illinois Central Chicago District - Monee Rebuild

[vinceg]

Great work on the hip shingles and ridge Vince. 

Vince,


What Greg said and then some.  Overall really nice work on a challenging kit!

Thank you, Jerry. It's kind of funny....I haven't built a ton of kits, but after a dozen or two kits that included FSM, SRMW, Bar Mills, FOS, and others, I figured I would bang this one out pretty easily. Turns out to be the most difficult building I have tried. Different manufacturer, different things to do -- it's all causing me to take a lot more time looking at things and understanding. (Plus, I have been "wasting" a lot of time working with my wife to clean up the outside of the house and gardens for the winter  )

Just like flying, I guess ... need to have a series of experiences that are just a little beyond your comfort zone but not enough so that you get in trouble.

Cheers, Vince

[vinceg]

Hey Vince:

The roof shingles look just great. Glad to see you used Cap shingles instead of folded paper.

Karl

Thank you, Karl. Unfortunately, I really like them. Seems I have just signed myself up for a lot more work going forward with future kits.

[vinceg]

Everything looks awesome Vince.

Thanx, Curt.

[tom.boyd.125]

Vince,
Your corner shingles look great on the station.
Will have to try that out on one of the future builds here instead of the normal paper cap strip.
Tommy

[postalkarl]

Hey vince:

Yep they are A little more work but they really make the difference. Keep up the great work.

Karl

[vinceg]

Thanks Tom and Karl.

[vinceg]

More progress to report. I have pretty much finished the basic depot building. Much more to do on the scene but I'll get to that shortly. First, here are some pics of the depot:

First, from the front:



I added Metra signage -- or at least what Metra signage would be if there were a commuter station in Monee. I did the graphics in PowerPoint and pulling the Metra logo off of Duckduckgo. As usual, the picture close-ups accentuate the flaws. I used scrap chipboard from the kits's roof sheet to back the sign and then fastened with 3M transfer tape. That chipboard is very high quality -- very heavy gauge. I think the white edges on the Metra sign are because my X-acto blade was too dull after all of that cutting. Should have put in a new blade. Not sure if I will go back and replace this or not. Smart money bets on "no."

Another interesting aspect of this kit is that the roofing paper they supplied for the external staircase was actually black crepe paper. Super thin and not much of it. Because of that, you can see the subroof pattern showing through the roofing. (The subroof is a scribed sheet, sortof like the wainscoting in front -- presumably to make it easier to have the roof conform to the curved shape of the stairwell.) After looking at it a while I kind of like it. It's a bit of a different look that is interesting.

Also, you can see the chimney is installed now.

More shortly.

[vinceg]

Here's the view from the south:



I see I forgot to put the pitch around the base of the chimney. Definitely need to go back and do that. The usual Metra signage on the roof. I am pretty happy with the way that turned out.

The kit suggests finishing the stairway in the same color as the depot. I wanted some contrast for a little more interest. This is just stained with Hunterline Driftwood. It's a little clean...perhaps could use a little smudgery. I'll think about that.

The stairway is also supposed to be supported by a couple of 8x8s and some cross bracing. I purposely left that off for now until I see what I'm going to do with the terrain.

More shortly.

[vinceg]

The view from the north:



Nothing notable there, I think. And finally, the view from the back:



Again, remember that all of the brickwork on this side will be below grade. The only thing new here is the vent pipe in the roof. I added the plate because I have been noticing a lot of them on roofs -- not just a pipe that comes out. The plate is just some scrap paper painted with burnt umber with a little chalk added. I think that, to be more accurate, the top of the plate needs to be under one course of shingles. At least that's the way it is on my house. I'll need to keep that in mind for next time.

This detail will be mostly out of view since it will be facing the backdrop. But, good practice.

More shortly.

[vinceg]

That's it for the building. The kit also includes a wood deck. The blueprint includes a birds-eye view of how the deck relates to the building. But, it's supposed to be a 1:1 drawing and the dimensions are not even close. Here's a pic:



You can see that my plaster castings fit well within the outline suggested by the blueprint. But, interestingly, the width of the platform where it abuts the building is close when you consider the stairway. Perhaps that's what they had in mind? Here's a [blurry] view of the platform blueprint at the front of the building:



Here you see that the platform is just about right, although still not quite wide enough. Even more confusing is that the instructions say you need to notch out the platform for the concrete step in front of the freight door. But, if that's true, you have interference with stairwell. Or, the stairwell needed to be attached a little higher so that it would land on the platform rather than ground level.

