Power House stack

I finally got around to doing some work on the smoke stack for the power house. Randy Costanza was very kind to give me an old stack from a Pola brewery kit. I was looking for a tall, hollow model representing a brick smoke stack. The one available from Walthers is only 10" tall, I was looking for something closer to 15+". The model Randy gave me is 16 1/4" and will do nicely. I need this stack to be hollow because I will be using my special smoke generator with it. I have purchased a flashing LED beacon kit for the stack which I will also include in the finished model. I hope the combination of flashing beacons and billowing smoke will be very cool.
The Pola smokestack model is made of 4 half circle sections which are glued together. Robust is not an adjective I would use to describe this kit, so some reinforcement is necessary. I also need to find and fit a plastic tube into the model to help with mounting to the module and piping the "smoke" from below the module. I located some 3/4" CPVC pipe which has an O.D. of 7/8". This is about 1/16 wider than I need at the very top of the stack so I sanded off the difference at the top 1 " to make the pipe fit into the stack.

 The image above shows how the PVC pipe fits up the top of the model. I wrapped masking tape around the ends of the model to reinforce it while I was repeatedly test fitting the tube. The tape will be removed later.

 The ring here is made of two layers of balsa wood glued crosswise for some strength. I'm only using it as a spacer at the bottom the the stack to keep the tube mostly centered .

 I used an adhesive laytex caulk the secure the spacer ring and tube into the model.

The next part I have to work on is the base which will be square in shape. I have some scrap DPM wall sections I'll use to make it. 

Aggragate transfer building/ maintainence shop

I used some 'Pikestuff" structure scraps to put together something for the aggragate transfer equipment. The structure is large enough to also have a small maintainance shop in the remaining half.

The image above shows the green and white structure at the low end of the conveyor.

I'll take some more photos when I get more done on the area around the structure.

Switch Targets

I finally added a few targets to the Caboose Industries ground throws I have on some of the switches.
At this point I only have 3 targets and may add only 1 or 2 more. Because of the density of the trackwork most the the switches will not have groundthrows.

The photo focus is a bit off but you can still see the effect.

A little rusting of the switch stand and everything looks ok. 



The concrete mixing plant part 3

Above is the structure assembled with only a few pipes left to add.

The original Walthers structure had a closed storage bin with a number of pipes leading to the roof. I chose to remove the roof and add a home-made gravel distributing mechanism. The brace in front will hold up the conveyor structure.

Here is an idea of how the whole structure will look minus the additional supports for the conveyor.

A weekend set-up with the modules.

Over the previous weekend I hauled my modules up to Boone NC to set up the modules with most of the guys I build modules with. I took photos of 4 locations on the layout for use in a image stacking program and here are the results.

Here is a scene from a module called "Syracusa", Joe Balint is the owner and designer.The structures are assembled by Joe but painted and finished by others. It's a skills trading arraingment some members of this module group have. For example Joe loves to build track, and he is the best I've ever known, but he doesn't care much for finishing structures. So in return for hand-laying the track on my Waterfront module, I finished the three structures seen here facing the camera (the Palms Hotel, Woolworths, and Hinzman Furniture).

This is some of Ken Anderson's fine work. The view is looking down the mainline of three 4' modules. If I could just drop in a photo backdrop, this one would be worth framing. The long shape of the image is a result of my trimming out some out of focus areas. The image stacking program does a great job but I need to improve my photography to get maximum effect.
.

Here is a good example of what can be done with some of the Silflor brand scenery products. The overgrown area between the tracks is a blend of Silflor Buffalo grass tuffts and Woodland Scenics ground foam. In the background, a view of the engine storage/RIP track with a couple of cars getting air hoses replaced and a pair of MILW engines running off miles.

I added some tall grasses (Silflor again) around the power poles and along the driveway. Then I added a bunch of goldenrod at the end of the near storage track.

The concrete mixing plant - part 2

I finished off the mixing plant office with an air conditioner on the roof and some rust streaks on the sides.

