New York, Vermont & Northern Rwy. Birth of a layout

[Bernd]

Bernd,

In reference to the question you posed above. As Dave stated no "hard or fast rule" here. It comes down to personal preference.

I like explain what I did and then show a photo. It flows better for the reader/follower to see the photos after a short explanation.

My 2 cents worth.

Tom 

Thanks Tom. Just wanted to make sure I sort of follow the forums protocol. Sounds like I just keep on doing the same then.

Bernd

[Bernd]

Hey Bernd:

Looks great so far. Keep the pics flowing.

Karl

Thanks Karl. More pics coming as I try to catch the forum up on my past progress and errors.

Bernd

[Bernd]

I'm enjoying your journey Bernd.....keep up the good work. 

Thanks for the encouragement Gregory. I need at times. I'll try to keep up the work.

Bernd

[Bernd]

Before I move on with the quarry area I want explain about the two electric engines in the picture. I built a total of four engines. The shell is totally a brass scratch built with an N scale power unit. I'll do a thread build sometime on these.

Okay, at this point I had some idea as to a track plan that hasn't changed in the two years since I came up with it. A quick hand drawn picture is below. The squares are 1". The two tracks under the bunker still need to be decided on as far as an exact location.



As I mentioned before a fellow modeler on another forum mention that rock strata always has a curve or doesn't run parallel to the ground. So I did some experimenting. I took strips of ceiling tile soaked them in water for a short time so they would flex without breaking and draped them over a couple of stacked strips. I had to hold down the one end to straighten out the strata. I let them dry over night.



Once that was dry I proped it up against the backdrop wall.





I put the first coat of color on it. I mixed up some "parchment" color acrylic paint with some water and Durham Water putty and had at it. This gives me a base color.





The bottom wall supporting the tracks was done differently. I used the flat of ceiling tile and not the edge. These are the tools of destruction.



I first slice the tile with a box cutter. Becareful and keep your fingers clear.



Next a little ruffing up with the saw blade.



Then a vigorous scrubbing with a still wire brush.



And there you have it. A sort of stratified wall. Some paint and you're all set.



Here is a whole set of pictures. I've made them small so they load faster on the forum. I've included the link to larger pictures under each picture in case you want a closer look.



http://www.kingstonemodelworks.com/RLF/HOn30/Scenery/IMG_3097.JPG



http://www.kingstonemodelworks.com/RLF/HOn30/Scenery/IMG_3098.JPG



http://www.kingstonemodelworks.com/RLF/HOn30/Scenery/IMG_3100.JPG



http://www.kingstonemodelworks.com/RLF/HOn30/Scenery/IMG_3101.JPG



http://www.kingstonemodelworks.com/RLF/HOn30/Scenery/IMG_3102.JPG



http://www.kingstonemodelworks.com/RLF/HOn30/Scenery/IMG_3103.JPG



http://www.kingstonemodelworks.com/RLF/HOn30/Scenery/IMG_3104.JPG



http://www.kingstonemodelworks.com/RLF/HOn30/Scenery/IMG_3105.JPG



http://www.kingstonemodelworks.com/RLF/HOn30/Scenery/IMG_3106.JPG



http://www.kingstonemodelworks.com/RLF/HOn30/Scenery/IMG_3107.JPG



http://www.kingstonemodelworks.com/RLF/HOn30/Scenery/IMG_3108.JPG



http://www.kingstonemodelworks.com/RLF/HOn30/Scenery/IMG_3110.JPG

Okay, I'm sure everybody is suffering from picture overlaod right about now. So will give it a rest until tomorrow. I'll warn you now, I've got another picture overload for tomorrow.

Until then.

Bernd

[PRR Modeler]

Very nice scenery modeling.

[nycjeff]

Hello Bernd, thanks for the tutorial on your rock walls. Don't worry about a picture overload, as a certain someone always says  " We love pictures ". Looking forward to more. Glad you're doing some actual modeling now. It looks great.    Jeff

[Bernd]

Thanks Curt and Jeff. This was actually done quite a while ago. I'm just catching you guys up to where I am today. It would have been hard to just come in at the point I'm at today and explain how I got here. Plus this is helping me get things in better order and hopefully motivate me to do more once I'm all caught up on these projects.

Glad you're not bored by the pictures more to come.

Bernd

[GPdemayo]

Very imaginative use of acoustical ceiling tile Bernd.....looks great. 

[Bernd]

Very imaginative use of acoustical ceiling tile Bernd.....looks great. 

Gregory,

I can't take credit for the use of ceiling tile. That was written up in either MR or RMC many years ago. I think the method sort of got lost over the years with all the newer scenery techniques that have come out over the years.

