| Archive for thecentralstation.myfreeforum.org Railway modelling for all Scales and Gauges |
| Even older tom |
Ridley USA scrapyard challenge buildThe original 'Ridley USA' thread was getting a bit big so I've started a new one to post 'work in progress' photos. Comments welcome on either thread (I'll see them!)I trimmed the pine board and the cut and glued the dense foam down, Notice that there are TWO bridges now: 
Did some Paint Shop Pro fiddling to give it some colour and an idea where I might have buildings and roads. 
Next step is to make some cardboard mountain mock-ups to get an idea of what height I want. (Just noticed that it looks like the lake on the painted photo is full of Loch Ness monsters  hmmmm.. there's an idea...)
|
||
| TheThing |
Looking good, Tom. Was the foam just an old camping mat sort of thing? | ||
| Even older tom |
The very thing, Hugh!
And I found some carpet adhesive that was the perfect stuff for sticking it to the wood. Total spend to date = 0.0p 
|
||
| bando1_de |
Nice start, Tom!
May I suggest to turn the oval slightly diagonal to the baseboard. That eleminates the "circle" look even more once you have the scenery on... |
||
| TheThing |
Good idea bando1. Another simple but brilliant suggestion!
Tom, will you be gluing the track to the camping mat or pinning thru to the wood? |
||
| Even older tom |
Thanks Erhard, just in the nick of time - I was about to start designing and building the hills when I saw your post!
I've not decided yet, Hugh. I could even melt a shallow trough in the foam using my old soldering iron that has a huge tip. Photo to follow later... |
||
| Even older tom |
Here we are as promised... a photo of 'wot I did today'.
(I had to clean all the adhesive off my hands with lighter fluid before I could take a photo!) I used the remainder of the foam to make the hilly bits. I've not decided on how to contour the ridges. I could even just soften the edges and paint it reddy brown, stick a few cacti in and aim for a real wild west look! 
|
||
| poliss |
Looking good Tom. I can almost see John Wayne and the 7th cavalry riding through, or should that be thru? 
|
||
| Joe |
Looks really good, what type of scenery are you going to use, ie grass sand etc etc? | ||
| Even older tom |
Not too sure yet Joe. Once I've shaped it, I'll have a better idea of how it lends itself to a finish. (That's what I like about layout building - you've no idea what it's going to end up looking like! )
|
||
| Even older tom |
Got the Plaster of Paris out and turned it into a badly iced cake!
Gave it a coat of yellowy, sandy sort of colour... 
Deepened the colour to more of a natural shade and decided that a prairie sort of scene with a disused mine might be a good idea (hence the question about ballast colour!) so I printed a photo and cut it out to see what it might look like. Looks OK to me
Just got to work out what I can do to make the rest of the little layout look interesting... Oh, and the loco and track are only there to remind me of the scale - my mind keeps looking at it in OO! |
||
| bando1_de |
Hey, that looks almost like Arizona or New Mexiko! Great Job!
Have a stroll and on the way back home buy a packet of pipe cleaners. Bend short ends to a cactus-like shape, spray it green and you got some interesting and inexpensive eye-catchers
Hmmm, I forgot that you don't want to spend money..... if you have latex gloves, you can of course build the cactii from used pipe cleaners -> Yak! 
Better idea: Use short lengths of thin wire, twist them together to form a cactus (Saguaro), paint the wire green and sprinkle on some green turf or gras from the "left-over" box. Looks also very natural in Z-scale... 
|
||
| Will |
Looks amazing so far Tom
|
||
| upnick |
Hi Tom,
Looking good so far what type of bridge are you planning over the water ? If your using sand for some or all of the scenery i found sand used for sandblasting is ideal got a fair bit after next door had their house blasted
|
||
| poliss |
May I suggest a cattle crossing over the tracks with some longhorns 'puddling'* the lake.