 

The whole building will eventually get a coat of dust for final weathering.

The cement storage silo was supposed to stand beside the mixing building (per instructions) but I don't have room for it there and I didn't like it either. So I chopped down the support bracing and added some H column for bases, to mount on the roof of the mixing building. While I was at it I added a safety cage ladder.

I had to start weathering this portion of the roof because the cement silo will sit somewhere up here.

While I was adding rust streaks I put some on the base too, creating the drip lines that would result on the concrete base.
In case you are wondering about what paint I use on these models, I just use the rattle can spray from the hardware store. I chose a medium green Rustolium for the structure but I like using Testors brand light aircraft gray for the concrete base.

The concrete mixing plant - part 1

I decided to start posting the creation of this industry even though I'm most of the way through the project.
I started with a Walthers Blue Star Ready Mix kit with a fair amount of modification planned. The kit is odd in that it doesn't really have a railroad interface. The aggregate (sand and gravel) comes in by truck as can the cement and if you wanted the cement to come in by rail, the kit doesn't have the parts to model how to unload it.

 So I'm changing all that. 

I assembled the office per the instructions despite my best efforts to have it face opposite the kit instructions. The problem is that the doors on the ends are not spaced the same from the nearest wall (front or back). As a result the walkways that go to the doors won't fit if I turn the building arround. The wall you see in the above image (the wall with the most windows) faces the mixing building at a scale distance of about 10 feet. (ugh!) I wanted this wall facing out so plant management could see the operation.

So there it is with an office interior wall and a pair of employees added.

The lower portion of the mixing building, installed on the base.

The entire mixing building. The cement trucks would drive through the building, and stop inside to be loaded.

The office entrance after weathering.

The other stairways. I wish I had taken a photo before I began the weathering but the large piece is only partly weathered so you can see how bright the yellow paint was.

An old trailer

I picked up a Mini Metals trailer while at the spring Timonium trainshow. I though it would make a great storage trailer, all I need is some heavy weathering and some stairs.

I used alchohol on the factory paint to remove most of the PIE logo and striping.

Next I added lots of rust. I like this inexpensive craft acrylics. I'm using three colors; Burnt Umber for the old pitted rust, Burnt Siena, for medium aged rust, and Raw Siena for newer rust. Red Oxide could be used for metal that just began to rust but in this application I want the look of a trailer that has been sitting for quite a while.

I'll add the stairs once the trailer is in its permanant location.

The only thing I'm lacking on the tractor are the air line and electrical connections. Although having a single mudflap would look right.

Changes to the blog layout

I have decided to redesign this blog. I have put what were posts about the structures onto their own page called "Structures". I want to have the posting page for updates of progress on the modules and other modeling. I will still post about structures in the updates and then eventually archive those posts to the Structures page. I may also create other subject specific pages, I'm thinking about one for details. 

The Power House

The large manufacturing plant will include it own power house. The power house has the most elevated track on the module. This is to suggest that in the past the track had a coal pocket below, which has since been filled in when the boilers were converted to oil. So now it receives oil in tank cars, which I haven't often seen modeled. (Now that I think of it.. I don't recall ever seeing an oil fired power plant modeled)
I used Walthers "Cornerstone Modulars" for the walls and was very, very pleased. I have been using DPM modular walls for years so this process isn't new to me. In my opinion, The Walthers product assembles easier, looks better, and is more versatile then the DPM product. I am looking forward to using the "Cornerstone Modulars" in the future. My ultimate plan for the structure is to light it, inside and out, have some interior, and finally to have a working smokestack. I have have a great smoke generator for years and this will be my first chance to really use it.

The non-rail side of the power house has the most interesting features, unfortunately the side that I'll operate the yard from is the other side. At this point the structure is completely assembled and I had begun the weathering on the roof.

