A bit of civil engineering...

For the past few months I haven't been able to get any modeling done, but recently I had a little time and felt the need to work outdoors. I've long planned to put a small depot between the tracks at the town of Dos Manos, so I decided to do some prep work for that. 

Until now, the tracks going through that area have just been on dirt, rocks and ballast. Even on the two stone bridges, there was a couple inches of soil under the tracks. I wanted to replace this with a concrete base, and also create a concrete foundation and sidewalks for the depot. 

In this shot I've removed the track at the edge of the layout, dug out the ballast under it, and poured some concrete into the bridge. I used 1/4" hardware cloth to reinforce the concrete. The concrete is actually a mix of vinyl concrete patcher and high strength mortar mix:

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I built up the track base, foundation, and sidewalk a little at a time, in sections. I also left a depression in the middle of the foundation -- this will be used to hold the wiring for the depot's lights. There is a 3/8" copper tube used as a conduit for the wiring. Then I marked the position of the tracks onto the concrete base, and built two forms out of foam core art board. These were positioned on the base in preparation for pouring the sidewalk:

Here's how it looked the next morning after I'd removed the forms:

Here's how it looks with some ballast added to two of the tracks. I may use a different colored ballast on the track closest to the town buildings, or I may glue on timbers between the rails, like at a grade crossing:

The depot foundation is still rough. I won't finalize it until I have designed the depot, and know exactly what the dimensions will be:

Anyway, that's all I've got for now. More later!

Solid, man, solid!

Lovin' it Ray. Looking forward to more installments of this depot build.

Nice upgrades Ray! I like

Nice upgrades Ray! I like that scale concrete wire too. Good thinking. 

Impressive

Ray, when you build something on your layout, big as it is and being outdoors, your really BUILD it! I am impressed how you make the construction so realistic and in scale, given the materials you have to work with. Amazing work, my friend!

I will look forward to future posts!

Dos Manos depot

Way back when I first envisioned this depot, it would have been one of my first buildings on the layout. I used an antiquated 3D modeling program to create a couple renderings of what I had in mind:

However, at the time I decided that I should wait until had some more experience with structures, before attempting something as relatively complex as the depot. I'm glad I waited, because I know a lot more about what I'm doing now, than I did then. I will be using different materials than I had originally planned to use.

Today I put together a crude foam core mockup of the depot and placed it on the layout, to help me get a feel for how it will look and fit into the town. The center part of the building will be two stories. Both that section, and the west wing, will have peaked roofs covered with Spanish tiles. I decided to add an east wing which will be an open, shaded waiting area. This will have a flat roof supported by arches. Here are some photos from various angles:

What do you think?

Cool!

Great looking station with tons of character. I better understand your station question in the other thread now.

I think it will definitely complement your town scene, and fit right in with the theme. The Spanish Colonial styling is unmistakable, and for some reason makes me think of a station on the Union Pacific in Nevada. Are you going to do the structure in stone, or in stucco?

Either way, this will be a treat to see...

Thanks Verne! I'm still

Thanks Verne! I'm still debating what the exterior will be. Originally I had planned to do stone blocks at the bottom, like a wainscote, and the rest of it in rubblestone or random stone. I'm still leaning towards that, but also considering doing the upper part in stucco, which would mainly have the advantage of being less work.

I lean toward stucco

As beautiful as stone can be all my memories of this style of railroad architecture are of stucco so I have a soft spot in my heart for that oh so humble building material in this type of structure.

Nothing wrong with a foamcore mock-up to test "The Look"

NIce work Ray. I'm looking forward to seeing the real depot go up.

Here's one of my foamcore mock-ups from some time ago

It is nowhere near as elaborate as your depot, but it is a useful cheap technique to see if "the Look" is right and  to see how things might fit together in a scene and if the reality matches the imagination. This one was in the wrong spot and needed shrinking to fit where it moved to..

Don't like the height or width of your structure, then make another mock-up - After all it is only cheap foamcore sheet held together with tape or hot glue. All you need is imagination, some foamcore a ruler, a scalpel blade and some sticky stuff.  

Ray It's very similar to the

Ray It's very similar to the Hotel Torgo, so it'll fit in well.

I love the look of the 'original' Los Manos depot.

Both Stone and Stucco?

Ray:

I really like your stone work and would love to see the lower floor in stone - even if it was only up to the window sills. Stucco would allow you to do a lot of ornament that could show well with the subtle shades of color you like.

At 1/2" scale you will need some way to keep the real pigeons off the roofs!

Oooh, how about a working clock in the upper facade?

Neil Erickson

Depot

I like the depot concept.  It reminds me a lot of the LV&T depot at Rhyolite, NV.

The LV&T depot was a major

The LV&T depot was a major inspiration for this model.

