(Go to: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9)
Here we see the track layout has been finalized. The inclines and the track roadbed have been glued in place. The river has also been fully excavated and the bridges aligned accordingly. An overall application of earth tone paint was applied at this stage to help"die back" the starkness of the white foam to help me better visualize the living layout. Even though it will all be eventually covered by mountain-work and landscape,the paint base helps hide any future white that might want to peek through any later alterations.
Following my self-imposed "finished furniture look" criteria, I installed a pull out drawer that could be hidden when the trains are not operating. The DCC control will be wired with disconnecting plugs and will store under the table via velcro when the pub table is in "centerpiece" mode.
The stone viaduct has been affixed in place level with the track.
I built up the side cliffs in foam putty (a lightweight spackle that has more in common with whipped butter than plaster) and shaped it with a knife while it was still pliable. I also built up the blasted stone on either side of the elevated track to disappear into the tunnels.
I added talus to the river base and created the stone breakwaters at the pier footings. Most of this will be seen below the "water" when it is poured- that should be the very last step in this project as I want it to be free of dust and debris.
My wife found some unusual glittery stones in a recent vacation to the mountains and gave them to me to incorporate into the layout. They work well, and are now a perpetual reminder of our trip.
Another stone can be seen here, embedded in the side of the farmer's hill. I added topography to the base level layout; rolling hills and gullies and ditches to add variety. The cows on the farm will have quite the view of the river as they graze. Creating little departmentalized visual "rooms" will welcome a visitor to walk around the layout and explore. Here you can also see the country road as it winds through the layout.
The beginnings of topography is more evident at this perspective (but photos do no justice to the layout). No less than five bridges on this little layout...that still makes me laugh. I will add more level variety and perhaps a culvert or two along this front cross section.
Here is an overall picture of the pre-track layout so far. The track has been soldered for power leads and "weathered" with an airbrush and awaits placement. I switched brands of track; from Atlas to an English brand called Peco, because Peco was the only brand that had a curved turnout... something my pizza layout demands. When the Peco tack arrived, I found the heft and quality of the track leaps and bounds above Atlas... however, the ties are more widely spaced and not very prototypical (read: picky-picky-picky) but then again, only modeling purists would chafe at that fact and I don't get many of those dropping by. Laying track will be a hoot... I've gone from sectional to flex track to accommodate my eccentric layout.
Alas...
As with anything in life, a little rain must fall. As some model railroading sage once said, "Model railroads are built by human beings and thus mistakes are to be expected."
And so it was with me. I found that my given real estate would not accommodate my track spur on the right that would have run behind the planned buildings. The turnout was just to long coming right off the bridge. So for now, that length of track is nixed. Perhaps I will dummy up a non working length of track and disguise its origin in a tunnel (?)
>> NEXT >>
