Sumida Crossing

[IST]

After I glued down the foam, I realized I wanted the road from the bridge (the big commercial avenue from the Urban Station scene) to continue through this area and under the tracks.  Which meant a bridge for the tracks above the road. Which meant a gap in the foam.  The foam I'd glued down the night before.

 

Bah, Murphy's law. But do not mind, I like the idea, your city will look better with it.

Nice job and thanks for the detailed information (& pictures) about what you did.

[qwertyaardvark]

Looking good~ :)

[disturbman]

I'm really impressed by yours (and qwerty's) progress. You are both doing great.

[KenS]

Time for an update.  Work on the "River Crossing" scene progressed this week and weekend.  I finished tweaking the little things I needed to tweak before plastering, plastered, filled gaps with WS Foam Putty, built my "concrete" embankments with WS Foam Paste and plastic window screen, and glued down the cork roadbed (it's drying as I type).

 

But I still haven't got to the "paint the landscape green" stage, which I wanted to be at last weekend. Maybe by next weekend.

 

Photo 1 shows the plaster, before gap-filling (I don't have an "after" photo yet).

 

Photo 2 shows a couple of the embankments, with screen embedded in paste (still wet; it takes forever to dry). I think the texture will be more apparent once I've tinted it.

 

Photo 3 shows a similar touch done on the embankment wall in front of the bridge abutments. I'm not sure how this is going to look, and this and the other bridge abutment were done as a test. If I like it after painting, I'll do the whole embankment face along the river.

 

As I've mentioned previously, the gray is just primer, and will ultimately be covered with a lighter "concrete" color, or by something that looks like a real road for the flat part.  That may not be soon, however, as once I get this section roughly done, I'm going to turn my attention to one or both of the other scenes, to get them to a similar "not pink and roughly usable" state, before I worry about detailed scenery.

 

If you want more photos there's a page on my site with a more detailed write-up of what I did, and my Construction Photo Album has those and earlier photos in a larger size.

[qwertyaardvark]

Wow your layout surfaces came out awfully smooth! I wish I had the same luck with my layout... I might give that flex paste a try on my layout to smooth out some of the rough plaster patches.

[Mudkip Orange]

It definitely has the look of an engineered slope...

[KenS]

Wow your layout surfaces came out awfully smooth! I wish I had the same luck with my layout... I might give that flex paste a try on my layout to smooth out some of the rough plaster patches.

 

Well, I think the plaster was fairly smooth to start with, since it was laid directly on foam smoothed with a Stanley Surform ("cheese grater") rasp, and I tried to keep it as smooth as possible to make a base for the screen/paste combo.  The one potential problem with the paste is that it supposedly dries flexible, which makes it hard to sand.  Since I'm not planning to sand those embankments, that wasn't an issue for me.

[KenS]

I did some painting. Then I watched paint dry. Then I did some more painting. (repeat until 1=0)  :BangHead:

 

But it was all worth it.  I have the "village" part of the River Crossing scene to the point where it almost looks like scenery (it could stand some trees, shrubs, and grass that wasn't just a coat of paint, not to mention real streets, signs on the buildings, etc.).  But it looks a heck of a lot better than pink foam.

 

I also cut out (and painted) the hardboard fascia panels to protect the edge of the foam. They're just held in place with clamps for now, to make access to the wiring runs behind them easier, but I'll eventually attach them with either bolts or some kind of hinge.

 

I'm going to leave this as it stands, and turn my attention to the elevated Urban Station next (a whole carton of viaduct extensions and platform segments arrived this week from MB Klein), although I'm also working on the Riverside Station, but neither had made much progress yet. At some point, after trains are running, I'll come back and do more scenery work.

 

The ink-colored embankments came out better than I'd hoped. The detail of the triangular pattern (from the window screen embedded in the paste) is much more visible than I thought it would be.  The color isn't quite right (the real ones are darker, and I think more evenly colored), but it's not too far off.

 

The train is just posed there (at the moment, none of the tracks connect to anything at either end), but it really makes me anticipate the day it's done for real.

 

Here are some photos to show the "final" state.  The detailed page on my site and photo album, both linked from my earlier posting) have been updated to match.

[disturbman]

Coolio! Now, this village of your is in dire need of some weathering. 

[KenS]

I've turned my attention to the Urban Station for the moment, and am working to settle on a final track plan. During construction of the River Crossing scene I narrowed the inner loop, replacing the 310mm of straight track (sized for a double-crossover) with 277mm (248+29). This positioned the bridge leading to the viaduct station better, and allowed me to simplify the tracks entering the viaduct station (see photo 1, trackplan, and photo 2). This necessitated moving the crossover track between the inner and outer loops into the viaduct station (the only place the two tracks are close enough for a long enough run), from where it had previously been hidden in the unsceniced end section. That's not ideal, but I'll have to live with it.

