Terrain from insulation board - Part 3

Adhesive

To attach the layers of foam insulation board to the wood parts of the module and to each other I use the Liquid Nails product.

It does not take a whole lot of this adhesive to get the job done.  This photo shows how much I use to stick one layer on top of another. Notice that I also try to get some on the profile boards where they meet the edges of the foam board.  I used 1 tube of Liquid Nails for this project.

When the section of foam board is wide and flat enough, I will place something on it to keep some weight on it while it sets.  I normally allow it to set for 24 hours before continuing to the next step.  Since these three layers shown in this photo were all the same size and right on top of each other, they were all done at the same time.

The top layers are generally not going to be so flat on the top so to hold those in place while the adhesive  sets, I will pin it to the lower layer with some large nails as shown here.

Terrain from insulation board - Part 2

Cutting methods

With the tools I showed in the last post, these are the techniques I am using to cut the foam insulation board into the shapes and sizes I need.

As the saying goes, measure twice and cut once.

After everything is measured and the lines are marked I just follow the lines with the blade of the utility knife, no need to go all the way through the board.

With the 1 inch thick foam insulation board the utility knife easily cuts half way through which is one of the reasons I buy that thickness.  Then it's easy to snap along the cut.

This is a similar technique that is used to cut drywall (sheet rock), foam core board, and of course styrene sheet.

To cut a corner section out of a large board, I first cut with the hacksaw blade along the shorter line.

Then using the utility knife I scribe along the longer line and then snap it by bending.

Any curved cuts can be done with the hacksaw blade.  Being a narrow blade it's not hard to curve it a it is moved along.

I like to cut and lay out several layers before gluing anything in place.  With a more complicated layout sometimes it can be helpful to label the pieces with a marker pen for placement and orientation.

Terrain from insulation board - Part 1

With the track sub roadbed in place on the Hot Springs Junction module, it's time to start filling in the terrain with foam insulation board.  The obvious advantage to using this material is it's light weight.  Styrofoam material is also very light but not as dense so can be more easily compressed if you happen to put weight on it later. Styrofoam is also much more messy to work with.  This will be the third major layout project I have attempted using this type of material.  The others being my current 2 ft x 12 ft home layout and another 2 ft x 4 ft Ntrak module.  I've also used this material in building scenery on a few smaller projects.  Like any material, one learns a few tricks and pitfalls of working with it and in this and the next few posts I'll share some of the techniques I've I learned.

Material

The material comes in a choice of thickness and density and normally comes in a 4 ft x 8 ft sheet.  It may be a blue color or pink like the in this photo.  When I rebuilt another Ntrak module about a year ago I had purchased a sheet of 1 inch thick at Lowes and used about half  on that project.  Hopefully the remaining half will be enough to do this project.

Tools

To cut and shape this material I used the 3 tools shown in this photo.  I used to use a serrated kitchen knife but like the hacksaw blade better because it makes a finer cut.  For shaping the Stanley Surform tools also work well in place of the rasp I use.

Organizing styrene strip material

While working on the girder bridge project it started to bother me that my collection of styrene strip material was such a mess.  I had been bundling it up and wrapping the bundle with blue tape.  When I would get it out to work with it I would end up with the kind of mess seen here.


I knew there had to be a better solution.  The Train Shop in Santa Clara where I buy this has an entire wall of the store devoted to this product but that was not practical for me and I normally only have about 20 to 25 packages of different shapes and sizes.  When bundled, the bundle would normally be about 2 inches in diameter.

My answer was this 9 inch long scrap of 4 inch diameter ABS waste pipe left over from a project and sitting in all my plumbing supplies.  This material is great for making large tanks for refineries or other industries and works well with the same Plastic Weld we use for modeling projects.   It commonly comes in 1-1/2, 2, 3, and 4 inch diameter sizes at most building supply centers.

Just as I had done to make the roofs of those industrial tanks, I attached .030 sheet styrene to one end of the pipe but this time to make the bottom.  Because of the thick walls of the pipe the sheet has a lot of material to hold on to.  I also made a hole near the top end of the pipe that a screw can go in to hang it up.  That hole can been seen in the photo above next to the bottle of Plastic Weld.  So now I can remove easily this container from it's hanging position and set it on the bench to look through the different shapes.  When I get what I need, hang it back up and keep the work bench clear.

