The Equestria Railroad - My Daughter's OO9 scale "My Little Pony" Railroad.

[armyairforce]

After a period of drying, the hillsides were painted with a thin coat of PVA glue, and the first coat plaster added to create the ground texture.

 

[armyairforce]

All the tracks were ballasted today with fine sand, and the two roads were also surfaced in the fine sand. A sunny day helped to speed up the glue drying time.

 

[armyairforce]

A load of cardboard tubes! All hand made for a special job.

Here's the first of the buildings under way. This is Twilight Sparkle's "Oak Tree Library". The smaller tubes were made to be cut in half to form the window and door areas. The card rings around the main tube are formers to help for the tree truck shape.

 

[armyairforce]

This shot shows the door, balcony and the start of one of the larger branches.

Another window and the second large branch. Card strips now start to form the tree trunk shape.

 

[armyairforce]

The card strips help to blend in the branches and windows.

Finally, the structure is covered in plaster bandage. A thin coat of plaster will follow to give the trunk a bark texture, but before that, I need to make the formers that will give the foliage its shape, much like the trunk. A thin covering of clump foliage will then cover this foliage former.

 

[Iron Horseman]

Gets more and more "cool" every time you post more pictures.

 

[armyairforce]

Thanks, my daughter is delighted with the progress, and very excited about the Oak Tree Library progress.

The first job of the morning was to set her off painting the ballast grey while I got on with the formers for the shape of the foliage on the tree.

The first few card formers are glued in place.

 

[armyairforce]

Before I got too far, I also fitted white LED's into three of the rooms. This will give the simple layout a bit more playability as individual lights can be turned on and off.

The card foliage supports are done now.

 

[armyairforce]

Next came the plaster bandage covering, which was a joint effort. I'm trying to keep her as involved as possible in the construction where she is able.

 

[armyairforce]

While the plaster bandage was drying in the sun, I started her off, chopping and tearing lichen and clump foliage into small pieces. I never use foliage as is, but break it up into small pieces, mix it with PVA glue, and apply it to a layout or tree armature. I can control the shape of a tree or bush much better and then it then sets hard, and doesn't shed bits as layouts are moved about ( since most of my layouts have been transportable for exhibitions ).

Exiting the top of the tree is a large branch with a small observation platform and telescope. This would make the tree too tall to fit in the wardrobe when stored, so the top branch was made detachable. You can see the join in the tube where it separates.

 

[armyairforce]

Magnets epoxied into each section hold the top of the tree in place.

The upper branch was covered in plaster to create the bark texture.

 

[armyairforce]

When done and assembled, it looked too tall, so I chopped a section off the branch and refitted the magnet. It wasn't too big a job to do.

 

[armyairforce]

The last job of the day was to paint the trunk and give the foliage a base coat of green prior to adding the clump foliage which will provide the final leaf texture.

 

[armyairforce]

Starting to apply the chopped up foliage/PVA glue mix to the tree. It was slightly thinned with water to keep the PVA fluid as when neat, it dries very quickly. The clumps were applied and gently pressed down with foreceps.

The tree was covered in sections, so the weight of the foliage wouldn't pull it off the tree. So the top was done first, then force dried to some extent with a hairdryer. Once firm enough to support itself, the tree was turned and the next area covered. The whole tree took around 5 hours of gluing and drying.

 

[armyairforce]

The top branches had foliage added to the looped copper wire first, which was then force dried. The clump was then built up slowly, gluing and drying to allow the foliage to spread across the branches and meet the others.

The completed tree was then moved to the airing cupboard to fully cure overnight. Once hard, we can then do the top observation platform and telescope. Windows will come after that, and my daughter pointed out a Bee hive hanging from a branch in the picture we were copying, so a little lathe work is also needed!

 

[tootnkumin]

Cunning, very cunning with the magnets.

 

[armyairforce]

On Friday, work continued on the Library. I made the observation platform for the top and the telescope. The scope was clear acrylic, turned on the lathe while the support was brass sections soldered. The scope can rotate and elevate.

 

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The other accessory I was under orders to make was a Bee's/Hornet's nest, which can be seen hanging from the tree in the picture I'm working from. This was another lathe job on some modelling resin block.

 

[armyairforce]

I also got the glazing fitted and some additional foliage around the windows. Two of the lights can be seen being tested here too.

We also gave the layout its first test run since the track was first laid.

[video=youtube;X5Ram4mIfg4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5Ram4mIfg4[/video]

 

[armyairforce]

Another two busy days on the railroad, working on the Ponyville Station and Rarity's Boutique. The Station has taken priority, with the boutique progressing while glue is drying on the station. The station building framework was made from 1/8 inch hardboard, with oversized openings for the windows and door.

The roof structure was made from scraps of 4mm plywood. I'm trying to use as much recycled cardboard, paper and off-cuts of wood as possible to keep the costs down, and while the layout is a 'toy' rather than an accurate scale railroad, I'm trying to include as much detail as is reasonably possible and durable.