Bridge Update

Bridge Update

I think I'm about ready to install this one. Tried some weathering powders and added the walk-way and railing.


May need to tone down the rust.

Begin painting fish, birds, snakes, etc.

Hopefully this will allow us to finish up most of the scene.

Thanks Cameron

Forks Creek Bridge Progress.

Forks Creek Bridge Progress.

Doing a kit-bask on the Forks Creek Bridge. Barkeep over at HON3Chat is my mentor and he thought the original Forks Creek Bridge I built was too bulky. So got a Campbell Truss Bridge cheap and modified it according to Harry's plans in More up the Clear Creek.

Here is the almost completed bridge in a test fitting. Only walk-way and weathering left.





Wont spend a lot of time super-detailing. I suspect will rebuild one more time to correct some minor errors.

Thanks Cameron

Tuesday Update

Tuesday Update


New Elk's Creek Bridge. Not sure I really like it's looks.


New Forks Creek Bridge, based on Harry Brunk's plans. Much better I think. About 70% finished.


Tunnel Portal showing Mogul with Bear-Trap spark arrestor. Tunnel about 1.5" about bear-trap. I could try to lower. Still thinking.


Added pillow fluff to rapids. This is result, still trimming. Be very careful to not get too much fluff imbedded in resin, or get resin on fiber's sticking up that are supposed to look like spray/mist.


2nd look at pillow fluff.


Tough Cuss Pass, color being added slowly to blend. Patching any rock-work gaps I missed. Have to check track clearance with the 2-8-2 and 2-8-0. Think it is looking better. Will need to darken inside of cut to match prototype.


Other side being colored. The coloring process takes patience and some time. I use acrylic washes and vary strength based on material and how applied. Spray is my base method and is what you see here. I brush over sculpt-a-mold as it does not take washes well. One big difference between Molding Plaster (my current std) and Dental Plaster is they take color differently. Be ready for that and just work with it.

With brush and sculpt-a-mold, it is common for me to brush from tube lightly, then follow with water on brush to weaken in to a roughly 50-50 wash.

Some advice: experiment, don't be afraid to mess-up and test on a mock-up if necessary.


Thanks Cameron

Monday Update.

With deck 2 progressing, turned to deck 1 middle peninsula. At 6 months a deck and only 1 peninsula, looks like 5 more years work, with no buildings.

Got the rock work mostly in and filled with sculpt-a-mold. Tinted the sculpt-a-mold so you can see the fill. Helps with the tying into the plaster rock color.


Upgrade to deck 2.


Little further down-grade showing future mine.


On back side looking downgrade to tough-cuss pass.

Tonight hope to finish more more mold on deck 1 and patching. Then will begin adding color using washes.

Tried adding pillow fluff to rapids and water fall, will begin working on shaping that also.

Note on tunnel height. Going to measure with the bear-trap on the loco's and see how much it is too high. Pulling it out will be difficult.

Thanks Cameron

Sunday Update

Worked on more details and finishing out the "destroyed" roadbed from above. Also added the tunnel portal.


Here is the "destroyed" roadbed justifying the tunnel.


The new culverts with "water" added. Son had a good idea to put some resin over paint to make it shiny.


Close up of old roadbed.


This shot shows the rail and ties under the rock. I figure they would salvage anything usable but old buried and bent rails not worth the effort.


Remaining rock-work for Beaver Brook in. Used tinted sculpt-a-mold to fill-in. Just about ready for the remaining spur to be laid over a flume to cover brook. Then Station, water-tank and pavilion.


Looking upgrade from tunnel. This section will get a little more detail and water but is mainly complete.


Looking downgrade towards Beaver Brook on turn. This area here is like above, mostly done.


Waterfall with resin on top, turned out ok.

I am hoping this area is close to ready for my scenery AP towards my MMR.

Do need to add details like the frogs and snakes. Thinking also of having buzzards circling a dead animal of some kind, near tracks like train hit it.

Experimenting with mod-podge. so far unsure what to do with it. Any ideas?

Thanks Cameron

End of Week update.

Details - Details.

 
Adding culverts to deal with snow run-off from the mountains.


Needed a way to tell a story of why a tunnel. Idea came to show a broken, washed out ledge that original track had been on.


This is the construction underway. I like the idea of building stories and mini-scenes.


Using Chooch retaining wall.


Added dirt, ties and some bent rail trapped under the boulders.


Close-up of ties and rail. Will add rust to rail, goal make it look 3-4 years in past.


Filling out the culverts and adding "water".


Filling in Elk's Creek.


Waterfall filled in.

That's it for now.