Originally it was going to be just what's in the renderings -- a two-story main structure with an open, shaded area on the west side. When I put the mockup on the layout, I saw I had a lot of empty space on the east side, and decided to add an east wing. The east wing will have to be narrower at the end, so it was easier to do that with a flat roof, and make it the "open" part of the structure. So I'll enclose the west wing and it can be the baggage area or something.

The foam core mockup...

I would sure like to buy the mockup when you are finished with it Ray. 

Tough choice

I love stone buildings...but this architectural style really suggests to me stucco. Perhaps a stone foundation would add to the effect. Just my two cents...

The Sandwich Shack

I got sidetracked a bit into another project:

Recently I needed to build a small wooden shack using Sintra PVC foam board, to be featured in an article I'm writing for Garden Railways. At the time I didn't know where it would fit into the layout. Eventually I decided to put it in the town of Grandt Cliff. Until now the only other structure I'd created for that site was a miner's cabin. This will be an old shack which has been converted into a sandwich shop, called Serenity's Sandwich Shack.

The town site is at the base of Grandt Cliff, and was undeveloped. To prepare the site, I had to chisel out some of the rocks and mortar near the base of the cliff. I built up a foundation for the shack, starting with a section of miniature stone wall made of real rock and mortar. I also used some small slabs leftover from a previous project:

 
Strips of foam core art board were hot-glued in place to make a form, for extending the foundation:

 
Mortar was poured into the form, then shaped and leveled. The cavity in the foundation is to hold wiring for the building lights. A brass tube acts as a conduit. Another tube provides drainage:

 
Eventually there will be two or three other buildings at this site, including a RR depot. So after pouring the foundation, I also began pouring part of the slab for the platform of the future depot:

 
I added a small slab to one side of the shack's foundation. This will be part of steps leading to the shack:

 
Here's a shot of the unfinished shack, temporarily in place on the foundation:

 
A similar shot, with the more work done on the porch. The porch and shack are built as two separate pieces to facilitate painting. They won't be glued together until after both structures have been painted:

And here's a shot of the entire town site, located below the Cliffside Mine:

 
Enjoy!

Amazing

You are the only modeler I know who works with a jack hammer and concrete.

pqe

Amazing! What else can I say!

Amazing! What else can I say!

Excavation Elaboration

Ray, you truly are the man! I love how when you prepare a site, there's no vacuumn cleaner to clean up ground foam and plaster, you are literally knocking out rocks and pouring concrete. The fact you do it so well, and make the outstanding look easy, is a testament to your modeling talents.

I hope to visit Grandt Cliff one day and enjoy a sandwich!

Sandwich Shack update

Well, I was going to try to hold off posting more pics of this until it was finished, but I'm so tickled with the way it's turning out, I couldn't resist. This has been a really fun build!

I've finished painting it, including many hand-painted signs. Still have to add the corrugated metal to the main roof. Also need to add some light fixtures and other exterior details, and glue the porch to the building. Also need to finish the surrounding landscape, and the stairs/path leading up to the building on either side. Eventually I'll build and detail the interior too. Here's how it looks so far:

 
Enjoy!

Wow again!

Wow. Wow. Wow...

Signage, colors, textures perfect...the rusty metal roofing and the EAT sign painted on the realistic foundation are perfect touches. The weathering transition of the wood near the ground is excellent, and tells more of the story of this unique place. I want to walk in and try one of their sandwiches!

I can see many an In-Ko-Pah employee running into this joint for boxed lunches for the crew!

Thanks, Paul and Verne, your

Thanks, Paul and Verne, your kind words are much appreciated!

Love It

As with all your structures Ray, you feel you can walk right in.

Rob Clark
Cornhill & Atherton RR

Painting the signs

Thanks, Rob!

Here's some info about how I painted the signs:

The sign on the top of the front of the building (Serenity's Sandwich Shack) and the sign on the front of the porch (Sandwiches/Cold Drinks) was done with stencils. I laid out the lettering in Pages on my iMac, and printed it onto self-adhesive vinyl. Then I cut out the letters, peeled off the vinyl and placed it in position. I applied the paint using a combination of light, dry-brushing, and stippling. After removing the stencil, I touched it up as needed with a fine brush. Then I painted the dark outline by hand using a good, #0 artist's brush.

The large signs on the sides that say, "Cold Drinks" were tricky. Because of the battens, I couldn't use a stencil. So I used a pink colored pencil to very lightly lay out the shapes of the letters. This was not done to any detail, just very rough forms, like stick-figure letters, mainly to make sure I the size and spacing would fit the area. Then I hand-painted it with a #1 brush, using very thinned down paint and mostly kind of dry-brushing it. The outlines were done as before, with a #0 brush. The saving grace is that I was going for a not-very-professional look for the signs on the sides. 

The smaller signs were were supposed to be very amateurish and crude, so I just winged it, painting them freehand with the #0 brush. 

One thing that really helps when painting freehand, whether lettering or any other small detail, is that the hand holding the brush should have at least one finger resting against the model. This makes a big difference in steadying your hand.