Benchwork The shelves are

Benchwork

The shelves are ½” MDF cut from one 2’x4’ piece. The three sections are not of equal width: the left (“base”) section is 12”x36”, the center is 11 ½”x3”, and the right is 11”x36”. This allows the permanent attachment of 4”-tall strips of 1/8” masonite (cut from scraps salvaged off a previous layout, but could come from a single 2’x4’ sheet).

Here’s the basic benchwork, stretched out:



There are 1” MDF strips under each section edge, with four adjustable 7/8” furniture feet at each corner of each 3’ section.

Spray-painted the backdrop flat dark grey primer, and the boards Krylon ultra-flat khaki.

I constructed a 6”x7” box out of scrap masonite & MDF to house the DC power pack:



A roof with detailed parts will fit over it for photography. A masonite front cover with DCC terminal can also be screwed on to the box.

The Oil Tanks are 4” & 2” ABS caps. The large tank, at 2 1/2” high, will be permanently attached to the layout. The two smaller tanks are removable, and serve the dual function to cover the front two pairs of hinges:



A removable power house will cover the back pair of hinges. Those three structures should be the only non-permanent buildings on the layout: all others are flats, low relief, or positioned to not get hit by the backboard or any other structure.

I laid a small section of track over both joints, and then cut the rails when the gorillaglue cured. The Dedeco ultra thin blade cuts as thin as a jeweler’s saw (or seems like it!), and having the hinges on top actually lifts the track up, preventing any crimping or squishing of rails.

I installed a handle on the bottom of the right section, and a latch on the left, so:



When folded up, it’s a 1’x3’x4” box that’s easily carried.

You can see the bus wire that runs the length of the bottom & through the end-strip supports. Feeder wires are connected with suitcase connectors. Should I want to mount this as a shelf, I will need to place foam (like for weather-proofing windows) on the brackets to take up the wire space & still support the boards.

[cont.]

Track One of the goals for

Track

One of the goals for this layout is to do as much ourselves as we can, or at least use up much of the train stuff I’ve accumulated over the past couple years. We’re using Atlas C55 flex track and building our own turnouts using ME C55 rail on PC board ties. We use Fast Tracks printable templates as guides, but adjust to our needs. Given the close position of many turnouts, I tried to build as many as fixtures as I could:



The addition of the brewery required a crossing (between two turnouts) that started curving immediately after, so got to try out building a crossing for the first time:



Turned out pretty well. Did it rather quick with a lot of eyeballing (& NMRA gauging). I’ll build a better one next time.

In a great moment in father/daughter bonding history (no CA involved!)(except the state we live in!), I taught her how to use a soldering iron to build turnout:



For the first couple we used the jig I’ve had collecting dust for a couple years. Then she had to test it out with a truck:



So now she knows how things are glued or soldered together, about hard & soft metals, and why not to touch the soldering iron tip, even if it’s to show your daughter why not to touch the soldering iron tip.


[cont.]

Track (pt.2) We

Track (pt.2)

We gorillaglued the pc board ties of the turnout fixtures to the MDF base for added stability, but used caulk for the flex. Having no foam in which to push T-pins, we used canned veggies to weigh down the track while curing.

Drilled feeder holds, soldered to rails & used suitcase connectors underneath, and then took the SP NW2 for a spin:



There it’s on the wharf deck we built out of pcboard ties and 1/32” x 3/64” basswood strips. After that photo, we painted the pcboard ties to match the stained wood.

A thin layer of Magic Water coated the thin strip off the wharf as well as filled in the carfloat quay. After we install the permanent carfloat, we’ll use Modge Podge to create wave / ripple effects.

And the most incredibly exciting part of N-Scale model railroading: tie replacement!



The PC board ties are slimmer than Atlas flex or even the ties Fast Tracks sells, so I slip 1/32” x 3/64” basswood strips (after a dip in my “Big Jug O’ Stain”) under the turnouts. Tedious. Luckily, “family bonding” also includes a Chopper II, thin strips of white glue between rails, tweezers, and my daughter sharing the joys of tie replacement:





Busy hands are happy hands!

[cont.]

PAINTING We masked off

PAINTING

We masked off everything but the track, made sure the turnout points were covered, and then, working in thirds, we sprayed the rails with Floquil Grimy Black, scraped the railtops with bits of wood, and then brightboyed the heck out of it:



It was such a sunny, hot day that by the time we pulled off the masking, the paint was dry!



