Yeah, you’re all probably wondering what happened. A posting fury, and then, nothing. Well, instead of posting, it’s been a very busy few days, and I have been beavering away in the basement.
The realization that it’s only now a couple of weeks until Hickory hit hard, and I am way behind schedule. I promise to post an update on the turntable and engine house very soon.
Re-ballasted Corinna yard
I forgot to mention that I had decided to re-ballast the yard at Corinna. Previously, there had been a lot of greenery growing up between the tracks. After going back and looking at some pictures, I realized that there was very little of that on the Maine railroads. I basically just ballasted over the greenery. It’s still not perfect, but it’s better than it was. At some point, I’ll go back and dirty it up a bit, and I think that will help.
I also promised to show you a little of what’s been happening in the creek. As of now, it’s still a touch milky, and it’s going to need at least one more layer of water poured.
I decided that the rocks I had placed previously were not appropriately colored, so I used a couple of shades of gray acrylic paint to correct that. I also placed some more smaller rocks and some additional greenery.
Newly colored rocks, "rapids," and second water pour.
Today, I moved on to the turntable. I have been considering using tiny Neodymium magnets to align the table with the tracks. But, I was concerned about the accuracy required in placing the magnets. Kevin came up with a great idea — and a new shape magnet — to make it relatively easy!
Most of the magnets we’ve been looking at so far have been tiny flat disks, but Kevin recently received a new, cylindrical magnet.
Magnets used to align turntable bridge with tracks
Magnets are placed in the pit wall, under the center lines of each service track, and under the center line of the bridge track. In this case, the approach track is directly in line with one of the service tracks, so no magnet is needed there.
Kevin’s idea to make the alignment adjustment possible is really simple. We drilled over-sized holes for the magnets, and inserted steel flathead screws. The cylindrical magnets hold to the head, and can be slid around slightly. Once the correct location is found, the holes will be filled with glue.
The magnets hold with enough force to stop the turntable at the appointed spot with authority. In the long run, I’ll be using a motor to drive the turntable, but I think that the magnets will still present enough force to align the tracks.
I know I promised an updated shot from the creek area, and, even though the water’s still a little murky, it is a lot better. So, here’s another shot of No. 9 crossing the creek:
No. 9, traveling southbound, drifts off the bridge into Corinna
This same shot will look much better tomorrow night or Saturday morning, but I couldn’t resist…
Corinna & Searsport No. 9, with a short freight in tow, edges across the trestle approaching Corinna from the north...
I did a little work on the creek tonight and did a second pour of the water. I probably should have taken this before I poured the water, but … anyway, I’ll take a new shot of this on Saturday morning.
Oh, yeah, I guess I ought to mention that the water product worked correctly this time — it was nice and clear when I went downstairs this evening!
I’m just about ready to move on to the turntable, engine house a coal shed.
Kevin and I got together for the first Wednesday night gathering, and started working on some water, both on the north end of Corinna and on Kevin’s covered bridge module.
Creek bed painted with Behr Premium "Fedora" paint.
I actually started work in Corinna late in the afternoon, because I wanted the first batch of color to be dry in time to start working with whomever came over. The first step was to paint the base coat on the creek bed. As usual for the base color, I chose the Behr Premium “Fedora” wall paint, and brush it on liberally. To urge the paint to dry a little more quickly, I used a fan, which worked perfectly. By the time Kevin arrived, the paint was completely dry!
Now that the base color was in place, I got out my reference photos and turned on my memory to start to work on the “look” for the water in this scene. One thing about the water in Maine that is striking is that it’s usually very clear. And, the bottoms of most ponds and streams like this have a kind of distinctive rockiness that needed to be captured.
I thought that one way to do this might be to use some “crackle” paint. Crackle paint is a thick, clear, gel-like substance that you paint over a base coat and allow it to partially dry. Then, you paint the still tacky surface carefully with a color that contrasts your base color. The thicker your coating of crackle paint, the larger your splits will be, so I applied a thin coat to the areas near the shoreline, and coming into the creek about 1/3 of the way on each side.