Bernd

[Bernd]

The wall to the left of the finished wall, behind the planned pit, I was going to try a different method with the ceiling tile. I glued up 1 1/2" wide strips and was going to give them the wire brush treatment. Never finished and am now contemplating changing the whole scene. The next three pictures show the method used.







After spending some time on wall construction I needed a break and do something else. While cleaning up a section of the basement I came across a project I had started. This is the base that was once a bird feeder project that never got finished. The auger part was a tryout to see if I could make a auger using my lathe. The drive motor with gearbox is a Tamyia planetary gearbox. It was purchased from Pololu Robotics & Electronics and was originally going to be used to power the Walthers Rotary Dumper project.



This what a planetary gear box looks like.



The auger and gear motor rough assembled.



The upper portion was originally to hold a one gallon plastic jug turned upside down to allow bird feed to run out onto the base. The one gallon plastic jug is not going to be used.



Looking down into the holding bin. I added four slope sheets and a small funnel to funnel the stone into the auger.



This is the place where the bin will be located. Height still needs to be determined.



If the motor was mounted to the wood it would have been a sounding board. I poured a rubber base using Smooth-On silicone rubber casting material with screws buried in the rubber to be able to fasten the motor to.



The motor fastened on the rubber base.



Parts for the new setup. 1" diameter pipe with hole for the funnel to fight in. The auger and the end cap, yet to be modified to hold the free end of the auger in the proper position.



Auger attached.



Pipe slide over auger and secured with straps and bedded in hot glue.



Bin located over hole in pipe.



Parts for the free end support of the auger.



Stub end on support bracket fits in hole on auger.



Support bracket soldered onto half a pipe connector.



Showing end support bracket and closeness of auger flights to pipe bottom.



A short video showing that the auger works.

https://youtu.be/4pfcfvqNEuc

So I finally got the auger working to the way I wanted. This will load a conveyor that will go to the top of the rock storage bins and then be distributed to the different bins.

Next time around I'll show how i'm going to construct the rock crusher building. It will be a scratch build project. It is still under construction at this point.

Until then.

Bernd

[ACL1504]

Bernd,

That auger and loader is quite something. It will be an eye catcher for sure.

Tom 

[Bernd]

Bernd,

That auger and loader is quite something. It will be an eye catcher for sure.

Tom 

Thanks Tom. I'm hoping I can pull it off.

Bernd

[Bernd]

Continuing on. With the background wall done it was time to figure out where to locate the rock crusher building. I had found an article in Model Railroader on a rock crusher that would fit nicely in this spot. I made a mock up of foam board to help visualize how it would all go together. There are to be two loading tracks under the rock bunker. I already have another plan that I found in Model Railroader magazine for the rock bunker. Both of these buildings will be scratch built and I plan on doing a thread on there build as I get to them.

Here's the layout that I started out with.



The idea is to load the rock bin via a conveyor belt. I had built this conveyor structure earlier to get some idea of building a working conveyor is HO scale.



The idea here was a track coming from the quarry and would empty the cars into the jaw crusher with perhaps a small rotary car dumper.



An almost complete picture of what I had, notice I said had, in my mind.



After placing the holding bin with the auger, it just didn't feel right.



I moved the crusher building closer to the edge of the layout. I added a second stub end track for the unloading of cars leaving the main line clear for other trains coming from the quarry. Something still didn't seem right.



I still hadn't decided about the rock bin structure at this point since I was concentrating on getting the crusher building in the right spot. Moving back in to butt up against the stub end unloading tracks now gave me room for what I need to do to hide the loading of the conveyor belt from the auger.



Not being quite sure of the angle the working conveyor could be at to function properly I moved the building to within about a foot of the wall to the right.



A quick mock up of what was to be the rock bins.





Not being happy with what I saw in the last two pictures I drew up in HO scale what is to be the new rock bin base structure from the rock bin article



Getting closer to what I had in my mind's eye I built the shell of the rock crusher building and came to the conclusion I would need to add onto the building.  There is going to be a shed to hide the auger and conveyor belt.





(continued in a bit)

[Bernd]

Seems like I ran into a posting limit. I'll try and post the rest of the thread later.

Bernd

[Bernd]

Continued from previous post. Discovered the problem was on my end.



Here is the final decision on the placement of the everything.



That's about it for getting the layout of the scene finalized. There may still be some small changes done as the scene gets closer to being finished.
Next I'll get into some preliminary experimenting I did to build the rock crusher building. I'll introduce a material that I have not yet seen being used in model building.

Until next time.

Bernd