Construction Update #18 - State Line, Kentucky Part 5 - Westmoreland Part 1

State Line

Work continues around State Line and the Cumberland River Crossing.  The Cattails finally arrived and I added them along with some 7 and 12mm static grass to the marshland.  I still need to add the water and some additional detail, but overall I think it looks pretty good. 

Work has also progressed across and up the east bank of the river.

 Here's a view from beneath the bridge.

 

 

As I go along, I can't resist staging some equipment and taking a picture or two.  Here is the MELOP (Memphis to Louisville Perishables) with SP power on the point.  The #9189 is a recent 1990's era release from Athearn with factory weathering and "see through" radiator section.  Even without SP power, this train is easy to identify with its "Colton Block" of  PFE reefers cut in directly behind the power.  The SP "Tunnel Motor" will be cut off at Preston Miller Yard in Bowling Green, turned, serviced, and sent back to the SP on the LOMEF (Louisville to Memphis Forwarder).

 Westmoreland

 

Westmorland is right around the corner and railroad east of State Line at the end of the peninsula.  Since I can only spend a hour or two at a time standing on my "new" knee, I decided to spend some modeling time, at the bench, building a few structures for this area.  I ended up building eight kits, seven from the Walthers Cornerstone series and one from Atlas.  They all build into reasonably good models.  Most of the parts were painted during assembly to tone down the colors and eliminate the plastic sheen typical of these kits.  Once they were done, I set them out on the layout and tried out different combinations.  I ended up using 4 of the houses and the small market. 

Here is the first acceptable arrangement I came up with.  I took pictures and left the building in place for a couple of days.

 

I really liked the above layout but as can be seen in the following photo, two well kept houses ended up being right next to the CEMEX redi-mix complex.

 

As a result, I swapped things around and came up with the following configuration.  The new configuration leaves some open space to transition from the residential area to the redi-mix plant.  There is a spur off the mainline to the lower left that will lead to a propane dealer.  

Construction Update #17 - State Line Kentcky Part 4 - Static Grass & Marshlands

Static Grass

As I mentioned in my last update, YouTube is a invaluable resource when it comes to creating realistic scenery.  I studied up on applying Static Grass and here is the result of the initial application near State Line.  This initial application consists mostly 2mm or 2.5mm static grass.  I will follow this up with several more levels to include areas of 6-7mm and some 12mm.  One of the things I discovered early on was the need to mix various shades of green and even some yellow.  I also decided to start with lighter shorter colors and layer on longer and darker colors.

 

Marshlands

One of the things I wanted to include in this scene was marshland.  Again, I found a couple of videos on creating "swamps" on YouTube which helped.  The major difference between a swamp and marshland is the lack of trees in the latter.  I started by sketching out the water features on a piece of paper and then transferred them to the layout.  Then I used my Dremel tool to carve out the proposed waterways.

I painted the exposed pink foam with my earth colored base coat and then applied the initial layer of pavers sand ground cover.

 

An overall view of the same area after an application of 2,4 & some 7mm static grass using four different colors.  I used Modge Podge, thinned 1/1 with water for the initial layer of static grass.  I spread this around with a 1" paint brush.  For additional layers, I applied on a 1/4 mixture with a spray bottle and then applied the static grass.  The foliage material along the riverbank is Heki "Wildgrass" covered with Scenic Express Super Leaf material.  I looked up "Kentucky Wildfolowers" on Google to find out what color of flowers bloomed in late summer.  Turned out there were about 8-10, mostly yellow or violet.  I used a little Scenic Express violet flower material for a finishing touch along the riverbank.  I am still waiting for some 12mm static grass, cattail, and lily pads to finish up the marshland; and of course, more trees and shrubs.

Here is where the foreground river meets the backdrop.  So far, so good. 

Overview of progress to date.

CSX #5511 leads a westbound freight between State Line and Bowling Green

Construction Update #16 - State Line, Kentucky Part 3 - Ballasting & Super Trees

Ballasting

 

In this area, I used a mix of  Highball Cinders (2/3) and Dark Gray (1/3)  I spread the ballast with a 2" wide soft bristle brush trying to avoid ballast on the top of the ties or on the side of the rail.  Working on about a foot at a time, I mist on a layer of wet water (alcohol & water) followed by diluted matte medium applied with a pipette.  I finish up by wiping off the top of the rails with a paper towel.