Bits of "Pot Topper" planted at the base of the spillway retaining wall
While waiting for the crackle paint to dry, I started setting in some of the additional flora that would be growing near the base of the spillway. I decided to try another experiment here, this time using bits of “Pot Topper” material to represent the vibrant plant life that often grows near creek beds. I had seen magazine articles about this material, but I was still skeptical until I saw it on the layout. The stuff looks perfect, and is a fraction of the cost of the Silflor products. It looks as if you could either use tiny tufts like I did here, or even plant large chunks wherever you need some bright ground cover.
Mixture of "Slate Gray" and "Concrete" paints swirled onto the crinkle paint
By this point, the crackle paint had been drying for the prescribed length of time, so I applied a light coat of some lighter paint — a swirly mix of Woodland Scenics “Slate Gray” and “Concrete” colors. Initially, I wasn’t too happy with the look, so I added some more water and swirled it around a little more. The result looks fairly wrong here, but once the “water” gets poured on, things tend to darken up a little, so I decided to go with it.
Stones and rocks added to the stream bed
I also decided that a few larger rocks were needed in the stream. In this case, there wouldn’t be a lot, but a few definitely were in order. We selected some of the flatter pieces from a bag of aquarium/terrarium decorative stone, and I placed them in the creek, above the bridge.
While all of this was drying, we turned our attention to Kevin’s bridge module. Unfortunately, we didn’t take any pictures, but the effect we wanted there was a typical central Maryland/Pennsylvania creek. These creeks tend to have a sandy bottom with a jumble of rocks and stones.
For the sandy bottom, we used one of my favorite sand/dirt base materials — sanded grout over the Fedora paint. I tend to treat the grout just like any other scenic texture. I spread it over the still wet paint, and then soak it with “wet water,” and then continue to build on top of that. Once I have the look I’m after, I spray on some more wet water, and then saturate the area with diluted matte medium. For me, this is a tried-and-true method that always produces something that looks good.
By this time, lighter color paint on the Corinna creek bed was dry, but the crackling wasn’t happening. I decided to go ahead and pour the water anyway. And, being the glutton for punishment that I am, I decided to try a material that I had previously had very bad luck with: Woodland Scenics Realistic Water.
First pour of the Woodland Scenics Realistic Water
The Realistic Water pours on a milky gray, and eventually dries clear. I know it’s supposed to. I’ve seen it. Of course, that was not my result the first time I used it, and I ended up having to start over. “On hand” sometimes trumps common sense, however.
One interesting thing happened, though — after the water was poured and had been setting up for a while, the crackling started below the surface. The result was looking almost exactly like what I had in mind.
And, as I headed out the door this morning, I went down and too a peek at the creek. So far, it looks as if it will actually dry clear, although there’s been significant shrinkage. After dinner tonight, I’ll do some more work in the area, and then another pour. And, of course, more pictures!
Perkins Produce designed and built be Earl Smallshow, from the December 1974 Model Railroader article.,
Morgan Hill Models have announced their first structure kit, and it’s a classic! Originally designed by Earl Smallshaw, and featured in Model Railroader in December of 1974, Perkins Produce has always been a favorite of mine. When I first saw the announcement for the kit, I thought that I would just pull out my copy of the plans, and scratchbuild the structure when the time came. I mean, even though the original model was not set in New England, to my knowledge, the building simply screams MAINE!
The more I thought about it, the more I thought that the pre-release price looked to be an excellent value. And so, I’ve ordered one of the kits.
My order is not entirely without reservation. The actual kit was designed with input from Bill Banta, the same gentleman who designed the Herbert’s Crossing Freight House I used for the freight shed in Corinna. But, from the description, it seems that steps have been taken in the design of this kit to eliminate the problems I had with that kit.
Perkins Produce structure on the waterfront of Martin Collard's Borodino & Southern RR.
While originally built on the side of a hill, my intention is to use the structure on the waterfront in Searsport, similar to the way that Martin Collard has on his HO scale Borodino & Southern RR. This is a fairly major deviation from my original idea of how Searsport should look. In my mind, Searsport was to be based on Wiscassett. Of course, Searsport is a real town that once had a thriving shipbuilding industry, so depicting a busy waterfront on the layout is not entirely out of line.