Shadowlands and Tellynott

[Mark Dalrymple]

Mark, just catching up on the forum, really impressive bridge, quite the project.

Thanks, Jim.

We have a modelling weekend this weekend so I'm planning to get stuck into the next major bridge.  This one is a Micro Engineering 150' tall steel viaduct.  There are a lot of parts so I'm guessing it might take quite a while to put together.  I have various other projects to work on as well, so if I need a break I'm spoiled for choice...

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

The trestle is amazing and looks great. With the addition of scenery, it will certainly be an eye catcher.

The mockup behind the trestle looks good, on paper anyway. 

Thanks, Tom.

The mock-up is of Builders in Scale Silverado mine.  It is a quaint little mine and will fit well into my limited space here.  I'm looking forward to starting on some scenery, but at present I'm working on getting bridges constructed so that the main line can keep progressing.  The plan is to get all the way from Hope to Alabaster, just leaving the three large bridges across the summit line to complete.

Cheers, Mark.

[Jerry]

Beautiful trestle!  With scenery it's going to really be a scent to behold.

Jerry

[Mark Dalrymple]

Beautiful trestle!  With scenery it's going to really be a scent to behold.

Thanks, Jerry.

Yes - I'm really looking forward to the scenery stage.  I made good progress on the Micro Engineering bridge bents last night.  Hoping to get more done today.  I might have opted for the more delicate wire and turnbuckle cross braces if I had have known before being told part way through the instructions.  Unfortunately, here in New Zealand, you can't just walk into your local hobby shop and buy Grandt Line turnbuckles.  I would need to order these from the USA and then wait at least two weeks (perhaps 6 weeks) for them to arrive.  I also found a short Youtube video which answered a lot of my questions about building the bridge at grade.

Cheers, Mark.

[GPdemayo]

Impressive trestle Mark, look forward to seeing it with scenery.....

[Mark Dalrymple]

Impressive trestle Mark, look forward to seeing it with scenery.....

Thanks, Gregory.

The possums all went out to have a look at my progress in the train room yesterday afternoon.  Nice to get some feedback and to be reminded that I am making progress.  We talked through scenery around the snowy river battery where I am second guessing myself and have a couple of totally different ideas floating around in my head.  I think my plan is to 'throw up' some fascia and cut in the land profile to see what I think.  This will show how I can frame different views, hide some elements from one side of the peninsula and have others as major views with borrowed scenery behind.  Also rediscovered my MRR with Malcolm Furlow's article on the Silverton and Telluride layout he worked on - one of my all time favourite layouts.  One of the things I noticed was his extremely vertical trestle bents.  I think I will mock a couple of these up and try them in place of the Howe through truss bridge.  I'll lose the 'see through' element of the Howe truss, but may gain more with the drama of those tall, fragile bents.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi guys.

A nice weekend was had by all the possums.  We even had our honourary member, Mark Andrews, turn up for the last part of the afternoon on Sunday.  I made some good progress with the Micro Engineering bridge, but found it necessary to make a few jigs to help things go smoothly.  I'll describe these in an upcoming post.  Since the weekend I have been working on, and thinking about, fascia.  Fascia can really define a scene, or in my case, several scenes.  In order to make these work in a mountain scene each needs careful consideration, and even then, at least in my case, further changes are common.    So my intent is to show the direction I am heading, but also to ask your opinions.  I have two different scenarios, both with their own advantages and disadvantages.  It is, however, extremely difficult to see how one will look without first destroying the other one.

Photo 1 - shows the south side of the peninsula.  This section of fascia is glued and nailed in position.  I can alter the shape of the profile on top, and the taller bits are presently held in place with clamps.


Photo 2 - shows the east end of the peninsula.  You can see this really frames the river and trestle well.


Photo 3 - shows the north side of the peninsula.  This section is clamped in position at present.  I'm pretty happy with the shape and have a good idea about what I will do with the scenery.


Photo 4 - is a reminder of what I have set the scene up for.  My original idea was to have a small mine down low by the river.  I then kind of fell in love with the Snowy River battery and made a mock-up of this complex.  I loved the view of the battery up close from the south side with the borrowed scenery behind - the view down the gorge, to the pulp mill and to the limeworks.  I also kind of leapt into this new idea without proper consideration of the original scene, and as I said, this is now hard to mock up - although I have given it a good try.


Photo 5 - shows earlier photo before I had built the battery mock-up.  Here we see the view down the river gorge.


Photo 6 - Shows the view with the limeworks in the background.


More soon...

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi again.