Building a girder bridge - part 2

To install the bridge decking, I used .040 x .060 styrene strips (Evergreen P/N 143) side by side with the wider side horizontal starting on the line marking the outer edge of the track.  It ended up taking 14 courses to make it all the way across to the line marking the inner edge track line.  The overall width of the deck was just a bit wider that the ties of the track.  I used a test section of Peco code 55 flex track to check the layout of the deck.




As the deck ended up being wider than the ties, I put another peice of .040 x .60 strip on each side on top of the first layer.  This created a pocket that the flex track will fit into to.

To get the hand rails similar to the prototype photo in part 1, I used the Plastruct N scale handrails, P/N 90681.  It took a full section on each side plus part of a third section.   These are the same product used in the Exterior Stairways post back in April of 2011.

I ended up using Floquil # F110056  GN Big Sky Blue as a close match to the bridge in the photo in part one.  It took two coats with the airbrush to cover all the little odd angles of the bridge structure.

After the blue had dried overnight, I brushed Floquil # 110070 Roof Brown on the decking and Floquil # 110007 Rail Brown on the walkways.  In this photo again I have placed a section of Peco code 55 flex track.






This bridge is now done except for some weathering.  The Hot Spring Junction module will need at least 2 more railroad bridges.  I want to have them each be different and will be looking at some more on-line photos of prototype Japanese railroad bridges.

Building a girder bridge - part 1

This post started out being called "Modifying an Atlas girder bridge" but as you will see it became more of a scratch building project using a couple parts cut from an old Atlas girder bridge.  I am going to need a single track bridge for the AsiaNrail line to pass over the 3 Ntrak lines.  It is also going to need to be wide enough to allow for the track to curve just a bit.

I had several of the old Atlas pony girder bridge sections that were saved from the old module and they are just the right length.  They have nice detail on the outer girder sides but I wanted the bridge to have an open deck and because of the curve I did not think the trains could clear the girders if they were above the track.

Looking for ideas on the Internet I found this photo on RailPictures.Net and realized I had what I was looking for.  There would be clearance to allow for the girders to be under the tracks.  I could cut the detailed girders off from the deck part of the Atlas bridge and use them.  

After cutting through the deck along the edge where the girders are with a razor saw and sanding that area of the girders smooth, I cut 2 sections of .080 x .080 styrene strip to a length equal to the bridge girders.  Then I attached these along that same edge with Plastic Weld.

Next I cut 2 sections of .060 styrene angle to the same length as the bridge girders.  Then I placed a section of .156 I beam material between the square strip and the angle to use a spacer as shown here.  Small amounts of Plastic Weld were used to attach the angle in place.

Because the track that will be on this bridge will have a slight curve to it so I wanted the bridge to be wide enough to allow for that.  I settled on a width of 20 scale feet and cut up 15 sections of the I beam material to this length with my "Chopper".

The bridge girders are 65 scale feet long.  I had made 15 marks 4 feet apart along the L channel on both bridge girders.  Laid out on my metal plate & magnets building jig the I beams can easily be inserted into the channel between the channel on the bridge girders created by the .080 x .080 styrene strip and the L channel.  Yes, those are hacksaw blades used to square up the ends.

After the Plastic weld was set on all those joints, this ends up being a sturdy little structure.  Here is the model bridge sitting on some magnetic bridge abutments. :)




I then added a styrene channel on each end and cut two strips 3 scale feet wide of V groove siding across the board pattern to simulate the walkways.  They cover the top of each bridge girder and .080 x .080 styrene strip and overhang the girders just a little

So far everything I've done with this bridge was from materials I had on hand.  The materials list so far:

• Atlas girder bridge, P/N 2548 (salvaged)
• Evergreen square .080 x .080 styrene strip, P/N 164
• Evergreen .156 I beam strip, P/N 275
• Evergreen .156 channel strip, P/N 265
• Evergreen .060 angle strip, P/N 291
• Evergreen .040 V-groove siding, .060 spacing, P/N 4060

I'll still need to put some hand rails and find the appropriate paint color but it's Sunday and the hobby shop is closed.  I'll also want to re-stock the styrene items I used up so maybe tomorrow I'll try the hobby shop and continue on this project.

