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HOn30 Home Depot
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O.K., some more hints (Take or leave, your choice.) The spline roadbed that I've done.
At the lumber yard, get some 'random lengths', 'short pieces', (anything over 2' is usable, sometimes shorter). of 1x4, 1x6, or 1x8. The cheaper the grade the better. Knotty pine is fine, (you LET the splines break and separate where the knots are.) Set the table saw to take 1/8", or some thicker, off of the 'big' piece each time you run it through the saw. Make sawdust. (You may want to use thinner pieces to be able to make smaller radius curves, that's O.K. [just means MORE layers to the spline])
Don't worry about 'C' clamps. A few will come in handy, but they are NOT what to try and use when making 'roadbed' with the 'splines'.
It's getting harder to find, in this day of 'tubeless tires'. But what you want is LLloong. pieces of 'rubber band' material. To get this, take a used 'inner tube' (automotive, a truck tube will also work, just remember the starting material in thicker, so cut your strips narrower to start with.), Using a large pair of scissors, going around the tube, cut a strip 1 1/2" to 2", wide. As long as you can comfortably get. Pieces that are as long as 10' (and even longer sometimes) are quite usable.
Making the roadbed.
Have your 'upright' supports ALL in place, with a mark across the top for the finished track centerline. It may simplify getting the first strips in place, if you put in nails, where those marks are. (Finishing nails work best [no heads]). Put the first spline in place, using 'short' pieces of 'rubber band' to tie to the nails. Apply glue (White, carpenters, resorcinal[sp], whatever. NOT QUICK DRY/SETTING), to one side of the second spline. Place beside the 'first' spline (DON'T align the ends, you WANT as many joints as possible to be 'offset'). Wrapping with a strip of 'rubber band'(henceforth RB), a long spiral for the RB works fine, 3 turns in a foot of distance. You do this, following the 'marked center line, for 15' to 30' (You will develop a feel for how much length you find workable). Go back to the starting point, and add a spline to the other side of the first spline. Unwinding, the RB, adding the new spline, and rewrapping with RB. (Incidentally, this IS a 2 person job. One person can do it with much difficulty, after some practice.) Quit for the evening, day, whenever.
Don't worry about keeping the top surface perfectly aligned, you can't, and it'll be taken care of later anyway.
The next day, remove all the RB, note where some 'pull off' need to be used along with today's splines to get things to set, WITHOUT tension along the marked center lines.
Add some splines to each side of the first days work, (using 'pull off' as necessary) undoing RB to get the new spline in place, and then applying RB once again. (You DO build up some 'upper body & arm' strength doing this.)
This is the routine for 'plain ordinary single (double if you make it wide enough) track.'
To add turnouts, the easiest way is to 'split' the spline package. When you come to a place where the tracks diverge (split), run the splines on either side of the centerline, to follow the alignment of the rail that they will be under. (Much as the 'stock rails' of a turnout diverge.) ADDing the splines necessary to keep the width, in the center of the original bundle. Just slide them up into the 'split' portion. (Yes, I know that leaves a long slender triangle of "space" in the middle of things, but it's NOT under where the rails will be and won't hurt a thing in the long run.)
One of the 'other' ways to handle turnouts, is to just run the spline roadbed through the area, following the 'main line', making a separate 'spline' bundle that follows the diverging route, and then marrying them together with a 'splice'.
You continue with the 'ADDING' to both sides, until you have your desired width.
Once you have your width, then go back, remove the 'finishing nails', align the 'spline package', and use 'counter sunk' screws through the roadbed, into the uprights, to hold everything in final position. The roadbed can be 'sprung' to make _minor_ alignment changes.
THEN ---- get out the 'belt sander', and smooth up the top surface.
Then comes the track laying. If you are 'hand laying' Don't get the ballast down, till AFTER the rail laying is done. (The longitudinal joints between the splines are wonderfully helpful in keeping the rails lined up.) It's probably helpful for laying 'flex track' also.
[Additional note:]
I recommend 1/8"+/- for 'spline' thickness. This thickness will work
fine down to about 18" radius. Cutting 'thinner' splines will simplify
things for shorter radius.
Chuck
First off, here is a link to a photo of my waterfalls:
http://www.darrylhuffman.50megs.com/custom.html It is at the bottom of the page
The waterfall project was pretty straight forward.
The upper water pools are about 1 inch deep with 4 pours of slow setting epoxy in 1/4 inch layers. I used 30 minute epoxy.
The lower pool with turbulent water was done by pouring 4 layers of slow setting epoxy like the upper pools, but with a final coat of ordinary silicone sealant. This is the stuff you use to seal around bathtubs (the clear variety). I picked at this coat with a toothpick until it looked right. After drying, I highlighted the rushing water areas with a tiny touch of white acrylic paint.
For the waterfalls themselves, I spread clear silicone sealant onto wax paper. Then I spread it really thin with a toothpick, always dragging the toothpick through the silicone sealant in one direction. Then I let it dry over night.
I carefully peel the thin, dried silicone off the paper and cut it to the right length and, using more silicone sealant as glue, I glue it to the "front" of my falls. I do this all away across, leaving a gap where a rock would keep the water blocked. Then I glue another layer of the dried silicone "water" in front of the first. I then used more silicon sealant to hold tiny strands of "angel hair" onto the front of the falls.