So, all of that sounded too complicated to me. I will raise the depot by the height of the platform and everything should be fine. Also I'll make the platform a little wider (looks like a couple of planks or so) so that the entire depot footprint, including the stairwell, matches up.

More platform discussion in a bit...

[vinceg]

So, regarding the platform, Metra stations do not [usually] have platforms that are less than one bilevel coach long. On the one hand I want at least some prototype fidelity which would mean a longer blacktop or concrete platform. But I also like old style wood platforms. In the 2020 NMRA calendar, there was a pic that really grabbed my attention:



This looks like it has all sorts of wins for this particular site: (1) I can have my longer, asphalt platform at track level, (2) I can also have my older style depot's smaller, wood platform, and (3) It gives me an excuse to raise the height of the depot site. I especially like (3) because I have more recently become sensitized to "verticality" (thanks to Mark, Craig, and others). It's even more important here as it will be close to the backdrop and therefore more easily obscured by closer structures.

So, that's my plan. If anyone has seen my other thread this morning about building stone retaining walls -- this is why.

More shortly.

[vinceg]

Here's the depot site again:



That's 1" foam temporarily under it. I will play around with this a bit now to get a better idea of how high I can go and have it still make sense.

The other reason I would like to raise the depot is because I can then have more natural land forms bridging that scene to the scene I will build to the south (right). That's the town of Monee. Here's a wider view to show that:



The higher the depot, the less likely I will need a rock face or another retaining wall to bridge the two scenes. I'm sure there's a good balance in there somewhere.

By the way, I expect to have a passenger platform on the viewer's side of the tracks as well. And then I will need a walkway to get across the tracks as well as the wrought-iron fencing between the tracks (Atlas makes a "hairpin fencing" product that is about perfect). I have seen a lot of double track scenes modeled with no passenger platform on the non-depot side and it always bothers me.

That's it for now. I'll build the wooden platform and work on blocking the scene and report back when I have something. It's also about time to get those clouds painted for this area as well as finalize my backdrop horizon plan.

....as soon as I know where the horizon is...

Later,
Vince

[Mark Dalrymple]

Great progress, Vince.

First, let me say that that view of the roof from above is magnificent!

And so - following on from that - go easy on the pitch around the chimney.  It might be worth using some low tack masking tape around the chimney to get a good, even, clean join.  IMO too many great models are ruined with sloppy pitch.  Also - the sign.  You have a great model there - I think it would be worth the effort to do a do over, or maybe you could add some framing in 2x1" or 4x2" timber painted in your trim colour.  This would set the front sign off nicely and hide the white from the blunt blade.  I also feel the blue signage needs some heavy weathering.  At the moment it stands out - kind of like some brand new signage has just been added to a well worn structure (of course, maybe that is the look you are going for).

I think the step with the double platform at two levels is very interesting, and, as you say, will help accentuate the verticality.

Looking most excellent.

Cheers, Mark.

[vinceg]

Thanks, Mark.

Really good point on the pitch. Like a lot of people, I do the mixture of glue and black paint for the pitch material. Not surprisingly, I routinely apply a bead that is not only too big but also very inconsistent. I am sure I have blobs that are easily a scale foot or two against a chimney or a vent or something. Really catches your eye and not in a good way.

I tried going from a toothpick to a straight pin but it's still a problem. I think the surface tension is so high for the glue that it's really difficult to guard against big blobs. I also thought about masking ... have you made that work? Not sure if you pull the tape up right away or after it dries. I assume right away. Does the glue stay in place? Do you mask the chimney also? What about circular protrusions like vents? I would be interested in hearing about anyone's experience.

My more recent thinking is to try acrylic tube paint and a straight pin. Very viscous, of course - feels like it might be more controllable.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi Vince.

In New Zealand I have pretty much never seen pitch used as a flashing.  Because of this and my not liking its appearance I almost always use painted high tack masking tape or aluminum foil attached to double sided tape as my flashing.  In this way any shape can be addressed and you can get a nice, clean, even seam, as well as it looking prototypically correct.  You have to take care to get the order of application right, as you do with any roofing (how many times have I seen valleys on top of roof planes?)  This involves thinking about your roof and flashing before you start.  It is a little fiddly to do.  Page 12 on my wharf and cannery thread goes through the process with masking tape.

http://modelersforum.com/index.php?topic=4879.165

Cheers, Mark.