Progress report for November 9, 2012

Lately I've been doing some tweaking on the blog itself.  I had noticed that the text in some of the older posts did not line up right with the photos the way they did when they were first posted so I've been going through and fixing some of that then checking it with Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome browsers.  I've also started to put labels in more of the posts and may add a labels gadget to the blog in the future.

But I've also been doing some work on the Hot Springs Junction module project. Seems most of us model railroaders can't wait to start laying cork and track and I'm no different so today I got the cork down for the Ntrak main lines.  I use the old standard Midwest Products N Scale cork roadbed.  On this module I had already done the Ntrak Mountain Division line and the AsiaNrail line.

Nothing special about my method of laying down cork roadbed.  I draw a center line and lay one side down along the line with white glue.  Hold with push pins until it dries. Then lay the other side down the same way.



The next step will be to sand the edges with a sanding block at a shallower angle then the one that is already cut.  One reason I decided to get the cork done now was that these tracks will be down in a cut and I will have better access for the sanding block before the foam terrain is in.  That might be tomorrows project.

Installing profile boards

As this module is going to have terrain above the level of the main bench work, I felt it necessary to install fascia or profile boards above the main bench work.   If the module were being built from scratch as a mountain division module, then the framework of the module could have been designed with this in mind but since this is an old flat module, these will need to be retro fitted.

First step is to cut out the pieces needed and shape the contours.  I used 1/4 inch plywood that was left over from building the light weight sky board for this module.

Before placing the profile boards, I installed a strip of 1/4 inch plywood as showed in this photo.  In some places on taller sections, a brace can be added to help strengthen  and hold the alignment.  Everything is glued with yellow carpenters glue.

In the case of a module like this one, it is important to get the new profile boards on the ends in alignment vertically with the existing module frame.

Later, I'll seal both the insides and outsides of these profiles boards to seal them.  Then the terrain on the inside will be filled out with layers of foam insulation board.

Building the AsiaNrail line

In the past week I did manage to get out to the garage a few times and continue with the bench work phase of this project.  I did install the cork roadbed on the Mountain Division and AsiaNrail lines so I could better finalize the track plan.  I decided on the more conservative single crossover between the lines so that I could allow for a wider radius curve on the AsiaNrail line and for a longer platform siding at the station.  Also started on the fascia on the sides and the front of the module.

This view from the front of the module shows how I placed the piers to support the AsiaNrail line as it diverges from the Ntrak Mountain Division line.




The piers are made from 1/2 inch plywood and attached to the module base with screws and then the AsiaNrail lines sub-road bed is attached with pneumatic cabinet nails.  Of course yellow carpenters glue is also used in both places.

Here's a view from the other direction and the AsiaNrail is seen passing over the Ntrak main lines being represented at this point by three black marker lines.




Also seen here is some of the front fascia board.  I'll talk more about that in the next post.

Testing the track layout

With previous modules or layouts I've used full sized paper printouts of Peco and Micro Engineering turnouts pasted to folder stock to test my track layout. I had quite a few used Peco turnouts and sections of Atlas flex track that had been given to me over the years and decided to use them to try out my track ideas for this module.  Using these I could actually solder the sections together to see how they would all work together.

This view is from the back of the module.  I found that by using a curved turnout to start the stub end siding to the station and could make the curve of the AsiaNrail line a slightly larger radius.

Here the piece of 1/4 inch plywood that will be used for the sub roadbed is temporarily placed so that the cut marks can be made.

This view from the front.  The AsiaNrail sub roadbed has been cut and installed on risers to carry it to the front of the module.

Adding the Ntrak Mountain Division

After all this effort to remove some of the weight from the original module, it is now time to start adding some back.  Remember that old 1/2 inch sky board mentioned a few posts back?  Well some of it got recycled here to make the road bed for the mountain division track.  A strip 2-7/8" wide was cut lengthwise on the table saw and this was attached on the center line 4" from the sky board

 

Ntrak specs call for the sub road bed to be 3-1/8 inches higher than the main lines.  I cut a strip of 1/2 inch plywood 2-7/8 inches wide, then drilled a series of holes with the hole saw.  I was able to make these holes with the drill press which made it easier.  This got attached edgewise on the line 4 inches from the rear of the module.  The photo above shows this from the rear of the module.  