 

 

 

After the ballast sets up, I normally go back and touch up a few places.  At some point, I will come back and paint the rail with Floquil's rail brown darkened up a bit with roof brown followed by a dusting of Bragdon's powdered pigments.  But for now, it looks pretty good

SuperTrees

 

On my Sn3 layout I begged for, bought, and even made well over 500 trees. For this layout I will need a lot more so I spent some time trying to figure out a quick and easy way to cover my hillsides with deciduous trees.  A lot of eastern modelers use "puff ball" style trees for this purpose but I find the best of them awful. Regardless of what I looked at, I kept coming back to SuperTrees by Scenic Express.  Unfortunately you can't knock them out by the hundreds in a day or two, but you can''t argue with the results.  Here is a sample of my first attempt at making SuperTrees.

There are several good SuperTree tutorials on YouTube so I'm not going repeat all that info here.  But, I did try several of the variations described on YouTube so I will tell you what worked and didn't work for me.  First, make sure you paint the stalks.  They come a yellow/tan color which is not at all realistic.  I used rattle cans to paint the trunks gray and the rest of the tree a dark brown.  Note the color of actual tree trunks in the background.

Use 3M Super 77 spray adhesive to hold on the foliage.  It is quick, easy, clear and holds forever.  Apply sparingly and sprinkle on the foliage material form above.  Don't roll the tree around in a bucket of foliage material if you want a lacy looking tree.  Use Scenic Express Super Leaf.  You can also use various shades of course ground foam but the end result can't compare, in my opinion, to the Super Leaf.  Super Leaf comes in a variety of colors.  I used three shades of green.  Use a clear flat lacquer to seal the tree.  Some people use extra hold hair spray because it is cheap.  It works but remains sticky for ever.

 Here's another photo.  The backdrop is about 3" from the track on the left and about 20" from the track on the right. 

Here is a photo of progress to date.  The area beneath the pile trestle is supposed to be marshland.  Not sure how I am going to accomplish that!  I've used about 40 trees to this point.

Construction Update #15 - State Line, Kentucky Part 2 - Painting Track & Basic Ground Cover

Developing Scenery in Phases

I don't think I mentioned it in the last post but I divide scenery into 5 phases.  I usually finish one phase before going on to the next.  They are:

1. Land Forms - Pink foam or lattice work covered by plaster cloth followed by a layer of exterior house paint.  I like to use a gray/brown color.  I also give my track an initial coat of brown paint.
   
2. Basic Ground Cover and rock work - I use paver sand for my basic ground cover.  I buy it at Home Depot in the garden section. A 50 pound sack is less than $10.  I hold it in place with diluted matte medium.  Some people use diluted white glue but matte medium is superior for at least 2 reasons.  First it remains flexible and second it transmits less sound.  I buy it from Scenic Express.  I also sprinkle a little ground foam (fine) around and sometimes a few rocks at this stage.
3. Ballast and weathering - I prefer Highball or Arizona Rock & Mineral because its heavy and easy to work with.
   
4. Textured Ground Cover - This includes ground foam, grass, shrubs, trees & water effects
   
5. Details - Ties, electrical boxes, line poles, phone booths, etc.

I pretty much covered the first part of Phase 1 in the last post, so lets move on

Painting Track

 

I use two colors to start with.  One dark brown and the other tan.  Rust-Oleum makes two suitable colors in their "Camouflage" series a spray paints.  I bought them at my local Ace Hardware but most hardware stores carry Rust-Oleum brand paints.  Other brands will work but make sure they dry with a matte or flat finish

 

 

Before I spray the track, I mask off the switch points.

I start with the dark brown color making sure that I apply a light but even coat.  Then I will go over the dark brown with the lighter brown, very light on the main line but heavier on sidings and spurs.  Ties are replaced on the mainline on regular intervals so they generally newer and darker in color.  I used to go back and paint individual ties but in my opinion the result wasn't worth the effort.  I had a section of track on my Sn3 layout with individually painted ties.  Over a 10 year period, no one ever commented on that section of track.  Later on, after ballasting, I will come back with some Bragdon powdered pigments for additional weathering.  I use a block of pine to clean the paint off the top of the rails.

Here's what the track looks like at this stage.

