Superior & Seattle Railroad Build (Volume 3) Started 7/27/19

[S&S RR]

As soon as the casting joint is dry I reinforce it with 1/2 inch square basswood so nothing moves or comes apart during the handling that takes place during the painting process.  I will also reinforce the castings with wood to make sure nothing warps during the assembly process or down the road on the layout as the humidity and temperature change.

[S&S RR]

It sure is nice to see casting going together again.

[deemery]

Any tricks for gluing that 1/4" bracing in place after the walls are glued together? 


dave

[S&S RR]

Any tricks for gluing that 1/4" bracing in place after the walls are glued together? 


dave

Dave


The bracing I'm using on this one is 1/2 inch - I like lots of glue joint surface area. I use my trusty titebond III and clamp everything square until it dries - usually wait overnight. I did some joint testing on some scrap resin castings a few years ago and was very happy with the bond. I will be adding some strips inside the walls before this goes to the paint booth.


You will notice that I left the resin in the window openings.  I plan on blacking out the three sides that will not be visible and only opening the front windows.  I will have some internal LED's to light them up for the night photographs.

[deemery]

I've had some problems when using epoxy with the bracing not staying in position, particularly when gluing the whole box together.  Titebond has good initial tack, so you're probably not having the same problems.  I enjoy seeing how you clamp up your assemblies. 


dave

[S&S RR]

I've had some problems when using epoxy with the bracing not staying in position, particularly when gluing the whole box together.  Titebond has good initial tack, so you're probably not having the same problems.  I enjoy seeing how you clamp up your assemblies.


dave

Dave


I believe in clamping things in place until the glue dries.  As the glue dries there are a lot of chemical reactions going on that change the temperature of the materials which causes things to move, expand and contract. This is true with wood but really gets crazy with resin models.  With some of the clamps you see in my pictures you need to have a fine touch with the clamping pressure or the clamp will distort things. I'm watching to make sure there is no bow created in the wall section by the clamping pressure. You will notice that the angle plate is holding the joint square from the inside and the outside is held square, as well. I very rarely use epoxy any more because of the temperature changes as it kicks. I'm happy with the bond with the titebond III.  I haven't found a material it doesn't work with.

[S&S RR]

I only got into the train room long enough to get the clamps off the Sayles Mill main building wall assembled and place it on the baseboard for a test fit, today. With as busy as my spring has been I decided this warranted a progress picture.

[S&S RR]

Update: I started putting the window castings in the walls for Brownsville Depot, yesterday. I'm also spending a lot of time working on the design for the town of Vansel. A lot of sketching and then coming up with a better idea and sketching again at this point.  Nothing ready for posting at this point. Stay tuned.

[postalkarl]

Hey John:

Looks like you are on the way with this one. Can't wait to see more.

Karl

[ACL1504]

John,

Two simple words for this -   LOVE IT!

Tom 

[nycjeff]

Hey John, I'm looking forward to your next developed area. Like all the rest of your empire, I'm sure it will be great.   Jeff

[S&S RR]

Hey John:

Looks like you are on the way with this one. Can't wait to see more.

Karl

Karl


Me too, I hope to get back in the workshop in a couple weeks for more than an hour at a time. Just a busy time right now. It has been 18 months since I have seen my oldest daughter and I'm getting to know my  grandson who arrived in March.  I can't wait to have all the Grandkids running trains at the same time.

[S&S RR]

John,

Two simple words for this -   LOVE IT!

Tom 

Thank you, my friend.

[S&S RR]

Hey John, I'm looking forward to your next developed area. Like all the rest of your empire, I'm sure it will be great.   Jeff

Jeff


Thank you for the kind words, I have enjoyed your layout tour - I will be following along with your build as well.

[S&S RR]

Update: I'm in the middle of a design exercise for the town of Vansel where I'm placing a baseboard footprint on a drawing of the layout area. The overall dimensions of this area are 14 feet long by 8 feet in depth - this includes the mountains in the background. The dimensions of the town (area where the structures will be placed) is 12 feet by 6.5 feet. The height change in the area for the structures is 18 inches. I will post the drawing when I get it completed (rough draft).  So far, I have the structures from 35 FSM and SRMW kits placed on the drawing. Also, have two C. C. Crow kits, and the Bar Mills FSM tribute kit in the mix. I still have some empty real-estate so these numbers will grow.  After I have an idea of the footprint pattern that I like I will be doing height mockups to look at view blocks and the overall look of the scene. I get a lot of ideas for changes to the kits by going through this process. My days of building them like the instructions and then placing them on the layout are done.  I really enjoy this process and expect there will be many kit bashes and scratch builds before this is complete. I will have a few years of fun into building this portion of the layout.

Here is a overall picture of the area for visualization. To help with the visualization process  - from where I'm standing when I took the picture to the back corner of the room is 20 feet. The area to the right of this picture is the Beach Farms which is the area I just recently completed.


The trees in the foam are waiting to be planted in front of Threadwell's. Four of the builds for this area have been completed. As a general rule, the builds will be completed and placed on the layout starting from the back of the scene and moving forward.


The picture printout that you see hanging from the facia rail is one of hundreds of pictures that I took of the Rocky and Cascade mountains in September. I have been using these pictures for reference as I built the mountains and added the scenery.




I plan on using the same process for my waterfront area. I will be doing the design work for the waterfront as I build the structures for Vansel.


Note to Bob: Your beautiful build of Avram's Bakery has been moved off the layout for safety until I get the benchwork completed. You can see the depression in the benchwork where the baseboard fits along with the rail siding that services it.