*If you've ever read a Clarence. E. Mulford**. western you'll know what 'puddling' is. **Clarence. E. Mulford. the writer of the Hopalong Cassidy books. |
||
| Even older tom |
Thanks everyone, I'm quite pleased up to now. (Total outlay is still £0.0)
Cactus sounds like a good idea Erhard, I'm thinking a few on the left hand side (nearest the camera on the last shot) will look good and have the area around the mine with just scrub, tufts of grass and bushes. I've got no idea what the bridges will be like Nick. It will all depend on what I have available in my spares box and and how clever I am (or not) at designing them. (I'm actually making them now and not having that much luck  )
I don't think you can get 1:220 scale Longhorns Pol, there are Fresians available but I think they'd look a bit out of place! (and they cost money)
|
||
| poliss |
Desert bridges. Nearly all truss bridges, but I did find a trestle. (2nd pic.)
http://tinyurl.com/dzmcot http://tinyurl.com/casu7v http://tinyurl.com/cdmshq http://tinyurl.com/ckdg9g http://tinyurl.com/cjwhhl http://tinyurl.com/d52aea http://tinyurl.com/c2eou4 |
||
| Even older tom |
Cheers Pol.
The front bridge will be a truss and the back one will be a very simple trestle. Only if I can get the dimentions sorted! There's a lot of clearence needed so the superstructure has to be quite a bit wider than the train. It's not looking 'right' yet. 
|
||
| Even older tom |
Ballast laid (it looks better in real life than it does in the picture) and truss bridge built. I made the bridge girders out of styrene sheet, left over from a ship model, that I cut into strips. A bit of a clean up when the cement is fully cured (and re-align that top cross piece!) and a coat of 'red lead' should finish it off.
Btw, the green 'sponge' you can see is a synthetic wire wool - great for cleaning rails after splattering them with glue whilst laying the ballast - recommended!
Total outlay - still £0.00 
|
||
| poliss |
'They' used to say it was impossible to scratchbuild anything in Z because it was so small. Shows how much 'they' know.
|
||
| Even older tom |
Now he says!! If you'd have mentioned it earlier Pol, I might have had second thoughts about the project.
Then again, it's amazing what you can do when you don't know that you can't do it! 
|
||
| poliss |
Can you put something like a 00 item near the layout so we can see thingy* the scale Tom?
*Can't think of the words I'm looking for. |
||
| Even older tom |
How about this? Papyrus and an OO gauge figure. Photo taken from the corner of the layout. The full width is 77cm.
Or this. It's a lousy photo, it got too dark... 
|
||
| Teleman |
Great work Tom , You could use some 00 handrail wire for cross bracing or even fuse wire 
|
||
| Even older tom |
Thanks Pete and that's a great idea. But even better is... The Missus got sent a bunch of flowers for Mother's Day and they used a thin wire frame to support them - that's what Im going to use. It was free! 
|
||
| Teleman |
Or strip down some old mains leads  they have very thin wire in
|
||
| upnick |
Hi Tom,
It's coming on well
Not sure if i could do stuff that small
|
||
| poliss |
I have the scale now Tom.
|
||
| TheThing |
Looking good Tom. Bridge is excellent, well done. | ||
| Joe |
It looks like if you wanted you could have a minature railway (like the Rhomney, hythe and dimchurch railway) in Z for 00 scale looking at the figure next to the loco, very very impressive so far, i really like the scenery its coming on fantastic!! Joe
|
||
| Even older tom |
Nice one Joe! The figure does look like he's in scale for the RH & D doesn't he?
Took these two pics in 'Lamp' mode on my camera - it manages to focus better but takes tiny pictures for some reason. 
Knocked up some wooden blanks for the buildings to see if they look OK for scale: 
I tried cross bracing on the truss bridge but anything thicker than a human hair looked out of scale ( ) so I decided against it. Do you like the way the raised edges caused by my knife cutting the styrene make it look like girders?