Basic Ground Cover

 

The goal here is make the layout presentable while providing a good foundation for additional scenery layers.  There were portions of my old Sn3 layout that remained in this stage for years including portions of the lead photo in my last post.  Here's what I use from left to right.  Diluted matte midium (5:1), fine turf, a spray bottle with 80% water/20% alcohol, paver sand, paint brush and pipette.

I simply spray the scenery base with water and spread the sand.  The water holds the sand in place and helps the matte medium break the surface tension.  On slopes, I will often spray on additional water and sand to make sure I get coverage.  I don't leave any bare spots.  Once I am satisfied with the coverage, a use the pipette to carefully apply the diluted matte medium.  You have to be careful on slopes because the matte medium has a tendency to carry the sand away and leave bare spots.  If this happens, just add some sand and additional matte medium.  On large areas, you can apply the matte medium with a misting spray bottle.  Then sprinkle on a little ground foam to add a bit of color.

This is the area I worked on today.  Note that I added a few rocks, just for fun.  The paver sand will lighten when it dries.  Tonight I will work on SuperTrees, tomorrow, I will put down some ballast and additional ground cover.

Construction Update #14 - State Line Kentucky, Part 1 - PInk Foam & Plaster Cloth

A Quick Note about scenery

 

My previous layout was set in Alaska with rocky cliffs and evergreen trees. My current layout is set mostly in Kentucky where the terrain is dominated by rolling hills and meadows in the central part of the state and heavily forested areas of hills and mountains in the eastern part of the state.  As a result, I have little or no experience dealing with scenery in the Bluegrass Region.  I guess we'll see how it goes.

 

For reference, here is a picture of the old layout 

 

 And here's what I am aiming for.

 

Pink Foam Base

 

Unlike the upper level, the lower level of the layout sits on 3" of  pink foam.  One of the nice things about working on a 3" base is that you can easily remove up 2 1/2" below track level.  Along the narrow shelf  leading toward the Cumberland River (New Name) and State Line, I wanted the roadbed to look like it was cut into the side of a hill.  The roadbed west of the Cumberland River scene is only 8" deep so I decided to cut away the fascia with my jigsaw and then create a slope by cutting the pink foam with a hot wire cutter.  The pieces left over from cutting away the foam on the aisle side of the tracks was used to build up a slope on the far side of the track.  I apologize for some of the pictures in advance.  They were taken with my cellphone with available light.

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The Cumberland River scene is about 20" wide.  I built up the contours using pink form.  Normally I would smooth out the contours with a surform tool but the hills in this area will be covered with a thick blanket of SuperTrees and the abrupt changes in contour won't show.

I decided to cover the pink foam with plaster cloth.  My backdrops were made by Trackside Scenery and moisture will damage them.  In order to protect them from the wet plaster cloth, I slipped thin sheets of styrene between the foam and the backdrop.  Then I taped paper towels over the track to protect it from any dripping plaster.  I removed the paper towels to apply the plaster cloth to the aisle side of the tracks.

I cut the plaster cloth into 1-2" strips and 3-5" strips and put them in two aluminum trays.  I poured warm tap water in a third aluminum tray and applied the plaster over the foam.  There are a lot of tutorials out there on using plaster cloth so I'm not going to go into a lot of detail here.  But there are two things to consider:  First keep the plaster away from your track.  If you get some on the track clean it off; it will show up in photographs.  And, second all plaster cloth is not the same.  I have found that the plaster cloth sold by Scenic Express is better and cost less than that sold by Woodland Scenics.  You can buy the Scenic Express plaster cloth direct or your dealer can get it from Walthers and possibly others.

It took 3 rolls to complete the entire scene.  I let the plaster cloth cure for two days before I went on to the next step.  I used the time to study up on making SuperTrees and applying static grass on YouTube.

I have found the flat exterior house paint works well for a scenery base coat.  I went to my local Ace Hardware a purchased a gallon of flat exterior house paint and had it mixed to a gray/brown tone.  I used the same styrene to protect the backdrop and applied the paint with a 3" brush.  I removed all the bridges during this stage.  I have since replaced the wood trestle but not the concrete abutments and girder bridges.  Next up is spraying the track but that will have to wait until tomorrow.  The base coat is still wet.  I've gotten this far in 4 days working 2-3 hours a day.  That's about all my new knee will tolerate standing on a concrete floor.

 

More Covered Hoppers for Phosphate Service

 

I also managed to finish off a couple more of those Accurail 4750 covered hoppers for phosphate service.  These were weathered entirely using oils. 