So the next series of photos will try to show the original idea mocked up.  You will have to imagine out the upper curved set of points and the MDF baseboard whenever they get in the way.  This will be mountain side.  The main disadvantage I see of the battery is that it is quite large (https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22679057?search%5Bi%5D%5Bname_authority_id%5D=-262901&search%5Bpath%5D=items) and I fear it will make the vastness of the mountain scenery look less vast and it will kind of look out of proportion.  I was also never a fan of the almost circle of track that the spur to the battery creates.  I do intend to enclose some of this in a tunnel, but the mind can be good at filling in the blanks.

Photo 7 - So here we have an overall view of the valley.  The stream will meander its way down the mountainside via a series of small waterfalls.  The left bent will need to be modified to suite the terrain.  At present I have allowed for 30' spans throughout, but I might try a 50' span between the two bents.  The mine is shown here with a picture of John Allen's mine from Sims loop.  That's about the size I am going for.


Photo 8 - Here we are a little closer.  The passing loop at Malcolm is shown in the foreground - I still need to lay track here.


Photo 9 - and closer still...


Photo 10 - Here we are looking back the other way - looking down from the south side.  The clamp in the foreground is holding the curved bridge mock-up in place.  You can see the picture of the mine in the right of the photo.


Photo 11 - shows the cameo view through the underpass.  As the curved points widen through the underpass, the bridge will need to be 'splayed' and this will allow for a wider view.  The radius of the curve I used is almost identical to that of the outer radius of the Walthers curved turnout.  Unfortunately it is the opposite direction to the one presently in place for the battery.


More soon...

[Mark Dalrymple]

Hi again...

Photo 12 - a view of the river leading to the trestle.  In order to give enough height for the Micro Engineering bents to fit under the track I had to cut all the MDF for the riverbed so that it fit in between the joists.  I marked the joists while the MDF was screwed in place and then cut it to size on the drop saw.  I was able to get a nice tight fit and so just tapped the pieces into position with lots of glue put on the joists first and then just let them bond - no 45x19 supports needed.  The glue which oozed out the bottom will make a nice ledge for the MDF to sit on.  I wont go walking on it, but I think it would hold if I forgot...


Photo 13 - a close up of the the tall steel bridge.  I have replaced the picture of the mine with a small timber mock-up that I had lying around here.

 
Photo 14 - Here is the left bent.  I would cut the left side down to just below the first horizontal member.


Photo 15 - Here is a view through the bent to the picture of the mine behind.


More soon, cheers, Mark.

[Janbouli]

Wow , lots of work done , lots of work cut out to do . Thanks for sharing Mark

[Zephyrus52246]

Watching you flesh out your plans is quite interesting.  This will look fantastic when done. 

Jeff

[Jerry]

This going to be just outstanding when done.  I can image the scenery in place just WOW!!

Jerry

[Mark Dalrymple]

Wow , lots of work done , lots of work cut out to do . Thanks for sharing Mark

Thanks, Jan.

I'm enjoying working on the fascia - but it does require a lot of forward though about how the terrain will work.  I've been adding 45x19mm droppers which sit flush with the bottom of the bearers as a starting height for my fascia.  In this way the bulk of the framework will be hidden from sight and I have something to clamp the fascia to.  I can the take the fascia down, cut with my jigsaw and reinstate, as many times as needed until I am happy.  Indeed, I could even try two entirely different profiles and trial each, photographing each one.  I could then compare photos of the different scenarios on my computer.  It helps that I only paid 50c a sheet for the 2.5mm MDF.  I do have to splice the higher sections on.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Watching you flesh out your plans is quite interesting.  This will look fantastic when done.

Thanks, Jeff.

Yes - its an interesting process.  The blue paper is a very cheap and useful mock-up tool for rivers.  These really define the shape of the terrain and are great focal points and sight lines.  For a few dollars you get quite a bundle of colouerd paper.  Stacking the offcuts of polystyrene and putting folds in the paper was also quick and painless, but really lets you see how things will look.

Cheers, Mark.

[Mark Dalrymple]

This going to be just outstanding when done.  I can image the scenery in place just WOW!!

Thanks, Jerry!

Yes - I think I'm sold on this configuration.  All four of the possums liked the other set up better.  I didn't have the fascia on or the mock-up in place for them last weekend so it was much harder for them to imagine what I was explaining.  The battery at the higher elevation had been bothering me for months.  Mostly how it's size will make the mountain range seem smaller.  The next step will be to remove the baseboard for the battery - hopefully in a manner that will cause little to no damage, and will also allow reinstatement if necessary.  I can then mock-up a mine and some mountains.

Cheers, Mark.