Good Morning Doc,
Catching and following your latest adventure. Once again you seem to be pushing all the edges and traditions. Excited to follow your progress. Very interesting start.
All the best.
Ric Golding said:
Good Morning Doc,
Catching and following your latest adventure. Once again you seem to be pushing all the edges and traditions. Excited to follow your progress. Very interesting start.
All the best.
Thanks Ric. I am looking forward to this build…it is quite different from anything I have tried before.
Doc Tom(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
The Beginning of Topography.
When I was in HO scale, I built my model railroad scenery with cardboard strips, plaster cloth and plaster castings.
I read in the model railroad magazines that Styrofoam insulation board was becoming more popular for use in scenery construction. For one of the mountains, on my previous HO logging outfit, I built up a layered Styrofoam creation as an attempt to “go modern.” I was using an ordinary kitchen knife to cut the board and tried to smooth the edges using the surfoam tool.
Do you remember this tool?
This turned out to be quite tedious and I ended up with bits of blue plastic everywhere.
I wanted try something completely different this go round. After cutting the panels to a manageable 14.5" X 30" I was able to take them to the workbench and using “score and snap” remove large sections using a straight edge and box cutter knife.
With this new creation “The Original Kittom Lumber Co.” I wanted to use some of the newer techniques for working with foamboard. I found that the hot wire foam cutter from Woodland scenics was a much better way to carve and cut foam board
The hot wire can be adjusted to cut an angle in the foam.
As the hills of Kentucky and Tennessee are somewhat rounded I wanted to use this feature to bevel the edges of the boards and make rounded hill tops. I followed the outlines I had traced out earlier.
I was able to do this in minutes where previous work with the surfoam tool would’ve taken hours and caused quite a mess.
There definitely have been some improvements in the hobby of model railroading.
Thanks for LOOKING.
Doc Tom
Doc,
I love it !
I would like to know what is in the “Tupperware container” 7th pic down? That wouldn’t be poultry would it?
" Rooster " said:
Doc,
I love it !
I would like to know what is in the “Tupperware container” 7th pic down? That wouldn’t be poultry would it?
Well as you know…
I’m using them as construction cheerleaders.
Doc Tom (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
" Rooster " said:
Doc,
I love it !
I would like to know what is in the “Tupperware container” 7th pic down? That wouldn’t be poultry would it?
Boy, you can just feel the fear is his question. Can’t you? He actually thinks Col. Sanders is a bad guy.
Tom looks great!
Can you cut the next layer down to give more depth?
Sean McGillicuddy said:
Tom looks great!
Can you cut the next layer down to give more depth?
Yes, I will actually cut through nine more layers to give fairly dramatic depth. I started doing that and pictures will come after I take a vacation with the Domestic Authority this week.
Stay tuned. More to come. Doc Tom
Looking very nice Tom, but better hurry up, running out of popcorn.(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Ron Tremblay said:
Looking very nice Tom, but better hurry up, running out of popcorn.(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Ron. Just made another batch…this project is going to take a while.
Do you want butter, salt, carmel or sugar on this serving of the good stuff??
Doc Tom
Lol Tom, Love it. Butter please.(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Doc Tom, Is it done yet?(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
Ron Tremblay said:
Doc Tom, Is it done yet?(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
No not yet. I took a side tracked trip to Switzerland. Doc Tom
Looking good so far. I love using the foam board. I used it on my Micro layout. I might have to use the Al bracing. idea for the foam board on my next micro. My current is a it heavy and awkward with the wood frame. I want something could move around easily.
Tom Grabenstein said:
Ron Tremblay said:
Doc Tom, Is it done yet?(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
No not yet. I took a side tracked trip to Switzerland. Doc Tom
Does that mean the next mini will be with Alps for a background ?(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Dave Marconi said:
Tom Grabenstein said:
Ron Tremblay said:
Doc Tom, Is it done yet?(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
No not yet. I took a side tracked trip to Switzerland. Doc Tom
Does that mean the next mini will be with Alps for a background ?(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Well, I am partial to the rack railroad I saw on top of the mountain with steam power!! Here is something that could be used as a backdrop. .
My wife and I took a summer break when my VERY generous sister-in-law, Peg, sponsored a Rail and Trail adventure in Switzerland. This certified “train nut” was blown away by the incredible Swiss rail system.
Imagine my surprise after huffing and puffing up the Swiss Alpine Mountain Rigi Klum on a hike I found this:
For a few Swiss Francs I was able to hitch a ride in mechanized splendor to the top of the mountain while enjoying the aromas of coal smoke and steam oil.
I commemorated the steam adventure in a short You Tube “trailer” I put together for other members of the trip.
Now its back to work on my little creation of steam in the mountains.
Doc Tom
Great video Tom.(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
I went back to work on the mini layout this past weekend.
I use a bamboo skewer to trace out the lines of each 1" level of future topography. The pieces are then cut with an angled or straight edge using the Woodland Scenics foam cutting tool with plenty of ventilation.
Each layer is then “screwed and glued” to the one above being careful to square and true the edges.
Pretty soon we have a 3D blue ice berg that has some sculpted features.
Here we see the log dump overlooking the Red River. It is 40 scale feet down to the water and the dumped logs will make quite a splash.
On the other side of the layout the Kit Creek Gorge is coming along nicely and you can visualize where the wooden crib trestle will go.
The elevated layout is 10" up from the river and creek beds and 10 layers of 1" foam were carefully cut, stacked, screwed and glued.
There is a 1" gap between the “woods” and “valley” section of the layout. Here is where the 1" thick foam divider will go.
Each scenery “chunk” can now be taken to the workbench for carving strata and rocks. The square edges will also be carefully sanded and smoothed.
Thanks for looking. Doc Tom