For the actual sub road bed, another strip of the 1/2 inch plywood was attached to the edgewise to give the mountain division line the required height of 3-1/8 inches.  As there would be a siding for the station on the front side of the mountain line, several scraps 2-7/8 inches long were placed as shown in the photo above to support it.  Besides carpenters wood glue the edgewise strip was attached to the module with screws and the sub road bed was attached to edgewise strip with 7/8 inch finishing nails from a nail gun.  

Tokyo Station celebration light show

On our past couple of trips to Japan we've noticed quite a bit of construction going on at Tokyo Station.  The other day Nona found this video on YouTube.

Seems that all the re-modeling is now done and this light show was part of the celebration.  Next year will be the 100th anniversary of the station.

Previously unnoticed track side detail

On this latest trip to Japan last November I had noticed what appeared to be a row of concrete tiles running alongside the tracks.  It took me awhile to realize that this is actually a duct for all the signal and communications cables on the railroads.  At a grade crossing or some other obstacle it appears that pipe carries the cables to the other side where the tiled duct starts again.

Here's a photo I took while waiting for a train at Odawara station that shows one of these communications ducts.  Notice how the cable for the sensor on the track nearest the platform goes to this.

I thought this would be a good thing to model and checked my catalogs and on the Internet for something but could not find anything.

This would be easy to scratch build something like this using Evergreen tiled sheet styrene sprayed a concrete color.

Then recently I noticed this Kato kit on ebay.  They refer to them as gutters and that would suggest that they are for drainage.  Either way, they make a nice and easy detail to add to a layout.

Here's a photo I found on the Internet showing part from Kato kit 23-227 in use on a layout.

I'll be adding this detail on both the Musashi-Koyama modules and the Hot Springs Junction module and using both this kit and some scratch built versions.

Hot Springs Jct. Module track plan

While I've had a good idea of what I wanted to accomplish with this module, I had not drawn out much of a plan up to now so I thought it would be a good time to do that.

Goals:

• Ntrak module with 3 basic tracks plus optional mountain division track
• Junction allowing AsiaNrail to interchange with Ntrak mountain division.
• Scenery to be a mountainous, forested area of Japan.
• Include small passenger station, hot spring hotel, river & streams.
• Module will be lighter weight / easier to handle than original module.

First a quick review of some basic Ntrak specifications

• Standard 48 inch x 24 inch module size.
• 3 Required main lines at 17" (blue), 18.5" (yellow), and 20" (red) from sky board.
• Optional mountain division line (green) at 4" from sky board and 3.125" above main lines.

For a more comprehensive look at Ntrak, check www.ntrak.org

So here is my track plan for this module including some of the scenic and operational features I plan to include.  It will be interesting to see how this develops.

Building a light weight sky board

The original sky board had been made from the same 1/2 inch cabinet grade plywood as the module frame and deck.  Building a new sky board from 1/4 inch plywood would take some weight out.  I added a second layer of 1/4 inch plywood around the top and sides to strengthen it.  

Here is a view of the rear of the sky board with some notes on it's construction.  For the front I plan to use a nice forest scene backdrop that was given to me and will fit in well with the modeled scene.


I also added a place to install a Digitrax UP5 panel and framed the spot with 3/4 inch wide strips of the same 1/4 inch plywood .  The frame will help protect the panel in storage and transport.  I did not use any nails on the sky board, just glued with Elmer's wood glue and clamped until it was set.

Sealing the module bottom

After drilling the holes in the module deck to remove some of the weight, I put a coat paint on the bottom of the module to seal all of the hole edges and all the other scars left from the wiring and other things that had been installed there in it's previous life.

I used some left over pale yellow paint from a kitchen paint job a few years ago.  I have found that I like to use light colors in this application because it makes it easier to find things when trouble shooting a problem when the module is set up.