 

The win was that the simplified station tracks meant that I could extend the outer platform (on the "Shinkansen/Rapid" loop).  The end result was a 2.7m platform, long enough for a 16-car Shinkansen or two 10-car commuter/express trains. The inner pair of platforms are both sized for an 11-car Yamanote line train (actually, they ended up long enough for 12 cars).

 

Photo 2 shows part of the mock-up for the viaduct station (the wood isn't going to be used for the final support structure, although I haven't decided yet just how I'll support the station; it's too high for the usual viaduct supports to be used).

 

Photo 3 shows the complete mock-up, with a 10-car Chuo E233 at one of the commuter platforms (the far end car is at the end of the platform, so you can see the extra space for two more cars at this end). The black material under the tracks is Woodland Scenics 1/8-inch roadbed foam. In 12" x 24" sheets it just fits the 3-wide parts of the viaduct station.

 

Photo 4 provides a slightly different perspective.

 

Now that I've got the length of the station, and the placement of the tracks entering it, settled, I can cut the plywood for the roadbed of the return loop on the unsceniced end section. This is beginning to feel like progress. 

[disturbman]

You could try to cast your own pillars/piers.

[Mudkip Orange]

This necessitated moving the crossover track between the inner and outer loops into the viaduct station (the only place the two tracks are close enough for a long enough run), from where it had previously been hidden in the unsceniced end section. That's not ideal, but I'll have to live with it.

 

Ehh, it happens. Overbrook, PA has a full four-track interlocking right through the middle of a commuter station. The usual track fences are replaced with numerous dire signs of the "DO NOT CROSS TRACKS HERE YOU WILL DIE" variety.

[KenS]

Good to know. There's a prototype for everything, I guess.

 

But the part that really bothers me is that when I'm using the outer loop for Shinkansen, I'll have a crossover between the standard-gauge and narrow-gauge tracks, and that's not particularly prototypical. Oh well, pay no attention to the gauge-change behind the curtain... 

 

And, when I finally get around to adding signals, I'll either have to pretend it isn't there, or do something that probably doesn't have a Japanese prototype.  Although there are prototypes for block/starting signals leading to two lines and mid-station signals, so I guess I could claim those as the prototype.

[Bernard]

Ken - You are really planning the layout out by marking up the foam and test fitting the pieces. Have you run trains over the sections you've already done just to check how smooth the slight elevations are? Two months, that's not bad, if you enjoy it, what's the rush.  :icon_thumright:

[CaptOblivious]

Ken, I see how you could move the double cross-over out of the station, and into a more discreet area; it requires re-jiggering of the right-most shinkasen curve though.

[KenS]

Have you run trains over the sections you've already done just to check how smooth the slight elevations are?

 

I've run a train back-and-forth over the grade and bridge between the "village" area and the Urban Station, but I did it from the far end of the table, so I wasn't watching the train closely on the grade.  That's a good idea, and once I get the Urban Station back together (it's apart for support construction this weekend) I'll check it out more closely.  Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Capt. O.: that jpeg you attached just seems to be a screen grab of my existing curve (or I'm overlooking something).  What was your idea?

 

Update: Oh, I get it (doh!). Shortening the outer curve and reversing the direction of the platform curve in the station would let me move it down to the far right.  Interesting thought.  I'll have to try that out.

[KenS]

I've been working on the support structure for the viaduct station in my Urban Station scene.  I'm being a bit different, using threaded rod, PEX water tubing, and aluminum strips made for carpets rather than foam, plastic or wood. That, plus a simply incredible amount of nuts and washers (I've nearly used up a 100-count box of nuts on the first of two tables), makes for a fairly solid and yet realistically (I think) open structure. You can read all the details on a page on my website, if you care.

 

So far, I've done one of the two tables, although final assembly will wait until tomorrow or later in the week, as some paint needs to dry (doesn't it always?). This came out looking pretty good, although there are some rough areas I'll need to conceal or otherwise deal with.

 

I'd actually had the idea of using 1/4" threaded rod from some of the reading I'd done on helix construction, where it's sometimes used as a support since the height is easily adjusted.

 

photo 1: the rod/nut/washers (without the PEX) used to hold up the end where the subway enters the station.

 

photo 2: the same location, once the PEX was placed over the rods and painted. The blue clearance gauges confirm I didn't make a mistake on clearances.

 

photo 3: a forest of columns, the rear set with the aluminum strip applied.

[disturbman]

Great idea! But, aren't you going to need to paint the baseboard for the elevated station?