Right now, we’re going back and touching up the points & the ties around them with Grimy Black & a small brush.

That’s it for now.

Next on the agenda:
--building & installing the carfloat
--building, painting & installing the long “Bella Fonte” fruit cannery flats along the back left
--build the power-pack roof-cap
--start figuring out streets & ground cover
--keep practicing running those trains & shunting those cars!

Thanks for slogging though a bunch of posts & pictures.
Hope to have more before school starts in a couple weeks.
Cheers!

Teaching....

.... your kid how to do all , this is the coolest part of the whole project. CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Cool!

You will have a small layout allowing continuous running and then this small switching layout for industrial switching.  The car float makes a great staging/fiddle yard on a small layout like this one.  Your daughter gets to learn all sorts of skills connected with model railroading, but useful for so many other things as well.  Looks like a win win situation to me, and getting to bond with your daughter as you build is an added bonus!

Very impressive! A favor please

M.C.

Very impressive - especially your skilled daughter.  Perhaps you both could come and visit me to work on my railroad?   Just kidding!   What a wonderful thing to have her helping you!

Rick

One of the best Posts I've read here in a long time

MC-

I really really enjoyed this read.  You have a fantastic gift for keeping things concise and on topic (please send some of that my way).  As a fellow carfloater I enjoy the chosen layout and as a fellow father I'm hopeful I can get one of mine as involved as you have!  Enjoy that part the most!

Thanks again for sharing!

Well done

That's a great helper you have there. My son (now 25) always surprised me with the technical tasks he was able to learn and handle on his own pretty quickly. Kids are very smart, eager to please, and really respond to a little attention.

Fantastic!

This is a neat project you got going on here.  I'm glad I found it.  Small and portable.  The leather carrying handle is a nice touch too. 

Your hand laid turnouts are especially nice!

I also enjoyed the pictures where your children are helping out.  Great work by all of you. 

Thanks for all the kind

Thanks for all the kind words.

The layout is, of course, fun to build & operate (thank you Byron Henderson for the groovy plan), and just the right size for a summer (and soon Autumn) project.  The time with my daughter is priceless.

School just started, but we've managed to get a little more done.

So we started putting together the "Bella Fonte Cannery" (based on the Del Monte facility on Alameda).
Bashing two Gripp's Luggages into a 25" long flat:



My daughter sprayed it "Red Oxide" primer.
It will have an awning & concrete dock in time.
As well as a mortar wash & weathering.
You can see the original here http://www.flickr.com/photos/40361283@N06/3708909019/.

Continued building the carfloat that will be fixed at the bottom right corner of the layout, representing traffic to Oakland.
It's two pieces of .8 styrene sandwiched together (we wanted the line between), with rails gorillaglued on:



Had the cleats & bitts from Seaport Model Works http://seaportmodelworks.com/index.php?cPath=35_37.
The round hatches are tabs off of Grandt Line NBW sprues.
The rails protrude because we'll join those up to the carfloat-approach turnout, then we'll cut the gap when everything's set to ensure alignment.

Gave it a once over with some Grimy Black and a "mist" of Scalecoat "Graphite" for just a hint of metal:





Will add some debris, including coal droppings, & then weather with some powders & maybe drippings from the "Big Jug O' Stain", unless people have other suggestions.

But so far it seems to float our boat

Floats

That float looks surprisingly simple to make, and looks good as well. I hope some others who are in the float market take note of your methods!

Hey M.C.

Looking good. I just received a Gripp's Luggage last week. Looks like a fun structure. I'll build it as originally designed. I want more substance to the structure, although I don't have much space. One thing that bothered me, but I think I'll ignore it for now - my era is mostly post-transition. My boxcars are at least 40' cars and the spacing for the rail loading doors on the Gripp's appear to be made for 30' boxcars (can't have two positioned at the same time). I could have done a rework, but I didn't want to risk making a mess of it in rejoining the sections.

I really have enjoyed your postings. Since I live alone, I envy your having a helper - good for you and good for her. I have two grandaughters not too far away, but one is a little old for this - she is going into college this fall - and the other would probably enjoy doing something, but she is 20 miles away, so it doesn't work out too well.

Era of Gripp's Luggage.

