High Bridge Pt. 2 and Wiring... Working on the area near where the high bridge will be. I have quite a bit of scenery and some wiring just past where the bridge will be towards the center of the layout. I need to get that pretty much done before placing the bridge in place or I'd have to work over the top of it to reach that area. What follows will be working in that area and trying to pretty much finish most of it to the point where I can continue from the other side of the layout. Also need to drop the feeder wires for the tracks in that area. . . . . . To be continued..... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
.... continuing on.... . I want the two mine buildings to lift off and on easily and back into position with no problems. I spent a couple minutes with Fusion 360 and designed some simple locators to use. Put the building in place and slid them into place inside the building and dropped a couple drops of CA on them and left them alone for just a bit. They seem to work really well and it is easy to slide the building down onto them. The new print on the end of the building represents two retaining walls to hold back the end of the mesa that will butt up against them. In theory the mesa in that area was cut into to make room for the end of the maintenance building. Probably never happened in real life but also in real life they didn't need to have a place for the empty coal train to disappear into in. I still have a lot of parts for the mine that were designed but never printed. They are more detailed, such as walkways and the resin printer will do a better job on them vs. the filament printer. I got ahead of my self a little and jumped from working on the 'high bridge' area to the mesa that will hide the hidden track for the empty coal train. I probably won't go too far with it at this point but it is nice to see something physical in place vs. only in my mind. There will be a couple wing retaining walls that will be attached to the one on the end of the building. I'll get the foam in place and then design them to fit the area. . . . . It was nice to see a couple engines run over the track even thought they couldn't go anywhere except back into the hidden staging on the one track. I hadn't connected the two crossings to my turnout tester so except for pushing some cars through them they hadn't been tested. It was great to see something go though them under power alone. They are quite a bit harder to build vs. a turnout. To be continued..... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
Mesa Part 1... Construction of the mesa that hides the hidden track from the mine's maintenance building to the hidden staging for the 'empty' coal train but first..... I was going to move the tunnel portal that is on the side of the mesa facing the center of the layout a little ways down the two tracks to the mine. At that point the tracks are no longer on a 1 1/4” centerline so none of the double track portals I had designed and printed were wide enough for proper track clearance. I used Fusion 360 to widen one a little over .25 inches and decided to print it with the resin printer which is faster than the filament printer if I print it flat (still used supports but should of tried without). The print was less than an hour but forgot to actually time it. As you can see the mortar joints are sharper and I could of narrowed them up (would of taken a lot of time). The joints are oversize but about as narrow as I could print them with the filament printer. Withe the resin I could narrow them up to about half of what they are but in reality that might of actually looked worse viewing the print once mortar was placed in the joints ( I normally use Tamiya Putty) and personally I like the rougher edges on the filament print as they seem more natural but all of that is a subjective call. Then decided to move the portal back closer to the crossing in the tunnel so didn't need the wider print. Will save it in case I do someplace else. The areas where the retaining walls are needed will be measured then the walls will be designed and printed. Above you can see where there is a crossing in/under the mine buildings where the 'empty' coal train can cross the adjoining track and disappear into the maintenance build and then into the mesa that is being built. The hidden track for the 'loaded' coal train enters under the mine buildings and will exit next to the thru track. Loading chute building wings will be added to the building above and will go over and hide the hand-laid crossing. . I had the spackling out filling some holes at another location but took a few minutes and filled some of the seams and holes in the rock face above. So far I haven't found a negative to using spackling compound. I'll thin it a little with water at times if needed otherwise use it right out of the container. I do have a large box of Sculptamold that I need to try since I bought it for this also. At this point my tools I've been using are the hot wire foam cutters, mentioned ( HERE ) and the two wire brushes and the heat gun shown above. They seem to be about all I need to this point. . . . To be continued..... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
