The Empire

[PRR Modeler]

Great modeling Jeff.

[Zephyrus52246]

Thanks for watching Curt and Greg.  I've been moving stuff around for a couple of days.  Curving the siding and eliminating the flop house made for some interesting possibilities.  First I made "Mount Towel" as a straight on view block, moving the silos and large building a bit to the right.  This isn't perfect, but not bad.  Flipping the silos and main structure looked a bit worse.

Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

Next, I mocked up the rear wall of another ITLA structure kit I have here.  It's much smaller,  not near as overpowering as the modular mock up,  but doesn't cover the hole quite as well as I'd like.  

Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

Finally, I "cut down" the ITLA modular structure by one story.  This is much better to scale and covers the area quite well. 

The final shot is an overall look at the area, comparing all the building heights.  Another advantage to moving the siding and eliminating the flop house is that now there's a big area in the front for a structure.  I could remove the green roof building and maybe put an FSM kit in here.  Hmmm...  I'll sit on these ideas for a few days and see how I like them. 

Jeff

[deemery]

Yeah, that looks good.  A water tank on the roof would add interest, be appropriate, and probably add balance to the scene, too.

dave

[Zephyrus52246]

Thanks, Dave.  Yes, a water tower on the roof would add more interest. 

Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

To make sure everything lines up, and I need to make the road grade crossing, I temporarily installed a piece of track for the siding.  The building clears my longest passenger cars, but I should probably get a couple of steamers past this as well.  Note there was a derailment when the locos picked the switch on the left.  The tortoise which was hot glued here had fallen off and was only held on by some tape.     This was removed and will need to be re installed.   

Jeff

[jerryrbeach]

Jeff,

I like the way this is coming together.  I think removing a floor form the ITLA building (cardboard mockup) fits the scene well since you reduced its height.  From your photos it looks like it does a nice job hiding the spot where the track goes through the backdrop.

[ACL1504]

Jeff,

Great progress. The road will look fantastic crossing the tracks.

Tom 

[Zephyrus52246]

Back at it after a few months hiatus.  The ITLA building is finished except for some roof details.  In order to get the streets painted the siding needs to be in place.  I cut some gatorfoam and glued it to the styrofoam for a base.  The structures were put in place along with some cars to see how things would fit.  I've switched from the pictures above moving the coaling towers between the two large structures as otherwise they block the view of the town.

I got out the Myer's kit instructions to check on how the silos need placement (there's a coal conveyor that goes to the track for loading coal under the track which will need some cutting of the gatorfoam.  I can't believe I built this kit 10 years ago and it still isn't finished!

Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

The siding is code 70 (versus 83 on the mainline) and is lower as well.  I don't want the transition at the joint between the two as that will probably lead to operating issues. 

Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

Made some shims from plastic sheet, made sure it was level (battery needed changing in the level as I probably haven't used it for at least 5 years), and glued in place.  Next up will be attaching the siding.  Then will have to paint it, etc, etc.  

Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

Glued the track down as well as this small piece of track at the crossing before spray painting the track.  

Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

Next up was the road.  I used some strathmore board for this.  I already had some precut road width pieces.  I painted the track tops with some rust colored paint with drying retardant added.  I then carefully positioned the piece of board and pressed it onto the track, transferring the paint to the board.  It was easy to remove the paint from the rails with a swab.  

Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

The pieces were then cut and fitted.  The fitting took awhile, as I adjusted them so they first fit, then so there would be wheel clearance for the flanges . Then I added two similar pieces to bring it up to near rail height.  I tested with plain trucks and then a boxcar.  

Jeff