another (thin) coat of realistic water. The paint mixed naturally with the "water" and the water "spread the paint. After that I used the water effects stuff and "dry brushed white paint across it for the effect.

Wish I had the pictures I took of the Dam Wall and Water I did so I could show you what I mean. They were in Photofarce though so .......
 
Thanks and in that case, think I'll stick with the paint :) One thing I do, to get the white water streaking effect, is put a layer of Realistic water down, wait for it to dry then "dab" white paint, or the color I wanted the water, onto it where I wanted the water to start "flowing". I then, while the paint was "wet" poured another (thin) coat of realistic water. The paint mixed naturally with the "water" and the water "spread the paint. After that I used the water effects stuff and "dry brushed white paint across it for the effect.

Wish I had the pictures I took of the Dam Wall and Water I did so I could show you what I mean. They were in Photofarce though so .......
I like the Realistic water but I did notice it doesn't like any PVA glue. Maybe mine hadn't completely dried yet but it did cloud up a little where I glued down my rocks. Looking at it now, I think it cleared up mostly. I still have over a half a bottle left so I will play some more. I will have to try your technique, sounds like it will give a very similar effect I like.
 
One thing you might try is to place your rocks, and anything else you want in the water, down before pouring the "water" then let the water work it's way around and over those things. Wont have a problem with "cloudy water" either :) Just a thought.
 
That is what I did, I just think there may have been some PVA glue still wet from gluing the rocks down. The bottle does say to not use it with any PVA products. I used Mod Podge to glue down my rocks and then seal everything.
 
Started on some of the scenery this glorious 4th of July. Momma and I had discussed a lookout which would be above the tunnel looking down towards the lake. Of course you can't have a lookout with hand rails to keep the visitors from falling. Here's is my scratch build of parts and pieces I had laying around.
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I was going to paint the whole thing a rust red but after placing it "raw" I kind of like the look. It's not secured down other than the down angled rails at either end. Need to work on the ground cover a bit before gluing it down anyway.
 



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