Here is a BNSF team track in an industrial park near Hobby Airport. In the several years I have been frequenting the area, I only saw it being used once, unloading some big Massey Ferguson Tractors from flatcars and putting them on 18-wheeler trailers. It seems that they sometimes use the tracks for storage, I've seen hopper cars and tank cars sitting there on occasion.
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Here is the model in the process of being installed on the layout. It'll be fun to detail and junk the area up as shown in the proto photos, but it'll be awhile before I get to that.
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Looks great! The woodwork is fantastic. How do you plan to do the surface (and what is it? Gravel? Old pavement?).
Andrew
Wow! Beautifully done! The wood looks very convincing!
That looks great!
Smile,
Stein
Thanks everyone.
The prototype surface is very small whitish-gray gravel. Awhile back I found a rural parking lot that had been surfaced with crushed concrete (The Houston area doesn't have alot of matural gravel or rock, we are mostly sand and clay. When they are redoing roads around here, they run the busted up concrete through a crusher and then use it as if it where gravel). There was alot of fine powder left in piles, and it was quite white colored, so I picked up some of that and took it home and sifted it. When glued down using the ballast method, it ends up being more gray than the prototype surface, but I'll live with that. Although, I am experimenting right now with a 50/50 mixture of concrete dust and plaster to make it whiter. I have a batch of that applied like ballast, I'm waiting for it to dry before moving on. Another thought is to use some white ceramic tile grout, I have heard of that but never tried it. Any thoughts?
One thing about the concrete dust is that it has a high surface tension. Even 91% alcohol wants to bead up on the surface, but it does soak in after 30 seconds or so. Once wetted, the diluted glue soaks in well.
Wow gary I must say you do amazing work. every time you post a new post and I see it it makes me want to go take down the layout I building and start over.
That's a nice co,pliment for sure! I think every now and then, we all see things on other people's layout that make us want to start over. What I usually do is steal the best ideas I see and try to incorporate them in to my layout!
Got the concrete dust and some real dirt all around the structure, the glue is still wet in the photo. I still need to do the top of the dock. I did glue some sand on the top as a filler so I can use less of the valuable "final coat".
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The simplicity is the beauty!
Yep, no doubt it is simple! And that has been worrying me a touch.... the layout may look too naked in this spot. However, once I get a modeled treeline in against the backdrop to the left, alot of weeds and bushes around the perimeter, maybe even some dirt and gravel piles across the tracks like in the proto photos, some pallets and tires and busted boards and such, I think it will come together nicely. Also, off in the distance behind the proto dock, there are some very large metal buildings housing a steel fabrication company, they might make a really nice backdrop.
As you've mentioned before, with the size of this layout, I don't have to be tempted to cram everything in as tight as possible.
That woodwork looks fantastic! That dock just reeks of atmosphere. Nicely done.....
Chuck
Thanks Chuck. The "wood" is built from distressed styrene.
WHHOOAAA!!!!
Gary, even such a simple thing as a teamtrack and a ramp turns into a piece of art when you are doing it. I would not have guessed that you made the "woodwork" from styrene. Absolutely amazing.
Gary S Wrote:Thanks Chuck. The "wood" is built from distressed styrene.
Well I better start eating my hat then as I would have sworn it was real wood.
[And Im a Carpenter so I know wood, or so I thought.
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Now were did I leave the sauce bottle?
Mark
Chuck Wrote:That dock just reeks of atmosphere. Nicely done.....
Chuck
I would have said it reeks of creosote, but apparently
Gary S Wrote:Thanks Chuck. The "wood" is built from distressed styrene.
it's all a fake...! Outstanding Gary!
cnw1961 Wrote:I would not have guessed that you made the "woodwork" from styrene. Absolutely amazing.
I guessed real wood too...
Andrew