Holland Odessa R.R.

[Jim Donovan]

Great news this week, the Boss has been cleared for travel and we will be heading to Florida this week. So work on the Holland - Odessa R.R. will be put on hold for a couple of months.

I wanted to post a outline of how the canal came about as it plays a central part of the layout. This will be the last posting for some time.

The canal was designed from the beginning to be part of the layout since canals first opened the western part of Ohio to settlement. As a beginner I needed instruction on how best to proceed. I found it on-line in a video by Luke Towan that shows making a diorama of a river scene, you can find it on his web site Boulder Creek R.R. or on YouTube.  Modifying it to be a canal was easy. The biggest change I made was to use Woodland Scenics Deep Pour to create the water. Here are pictures of real Miami-Erie Canal and specifications it had. Check out pictures, more in a minute.

[Jim Donovan]

Just starting in the hobby I find myself spending a lot of time researching not only the history of the area being modeled but how to do the modeling. Researching water products I found Woodland Scenics the best one documented with good 'how to' video's at their web site. I think it was a good decision, there is not one bubble in the water and the tinting came out the way I wanted. I've learned bubbles and 'creeping' of the water can be an issue. I had a little 'creeping' but the Towan video showed how to eliminate it. I ended up watching the video at least 20 times while making the canal as well as taking notes. The landing seawall is from Bar Mills, I hope to make one of their craftsmen kits when I get better.  Here is first construction based on video. Enjoy the photo's more in a minute.

[Jim Donovan]

I used the opportunity to learn how to use an airbrush. The one I have is the beginner Master dual action product you can buy on Amazon for about $50.00 included is a small compressor that sucks. I was ready to just junk it but decided to get a real compressor and magic happened, for what I needed it worked fine. Practicing on the canal allowed me to learn how to airbrush and still was useful since the canal bottom and walls needed to be painted anyhow. I must have re-painted three or four times. However, by the end I was doing pretty good and the bottom looks real, dark in the middle, good looking shoaling on the banks. The shale bank must have four or five shades. It was just airbrushed, no wash. A foam base made forming the canal easy. Enjoy the canal completion.

The trees came from a video Luke does on 'five minute trees'. It took a lot more than five minutes but using a local flower stem that has a lot of branching produced a nice looking Hickory Tree. Next time I will paint the trunks so they better match the real tree. More pictures:

[Jim Donovan]

So this completes the first build season of the layout. Hope you liked seeing the progress of a true beginner.

The biggest thing I've learned about this hobby is I love everything you can do on top of the layout and hate everything required under the layout. Frankly I was surprised powered rail was still the standard for the hobby, 40 years after I played with my father-in-law's basement operation. With wifi and powerful small batteries I would have thought power would be in the engine itself and control would be wireless through bluetooth/ wifi. I guess a lot of people in the hobby love the electrical part, me not so much.

Next up the Village of Mandryville, this fall. I will be reading others work throughout the summer. I hope what I learn shows in future modeling. Thanks to all for your great posts and sharing of information. Makes a beginners effort a lot easier.

[PRR Modeler]

Really top notch modeling. What part of FL will you be at?

[ACL1504]

Jim,

Looking good sir.

Curt, I've invited Jim and the Boss over for a layout tour and visit of the Atlantic and Southern RR if they visit the Orlando area and have the time.

Tom

[Jim Donovan]

Currently we live near Tarpon Springs but within two weeks we are moving to The Villages near Leesburg. Looking forward to seeing the mighty Atlantic and Southern when we get settled in. Thanks for the invite.

[cuse]

I'm really enjoying this. Small but very creative layout with fantastic scenery...it's what I aspire to. Welcome to Central Florida.


John

[GPdemayo]

Great work Jim.....looking forward to meeting you at the ole' A&S. 

[ReadingBob]

Thanks for sharing you work Jim!  It looks great.  I love the idea of the canal and canal boat. 

There's very little evidence remaining of the canals and locks that where in the area that I'm originally from in Northeast PA but they were, a very long time ago, a big deal.   

[jimmillho]

Great work Jim.....looking forward to meeting you at the ole' A&S. 

Me Too.  just waiting for you to get here.

Jim

[postalkarl]

Hi Jim:

love the canal and the boat. Scenery around ain't bad either. Nice Work.

Karl

[Jim Donovan]

Thanks everyone, it's fun.

[Jim Donovan]

The Boss and I had an incredible visit today with Tom Langford (ACL1504) and Greg DeMayo (GPdemayo) at Tom's Atlantic and Southern Layout. It is an amazing layout to see. Even better was meeting Tom and Greg, two true gentlemen. They allowed us to visit for the better part of the afternoon (taking up important bench time!) and made us feel at home instantly.

The wealth of information the two have and openly share taught me more in two hours then I can pick up reading and watching video's in a week.  A big thank you to both from Deb (aka The Boss) and myself.

Tom's layout is based on the Atlantic and Southern during the transition time period. Being a Florida resident myself since I was 17 I loved the scenery and how the layout evolves from southern Georgia down through Florida. I had to ask 'where are the Cypress Trees'? Without losing a beat Tom showed me. Hope he doesn't mine me sharing the proof!

His layout is nothing but a lifetime labor of love. Tom; thank you for sharing. I need to post another picture showing the CCK Rural Post Office kit he made and I am building based on his tread. While some more scenery will happen I think I was able to catch a great photo of it showing the incredible workmanship Tom put in this deceptively simple kit.

I came away with a wealth of ideas spinning in my head. To begin with I've decided the current layout located at our summer home in Ohio will be dedicated to modeling just NW Ohio as it was in 1908.

Come the fall and we return to our Florida home I will start a separate layout dedicated to Central Florida during the transition era much as Tom is doing (but on a MUCH smaller scale). Florida from 1920 through the late 60's grew but did not change character. Today you need to go to the interior, Big Bend area (the west coast area where the peninsula bends into the panhandle) or the panhandle interior to see parts of that time still existing.

Well enough babbling. Time to go back to working on the trees needed on the Ohio layout.

[Jim Donovan]

We arrived back to our Ohio house early June.  While in Florida I learned to make trees using the floral wire method  . I've watched video's produced by Luke Towen, Kathy Millatt, Marklin of Sweden as well as reviewing the video's available from Woodland Scenics and Scenic Express. What I came up with is something of a composite of what these people do. I wanted to produce maple trees to replace the Woodland Scenic metal armature trees first placed on the layout near the canal. I never liked the look of the metal armature. What I came up with is attached. Most are maple trees from 20 to 35 feet high. The one furthest  away was modeled after an Elm tree and is 45 feet high.