What's New on the PRR Panhandle 2.0?

[chuck]

Nor bad. some rounding of the edges and it would look a lot like this:



Most "realistic" rock formations are ones patterned on what you would likely see in the area you are modeling. People tend to get fixated on colors (they are important) but the overall shapes are more so. The types of rocks and the weathering they are subjected to help define the shapes, the eroded material defines the surrounding soils. The soils plus the "climate" define the vegetation. All of these impact the overall scenery.

We had an interdisciplinary imaging class where the instructor emphasized a "process" for identifying what was going on. Since the class was made up of people with different skill sets/backgrounds including forestry, soils, agriculture, limnology the group could usually piece together a location of a stereo triplet set to a 50 square mile area of the country (triplet only covered 15-18 square miles and had no identification other than the date and flight/photo number. Almost all of us had photo interpretation training but he wanted us to go beyond what we saw (e.g. a drive in theater or a cemetery or junk yard).

[G3750]

Teaching college courses, working at the shop...you're not getting how this retirement thing works, are you?

Here's an attempt at carved-foam rock from a few years ago:



Needs some refinement.

Apparently not.

George

[robert.]

One suggestion. Don’t stack you styrofoam like a sandwich. Stack it like books on a shelf. Buy two inch thick foam. Cut it to fit from ground level to height. If you need deeper rock faces glue another piece on. This will hide glue lines. When i did a sandwich stack . My glue seams stuck out. A real nice uniform line. Every 2 inches of height.

[G3750]

Updated 9/20/2019:

Things have been jumping around here, so here's a catch-up. Last Friday (9/13) I visited my sister and brother-in-law in Erie. The next day I gave a clinic at the Division 12 Mini Meet up there. The topic was an updated version of "Building the Panhandle 2.0". Sunday was our own Division's (2) monthly meeting. I am happy to report that my Spahn's milk truck took 1st place in the Bring-N-Brag (category was vehicles).

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Later this week, I began planning the River Route bench work - a necessary first step to constructing the tunnel portal and the track and scenery of the Ohio's western shore. I have installed the wall support for the first section of bench work. Today, I cleaned up the RR-Track plan for the layout as follows:

• Accurately drew the River Route bench work
• Moved all items to their correct drawing layers
• Renumbered the switches accurately on the plan

I am in the process of taking inventory and marking the remaining plywood sections for their respective table numbers. I hope to get some table construction done soon. Sunday (after church) is reserved for class preparation.

George

[G3750]

Updated 9/23/2019:

I've been working on the bench work for the River Route.

For this part of the bench work, I decided to use 1"x2"s instead of 2"x2".

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Here's an end view.

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Here's where the River Route bench work will go.

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Here's a shot of it mounted in place.

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And another of the end view. Track subroadbed (2 x 5/8" or 1.25") will meet the top of the River Route bench work (at least that's the plan).

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George

[G3750]

Updated 9/30/2019:

My inventory of plywood has been completed. Good news, I have enough. In fact I have a couple of 2' x 8' sections in reserve. All sections have been marked to avoid confusion later. I plan to try cutting a large curved section of the River Route subroadbed on Thursday.

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George

[healey36]

One suggestion. Don’t stack you styrofoam like a sandwich. Stack it like books on a shelf.

That front bit of the rock-face lifts out, so I plan to rework it or replace it eventually. I agree, I'm not too happy with the birthday-cake look about it. But then it's a tinplate layout, so realism isn't the ultimate goal, more like an "impression" of rock was what I was going for.

A billion years ago I built a rock face for The Old Man's HO layout. I used two-inch thick sheet cork, cut to short lengths,then split length-wise with a fork (I think it was a method he read about in MR). The split side gave a good impression of rock. I then glued it up onto the hillside in layers on a diagonal - looked a bit like the rock-cuts I recall seeing along the New York State Thruway in the Hudson Valley. I gave it a good spray with some matte-gray paint, then stained and dry-brushed the bejeebers out of it. Looked fairly realistic when it was done. I think applying a dark stain-wash is critical...provides a bit of highlight for the outer-face bits.

[G3750]

I plan to stack styrofoam but cover the edges either with sparkling compound or molded rock faces. In particular the Steubenville area’s descent from 4th Street to Water Street is a candidate for this treatment.

George

[healey36]

I've never tried that method, so I'll be looking forward to seeing how it's done.

George, how are you cutting your curved plywood sections? A hand-held jigsaw?

Paul

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I plan to stack styrofoam but cover the edges either with sparkling compound or molded rock faces. In particular the Steubenville area’s descent from 4th Street to Water Street is a candidate for this treatment.

All the foam on my layout was "painted" over with Hydrocal, and then stained prior to any other scenery application. No visible seams.

[healey36]

Is the hydrocal-over-foam method used for carving rocks, or for making hills/embankments that get covered with ground foam or zip-textured?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Is the hydrocal-over-foam method used for carving rocks, or for making hills/embankments that get covered with ground foam or zip-textured?

Yes. Both. Made it a bit thicker for carving where I wanted exposed stone - mainly "slate"......

[G3750]

I've never tried that method, so I'll be looking forward to seeing how it's done.

George, how are you cutting your curved plywood sections? A hand-held jigsaw?

Paul

Yeah, a hand-held saber saw is my weapon of choice. Actually, it's the only thing I've got that will do this. The Dremel SawMax is nice, but it doesn't do curves.

George

[G3750]

Updated 10/08/2019:

Work continues on the C & P River Route. I have cut the foundation piece of 5/8” plywood as well as the O42 curved sub-roadbed for the section that will pass under the bridge. The next step is to pull the bridge and see how well (or how poorly) I measured. If I did it right, the sections should fit properly. If not, it’s time for an adjustment. No big deal.

Once these pieces have been trimmed to fit the area, I will screw them down permanently. At that point it will be time to lay part of the track in that area. We will follow that up by carving a styrofoam tunnel, fitting the shoreline, and installing a tunnel portal. In anticipation of getting it right (or close to right), I purchased some scenery items at Hobby Express yesterday. I’ve got some larger deciduous trees with fall foliage, ground cover, tufts of grass, and rocks.

George

[G3750]

Updated 10/14/2019:

The board’s upload quota has been exceeded again so I can’t post photos until I recover my photo sharing website credentials.
Regardless, I have been making progress. The area of the River Route under the bridge (next to Pier 7) has been my focus. A section of 5/8” plywood has been put down to raise the area above the river level. Then I cut sub-roadbed for 75% of an O42 semicircle of track and fit that into place. Part of that track, including super elevation and 3/8” Vinylbed roadbed has been laid.
Once the entire curve is done, styrofoam for the hillside and the sloping shoreline will be carved.

Hopefully, I will have some photos for you later today.

George