Mesa Part 2... With the available space to work with being relatively small I can't replicate the geology of southeast Utah totally accurately but will try and represent it the best I can. We live between Moab, Ut and Monument Valley, Ut/AZ so are in canyon country but also have 11,000 foot mountains 12 miles north of town. The canyons here are 'red rock country' with no coal here above the red rock but south of Monument Valley and north of Moab there is coal in formations above the red rock sandstone that was laid down after the sandstone. With that in mind I have 'red rock' close to coal seams as the coal mine needs coal. To do that I'm kind of representing what does happen when the red rock strata dips and the coal seam climbs and comes to the surface like on this side of the scene. On the other side it is in a horizontal seam close to the surface and the mine is extracting that coal. I made the drawing above to the left that represents what the cap rock will be on this side of the scene on a high mesa that the lower one will attach to. Cap rock to the right will be red rock and to the left more grayish in color. I laid the strata with the dip in it out on a piece of 2” foam board. I also changed the thickness of a couple strata layers to 1 1/2” and 2” vs. the 1” I've used mostly to this point as I have foam board available in this little town of 3700 in those thicknesses also (can't believe that some of you in large cities can only find 1”). I've hardly used the band saw above that I bought years ago as it wasn't very good at cutting heavier work. I had a large band saw that I bought in the 70's from Montgomery ward that I continued to use but recently gave it to a young friend. I tried it on the foam and it is ideal for the foam and I'm sure I'll now use it more for that also as I continue on. I thought about using one of the hot wire foam knives that would easily cut the foam but it is hard to get a perfect 90 degree cut to the edge using them in your hand and I needed that for the next step. Above you can see how nice the cut pieces still lay together and the thin blade that I haven't liked in the past was perfect for not removing much material. The pieces were stacked where I hoped to use them to get an idea if this might work. The reason for needing the 90 degree cuts was so that the pieces could be stacked and skewed to follow the curve needed in this area and to also create a sloping (not much) rock face. I used the 2” foam for the depth needed to step them as shown above an still have foam left to carve into. Love the Loctite Power Grab. Put a bead of it on one piece and press the other piece to it and it holds very well, thus the 'Power Grab'. You can still slide it with some force and you are suppose to be able to move it for up to an hour. I glued the second from the bottom to the bottom piece, carved it some. Then did the same to the next couple strata layers as shown above. This went quick. I got the first 6 strata layers glued with an initial carving in less than an hour and decided to stop there so the adhesive could set up. Gluing the cork down above was actually done first thin on this day and only took a few minutes. I want to get the track connected to the second of the two curved turnouts. I haven't been gluing my turnouts down or soldering them and the rail joiners to the the approach tracks. So far letting them 'float' has worked well with the servos used to move the throwbars. I do like to have the approach tracks attached though before taking a few minutes to adjust the throw distance of the throw bar via the $2.00 servo controllers. It is easy to adjust the throw so that there isn't excessive pressure on the turnout points. I ran a couple engines over this part of the layout (YouTube coming) and want to be able to throw/test these two turnouts and yard tracks so got on this project. I'll put the spackling on hopefully today and lay the track tomorrow and wire it. After setting the new rock face aside so the glue could setup I made a couple more pieces of the last layer of rock strata before the single piece of 'cap rock' goes on. After putting the Power Grab on I set the pieces in place and lay the flat board on them along with additional weight and if they aren't flat against the bottom of the board I use a clamp to pull them into position. Once the adhesive sets up then will be locked into place. The next layer up will be a single removable layer so the track here can be serviced if needed. Hopefully it will be a nice fit and the seam won't be hardly noticeable. To be continued..... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
Mesa Part 3... Continuing on …......... The section that represents the rock strata being folded was moved down towards the area where the high bridge will be. It makes more sense there geologically speaking. Above you can see how the rock strata would connect to the same strata over to the left of the mine. The folded strata to the left and right above replicates strata that is folded in such a way that some of the strata is at an angle and is coming to the surface creating a 'hogback' ridge. A ridge like that will work well there with one track coming off the high bridge cutting through it in a cut and the other track entering a tunnel that cuts through the ridge a ways from the cut. The last layer of rock was also completed on the mesa that covers the hidden track so it is now ready for the next layer that will be removable and cover the opening above the track. I cut more foam for the folded rock strata that will be place on some of the strata shown above. This might be needed in order to carve the detail needed in this formation. . . Some filler pieces were made to support and fill in the area behind the formation. As the formation is carved these might stay, be modified or taken out depending on how things go. . While the adhesive was setting up work moved back to making the first piece (step) of the removable rock strata that is the next one up on the winding mesa top. . . Work will be jumping back and forth as if pieces are glued I need them to sit overnight if they are positioned where they can move while the adhesive is setting up. It is nice that you have an hour or so where they can be moved if needed but after that you don't want them accidentally moved. To be continued..... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