 

Covered Hoppers for Phosphate Service

 But first, a Locomotive Update

Before getting started on covered hoppers, I thought I would post a photo of the "new" Norfolk Southern units in action.  Here is shot of the PMNSF (Preston Miller to Norfolk Southern Forwarder at State Line.  The trailing unit, a GP-38, is still in Southern paint.  I originally had the #3975 set up to run long hood forward.  After reviewing a lot of photos on the Net, I decided to set it up short hood forward.  First, I liked the way it looked running short hood forward and second, it made setting up consists less confusing. 

Following the last post, I received a email asking for a picture of how I install and set up decoders in my locomotives.  Here is a photo.  Note that I have removed the rear weights in order to make room for a large speaker.  I attached the speaker/enclosure to the inside of the shell, beneath the radiator fans, facing downward.  The TCS Keep Alive's (Green) are attached to the top of the Tsunami2 decoders.  Some people find it hard to believe that there are sections of track on my layout that have NEVER been cleaned, I use insulated (dead) frogs, and I don't have stalls. I am now using LED lights from Evans Designs.It takes me about 45 minutes to do one of these installs.

And now on to covered hoppers

 

About 18 months ago, my good friend Kurt Boyd and I spent a week or so in Florida.  Kurt's son, Matt Boyd, is a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers and we were in Lakeland, Florida for Spring Training.  While were there, we got to spend some time in the Bone Valley and take in CSX's operations in the phosphate capital of the world.  The CSX was using hundreds of older covered hoppers to move phosphate fertilizer from Florida to the Midwest.  As a result, I decided that the Madisonville Sub would benefit from some of that traffic.  

I have several Tangent, Exact Rail, and Intermountain Railway covered hoppers on my layout.  While these are great models, they are expensive, and in my mind, to fragile for use on a operating model railroad.  After doing a little research, I decided Accurail's PS 4750 covered hopper fit my needs perfectly.  They are nice layout quality models, easy and fun to assemble, and come in a variety of road names including CSX that can be easily modified for use in phosphate service.

For those of you who have not built one of the Accurail 4750's, here's what they look like and what you will need to build the model.

You may want to build your first car following Accurail's instructions.  I did, but only the first model.  Following the first model, I developed the following sequence.  Clean the weight with alcohol, roughen up with sandpaper, glue it to the Underframe with ACC, and set it aside to cure.

Next, cut the End Frames from the sprues.  Be careful, they are delicate. Clean up any rough edges with a file.  There are 3 small square holes along the bottom to attach the Cross Over Platform that sits above the coupler pocket.  I found that enlarging the holes slightly with an Xacto knife made it easier to add the platform.  Before installing the Cross Over Platform, and the Brake Wheel, install the Chain Fulcrum.  You will have to open up the slot in the Chain Fulcrum or it WILL NOT FIT into place on the End Frames.  Then, I added the Brake Wheel and Cross Over Platforms with Tamiya "Super Thin" cement and set these parts aside.

Cut the Slope Sheets from the sprues.  You may want to open up the slots on the bottom of the end plates to make it easier to slide the Underframe in place later on in the assembly process.  You may also want to run a file down each side.  Install the Triple Valve and Air Resevoir on to the Slope Sheets.  I sanded the mounting pins to make installation easier and then cemented the Bake Lever into the mounting hole on the Slope Sheet.  Then I mounted the End Braces to the bottom of the Slope Sheet.  The instructions that come with the kit have a great diagram for the installation of these parts.  You can test fit the Slope Sheets into the body at this point.

The ACC holding on the wight should now be cured.  Turn over the under frame and glue the Center Sill sections in place.  Then screw the Bolster Plate in place making sure that it sits level on the Underframe.  Then glue it in place.  I left the screws in place until it was time to attach the trucks.  I glued the Outlet Plates in place at this point but again, they are fragile and you may want to hold off on these until the car is being weathered.  You can install the couples now if you want.  YOU WILL HAVE TO SCRAPE AND OR FILE THE INSIDE OF THE COUPLER BOXES TO MAKE THEM FIT ON THE UNDERFRAME.

Note that I haven't mentioned the Roof  Hatches.   You can attach them now, but if you plan to weather the car, DO NOT GLUE THEM IN PLACE.  At this point, drop the Underframe in place and attach the End Frames.  These parts fit perfectly in place on my models.  I glued these parts in place but on future models I will not.  I think weathering will be much easier if these parts can be removed.  Since all my cars are going to be weathered, I left off the trucks.