No, it wasn't planned, it was pure luck! 
|
||
| poliss |
Yep, the H girders look good. Have you tried stretch sprue for cross bracing Tom? | ||
| bando1_de |
Tom,
Maybe magnet wire would do the job for cross-bracing. I'm almost sure that you have an old motor lying around in your "spares boxes"... Glue it to the styrene with super glue. Install all wire at the top first and let the glue harden thoroughly. Then stretch it and glue down the lower ends. Means a lot fiddling and patience but at our age this shouldn't be a problem 
Finishing touches would be to paint the wire black and rust. If it looks out of scale: don't bother; early railroads had little money and also took what they could find to build their right of way (and most of them built stronger than required, nonetheless). |
||
| Even older tom |
Thanks both of you.
I tried stretched sprue but couldn't get it all to be the same thickness Pol. I thought of that Erhard, I tried using Lagartun extra fine wire but found that I there's no suitable anchor point for the lower end and it just looked wrong stuck to the side of the girder.
Please keep up the suggestions, though!
|
||
| bando1_de |
Ha! Nothing easier than that:
simply drill a very small hole through the top beam, thread the wire in, glue it in place and repeat for the lower beam. After the glue has set, sand the glue-spots and paint. Done 
|
||
| Even older tom |
NOW LOOK, MATE... THOSE GIRDERS ARE 1.2mm WIDE AND THERE'S NO WAY MY 57 YEAR OLD EYES CAN MANAGE THAT - EVEN WITH THE AID OF A MICROSCOPE! OK?
Nice idea though, Erhard! 
|
||
| bando1_de |
<dg&r> Want me to do it? My eyes are two years younger (still need glasses though)... | ||
| Even older tom |
In the post tonight Erhard. I expect return within 3 working days. 
|
||
| bando1_de |
Deal, I choose the working days  
|
||
| Even older tom |
Smarty pants!
|
||
| Teleman |
I have a drill thats .3 of a mill dia would that be small enough ?
|
||
| upnick |
Me too Teleman with the stretched sprue Tom hold one end of the plastic in a vice and heat then move away from the vice quickly should give you loads of the same thickness sprue i use the scrap frames that come with plastic kits.
Then drill a tiny hole thread the plastic through over length glue one end stretch it dab with superglue the other end let it dry and trim flush with a new scalpel blade should be taught and flush now with the frame of the bridge. 
|
||
| Even older tom |
An update on the layout:
I've made some buildings (which still need work) and added a bit of greenery. It now seems to have moved from Arizona into the Appellations! 
The mine building and the water tower have come out sort-of OK but I think 'they' were nearly right Pol, scratch building in Z is very difficult sometimes. How about a quick (unedited) movie.... 
Just got to decide what to do with the other 70% of the layout... 
|
||
| poliss |
That looks fantastic Tom. | ||
| TheThing |
Excellent, as usual, Tom!
I think the buildings look great. |
||
| upnick |
Looks superb Tom
With some scenics greenery in now it brings more life to it |
||
| Will |
Wow, Tom! You've done an absolutley cracking job with that!!!
|
||
| Camborner |
That's amazing! I keep thinking it's bigger than it is! | ||
| bando1_de |
Very well done, Tom! Now only the wagons and the loco look so bright and shiny (shivers), way tooo clean <dg&r>! 
|
||
| Even older tom |
Spot on, Erhard. That's the final job when I'm happy with the rest of the layout (just in case I get fed up with the layout and end up trying to sell the train!). A question for you, please: Any idea what the distance between the telegraph poles at the side of a US railroad is? A rough guess would be good enough. I think they would just add that final detail (and I've got some very, very thin wire which might well look good between the poles.) |
||
| bando1_de |
Tom,
In the late 1800's, the poles were set up at a distance of about 50 feet. I usually use a 40' boxcar to mjeasure the poles' location in order to suggest distance when photographed (and most of my modules are built with taking pictures in mind). Here's a link to site about utility and railroad poles: Click me Scroll down a fair bit to read about the railroad poles. Erhard |
||
| Even older tom |
Thanks again Erhard. That's a useful tip, shortening the gap to suggest greater distance.