Mesa Part 4... Continuing on …......... . . I cut too much off the bottom of the top piece above with the hot knife when cutting it out. Then the bottom piece I forgot to account for the rock face continuing along the face of the ridge. Had to cut another piece to take care of that so now there are two pieces which could have been one but no problem. Glue them together into one and continue on. The rock face of the hog-back ridge will continue over to the center backdrop. I used two separate tunnel portals to determine where the foam had to be cut on the near side above. A new portal will be designed that will print as one piece and the center top between the two portals will be change some. The new one will be the same dimension as above up to the stepped top. The same approach was taken for the other portal on this side of the backdrop. The center section for the tracks/train will be cut out after more layers of foam have been added. A little has been cut out to clear the cork roadbed at this point. A layer is cut to close to what I want then the top of it is used to mark the bottom of the next layer so it can be cut out and then carved into for what is needed to get up to the next layer. This process is repeated over and over again. Above the next step would be to carve the relief into that top layer and then use it to mark out the bottom of the next piece of foam board. This goes pretty quickly and I normally glue the next layer to the one above it after it has been cut close to shape and then blend the joint between them after they are glued together. The Loctite Power Grab holds well at this point, so don't have to wait overnight for the adhesive to set up. I'll drive three short lengths of small diameter welding wire through the top piece after gluing it into the ones below and that helps to keep the new piece from sliding around on the one below it. The far portal rock face only needs one more layer at this point and will be left until the near side is built up higher to see what is needed to pull them together at the top. At the backdrop the rock face will start stair-stepping down and will end almost at the bottom of it. To be continued..... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
Brilliant way to use foam to create those undulating rock strata layers. Looks great! The band saw is a great tool for it, without the noxious fumes from the hotwire cutter.
I'm pretty lucky on the fume front as this part of the shop is 27' X 40' so a lot of air volume. I run a small USB fan to blow them away from me also. Wouldn't want to have to do all the hot wire cutting in a small space. Bought the band saw but hardly used it all these days (had a larger one) but it is perfect for a lot of the foam cutting. Glad I got it now. Sumner
More foam board... . . Designed the double tunnel portal above while we were in Phoenix for Christmas visiting family. . . . . . . . To be continued..... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
Continuing on …......... . . . . . . . . . To be continued..... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
Mesa Part 6... Continuing on …......... . . . . . . . . . To be continued..... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
Mesa Part 7.... Continuing on …......... . . . . . . . . . To be continued..... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
Coming to the end of the foam work on the central mesa. Hopefully another day or so will see it done. Still have all the painting and then detail to go. Detail will probably be quite a ways into the future. . I downsized the arch some. It was not as large as Wilson Arc, the real one I was using for inspiration, but I felt too large for the scene. A guy few a plane through Wilson Arch and some other ones..... .... Most all of the scenery in the video is within 60 miles of the house and why I have UP's Canyon Division even though a railroad never ran through this country but ... ... the video above is UP in the edge of Canyon Country by Moab and..... .... one more above of the same branch line. I lived in Moab for a couple years, built a house there, thouht I was retired but ended up not being retired and moved 70 miles south to Blanding and worked for a number of more years. I'll see how I like the new arch over the coming days and if I do will glue it in. To be continued..... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
Mesa Part 8... Continuing on …......... The mesa top comes off easily. Slide it to the left above guided by the parallel locators and blocks on the bottom of the mesa and then lift it off. The mesa slides in under the caprock on the upper level. It is hard to see where any of the seams are because of the effect of the rock strata. With the mesa off it will be easy to clean the track if needed or to service the crossing to the left. If there is a derailment or for track cleaning there is access from below also (the long opening there by the track). Trying to carve the mesa top that faces the center of the layout was doable but easier to remove the mesa and work on that side on the workbench. Since it was impossible to get the layer under the top perfectly level I was going to use some weight in the mesa to push them together. I'm finding thought that while adding to the strata on the mesa if I glue the next strata and then put quite a bit of weight on it while the adhesives sets up that the mesa stays flat on the lower levels without weight needed as the new upper layers hold it in place/shape. . . . . . I can start to see the end of forming/shaping the landscape on this side of the layout. Still have a couple sections to go and then have to paint it all so maybe next month might be done with that. Detail will come later after the track is finished and hopefully trains are running. To be continued..... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
