The On30 Guy

Atlantic Scale Modelers Harbor Master's Office

Just downloaded my advance copy of MRH this morning, and in the news section, found an announcement of a new kit from a “new” supplier, Atlantic Scale Modelerrs. Atlantic Scale Modelers got their start back in the 70’s providing scenery materials to modelers and were a pioneer producer of what has become a staple in the modeling world — ground foam!

Atlantic’s first kit offering is this Harbor Master’s Office, which was inspired by a structure on Dave Frary’s layout. Dave Frary’s modeling, along with that of Bob Hayden, sparked my interest in Maine 2-footers many years ago.

The small footprint of this model make it a perfect “fit” for the shadowbox shelf layout I talked about yesterday, and I’m sure it will look great on the big layout, too.

Scotty Mason LCL Freight House

Another must-have for the big layout looks like it may be this new freight house from Scotty Mason. It’s patterned after a much larger structure located in Franklin, MA, but I think it would work just as well somewhere in Maine.

Corinna Station

Corinna Station is built using the Grandt Line Sheepscot Station kit. I spent just a couple of hours on assembly and touch-up painting. It still needs to be weathered (I did it in software for this shot), and the station sign needs to be made and applied, but it’s otherwise lookin’ great.

Corinna Station placed into platform

Corinna Station close-up

One thing that I have learned on this module is that Fomecore is not a good base on which to place track or scenery if you’re going to use a lot of matte medium to secure scenery materials. Even though I literally painted the underlying plywood with glue when I laid down the Fomecore, the added moisture from above is causing it to curl up. I can only guess that it’s peeling the lower surface right off the foam as it warps (you can see the result in the wide-angle shot above left). Fortunately, it’s only used as  a scenery base (I think) and not a track base, and I’ll just have to hide the edge with more scenic material. Otherwise, I’d have some pretty twisted trackage

Station Walls with two-tone paint applied.

Tonight’s excitement — painting the station some more. Just about all the parts are painted, so, tomorrow night I should be able to assemble the station.

I also determined that I want to build the station with its included base for strength, especially since this is to be used on one of the modules. Of course, the station floor is supposed to be flush with the platform, which meant a modification to the platform was in order. Using the base as a guide, I scribed the opening in the decking with an X-Acto knife, and then cut away the decking and one layer of the supporting Fomecore.

Modified platform, ready for station to be inserted

The base of the station is a snug fit in the hole, and the floor lines up just right! While it probably won’t be seen once the station is assembled onto the base, I went ahead and touched up the two raw-wood bits around the edges.

Platform with station floor in place

After “date night” with Donna tomorrow night, I’ll assemble the station, and we’ll see how it looks!

I did a little more on the yard tonight — replaced the ballast on the station track, and started in on the station, which will be a Grandt Line Sheepscot Station kit.

I had used Woodland Scenics fine talus material for the ballast, as it did a decent job of simulating the oyster shells used on some early railroads on the Eastern Shore of Maryland — back when I was modeling the Eastern Shore. The problem with the talus, especially on a module, is that it doesn’t glue very well. No matter how much matte medium I soaked it with, it just didn’t want to stick. So, I scraped most of it out, and replaced it with Woodland Scenics medium-sized Gray Blend. It looks much better.

One the station, I decided to use the Grandt Line over the Banta kit for a couple of reasons. First, this is a module, and so the building will be subject to a little more abuse than one on a part of the layout that never leaves the house. And second, I was able to find the Grandt Line kit more easily. What can I say?

Anyway, I started the model by painting the floor and building sides. Many of the Maine narrow-gauge lines used a similar two-tone green paint scheme. I elected to follow suit. For the light green, I used a color called “Mint Julep,” and the dark color, I’ll be using “Plantation Pine.” The darker color is a little too dark to be absolutely correct, but I like it. The “Mint Julep” is pretty darned close to being the color used at the WW&F museum.

So, that’s all for now. Sorry, no pictures tonight. Maybe tomorrow, when something may be worth showing…

Yes, I actually was able to spend some time this evening working on modules!

Station Module, platform area

I decided to work tonight on putting in the platform that’s been foamcore and cork for three years now — I’m really sick of looking at that glaring white pan-handle-looking thing!