Weathering

 

Up to this point, I had never weathered a freight car using tube acrylics and oils.  I had only used an airbrush and powdered pigments or chalks.   I spent hours on You Tube studying weathering techniques and came away convinced that acrylics and oils were the best way to achieve realistic effects.  I made two trips to my local art supply store before I came up with everything I needed.  In addition to what is shown in photo, I purchased a couple of cans of Dullcoat and Q-tips.  Colors include Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, Titanium White and Black in both oil and acrylics (I need to go back to the art store for some yellow and stop by a drug store for a soft make-up brush).  You will also need a couple of "donor" cars to experiment on.

Most of the cars I saw in phosphate service were lessors.  I had a stash of 4 CSX 4750's along with an assortment of gray cars with various road names.  I started by removing most of the road names off the assorted cars with 400 and 600 grit sandpaper.  I left the data in place.  Since these cars were going to get moderate to heavy weathering, I didn't get all the lettering off.  I also took off some of the paint exposing some raw plastic.  I left one of  CSX cars in factory lettering but removed the "CSX Transportation" logo from the other three.

My initial test car was an Erie Lackawanna car.  The first step for all of these cars was "fading" the factory paint jobs.  All of the cars were sprayed with Dullcoat followed by a wash of Titanium White Acrylic; about one part acrylic and 10 parts water but this ratio varied from car to car.  A soft flat brush was used.  Always finish up with vertical brush strokes The acrylic was allowed to dry and then over sprayed with Dullcoat.

Deemed a success, I went on to "fade" another 10 cars including a couple of Atlas cement cars I picked up cheap on ebay.  The car on the top has the fade coat applied, lower car has not.  After studying more pictures, I have since given this car 2 more fade coats.

Next up is the grime coat using the oils.  I made a mix of brown and black to come up with the color.  Thinned and applied in the same matter as the "fade" coat, the oils work better because they don't dry as fast and they are easier to manipulate.  You can add or remove paint to get the effect you want.  Since the ribs on 4750's tend to weather less than the rest of the car side, you will want to remove most of the paint from the ribs with a Q-tip moistened with Odorless Turpenoid or similar product.  You can also use a dampened Q-tip to remove some of the grime between the ribs and lighten some of the side panels.  As mentioned in the fading stage, always finish up with vertical brush strokes

Here is CSX #251317 with a single "grime" layer.  Note that the ribs are relatively clean compared to the rest of the car.  It has also been renumbered with decals provided by Accurail and the large "CSX Transportation" logo has been removed.  This is a ex Seaboard Coastline/Family Lines car so the paint would be relatively fresh in 1990.  I swapped the roof hatches around between different cars.  The roof hatches don't show up very well in this photo, but they are a slightly different color with one recent replacement painted white.  This car is currently in service on the layout.

The next car received a 2nd coat of grime. more black than brown, and another coat of Dullcoat.  It's the only car that I left with the "CSX Transportation" in place.  A factory fresh CSX car is sitting on the upper box for comparison.

Now, I know you are wondering what happened to the initial EL sacrificial lamb.  Well here it is.  I tried adding the rust with acrylics with mixed results.  I think the technique is sound but on the next car, I will try using oils. I painted the roof with a full strength rust colored acrylics, making sure to get the paint under the roof walk.  Then I dry brushed the rust color down the sides.  I used a sponge brush on the walk ways.  One of hatches was painted white and then the hatches were installed on the car.  The different hatches show up better in these two photographs.  Not sure if this car will ever make it onto the layout. I don't like the way the ends or the underframe turned out.  At this point, I think a airbrush is better suited for adding heavy grime and weathering to the bottom and ends.  Maybe I will try and over spray the ends and underframe with a light coat of grime to even things out.

And a couple of photos until next time when I will share more photos of my adventure in weathering Accurail covered hoppers.  Empty phosphate cars headed back to the Bone Valley in Florida. 

Finally, my second knee replacement is progressing.  I am off the pain killers and I am no longer using a walker or a cane around the house.  I should be able to get out to the train room in a week or two.  I have gathered up all the materials to scenic the area shown in the above photos and the river crossing.  I am looking forward to having a finished scene to photograph my models.

 

 

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