Model Railroad Blog

Vertical Elements

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Each of us has a defined number of hours we can dedicate to the hobby.  That being the case, it makes sense to focus on things that provide not only the most enjoyment but the most visual impact as well.  Vertical elements, specifically utility poles, if well executed can really elevate the appearance of our scenes.  Our eye is trained to look for the ordinary, what it sees in abundance in the real world, and utility service falls within that realm.  Prototypical data is readily available and photos are simply a matter of walking outside.  In the photo above the poles are skewers picked up from the grocery store and stained with a dilute wash of Floquil Rail Brown.  The step down transformers are from the Atlas telephone pole product (#775) as are the insulators.  Selley also makes a nice transformer.  Three inch conduit is made from spring wire.  The only caveat I would add is that the wires themselves are almost impossible to model effectively and to that end I suggest leaving them off.

WWII

Decades ago I had a sales trainer that happened to be a former WWII battleship gunner.  He was emphatic in consistently making his point that we should practice our sales technique  BEFORE we were in front of a customer. He made the point at every session and then immediately drew the analogy to his days in the South Pacific.  They’d spend hours on the ship going over and over the gunnery drills all the while his superior officer would explain the importance of the drills with the proclamation of “it’s best that we practice BEFORE we’re getting shot at”.

The application is universal, to sports, music, even model building.  You are far better off developing a specific modeling technique before you need to apply it to your actual layout or model.  Once you get to the real deal, poor results are often impossible or, at least exceptionally difficult, to reverse.  I speak from experience.  Often we have such a large time investment in the inferior effort, or because the result is not reversible, we have no choice but to live with it while it subconsciously grates on us every day.

How do you practice?  You just make trial runs on a scrap until you have it down.  Such practice attempts can be partial in nature and sub-par results can be discarded easily since you have minimal time or financial investment.  Compare your results against photos of the prototype or models you admire and stick with it until you are satisfied.  If after a number of attempts you are still struggling, photograph your sample and ask a more experienced modeler for advice.  Take notes as you practice so that once you get the results you want you can repeat them later.

Practice takes place at all points on the experience spectrum.  If you’re a beginning modeler, between layouts, or don’t have space for a layout now is the ideal time to elevate your skill levels.  The skills to master are limitless but here are a few ideas:

  • Track weathering
  • Ballasting
  • Waterways (all types from shallow and clear to deep and murky)
  • Structure weathering
  • Freight car weathering
  • Structure assembly
  • Trees
  • Static grass
  • Pavement
  • Backdrops
  • Alclad II metalizers

 

 

 

Initial Planning

east38stAerial

When it comes to planning a layout, a drawing will only take you so far.  Fortunately, with a smaller project a lot can be accomplished in 1:1 scale simply by mocking things up full scale with boxes and loose pieces of track.  The elements can be re-sized and moved around until you get the look that you want and done so without committing the time and effort to actually building models.  The last thing you want is to spend months building something only to find out as things come together that it doesn’t work visually.

The East 38th Street project, by choice, won’t be that large.  I’m looking at an L shaped shelf roughly ten feet by four feet.  It is all to easy to fall to the temptation to go wider and wider with the shelf width in an effort to fit more in.  Once you get beyond eighteen inches, however, you lose that shelf-on-the-wall furniture look.  This isn’t a problem for a typical basement style layout but for this project I want to contain the scope.  All that said, the space I have is the space I have so design starts with fitting the elements to the fixed shelf dimensions not vice versa.

1.  This cluster of structures is the signature element that stamps the layout as being in California and as such will occupy prime real estate.  Since they are in the foreground I’ll need to play around with how far I set the track back so that I can make sure it’s visible and that I can reach it.

2,3, and 4.  Background structures can be tricky because if they are to tall and shallow the point where the structure meets the wall can be visually jarring.  The deeper and shorter the background structure, the less of a problem this is.  Since this is a proto freelance project I can move things around.  I’ll probably replace building 2 with building 3 and experiment with structure(s) 4.  Depending on how much room I have I may include the relatively featureless structure 2 as filler.

5.  This block will be compressed greatly and I’ll need to strike a balance between not doing too much cherry picking of interesting structures vs. maintaining the actual feel of the place.

6.  The major industry is some type of chemical facility.  This will be replaced with something that uses a broader range of car types and spots, probably a bakery.

As the planning comes together, my thoughts will focus on element selection, the depth of the background structures, and photo angles.  By being judicious with my industry selection I should easily have enough operational interest to keep me going for an hour or so, more than enough for a secondary switching layout.

LAJtp1

While scale drawings are a necessity, especially for larger layouts, you need to be aware of their limits especially when it comes to how things will look in 3D.  A crucial part of this project will be dimensions A,B, and C.  I want to avoid mission creep and have a streamlined furniture/shelf look which will require that the shelf width A not get too out of control.  Ideally I’d like something in the sixteen to eighteen inch range.  The deeper a backdrop structure is, the less jarring the transition at the point it meets the backdrop.  It’s a trade off so I’ll play with dimension B using mock ups.  The commercial storefronts in the foreground are signature elements but I need to make sure I can see and reach the track over them.  To this end distance C, how far the track is from the fascia, will be important.

Introducing East 38th Street

38st7

I first became aware of the Los Angeles Junction while in high school and instantly became mesmerized by it.  As the decades slipped by the thought of eventually modeling it was always in the back of my mind.  I always thought that when the day came,  power would be in the form of a CF-7.  Oddly, it was a YouTube video of a tandom of two warbonnet emblazoned GP60M’s working a spur that pushed me to “The time is NOW” point.  As I spent hours doing my Bing and Google virtual railfanning I wasn’t really finding a scene that inspired me.  One afternoon I happened to drift a few blocks away to a neighboring UP spur and found my inspiration at the intersection of East 38th Street and South Alameda Street in Vernon, CA.  The layout will be relatively small L shaped shelf project with just a few turnouts.   As with my old East Rail layout I’ll use the prototype as something to draw ideas from without following it exactly.

e38th8

Just modeling the LAJ alone wouldn’t be justification enough to start the project.  I want it to be a platform to learn new skills, try new ideas, and apply previously used techniques more effectively.  Some things I’d like to experiment with are:

  • Battery power
  • Powdered glue for ballast and soil adhesive
  • Air eraser for weathering and fading
  • Photos instead of paint for roads and pavement
  • Printing on vinyl instead of paper
  • Still lighter bench work
  • More realistic dead grass
  • More realistic vegetation
  • A structure core material that is more stable than .060″ styrene

Room preparation is well underway.  I’ll keep you posted.  (The Downtown Spur layout is alive and well with no plans for dismantling).