Notice in this photo some other holes besides the ones I mentioned in my last post.  The long narrow holes on the deck were where I had some uncoupling magnets installed on the old module setup.  And the ones on the back frame, in the bottom part of the photo are from the Digitrax UP3 panel I had also used in the old setup and another smaller one that I just added for a Digitrax UP5 panel that I will use in this time.

Lightening the load

This is the point where I want to take some of the weight out of the module itself.  The deck and frame are made of sturdy 1/2 inch cabinet grade plywood and because I plan to place foam insulation board over most of the surface, I can remove some of the deck where it will be covered.

This photo shows the holes I made.  The black horizontal lines show where the tracks will be and those areas were left solid.




In case you were wondering what a hole saw is, it is a round device that fits into an electric drill motor with saw teeth along the leading edge that cut a nice circular hole.  There is a 1/4 inch drill that guides the alignment of the larger saw blade.  After cutting about halfway through on one side, I switched to the reverse side to finish the hole.  The drill bit will have made a hole all the way through that will insure the cuts on each side will line up.

This photo shows a set of hole saw blades along with the drill motor and the wood disks that were removed from the module.

Because of the density of this wood those disks represent about 3 pounds.

New beginning for an old module

In the previous post I mentioned cleaning off the old module.  Here is a view of the top of the module with the sky board removed.  All of the track, roadbed, buildings, and scenery have been stripped off and anything that could be salvaged set aside for re-use or to sell.  When I first started this module almost 20 years ago I had sprayed a good coat of clear urethane on the top to seal it to stabilize the wood.  I think this also makes it easier to remove scenery materials later without damaging the wood.

The front of the old module was at the top of the photo, some marks can be seen from the tracks and the bridge abutments at the edges of the river.  I plan to turn it around for this project and use the bottom of the photo as the front of the module.  Many small holes can be seen and those were from turnout machine linkages, and uncoupling magnets.

A new chapter begins

Things have been slow on the Musashi-Koyama modules over the past few months.  I also have had Ntrak modules for about 20 years and have noticed that I seem to be more motivated to work on a module when I know I have a show coming up.  The AsiaNrail layout, and the Musashi-Koyama modules have not been displayed since July 2011.

I mentioned that I also have some Ntrak modules.  Specifically I have a pair of 2 x 4 ft modules that I have had since 1992.  These were heavy modules that were very well built with cabinet grade plywood and I had loaded up over the years with motors, power supplies, and other hardware.  They were always used as a pair and had gotten increasing difficult for me to set up, particularly at home to do work on them.  They were also paired up for transport and storage and in that configuration were almost 100 pounds.  Having had a favorable experience of working with the light weight module design of the Musashi-Koyama modules over the past couple of years, I realized I needed to make a change my Ntrak modules.

I had considered selling the original Ntrak modules and starting from scratch but decided instead to rebuild them and this began on one of the two modules in September of 2011 and it was ready for it's first layout in April of 2012.  Here are the basic changes I made to this module.

• Made many 2 inch and 3 inch holes with a hole saw on the 1/2 inch deck and rear frame to remove weight.  Section under tracks was left solid.
• Replaced 1/2 inch sky board with new 1/4 inch sky board with 1/4 thick frame for added stability.
• Added mountain division track and used foam board to build up area and cover all the areas of the deck that the holes had been made in.
• Built new leg system based upon the design used on the Musashi-Koyama modules.  Material from the old sky board was used for the legs.
• Any needed power supplies would be separate and would hang on the leg system after setup.
• Built lightweight cover for storage & transport similar to those built for Musashi-Koyama modules.
• Designed to be used as a single 4 ft module.

I tell this story because the second re-built Ntrak module is going to be a Japanese themed scene and will provide a junction between AsiaNrail and Ntrak mountain division and will follow all of the design elements listed above.  This process is just beginning now with the cleaning off of everything that was on the old module.  In the months ahead I will be posting on the progress of this new project as well as the continued progress of the Musashi-Koyama modules.

Summertime distractions

For most of us, even us Californians, our model building time during the summer months is impacted by doing the things that we can only do in the summer.  For my wife and I, one of those things is getting in a few camping trips.  Northern California offers many great places to camp and one of our favorites is the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  Recently we visited the Feather River Canyon near the town of Clio, home of the Clio Trestle on the Union Pacific line that was once known as Western Pacific's "Feather River Route".