Thanks Cameron

Monday Update

Monday Update Split tasks: Put in about 5 more Rock moldings on Deck 1 and continued work on deck 2. Also brought bridge spans out to test fit. Found a mistake in width, on bridges so will need to disassemble one to make it narrower. This is the new Elks Creek bridge. Using Harry Brunk's books to help kit-bash this one. Base model is the Campbell single truss bridge. I really like this kit, uses card-stock plates with rivets imbedded on angles. Giving me some neat ideas when I go to scratch-build. Thinking of using thin brass with the Campbell as templates. Then forming rivets by indenting brass from the back side. Note width, this is the one I have to narrow down. Will paint Grey (Black hides too many details), then add some rust, should look pretty good. Will have to shim underneath to get final height right for rails. Silverwood stained ties should work after than. Will try polibond to attach to rails. Revisiting the 180, here first coat of resin applied. Looking towards Forks Creek, initial resin applied and more creek detail added. Area for only real waterfall taking shape, this is a rule 1 added because I like to model waterfalls. During snow melt temporary waterfalls would have been feasible. Note green of water, may be a little too intense. Should be able to subdue with the mod-podge. Some pics of Deck 1 rock-work. Sprayed beginning sienna coloring on it to help me see where to carve. This is looking downgrade towards tough cuss pass. The 180 on deck 1. Looking upgrade, this is huntsman with the mine siding (rule 1) added and the Grandt Mine temporarily in approx. position. This is bridge 613 looking upgrade. Lots of work still to go. Looking at all that white plaster and associate gaps to fill and carve, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. Got to just enjoy the journey, too easy to fixate on the end. Lovely wife got me a FSM Water tank and storage kit for Hanukkah. It should arrive Wednesday so yet another item on the to build list. Someone says on their signature line, "so many kits, too little time". Totally agree. Thanks Cameron

Sunday Updates

Sunday Updates

In the trenches shall we say. A lot of time, with sometimes little to show for it.

On the side: ordering a SPROG DCC 1 amp system for my workbench. Anxious to work on loco's again and the lack of a test bench and DCC were real show stoppers. Guys on HON3chat pointed me in 2 directions:1. replace my MRC Advance Prodigy with a Digitrax or NCE 2. Get a SPROG. Went the SPROG route for now http://www.sprog.us.com/.

For those not familiar with the SPROG, it is a 1 amp DCC unit that uses the PC for it's control. Working with JMRI it can both program all CV's and run a locomotive via PC based throttle. Seems like a perfect solution, cost about 100 bucks (much cheaper than Digitrax and NCE) and offers the programming of CV's I need. The decision to upgrade to a NCE wireless will wait until Mar-April.


The creek bed is starting to take shape. I love to model water so this is a slow process trying different colors and techniques. The rapids looking towards Forks Creek are taking shape. Used silicon then when dry dry brushed white titanium artist paint on. Will add a little pillow fiber to larger rapids to resemble spray.


The 180 between Beaver Brook and Elk's Creek. Rapids just being modeled. I like the dry stone retaining wall on slope, used a lot in clear creek, Chooch makes a great product for this.


Switching sides, this is the progress on the Beaver Brook Side. Glued Rocks in to work wall on station side. Added silicon and dry brushed Titanium white to show a good flow. Beaver Brook is full so outflow is really moving water out to creek. Track Platform in-front of station is now in-place and rails secured. Several successful runs made to ensure gauge, etc.


A little further downgrade this is part of the stair falls (approximation). Found I will have to increase height of silicon rapids since they form the dams holding the Enviro-tex in. This is becoming one of my favorite scenes.


Back to Forks Creek side. This is one of my largest rapids just before bridge. Having to rely on old pictures as modern creek is so altered by the hwy construction. This is a place where the poli-fill from a pillow can make some nice wispy "mist" over the torrent. Use it sparingly and put in using the enviro-tex as the glue. Let dry then you can shape and thin to your liking.


Last shot for today. This is the 180 between Elk's Creek and Beaver Brook, about 1/2 way through the curve. Made a small 1/2-3/4 inch wall to hold resin in and give look that the curve is solid. Delayed decision to close in the entire gap to give time for thoughts to gel. Tried using twigs, but short supply so broke down and got some Woodland Scenics material to model logs.

The tinting of the "water" has been a learning curve, tried acrylic paint, resin tint (brown, blue, green) and other methods. Green tint seems best as the brown from the creek bed is working pretty well. Tim of BHI publications (Gomez on HON3chat) supplied me with about a dozen pics he took in CO, showing water tint and flow, a big help. Pouring in several layers so it allows fine tuning of color and more detail. Going to try and make some "fish" for the water in-between layers. Final water will have mod-podge put on it to give more motion and a plus, your can use it to hide any goofs or places that don't look right.

Working hard on Beaver Brook Station scratch-build, got 3 walls stained and build on card-stock. Ran out of 1x10 scale lumber so may hide back for now, or wait and order. Also working on 3 bridges to span creek since the Central valley (very nice for Std Gauge) did not have the look I was after.

Comments and advice always welcome, I'm a newbie and appreciate all the help I get.

Cameron

Some minor mid-week improvements.

Some minor mid-week improvements.


Folks on HON3Chat mentioned lighting tuning, so I tried a tunable board that has LED's attached that can rotate towards fascia, or the back. This is the before picture.


This is the after, camera does not show difference well, but light on back increases nicely. In this one place it may need a short led string running into valley.


The solution was pretty simple, a 1x2 cut to fit between cross-members. Wood screws drilled through cross-members to act as a tensioner and a rotation point. Works pretty well. LED's are self stick so just attached to the board.


Adding rapids to creek. Need to use these as dams to hold resin. Bright white has not dried, lighter white is dried with dry brush titanium white.


Small water run-off (spring snow melt) with small culvert below rails. Cribbing being built to contain rocks falling on rails.


Test resin pour. Used raw sienna to give water some color. The creek will be deeper and faster than normal and red mud flowing from Black Hawk will darken the creek due to flow.


Larger drop off near Elk's Creek.


Another test pour of resin, this has only a slight blue color. I think it is too light.

Any thoughts on colors of resin? Lighting control? Rapids?

Thanks Cameron