A closer look at the roof shows the rusty metal. This was the first time I had used this particular combination artist acrylics colors. Following an article in a magizine (I don't remember where) I used a combination of
 Burnt Siena, Raw Siena, and Red Oxide.
I have since added a fourth color to that mix, Burnt Umber. The Burnt Bumber adds the look of old pitted rust. I'll have to point out an example of using the Burnt Bumber in a later posting.

The main loading dock and steps are straight from the Walthers kit, I used a sharp knife to scar up the edges and create the look of old concrete. For concrete color I really like Testors "light aircraft grey" as a starting color, and then weather it from there.

Most of these photos show empty window openings where this photo shows the windows in the open position. I temporarily taped the open windows in place for a couple of photo shots. Because they are fragile, I won't install them until I'm very close to finishing the structure. I had to use two window castings to create one open window and because of this I'm all out of castings.

The yard opertors side doesn't have much detail and I really wanted to have a couple of open windows on this side but I ran out of extra window frames. The blank wall on the far right is the end of the building that would have the boiler. I'm hoping to fit a brass tube through the small chimney to have "smoke" coming from it as well as the main smoke stack. The detail that will be on this side will be the piping for unloading the tank cars.

The blank wall on the left corner will have the smoke stack on front of it. I'm aiming for a stack thats about 17" tall, maybe a bit taller. I have a flashing beacon kit I hope to put in the smokestack.

The First show

In November of 2009 The Harbor Module made it's first appearance at a model train show.  With exception of the concrete plant siding (which was put in temporary) all trackage was fully functional and painted. For painting the rail and ties I used thinned acrylic artist paint. The $1.29 kind from a bigbox craft store and the color I used is Vandyke Brown. The brown makes a very nice creasote tie base color, with highlighting and some gray shades to be added later. I indended to also paint the rail later, I like the Floquil Rail brown, I think its color look better than anything else and the Laquer based paint seems more durable on rail.



The sky blue NW2 with caboose is parked on the engine service track as the Milwaukee Road engines pump air on a transfer.





A pair of Millwaukee Road engines are running of some owed milage pulling a yard transfer. The covered hoppers in the foreground are on the siding for the future concrete mixing plant



Between the three industrial sidings and the carfloat, this yard can get very full. I think frequent transfers to a larger yard will be standard operating practice.

Test fit

Here are some images of the test fit of the carfloat apron.The first image shows a test fit to locate the actual apron on the module, before any piers or track subroadbed was built. The large piece of cardboard in the forground is the base template for the manufacturing plant. Also visible are centerlines for track. The bottom of the "A" frame can be seen in the background.

  

In the image above you can see one of the pier decks raised above the lowered deck of frame "B".The apron superstructure is a highly modified Walthers model. I had aquired information on the prototype structures from the Rail-marine Information Group and based on their information I concluded the Walthers had come up with something of their own design which didn't look right to my eye. So, I made changes that would make the structure more plausable. Perhaps someday I will scratch build a new superstructure based on a New York harbor prototype, but for now I need something that works and modules that operate.



The apron superstructure is a highly modified Walthers model. I had aquired information on the prototype structures from the Rail-marine Information Group and based on their information I concluded the Walthers had come up with something of their own design which didn't look right to my eye. So, I made changes that would make the structure more plausable. Perhaps someday I will scratch build a new superstructure based on a New York harbor prototype, but for now I need something that works and modules that operate.

Here are the frames with track on them. My very good friend Joe Balint enjoys handlaying track. So in exchange for my painting and detailing some of his structures, he builds track for me. All the switches are handlayed as are some of the sidings. Micro Engineering flex track was use as much as possible. Rail sizes are code 70 for the primary runaround/yard throat and float apron lead. The remainder is code 55.

This track arangement is intended for two operators at the same time. Operator #1 uses the outside main track as a switching lead and has access to (2) storage tracks, a runaround, the industries and the carfloat without blocking the #2 operator from using their switching lead. The second operator can use the inside main track as a lead, has (2) storage tracks, a longer runaround, access to the carfloat without blocking the #1 operator from using their switching lead and access to any industries on the industrial branch (the 3rd track from the left at the frontier).