It might be a 1930's prototype building when cars were shorter but don't b surprised if it was later. Most companies don't move out or tear down buildings if they are still useful. Buildings aren't cheap or easy to build. So they'll be used in ways that many might not realize. For example if the loading doors are in a convenient location they can be moved and this is done all of the time as its certainly cheaper than moving or building a new building.

I don't have any pictures but in the 1980s I used to pass a building located right next to the New Jersey side toll booths for the Holland Tunnel. That was a used a fruit warehouse because there were usually Pacific Fruit Express reefers on the siding which would unload on concrete unloading platform which was later bricked off and had two loading/unloading doors. It made it easier to transfer fruit in the cold, show and rain. The building was torn down sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s. I don't know what replaced it, if anything as I haven't been there in recent times.

I  can tell you that the track of the siding used to sink into the mud and often looked like the freight cars wheren't on the tracks.

Irv

Car Float

Your car float is great!  Simple yet elegant.  Thanks for the link to Seaport Model Works.  I need to get some of those fittings for my own two track float so I can also get to painting it. 

Again, well done sir!

Carfloat Weathering

Wow.
It's been a minute since the last post.
Craziness of school starting and all, I guess.

Finished weathering the carfloat:







Drybrushed some light grey, brush some glue & put some gravel & coal droppings, drizzled some "Big Jug O' Stain" on there, and then powdered it up nice & good.
Might have gone a little overboard with the gravel & cinders. Oh well.

After this photo shoot, I didn't want to get the powder everywhere, so I sprayed it with Dullcote.
Then I remembered that Dullcote makes powder vanish.
Oh, well.
After it dries, I'll see what it looks like. Worse comes to worse I work the M.C. magic again with powders.

If anyone has any groovy carfloat weathering tips, I'd be happy to hear them!

Also got the float apron made & almost installed, so tomorrow, after a quick trip to the LHS, I should have picts of an almost finished carfloat scene (and thus all track installed).   

weathering suggestion - maybe not so groovy

Pool(s) of oily water here and there on the deck.

Great work, you two!

David

Oil's well that ends well

Thanks.

We tried to get the oily splotches by brushing the stain on and letting it pool & dry, but it came out light & then kinda got covered up by the powders.

Any good ways to make oil stains?

Maybe a little thick oil paint?

I have liquid electrical tape, but I think that's too thick.

Might just try a little more concentrated india ink in small blobs.

Looks Great

Hi M C

Great looking car float as is all of your modeling.  I have to keep reminding myself that this is N Scale.

I don't know if this will work for an oil stain - it just came to mind and I have not tried it.   The thing I notice about oil spills is the multi colored sheen.  Could you put a drop or two of real (clean or dirty) oil on a piece of plastic, then spray clear (flat or matte) Krylon on it to seal it.  Then cut out the "spot" with the plastic underneath as a base and glue it to your float.  Just a thought.  If you try this and it does work, please let us know.

As far as I know nothing will adhere to oil.

Any attempt at an oily sheen or puddle will require you to simulate it with paint.  I think the secret to making any sort of puddles, oil, water, or both on the deck requires that you do that last.  The weathering powders simulate rust, wear and tear on the float.  The oil or water puddles would be on top of the weathering.  The exception is a spot of oil that has attracted dust and become a spot of "sludge."

That makes sense

Russ

That makes sense.  Like i said it was just a thought out of the blue. 

MC - ignore my previous transmission.

maybe a drop of Future/Pledge

on top of a shiny black dab of paint ?

David

Oil sheen

Based on a look at my garage floor, I'd suggest beginning with a grimy black, and then adding touches of gloss finish, brown, blue and green to reproduce the correct oil spill color. A new spill will exhibit a sheen; an old one will collect dirt and grit.

I'm certain -- in the interest of their own safety -- that your N-scale deckhands will clean up or sand a spill pretty quickly. Steel decks are slippery enough when clean, and impossible when oily.

I'm really enjoying following the progress on this modeling project. It shows a lot of thought, and care, and enjoyment.

Modeling BP in the Gulf

Add small amounts of pearlescent to black ink. Yellow and green predominately. Little blue, no red, no white. Apply with eyedropper. After ink drying, dropper on some thinned down gloss clearcoat of your choice. Presto, an oil spot that will have a muted rainbow shimmer only when viewed from certain angles.

Pearlescent ink