12 more feet of finished fascia added

After getting the Battle Mountain section integrated into the layout I finally got back to installing more fascia from where I left off over a year ago.   I have added another 12 feet and now have it up to just before where Battle Mountain ends.  I really like the finished look this gives to the layout.

With the fascia done, the turnout control panels for Battle Mountain were installed.  Here is part of the stretch along the Battle Mountain section with 3 of the 6 turnout control panels.

This is the area of the joint between the Golconda and Battle Mountain sections.  Base scenery in this area has been finished and I am beginning to add shrubs and details.  That will be a continuing process along with finishing the industry buildings in Battle Mountain.

Finishing the river at Golconda

After touching up the base scenery around the bridge abutments and adding a few rock outcroppings I decided to finish the river with a coat of gloss medium.  The blending of different color shades when painting the river bed gives the illusion of depth.

I have been trying out the Silfourettes grass tufts from Scenic Express and really like them.  Some of the greener ones were placed along the waters edge.

I took this photo after securing the Golconda section into it's place in the layout  and with the bridges set temporarily in place to see what it would look with the backdrop behind it.

Finishing the concrete bridge at Golconda

Finishing the segmented concrete trestle on the SP line required a bit more work than the thru truss bridge on the WP line.

A printout of this photo has been posted above the work area as a reference for me to follow.

The 3 bents that I had started got trimmed to fit into place under the layout.  Because this bridge is on a slight grade, each bent is a different length and the marks on the top indicate their relative position under the bridge. The bents and bridge were air brushed Testors aged concrete and after drying for a couple days were glued into their positions.

A layer of Hydrocal plaster was poured into the river that was deep enough to cover the cross bracing on the bottom of the pilings so it appears that they are driven into the riverbed.  The bents were covered with sensitive surface painters tape to protect them from getting any plaster on them.

When I removed the painters tape from the bents some of the paint was pulled off and had to be touched up with a brush.

The bents, deck, and abutments are being weathered with acrylic washes and powders.

At this point the bridge deck fits nicely into place but can be easily removed for working on the river and the areas around the river under the bridge.  When I am satisfied with those things, the bridge deck and track can be installed.

Finishing the thru truss bridge at Golconda

Last summer in the post First crossing of the Humboldt River I had started building a Central Valley Models thru truss bridge for the WP line and was scratch building a segmented concrete trestle for the SP line to match the bridges in this photo that I show again here as reference.




Completing the area around the river is a combination of several different projects including the two bridges that are all interrelated.  In this post I will cover the the finishing of the Western Pacific thru truss bridge which is in the foreground of the scene.

After assembling the Central Valley Model Works bridge,  the abutments that it would rest on were made from 1/4 inch plastic material and installed into the scenery on each side of the river.  They were then brush painted with Testors aged concrete.  One of those is shown in this photo.

I have always noticed that none of the bridge model kits include the bridge shoes that attach the ends of the bridge to the abutments.  I found a set on the KD Models Shapeways shop designed by Dwayne Ward who is modeling the Texas and Pacific in N Scale and has a blog for his T&P layout.

The bridge structure itself was then air brushed with Floquil Old Silver. After drying overnight it was given a wash of Testors black acrylic weathering wash.  The weathering wash really brings out the details such as rivets and the year of construction that is cut into the top plate on each end of the bridge.

I am now applying some weathering powers to highlight some areas of rust.

Here is the same abutment shown in the earlier photo after the same weathering wash had been applied.

Those bridge feet seemed understated until they also received the weathering wash when the bridge was done, now I think they really show off nicely.  I will be ordering more of these for my other bridges.

The ties were removed from the middle of a section of Micro Engineering flex track and the bridge ties that came with the kit were popped into place after ACC was applied to the rail bottoms.

This assembly will be air brushed a rail tie brown color and be ready when the time comes to install the bridge.

Little bits of progress here and there

Since New Years I have been doing a little work in different parts of the layout.

Test fitted the section of backdrop that will be behind the Wesso section of the layout.  Trimmed the bottom a bit to fit around the higher bench work of Winnemucca seen here on the right side of the photo.

I took a few test photos of some locomotives on the track in front of this back drop to see how things looked and was quite happy with the results.  Makes me want to get all 24 feet of the back drop I have installed soon.

There was a good sized border at the end of the back drop section behind Winnemucca that I trimmed off to test with different adhesives on a piece of the FRP.  This back drop is vinyl and I wanted to know the adhesive I use would not adversely affect the material.


Here are the results so far:

3M Super 77 Spray - I had used this with very good results on a module.  That backdrop was a different brand and material.  Glad I tried it out on a scrap from this back drop first as the results were awful this time.  As can be seen in the photo, the adhesive reacted with the vinyl backing of the backdrop causing bulges and wrinkles.

Elmers Glue-All - The common white glue that many of us use for cork road beds, track, and scenery.  I had also used this before on a backdrop on an old layout with good results.  That back drop was paper backed. This seems to work well with this Backdrop Junction back drop with no interaction with the material and any that oozed out on the edges cleaned up easily and left no stain.

