Superior & Seattle Railroad Build

[S&S RR]

Here are a few pictures of the clay mockup with all of the surfaces that need to be protected for clearance - the helix for both the HO and HOn3 will be below these surfaces.  You can see where the lines would be visible in this scenario.  This scenario also has a yard for the HOn3 line.


This is the starting point in laying out the city.

[S&S RR]

I also considered making the canyon on the right a box canyon.  I just set a couple blocks of clay to represent the left wall.





I really like using this mockup system to visualize where I want to go with this design. Models of models - love it.

[bparrish]

John...

All this clay stuff........ is this left over from your car industry days ? ?

see ya
Bob

[S&S RR]

John...

All this clay stuff........ is this left over from your car industry days ? ?

see ya
Bob

Bob


It sure is - I spent lots of time in the clay studio assessing manufacturability of the new models.  I was responsible for making the dies for the vehicle and had to approve the designs for manufacturability. It made for some interesting discussions.   Clay models are a wonderful visualization tool.  Today, they still machine a full size clay model from the computer generated designs.

[S&S RR]

Today, I made good progress on the cross-bracing for the second HOn3 trestle.  I also had Wayne Olson working with me on the layout today and we pulled most of the wires that I will need to get power to the new track work. 

[S&S RR]

I'm sure enjoying the clay model mockup design process.  I highly recommend it.  I takes me about an hour to mockup a scenario. It sure beats making changes with plaster and wood.  I keep coming up with designs I like better. 

[S&S RR]

At the end of the day yesterday I wrote down my likes and dislikes of this design direction for this city on the S&S RR. 
First the likes: A yard for the HOn3 line, a location for transfer of cargo from the HOn3 line to the Main HO line, a city with lots of elevation change - city on a hill, and transfer of the trains between the 4 different levels of the layout "the helix". The dislikes: switches in the back of the layout (hard to reach), the yard through the center of the city ( I want it at the edge of the city preferably at a lower level), landform grade changes are to abrupt ( I want a somewhat continuous  landform grade change), and no room for hidden storage for HOn3 rolling stock.  So after creating this list last night, in the middle of the night, I woke up with a new helix and track design that I think will solve the issues.  I will change the clay model over the next few days and confirm it. I sure like making these changes in clay rather than wood and plaster. I'm sold on this model of the model process. I just ordered the clay for the harbor scene mockup.

[S&S RR]

I should add that this clay mockup will also be used to create the structures for this area using simple scale cardboard mockups. I see a lot  of kit bashing and scratch building in my future.

[S&S RR]

Small changes inside the mountain are facilitating big changes on the outside.








I'm currently moving the HOn3 yard to the front of the scene and the city will be in the back.  First step is to block in the clay.

[ACL1504]

John,

Great job my friend. I've really enjoyed seeing your work on this area.

Tom

[ak-milw]

I might not be saying much, but I am watching.

[bparrish]

John...

From your response....
It sure is - I spent lots of time in the clay studio assessing manufacturability of the new models.  I was responsible for making the dies for the vehicle and had to approve the designs for manufacturability. It made for some interesting discussions.   Clay models are a wonderful visualization tool.  Today, they still machine a full size clay model from the computer generated designs.   


When I worked for Mercedes Benz I was pretty convinced that the body designers did not always talk to the power train people.  Often we would have some manifold that would be buried under some fire wall assembly and most notably on V8 models, the rear spark plug on the driver side was completely inaccessible under the brake system vacuum booster assembly.

Either that or they were still angry at us for beating them in a war.


Again your railroad is to be very cool.

thanx
Bob

[S&S RR]

John,

Great job my friend. I've really enjoyed seeing your work on this area.

Tom

Tom


Thanks for stopping by my friend.  I'm really enjoying designing this section using this technique.

[S&S RR]

I might not be saying much, but I am watching.

Andy


Thanks for stopping by and for the encouragement.

[S&S RR]

John...

From your response....
It sure is - I spent lots of time in the clay studio assessing manufacturability of the new models.  I was responsible for making the dies for the vehicle and had to approve the designs for manufacturability. It made for some interesting discussions.   Clay models are a wonderful visualization tool.  Today, they still machine a full size clay model from the computer generated designs.   


When I worked for Mercedes Benz I was pretty convinced that the body designers did not always talk to the power train people.  Often we would have some manifold that would be buried under some fire wall assembly and most notably on V8 models, the rear spark plug on the driver side was completely inaccessible under the brake system vacuum booster assembly.

Either that or they were still angry at us for beating them in a war.


Again your railroad is to be very cool.

thanx
Bob

Bob


During the Chrysler / Mercedes days I spent a lot of time with Mercedes Engineers. We had to come to an understanding about how we did business on this side of the pond.  After that I really enjoyed working with them. I sat through many "space war meetings" where each product engineer would fight for space in the vehicle. Packaging was and still is a huge design challenge.


The process I'm going through here for my layout is very similar - I have to package a helix inside the mountain and still have room on the top to build a city.  I have a few design features that I would like to have.  The two biggest are a yard for my HOn3 line and a transfer area for transferring cargo from the Narrow Gauge Line to the Standard Gauge HO line.