Now all I have to do is make 30 or so telegraph poles! 
|
||
| bando1_de |
Toothpicks come in quite handy... 
|
||
| Even older tom |
Another neat idea from Erhard!
But :
I've just measured the ones I have and they are just over 2mm across which would scale up fine if I wanted the full, beefy, many wired poles but I think the thinner, single wire would be more fitting. I've got loads of 1mm brass rod which scales up to a nice size, so I'm going with that. Thinking about it, though... the toothpicks would be a perfect size for a Fir tree trunk... hmmmm... might look good on the top left hand corner and as a load on the flatbed wagon.... |
||
| poliss |
Loved the witch colliding with the telegraph pole in the bottom pic. 
|
||
| Even older tom |
No, I'm NOT going to do one!
|
||
| Even older tom |
Well, I did the poles and the wire... the wire is so fine, you can hardly see it 
I thought a sepia shot might look in keeping - pity about the rather large tweezers. And the lozenge shape between the track is going to be where the dirt road crosses the line. (I really MUST put my glasses on before taking photos  )
|
||
| bando1_de |
Veeery nice!
>> the toothpicks would be a perfect size for a Fir tree trunk... ...and the rough side of a pot sponge (those "Scotchbrite" thingies) make the twigs and the needles if torn apart a bit... Oops, another thing that won't cost money 
Erhard |
||
| TheThing |
Outstanding! Looks really authentic in sepia. I keep expecting to see someone in a ten gallon hat sitting on a horse!
Can we have a close up of the telegraph poles in colour if possible please Tom? And the tweezers? |
||
| Even older tom |
Thanks Hugh, they look prtty naff close up (so do the tweezers ) but I'll have a go when a photgraph the next phase..
Btw everyone, it's still £0.00 outlay
|
||
| Even older tom |
The weather was bad so I did the water and took a photo. It's about as close as my camera can get unless there's lots more light. Hope you can see the poles Hugh!
|
||
| poliss |
Oooooooooooooooooo! Beeeeeautiful!!! Exceptional work! | ||
| Noakesy123 |
Superb! And for £0.00... truly brilliant! | ||
| Even older tom |
It's all going ever so well today, so I thought I'd try making ripples using a synthetic wire wool pad to stipple the varnish as it dried... not bad results...
|
||
| poliss |
I may have to buy a thesaurus to find more synonyms for superb. 
|
||
| upnick |
Me too Poliss the water is outstanding Tom keep up the good work
|
||
| Even older tom |
Don't speak too soon Pol (and Nick), it's not finished yet. It could still all go terribly wrong! I'm not decided on the rest of the layout yet... 
|
||
| Noakesy123 |
absolutely amazing. Totally agree with Pol on the thesaurus idea! | ||
| Joe |
Tom, you really are a wizard when it comes to scenics, this layout looks almost completely real, i dont have the words to describe how utterly amazing it looks, what sort of stuff have you used so far, scenic wise? | ||
| TheThing |
Just brilliant Tom!
You should write it up and submit it to one of the modelling magazines - there is inspiration there for everyone! Can we create a title especially for Tom - Scenic Modeller Extrodinaire or something? |
||
| TheThing |
By the way - thanks for the close up of the telegraph poles. Very clear and exceptional work. | ||
| Even older tom |
Just call me lucky..
|
||
| poliss |
Tom - Scenic Modeller Extrodinaire Guru. Thay would make him a S.M.E.G.
|
||
| Even older tom |
Yeh! Any chance that I can be the main one? I've always wanted to be a S.M.E.G. Head!
|
||
| Even older tom |
It's only standard Woodland Scenics stuff Joe. Their 'Landscape Kit' is real value for money. Along with that, I used some of their 'foliage' stuff but instead of gluing it to tree armatures to make OO trees, I just glued it direct to the surface (it's all a question of scale) and it looks fine. There's one thing that I will say that makes scenic settings look believable and that is: 'Put the features in the right place but make it random' What I mean is, don't stick a tree on the top of a hill and don't plant your foliage in any sort of pattern or shape because neither of which are natural. Any details you miss out will be made up by the viewers eye. Just have a really good look at my photos of the layout - it's only blocks of wood and some fluffy bits - but they are in the right place and your eyes and brain did all the work! |
||
| Even older tom |
I think I really need to see a doctor, this is getting silly!