Here's the view from under the Clio Trestle, about half a mile from where we were camped.  Standing under it was a little creepy to hear the occasional "pop" sounds as the steel heated up in the morning sun after a 45 degree low at night.




No train passed over the trestle while we were right there, but of course as soon as we got back to camp  one did.  We could hear about 6 to 8 trains go by each day we were there and from our campsite we could see a bit of the trains between the trees and at night the headlights of the engines.

We were only about 15 miles from the Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola.  It had been 10 years since I had been there so I sent a good part of one day there.  One of the great things about this museum is that they let you climb into just about everything.



As I was there on a week day, they did not have anything running but on the weekends they to have excursions.   It's well worth a visit.

My new favorite adhesive

As I had written in the blog posting You can never have too many people I had been using Wathers Goo for attaching N scale figures to the modules.   It was suggested that I try a product called "E6000" which is available from a specialty plastics store in my area.

As you can see from the photo of the tube on the left, I have been using it for attaching more than people.    It is clear, sets up in just a few minutes, and then cures in about 12 hours.   It holds firm for as long as you want, but can still be removed without damage.




So far  some of the applications I've found for E6000 where I had previously used Goo are securing decoders and wires on DCC installations, attaching vehicles and other details to the modules, and securing headlight lenses inside locomotive shells.

In this application I had removed the stock ties from a section of Atlas code 80 flex track and used the E6000 adhesive to attach the rail to the bridge ties that came with a Walthers bridge kit.

And it works great on N scale people too.

I bought the E6000 adhesive at Tap Plastics.  They are not a large chain and are only on the west coast but they will do mail order of it to the United States and Canada.

Videos of Bay area Japanese N scale

Besides building the Musashi-Koyama modules and collecting Japanese N scale trains, I also belong to an Ntrak group called Peninsula Ntrak and do quite a bit of American prototype modeling.  I almost always bring one of my Japanese trains to our Ntrak layouts and am often joined by one or more of the other club members who also collect Japanese trains.

We recently were invited to set up a layout for a 15 day exhibit called Trains and Planes at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, California.  During this long run Earl and Julia Jackson brought their video camera and took several nice videos of the layout and put them on YouTube.  Here are two that relate directly to Japanese modeling.

Sunrise Corner had been one of the club's original corner modules was about 18 years old with worn scenery when Earl and Julia rebuilt it as a Japanese village.  This is now one of our most popular modules and we use it in every layout. 

Joe Freese models both European trains in HO scale and Japanese trains in N scale.  Here is a short video of his JR 181 Toki limited express passing by the Sunrise Corner module.

Free graphics available

I have started a new page on this blog to share some of the graphics that I have created in the building of the Musashi-Koyama modules.  The graphics will be listed one page at a time and will be in Adobe PDF format.  Each will have a jpg photo and a link to access the PDF file.

The first couple of offerings are on the Free Graphics page now.  These are some printed buildings I made for use in the background.  In the near future, I'll have some signs that I've made and other items will be added from time to time.

Great modeling, just not N Scale

Not too much new to report on the Musashi-Koyama modules as I've been busy again on DCC decoder installations and am also rebuilding one of my Ntrak modules.

One thing that I would like to share a bit of is our visit to the Edo Museum during our trip to Tokyo last November.  Edo is the old name for Tokyo and this museum covers the history of the city through the ages up to the current time.  Of course one of my favorite parts were the many large model displays showing typical life in Tokyo. 

Due to lighting and reflections on most of the model displays, the best shots were of this diorama of a typical street scene that I am thinking is in the 1880 - 1900 period of time.



The dioramas appeared to be close to O scale, or 1/48.  They all had this level of detail with thousands of model figures.  This particular display ran through a night cycle where the overhead lights dimmed and the building and street lights came on.


There were also a few buildings that the roof would lift off during the night part of the cycle and the detailed interiors became visible.

We spent about half a day here and really enjoyed it.  The Edo Museum is easy to get to by train or subway and easy to find.


The building itself is quite unique as seen in this streetview photo.

They have an english language Website with full details.