Hedley Junction

[sailormatlac]

Two weeks ago, we started to mock up the new layout.

This sector represent Limoilou Yard south end. The industry is a real one, Adélard Laberge Ltée., which was an ornemental iron and fire doors dealers. I experimented with different track level according to the prototype. I must admit I'm quite pleased how track level variation gives depth and life to what is basically a flat level layout. I'm actually placing structures (overpass, industries, track, etc) with the real life dimension. It means everything from the overpass to the cottage is a 3D representation of 1961 insurance maps. I'll do the same around Canardière Road underpass and will fudge dimension and scenery between those two key scenes.

The small late nineteen century Second Empire working class cottage is modelled in cereal box after the prototype. It is the only remaining original hosue of Hedleyville. The industrial village was virtually wiped oup in 1905 when Canadian Northern Railway expropriated most of the town to get space for it's new freight yard and engine service facilities. The small 60ft long stretch of road between Adélard Laberge and the house is the only remaining portion of the old main street. If you go to my blog, you'll see an old picture of Hedleyville showing the same spot in 1898 when the town was still a thriving community.











I also started mockuping the backdrop with pencil. Here you can see the iconic St-Charles church overlooking the yard. The parish was shut down two years ago and the building itself is in a sad state of disrepair. Talks about razing it are going on thought other ridiculous conversion projects are also proposed. Quite a shame if you ask me... but this pathetic gimmick is going all over the province since a few years and we are losing landmarks every years.

That said, I'll redraw the church smaller when painting, too huge, it breaks the perspective. I'm seriously thinking about making my backdrop following Mike Cawley's way: i.e. several amovible backdrop you can place behind the scenes at your convenience. Honestly, kudos to people able to draft on a wall with a layout in place. Not my cup of tea, I prefer to paint them on a table then place them in place. Also, if I mess up, painting them again will be easier. I must admit Mike's had been a good source of inspiration since I worked my rip-rap track section.



I also decided to improve Atlas telegraph poles. I often see great modellers putting little to no efforts making their poles looks right in term of color and tecture. I experiment with second hand broken poles got for free from someone getting out of the hobby. I didn't care about puttying bracket holes, so don't be sarcastic in your judgement!

First, I kept only one crossarm, the superior ones were in a real sad shape, broken. Using a metal saw blade, I heavily scratched the plastic to get a distressed wood look on them. Then, I spray painted them with Krylon .I don't remember the name, but it was a kind of pale taupe. Really realistic for delaved creosote poles. Metal brackets were painted with a dulled grey made of a random mix of colors on hand. Insulators were painted pure aluminium. The poles where then weathered with a wash of black, making sure to make the base darker and the higher part clearer because creosote get washed down in real life. Crossarms were painted several times with a brownish-blackish wash because msot of the time in real life, there are much more darker than the pole itself. Finally, I used pastel chalk to finish the pole. Dark chalk to dirty the base and almond white to lighten the superior part of the pole to make the wood looks more greyish. I would strongly suggest using a clear varnish to give more depth to the insulators. I'll probably hit mines with a few coats of Future to make them more glass-like. One could also used Rix clear plastic crossarms, which would be even between.



I'm seriously thinking about using real wood dowels next time I build poles to have the most realistic wood look. But I think the painting process really brought life to these cheapie generic Atlas poles.



Matt