My first modules


zoegraf

Craftsman at heart
These are shots of the first modules I ever made. They are made out of a hollow core doors, one inch extruded foam, and 3/4 " plywood fascias.

The roadbed has been laid and sealed on the modules. They will be stored behind a door when not in use.

I added mock-ups and will soon be adding ties and details to the turnouts.

Look forward to carving the foam and adding foam to create uneven terrain, mounds, ditches, etc.
 
"Jolly good show" sport!. Only one Q. How are you gonna protect your buildings and scenery from getting bumped by the door? (serious Q)
 
"Jolly good show" sport!. Only one Q. How are you gonna protect your buildings and scenery from getting bumped by the door? (serious Q)

Thank you!

There are three structures (depot, engine shed, and Marine & Hardware bldg) that will be portable with their permanent foundations on the module. Any structures under 2.5 inches can stay on the module. The secondary module fits on top of the main module and it will only have scenery on it that will not exceed 2.5 inches in case I make a third module in the future.

I now have to figure a way to lock and latch the modules together for storage.

The oil tanks are oversized and are there just to give an idea of the real-estate they may take up.
 
I'm taking a break from the module and getting ties ready for the turnouts, but I'm not quite satisfied with the results of staining the ties with acrylic colours.
 
Zoe,
I seem to remember the folks hand laying track use a mixture of india ink and alcohol. Have you tried using the ink?

-bill
 
Zoe,
I seem to remember the folks hand laying track use a mixture of india ink and alcohol. Have you tried using the ink?

-bill

I never have tried that method, but I am willing to do so. Next time I'm at the art store I'll get some.
 
Well I put off doing the turnouts today and made the base for the cinder platform with the ties on both sides little higher than the base so I can put cinders between them later. The overall height of the platform is the height of the rail on the track along side it, which is prototypical for the area I'm modelling. I couldn't resist painting it black for now to give me an ideal on how it will look.

I also finished making the foundation for the depot.

Tomorrow I'm thinking of making a stone foundation for Stonehammer Marine & Hardware, but I have to do some research on how to make one.
 
I'm taking a break from the module and getting ties ready for the turnouts, but I'm not quite satisfied with the results of staining the ties with acrylic colours.



Hi Zoe,

Your ties look very good to me, I've never tried using acrylics to do any staining, I've always stayed with the solvent based paints from Floquil or even thinner based paint.

Here's a shot of my heavily weathered ties stained with thinned Floquil, Rail Tie Brown, Maple & Driftwood. I like using the stain as it soaks in drying a bit lighter than applied, although probably so does your acrylic stain.

I want my line to look old and well used as I'm running much older equipment where your running newer equipment and I like the way distressed your ties only a bit on the ends.


You'll notice I have a change in elevation where I joined the other subroad-
bed so my track ties will have to be built up a bit to make up the difference.


HSMDareaCorrected-Reszd905x603DSCF5576_zpscdce0c73.jpg



Looks as though your doing very well getting things planned out. Good going!
 
What's behind a depot?

For the likes of me I can't find any pics of the back area of a depot, but I'm just going to play it by ear.

Today I built up the ground to the level of the depot's foundation. I did this with foam and sanded it down so when gravel/dirt is added, it will be flush with the bottom of the depot just a bit below the door. Note the depot isn't level on the foundation because of the wires coming out the front; will drill holes later for them under the depot.

I haven't decided if I want a wood or dirt step for the door. Also, the freight door is at the left side of the depot so I'm wondering if I should build up a dirt/gravel path at the side of the depot the same height as the platform.

The bus is to show the size of the parking area, which used to be to the right of the depot and now is to the left; between the team track area and depot. Seeing how well it photographs without seeing the edge, I'm now satisfied with the distance between the edge of the module and the platform. Planning, planning, and more planning seems to be working.

Now I'm trying to find realistic sized HO scale crushed ciders for the platform.
 
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I see you are using Homabed like I am doing on my layout.
The ties look pretty good. I used acrylic artist paints to color ties.
Check out my build thread for how I did the this.
 
I see you are using Homabed like I am doing on my layout.
The ties look pretty good. I used acrylic artist paints to color ties.
Check out my build thread for how I did the this.


Thanks, I will check out your thread.
 
Checking areas for future photographing

In the first shot, we see in the foreground the team track area, which is only 5 inches wide from the trackside to edge of module. Area seems to photograph well.

In the second shot, we see the space between the engine shed track and the edge of the module. which is 9 inches.

In the last shot the fuel track is a tad higher than the main track so coal can be unloaded like seen in the next post. I will cut out a section for a pit.
 
continued:

I think I'll be able to model this easily.

I think there are concrete or wooden sides to the pit.
 
Derelict structures

I want to construct two derelict structures for this module. The base of an old water tower as seen in the first two shots and a single engine shed version like the one in the third shot.

I think the engine shed will be the easiest, but I need to get that sagging look, which I think I can do with shingles on the side of the structure. The front of the structure and door will be a challenge though.
 
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In the first shot, we see in the foreground the team track area, which is only 5 inches wide from the trackside to edge of module. Area seems to photograph well.

In the second shot, we see the space between the engine shed track and the edge of the module. which is 9 inches.

In the last shot the fuel track is a tad higher than the main track so coal can be unloaded like seen in the next post. I will cut out a section for a pit.


Say Zoe,
In looking at your shots things are starting to take shape very nicely.

The only thing I see that you may want to consider is to move the station & track back toward the the module edge about an 1/2" to 1" to open things up a bit more, assuming you haven't already glued the pad the station is sitting on in place? A little extra room between tracks never hurts especially if you need to pick a car or loco off for some reason. My prior layout had a similar situation and I made sure I corrected it when I built my current Horseshoe Meadow Station area and even though I left what I thought was enough room it's still just barely enough room to reach over and pick a car off and I don't have big fingers.

It appears the Station track is or might be the easiest one to adjust unless I'm not seeing something?

Just some to consider as it looks like two passing trains might be very close together, especially two Loco's?
 
Say Zoe,
In looking at your shots things are starting to take shape very nicely.

The only thing I see that you may want to consider is to move the station & track back toward the the module edge about an 1/2" to 1" to open things up a bit more, assuming you haven't already glued the pad the station is sitting on in place? A little extra room between tracks never hurts especially if you need to pick a car or loco off for some reason. My prior layout had a similar situation and I made sure I corrected it when I built my current Horseshoe Meadow Station area and even though I left what I thought was enough room it's still just barely enough room to reach over and pick a car off and I don't have big fingers.

It appears the Station track is or might be the easiest one to adjust unless I'm not seeing something?

Just some to consider as it looks like two passing trains might be very close together, especially two Loco's?


Here are some shots of the spacing. I put a couple of cars on track including my widest box car. I can get my thumb between them.

The shots in the last post do look narrower, but after taking closer shots we can see the clearance at the depot is pretty good - 14 scale feet from wall of depot to edge of platform and about 10 feet from bay windows to edge of platform. There is about a 1 1/4" space between the roof line of the bay windows to the side of the Budd Rail Diesel Car.
 



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