Someone mentioned that all the disused mine needed was Indiana Jones. Well, I managed the rails, trucks and boulder but I'll have to give Mr Jones a miss! 
Rails made from an old scroll saw blade and trucks from sheet brass. Boulder from the garden.
For scale: 
|
||
| poliss |
All I can say is... 
|
||
| Noakesy123 |
i find it difficult enough to stick some bushes down in the right places against a fence in OO, never mind building track, wagons and boulders in a space less than a 20p peice!!
Brilliant, just brilliant! |
||
| poliss |
There's some great close-ups of a truss bridge at these links that you might want to take a shufti at Tom.
http://www.cvmw.com/acrobat/1900_acrobat/150HOPrattTrussBridge.pdf The PDF is from this website which has some nice close-ups of their construction in the instructions pages. http://www.cvmw.com/acrobat/index.htm |
||
| bando1_de |
Absolutely stunning 
Just turn a little bit more crazy  I love it!!
|
||
| upnick |
Excellent Tom ....... you could do with the odd figure there to populate it though if possible
I did see someone add figures to a Z scale coach once came out rather well
|
||
| Even older tom |
I have a cunning plan.... |
||
| upnick |
i await with baited breathe Tom
|
||
| poliss |
Model Rail Hobbyist pay for articles Tom. Might be worth sending Ridley into them.
|
||
| Even older tom |
I might give it a go Pol - nothing ventured etc. etc.
Cunning plan to put more life into it. Part 1: Make my own vehicles out of wood.. 
Cunning plan part 2: Make my own figures (not available yet, but let's be honest, it's really going to be difficult at this scale!) 
|
||
| Teleman |
You could make a boat for the lake  If you gave it a metal base you could run a magnet around under the lake so it could go for a sail
|
||
| poliss |
Miniscule cars, jetty on the lake.
Has anyone got any spare superlatives I can borrow? |
||
| TheThing |
The lake is surely crying out for a jetty, with Huck Fynn fishing off the end - straw hat and all? | ||
| Even older tom |
This warm, wet weather is really making the green stuff grow!
The other side of the bridge, the work I did today... 
A bit of PaintShop Pro on the white background to hide the gaps in the paper...
|
||
| Noakesy123 |
wow! That really is amazing! It looks great! | ||
| Even older tom |
An update...
As Pete (Teleman) has mentioned to me, there are no people on Ridley USA so I had a go a making one.... Of course I didn't want to do anything half heartedly so I went for a 50's film icon - James Dean. Here he is in blue jeans and T-shirt standing next to the ubiquitous Coke machine: 
OK, he's a bit tubby but he'll do.
|
||
| Teleman |
Poor lad , he's all on his own  you will have to make him some friends
|
||
| poliss |
Never understood what people saw in James Dean. Give me Bogie any day. Here's looking at you kid. | ||
| upnick |
True Poliss i always prefered Bogie but the Tom would need to model him with a gun in hand
Great work Tom keep it coming 
|
||
| poliss |
Don't forget the dangling cigarette.
|
||
| CineSteam |
Really interesting, never knew there was a scale so small..! | ||
| poliss |
T gauge is even smaller at 1:450.
http://www.t-gauge.net/ |
||
| CineSteam |
Wow...
*utterly speechless* |
||
| poliss |
If you think that was small, take a look at this.
http://jamesriverbranch.net/detail_16.htm |
||