The Atlantic and Southern Build, Part 1

[ACL1504]

I thought I'd share a little Florida Cracker history. You've read about my Cracker Houses I'm scratch buildling. They are called cracker houses as they are small like crackers.

Also. a Cracker is a white native born Floridian, usually with pre-civil war ancestry. Sometimes used in a derogatory manner by other ethnic groups.

Florida cowboys are also called crackers as they use their whips to heard the cattle and scare gators. The whip makes a "crack" when used and thus the cowboys are referred to as Crackers.




//www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gXq73MRKmM


Smile why you call me Cracker, stranger.

[ACL1504]

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTDNYqdXro4

[ACL1504]

I started adding the highway next to the track at Eaton's Curve. I purchased some 1/8" cardboard from Sam Flax Art Supplies and I'm using this as the highway.



I marked on the plywood the width of the road. I then painted full strength white glue on the plywood and set the heavy stock cardboard in place. You'll want to add weights to hold it down. As the glue is a water base glue, the cardboard will separate if it's not held in place until the glue dries. As you can see I've used everything I could find to hold mine down.





Looks like I forgot the kitchen sink.

More in a few.

[ACL1504]

This is the best use I can think of for my cell phone and speaker.



This morning I removed all the assortments of weights. Everything was level and flat.



Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

According to FDOT, the distance between concrete highway expansion joints is 8-12 ft. In HO scale this seemed a little to close so I went with the A&S RR standard of 15 ft. between the joints. I used a pencil to mark the joint lines on the cardboard.





FDOT also states that an expansion joint was down the middle. I didn't do this joint as the yellow/white line down the middle would cover it anyway.

I forgot to show this next photo. This is prior to the expansion joint pencil lines.

[bparrish]

Tom.......

Interesting stuff about crackers........... BUT ! ! ! !

I'm not sure I would want to walk into a Florida bar and call some guy a cracker.

Might just start a fight.

I was in enough of those while in the navy. There was always someone who had to say something not nice about some marine's sister  ! ! !

see ya
Bob

[ACL1504]

In drawing the lines/joints, I used a square to get the correct angle on the roadway in relation to the edge.

Once all the lines were drawn, I used the square to hold on the line and scribe the joint lines.



This next trick isn't mine as Howard Zane showed me this on one of my many visits to his wonderful layout.

To seal the cardboard from moisture and prep for painting, I painted on full strength white glue on the top and sides of the cardboard. This seals the cardboard highway and protects it as I add scenery to the edges.

Don't worry how it looks while you are applying the glue. The glue will dry clear and seeks it own level on the cardboard.





Tomorrow I should you what the road looks like after the glue has dried.

[ACL1504]

Tom.......

Interesting stuff about crackers........... BUT ! ! ! !

I'm not sure I would want to walk into a Florida bar and call some guy a cracker.

Might just start a fight.

I was in enough of those while in the navy. There was always someone who had to say something not nice about some marine's sister  ! ! !

see ya
Bob

Bob,



A native Floridian can do it. If you came down and did it to someone it may cause trouble. I had a guy the other day ask me if I was a Florida Cracker and I replied, "Yes, and da-n proud of it." Basically he was asking if I was born in Florida.


My Babe cracks the whip on me all the time. Honey due stuff and not the S&M stuff.


Tom

[donatode]

Geez Tom!  You're much better than Wikipedia.....!!!!

[ACL1504]

Geez Tom!  You're much better than Wikipedia.....!!!!

Donato,

Thank you sir, we at the A&S RR aim to please.


Tom

[bparrish]

Tom....

I can't resist a cheap shot at downtown Idaho.  You mentioned FDOT for specifications on your highway.

Any time the Idaho Department Of Transportation does something stupid....... Which is actually pretty often.

I'm forced to remark....

"How do you spell idiot with only one I?"  IDOT

Actually there is a county highway district in Ada County also. The only such entity in the entire country.  They don't get along with anyone, state or city.  It's a good ole boys club.

See........... there is a plus for living in Idaho.

see ya
Bob

[ACL1504]

Reading Bob, (Master Builder Mr. Butts) uses Northeastern Scale Lumber Flamingo Glue on his models. He was kind enough to give me a bottle and small applicator bottle to try. I'm using the "pink" glue on the two Fl. Cracker houses.



All the doors and windows are cut out. The walls are braced with scale 8x8's. Notice I didn't cut any window holes in the back wall of house #2. The rear of this house can't be seen from any angle on the layout. If John Siekirk comes down and usees the selfie camera stick, then you won't see the windows that aren't there.





Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

Tom....

I can't resist a cheap shot at downtown Idaho.  You mentioned FDOT for specifications on your highway.

Any time the Idaho Department Of Transportation does something stupid....... Which is actually pretty often.

I'm forced to remark....

"How do you spell idiot with only one I?"  IDOT

Actually there is a county highway district in Ada County also. The only such entity in the entire country.  They don't get along with anyone, state or city.  It's a good ole boys club.

See........... there is a plus for living in Idaho.

see ya
Bob

Bob,

That's a great IDOT story. WE in Fl. refer to the FDOT as F-----g Department of Transg-----s. They don't know what they want to be!

I'll probably be suspended for that one.

Tom

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The corner trim of 4X4's were added next.





You want to get a good tight corner fit.

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I'm looking for a certain paint look on the two houses so I chose to apply the A&I stain first.

I'm using Hunterline weathering mix, Creosote Black.


I want a dirty finish look. For the first application, I applied a very light coat of wash. The key here is to get the unpainted wood darkened without warping the walls. When this dries a second coat will be added.




You can see that only after a few minutes the stain is beginning to dry.