At the bottom of the falls, I apply more silicone sealant with a toothpick and drag the toothpick through the "turbulent" water. After this sets up, I apply the tiniest of white paint on the tops of the "ridges" of turbulent water.
White with a little brown mixed in looks better than pure white.
As for the treatment of the bottom of the canyon, I sealed the bottom with plaster, painted it a dark greenish black, added rocks and such that I painted at the same time I did the surrounding rocks. I glued all this down and began pouring.
As the pools approached the front of the layout (20 inches deep) I used just the colors of the surrounding rocks.
In the front pool, I made salmon out of FIMO, painted them appropriately, and glued them to the bottom with ACC. Big mistake. The ACC looked great the first day, but by the second day it had turned white.
Incidentally, if you ever want to make an icy stream, pour your layers of epoxy, add the silicone sealant layer, let dry and add one more layer of epoxy. It looks just like ice. And I know what ice looks like.
My epoxy came from Michaels. It was Envirotex Lite. But any slow setting epoxy will work. It's just the Envirotex Lite is cheaper because I can buy it in larger containers.
http://www.darrylhuffman.50megs.com/photo3.html
For the waterfront area, this is how I make it:
The water itself was made by using Patching Plaster, a slow setting form of Plaster of Paris. I simply poured it onto the plywood base and then gently pushed on the plaster with a one inch paint brush to form the waves. Then I allowed it to dry thoroughly.
There are two "secrets" for painting the water. All paints are acrylics.
For the deep portion, use three colors. Black, a very dark blue, and a very dark green. Use the small bottles that pour easily such as Apple Barrel Brand paints available at Walmart and Michaels.
Pour primarily black for the color. But here and there, also pour in some of the dark blue and a little dark green in other areas.
Using a one inch brush, start painting the plaster. When painting blend the blue and the green into the black. You don't want a checkerboard type of pattern, but there should be areas that are blue-black and green-black and in between colors. Continue until you like the color.
Let dry for a day.
On day two, where such things as rocks meet the water. use a small brush to paint what would appear to be the rocks under water. The color would be about the same as your rocks, but darker. Paint from the water's edge outward into the water, letting the paint disappear from your brush as you work outward. This allows this color to "fade" into the deep. Use only tiny amounts of paint for this.
Let all of this dry for at least one week.
Then mix a batch of Envirotex (I use Envirotex light). Pour a small amount of this onto the painted surface and using a one inch brush, paint the surface with this using flowing strokes so as to not create bubbles. Do not try to make this coat deep. This is simply painted on. This will keep the Envirotex from pooling in the bottom of the waves and ruining the looks of the waves themselves.
Let dry completely.
One of the real secrets for doing this is to keep dust away during this process. I use aircleaners in my train room 24 hours a day to keep down dust.
When doing the Envirotex painting, I do not go into the room for 24 hours ahead of time. When I do go to use the Envirotex, I go into the room and do only this and then leave the room for 24 hours. When I go in, I work hard to not raise any dust at all as I walk in. This will give you a very dust free finish.
It is possible to use Gloss Medium instead of Envirotex Lite, but after a few months the surface will get dull and scratched because the surface is not as hard as that provided with Envirotex Lite.
That's it.
Darryl Huffman Anchorage, Alaska
I was off line since mid nov. and was reading back post and saw some
about harbors. Since my first Hon30 layout in the early 70's I have
always done coastal Railroads. I am now working on the harbor area
of my latest HOn30 layout set in 1944 Maine.
As I have been reserching photos and books, I find that many of
the pilings that modeler use are far to thick. A 1/8th dowel is
about 14" across which is large for a piling. Maybe they would be
O.K. for the port or New York, but not for the small ports most of
us model.
I would like to share with all some thing I've noted about
pilings.
Pilings are trees, and like most trees not arrow straight. Also
most pilings start with the bark on them. It is time and use that
removes the bark from the pilings.
I spent many years around fishing piers, and saw many of the outer
pilings that protect the main piers in very bad shape.they had been
goughed from ship and boats hitting and rubbing along them as well
as wearing away along the water line. note with rising and falling
of the tide, the water line is from several inches to 10 to 18 feet.
This piling water line,e can have barnacles,or oyster shells, if it
is salt water or brackish tideal waters as well as marine growth.
The shortest growth is like a thick paint, when wet, a dark black or
black brown in color, or when dry a flat grimy black. Seaweed1/8"
to several inchs is mostly dark shiny Green, and brown. Once seaweed
is above the wave line it a blackish lumpy green color. Falling out
of a boat at dock, is good way to study, up close, pilings. The
older piling are, the more this marine growth eats away the wood at
the tide line. The top of pilings are cut flat. After a pile driver
hammers then in the cushed top part is cut off at slight angle to
let water run off, and keep it from rotting. Some are capped with
canvas or sheet meatel. Some have the top painted, or are tarred and
most have bird droppings on them. Well not that I have shared this
with all, I'll think up some new thought on harbors.
Craig S from CT.