Roberts Vinyl Tile Adhesive - This was left over from installing the floor in the train room.  While it holds well and gives a guy a little time to work with, anything oozing out on the edges easily stains the back drop.

Also did some work finishing up the bridge abutments on the Golconda section and installed some cork road bed on both lines on the approaches to the bridges.  Need to get to the hobby shop for some more .060 x .060 styrene strip to finish the concrete sectional bridge in the rear.

On this rainy Sunday afternoon put together the LED light panels that go under the Carlin section.  This photo shows the bench work sitting upside down with one panel open and the other closed.  These LED light panels will light the staging yard.

Preparing for photographic backdrops

It is usually best to finish the backdrop before installing the bench work that is going to be in front of it.   Now that the Wesso and Golconda sections progressing nicely,  I need to install a hard, smooth paneling that will curve around the inside corners of the walls that I can then install a photo backdrop on.

Many people use Masonite but I have been using fiberglass reinforced plastic wall paneling.  It is bumpy on the finished side and smooth on the back side so I use it back side out.  This paneling had worked very well on my old layout for 11 years as mentioned in the December 2013 post Lessons learned from the old layout.  For me the advantages of this type of paneling are the thinness and the greater flexibility when rounding a corner.

This photo shows both sides of this type of paneling.  It comes in a 4 x 8 ft sheet and I cut it lengthwise to get three 16 inch x 8 ft strips.  I have cut this both on my table saw with a fine tooth blade and by the scribe and snap method.

Attachment is done with 1 inch nails on the top and bottom at each wall stud.  I tried using finishing nails but the heads of the nails tended to break through the panels so I now use 1 inch nails with a flat head.
At the seams I splice the sides of the panels facing the wall with .020 styrene.

The corners on this layout will be curved and the first one is going to be behind the dry creek scene on the Wesso section.

This photo shows that area and how I have placed the seam between two sections of panel to one side.  The first two panels were from the old layout and had been painted blue.  A notch has been cut out right at the corner so the panel could go over the bench work.


The nails and seams are then smoothed out with Spackle and then a coat of primer will put on to seal everything.  With at least some of the panels now ready I have ordered 24 ft of photo backdrop.

Land forms for the Golconda section

After finishing the basic bench work I used a similar method as I had done on the Wesso section to create the contours of the land.  Insulation board was cut and shaped with a inexpensive steak knife to get the basic shapes I wanted.  This time I decided to place a layer of plaster cloth over the shaped insulation board to further refine the shapes.  This will later be followed up with a brushed on wet coat of sheet rock mud.

The bridge abutments were cut from 1/4 inch plastic and after fitting them into the correct positions were attached with Liquid Nails adhesive.  The masking tape is to protect them from getting any plaster or sheet rock mud on them.

Bench work for the Golconda section

Back in the July post First crossing of the Humboldt River I described the scene I wanted to create for the next section of the layout and had a good start on a pair of bridges.  At that time I had named it the Golconda section as that is the name of the location where this scene is located.

Here is a photo of this section right now with the bench work completed. Because it is quite a bit smaller than the Wesso and staging yard sections I was able to build it entirely from scraps left over from those.  The deck is from scraps of 1/4 inch plywood with the middle section set lower for the river.


This section will be an anchoring point with a sturdy metal bracket similar to those used on the staging yard on each end.  The Paint booth will fit between the bracket and under this layout section.

First crossing of the Humboldt River

As mentioned in previous posts both rail lines cross the winding Humboldt river many times between Winnemucca and Carlin, Nevada.  In some places only one line crosses the river and in others both lines.  The first full crossing of the river going east from Winnemucca is just east of Golconda.

This shot of the actual location is from Bingmaps Bird's Eye View and is looking toward the south so the orientation is the same as the layout.  The WP line is in the foreground crossing the through truss bridge and the SP in the background crossing the ballasted concrete deck bridge.

I found this nice shot on the internet.  This location is actually a bit east of my modeled area but is typical of the types of bridges used and of the spacing between the lines.

In full size this photo shows great detail of the concrete bridge and I am using it as a reference to scratch built a model of it.


I had considered using the BLMA segmented concrete bridge kit but it only has 3 pilings per bent and this prototype has 6 so I am scratch building this one.  A couple of years ago I scratch built 3 similar type bridges for one of my Ntrak modules.  Those bridges were based on parts from a Tomix kit and were not intended to be of any specific prototype but some of the techniques learned on those will be applied to this bridge.

Here is my start on the segmented concrete bridge using some 1/8" thick clear acyrilic and some 1/4" plastic materials as a core and then adding the more features with Evergreen strip polystyrene materials.

To model the through truss bridge I am building another Central Valley Model Works kit which I have shortened from 4 sections to 3 to match the prototype.  I already have two of these I've done for the Palisades area of the layout.





This scene will be on the next module which is going to be called the Golconda module.  It will be a small module only about 3 ft in length and will be above the paint booth.