Platform in place

Here’s the platform in place — or at least, most of it. I used coffee stirrers as the wood for the platform, applied with Pergo flooring glue. I found that the coffee stirrers really swell when you paint them. So much so, in fact, that the boards buckled at one point, and I had to remove a board!

Platform completed!

It was an easy matter to split the board I removed and replace it in the platform. I painted the wood with a dark brown craft store acrylic, and then applied some “driftwood” stain to simulate weathered wood. I over-did it in a few places, so I went back and applied more of the broad brown. And, I used the Floquil paint markers to simulate a few newly replaced boards.

Overall, the platform ended up being a lot larger than I had envisioned it, but, I was pretty much stuck doing the whole deal. Also, there’s not much space between the passenger/freight make-up/departure track and the first yard track, so I’m hoping that the WW&F prototype stations will fit. I’m also going to add some sort of freight shed to eat up some platform space.

Floquil Track Pack Paint Pens

I previously wrote about using craft store paints for inexpensively simulating rusty rails. At usually under a dollar each, these paints are a bargain. However, I recently learned of an even easier way to rust your rails — Floquil makes “Weathering Colors” available in the form of a pen. The Track Pack includes Rail Brown, Tie Brown and Rust in a package of “magic markes” that makes quick and neat work of painting rails with little waste or mess.

I must apologize for not keeping people better informed of progress on the infamous turntable module. David, for one, must be sweatin’ bullets. Especially since his highly modified Bachmann OF 2-8-0 has emerged from the shops.

Well, never fear. The turntable’s here!

I’ve been quite busy since the crash I reported last time. Obviously. I didn’t deviate too far from the instructions, though I did do a few things in my own order. For instance, I put the pit rail onto the ties before painting, and sprayed the ties and rail a color approximating rail brown as a unit. That will more closely match the tie color on the layout. I did the same with the bridge deck.

I also was not happy with the design of the electrical contacts. Of course, I’m known for that!    Instead of the bent wire pickups in the kit, I substituted a pair of my Shay Wipers. Jack, of Freshwater Models, was a little put out that I didn’t like his wiper design. But, I don’t like anybody’s wiper designs.

Anyway, starting tomorrow, I’ll begin to wrap a module around this, and get it tied into the other modules. Who knows. Depending upon how far I get, I may cart this thing up to New York this weekend for a little show & tell …

I think that most modelers these days paint their rails to represent rust. But, the first thought most modelers have is to run out to the hobby shop and spend three or four dollars on a little bottle of PollyS Rail Brown, or, six or seven dollars on the Floquil Rail Brown spray paint. The problem with that is that ever since Testors took over Floquil, there has been a real shift in the quality of the paints — and the price has increased, to boot!

I’ve finally found what I think is an excellent alternative to Rail Brown: Apple Barrel #20511 Brown Oxide. The price is usually about 99 cents at larger craft stores like Michael’s or A.C. Moore — even less if you catch a sale. Plus the bottle’s twice as big as the PollyS Rail Brown. You cant’ beat that with a stick! Nor, can you argue with the results.

It’s amazing the difference a little time with a paintbrush can make. The picture at left is un-painted Peco On30 Flex track, and the picture at right shows the result after painting. BTW, I usually only paint the side that will be visible — painting by hand takes a long time, you know! But, on the modules, since they could conceivably be seen from either side, I’ll need to paint both sides of the rail!

The 60′ Sellers Turntable kit arrived this afternoon from Freshwater Models. I have, of course, inspected it closely. The castings and materials look absolutely first rate. I’ve got a little shopping to do before I can begin building it, but that was to be expected. I think that the assembly is going to be pretty straight-forward, too, as the instructions are quite good. I can, however, see one item that’s going to get a slight improvement, but I’ll outline that later.

I’m in a little bit of a quandary regarding the construction of the platforms at the station — should the planks run parallel to, or perpendicular to the tracks?

These two views of this station show all kinds of interesting things. Notice the grade crossing in the picture at left – very similar to mine, and notice that it’s not there in the, apparently, earlier photograph at the right. Interesting. The pictures also show two different platform types in the same complex. That’s not helping me any!