Superior & Seattle Railroad Build

[Twist67]

Hi,

great looking rockwork.....while I was looking at the pictures I haven´t scrolled down to the bottom and I could only see the upper portion of them leaning to the rocks and I thought it´s a picture from original rocks with trees....great.

Keep it going,regards,Chris

[Bntrainmaster]

John,

Looking very good my friend, very good! Love the saw mill on the upper level! Are you pulling all Kadee 40' cars?

Tom

Hi Tom - thanks for the kind words.

Yes, the cars are all 40" Kadee's that I have been collecting for years.  First time they have been out of the box.  Lots of weathering to do at some point.  Another project for another day.

I have a narrow gauge wood trestle planned for the center of the upper level scene.  I also have the FSM sand house kit about 60 percent completed on my workbench that will go to the right of the saw mill on the upper level.

Good Morning John,
You are doing a superb job on this and I have to give you kudos on your rock work that looks phenomenal!!!!!!  As for the picture with the 'Kadee' car's that Tom had mentioned, I have been collecting 'Kadee' cars over the past 10+ years and have approx. 400+ of them and this looks like it may be my one form of retirement due to that the rest of the economy has gone into the dump, but they seam to still be holding there value. Lot of work ahead to get these all weathered. Thanks for sharing you post.. Looking GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[S&S RR]

Hi,

great looking rockwork.....while I was looking at the pictures I haven´t scrolled down to the bottom and I could only see the upper portion of them leaning to the rocks and I thought it´s a picture from original rocks with trees....great.

Keep it going,regards,Chris

Chris

Thanks for the kind words and for stopping by.  The picture of the trees is just a test to see if I like how the colors look so the trees are just leaning against the rock work. I will be doing a test planting in the next few weeks.  Right now I think I will be going with the color change theme for the upper elevations.

[S&S RR]

John,

Looking very good my friend, very good! Love the saw mill on the upper level! Are you pulling all Kadee 40' cars?

Tom

Hi Tom - thanks for the kind words.

Hi Bart

You do have a big investment in Kadee cars. I have not counted mine yet but I think the number will be between 50 and 100. I have a string of 20 out on the layout right now that I'm using to test the track work.  Thanks for stopping by the thread and for the words of encouragement.

Yes, the cars are all 40" Kadee's that I have been collecting for years.  First time they have been out of the box.  Lots of weathering to do at some point.  Another project for another day.

I have a narrow gauge wood trestle planned for the center of the upper level scene.  I also have the FSM sand house kit about 60 percent completed on my workbench that will go to the right of the saw mill on the upper level.

Good Morning John,
You are doing a superb job on this and I have to give you kudos on your rock work that looks phenomenal!!!!!!  As for the picture with the 'Kadee' car's that Tom had mentioned, I have been collecting 'Kadee' cars over the past 10+ years and have approx. 400+ of them and this looks like it may be my one form of retirement due to that the rest of the economy has gone into the dump, but they seam to still be holding there value. Lot of work ahead to get these all weathered. Thanks for sharing you post.. Looking GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[cuse]

Great looking Aspen trees. Those will really "Pop" in front of those huge rock walls. The layout is really coming along.


Nice job...John

[deemery]

The color change for higher elevations will be a nice touch.  Are you also going to go for some forced perspective?


dave

[S&S RR]

Great looking Aspen trees. Those will really "Pop" in front of those huge rock walls. The layout is really coming along.


Nice job...John

Thanks John

It's nice to be working on something were you can see the change.  For the past few months it has been all track work and it doesn't look like much changes in a picture.

[S&S RR]

The color change for higher elevations will be a nice touch.  Are you also going to go for some forced perspective?


dave

Thanks Dave

The color does make a big difference.  Yes - I'm using force perspective with the trees and I think there will be a few N scale structures in my future as well.

[S&S RR]

The ballasting has begun. Here are a couple test areas that I have completed with the sand and the ballasting.



This is in the yard.



This is the mainline just before the tunnel - I posted a picture of this area without the ballast last week.

[BandOGuy]

John,
A list of your ballasting materials would be greatly appreciated. Also, your techniques for putting them down.
Thanks,
Chip Stevens

[S&S RR]

John,
A list of your ballasting materials would be greatly appreciated. Also, your techniques for putting them down.
Thanks,
Chip Stevens

Hi Chip

To start to answer your question here are some pictures of the ballast on the Great Northern line in the Cascade mountains. I have taken pictures at a number of locations and this is representative of the material used in the area I'm modeling.

[S&S RR]

I'm using Woodland Scenics Fine Ballast material which in my opinion best represents the size of the stones in HO scale.  After lots of experimenting I settled on a mixture of colors in the ratio of 1 part black, 2 parts brown, 4 parts buff, and 4 parts gray. 

[S&S RR]

As I mentioned above, I start out using beach sand to fill in the area so I don't have to buy as much ballast material.  I then spread the ballast material with a 1/2 paint brush.  I'm looking for a 1940's era ballast job so it is not even like you would see today on a machine applied line.  I have used reference pictures from a number of layouts including George Sellios' F&SM to decide on the look I'm after.   Once I get the material in place with the brush I wet it down with a fine spray bottle with water and a drop or two of soap.  Then I apply white glue, in a 3 parts water 1 part glue mixture, using a turkey baster. Getting it wet first is important so it doesn't move on you as you applied the glue. It is also important to wet it down all the way to the wood with glue.

I hope this answers your questions - please let me know if you have any more.

[gfoyle01]

Love your attention to detail John - looks like it's really coming together.  Those aspens are very nice.  I really appreciate the extra explanations and detailed methods.

[BandOGuy]

John,
Much appreciated. Now I have to figure out how to bookmark this thread so my old memory will remember where to find the info.
Thanks again.