[KenS]

But, aren't you going to need to paint the baseboard for the elevated station?

 

Not sure what you mean by "baseboard".  The actual baseboard is hidden under the pink foam.  The foam itself will be given a coat of gray latex just in case it peeks through (and for the short term when it will double as the road surface), but eventually it will all be hidden under roads, buildings, or other scenery. I'm not going to do that until I finish the foam hill hiding the subway tracks down by the river, as I don't want paint between the two foam surfaces I'm gluing together.

 

Fortunately the columns are easy to install/remove right now, as I just finger-tighten the nut under the table, or twist it off to remove them.  I can install/remove the entire structure in under five minutes.  Eventually I may lock it in place by filling in the "pits" in the pink foam with WS Foam Putty, but that's something for the future.

 

On the front of the layout, a fascia board will hide the edge of the table (gray wood in the photos) and the pink foam there.  I'm not going to cut/paint/install that until things are a bit further along.  One thing I'm thinking of is supplementing the fascia with some plexiglass, to prevent a derailed subway train from exiting over the lip of the fascia and falling to its doom on the concrete 50-some inches below, while still allowing visibility into the underside of the station.

 

Finally, I did consider painting the viaduct station itself (and I may still do it), but I'd need some more concrete-like color, which means breaking out my airbrush and figuring out how to use it again (it's been about 15 years...). And I need to acquire a paint booth before I do that. One of the reasons it's been unused for so long is a lack of one, and an increased concern about poor ventilation in my cellar that kept me from using it without one.  A lack of model-building activity has kept me from having any reason to do so up to now, but once I move on to building/customizing structures, I'm going to want to paint them. I did a little bit of that when my HO layout was new, and structures definitely look better with flat, airbrushed paint jobs than in the original shiny plastic.

 

I have more than enough projects to keep me amused. 

 

But that's sort of the point. Part of what I want to get out of this railroad is a a way to de-stress after work that doesn't involve couch-potato passivity.  Between building scenery, structures, and digital control/signaling systems, and converting trains to DCC, I should have plenty of that.

[disturbman]

What I meant was, don't you think it's starting for you to be time to paint this pink foam board so it doesn't show up under the station. That's just for practical reason. Once you do that you won't need to disasemble the elevated station, the pillars and the rails... except if you have a subway derailing. :)

 

Thanks for the answer. I envy you. :)

[Bernard]

Ken - That is an interesting idea of plexiglass. Would it be easy to remove and get to the trains when derailments happen? I know what you mean by not having trains fall off the layout, that is why I put mountain ridges on the edge of my layout.

Since there is a hidden sublayer to your layout, have you thought of painting the pink foamboard black? It might show up the lights of the trains better, just a thought.

[disturbman]

Good idea Bernard. I even think that the paint shouldn't be glossy.

[KenS]

disturbman: yeah, I want to paint the foam under the station, but I also want to paint the foam behind it at the same time to keep it even (and it's less work), so I'm waiting until I finish the foam hills at the end of the scene so I know where to end the gray and start with some green. I also want to do both tables at the same time, so I need to finish the other set of columns first (which I started working on last night).

 

Bernard: I do plan to paint the subway foam. In fact, I'm thinking of doing some minor detailing inside the tunnel so that if/when I eventually run a train with a camera on it, it won't look too bad. I had originally thought to use black, but as I think about detailing it, gray makes a bit more sense.  The jury's still out on that. 

 

In the station area, the whole track will be "outdoors" (under the viaduct but exposed on one side at least), so I'm going with a "painted concrete" look there.  I'll probably try to make the floor in pedestrian platform/walkway areas look like tile, and other areas look like concrete, so a base of gray paint is a reasonable starting point there.

 

The plexiglass idea came from a recent model railroading magazine.  They had a tip using a small sheet with slots on the bottom that slid over screws on or behind the fascia. I'm thinking of something simpler, perhaps just using the bolts that mount the fascia to mount the plexiglass too.  But that would mean putting the bolts up relatively high unless I want to have several inches of hidden plexiglass, and it would make it a pain to remove if there was a derailment, so I might do something different like offsetting the fascia with a second layer of hardboard at the bottom, so there's a "notch" behind it at the top that the plexiglass drops down into. That's tempting, but I'm not sure how solid it will be, and I don't want the plexiglass tilting in and pressing against the scenery. More thought, and maybe a test fitting, will be required before I decide.

 

In most places, I'm going to just count on having a small raised edge on the fascia board to hold in a derailment. But at the station I want more visibility so I won't have much of a lip there.

[KenS]

Another week, more painting. 

 

After I finished making all the mounting points for the elevated station structure, I painted the pink foam tops of both tables with gray latex primer (which will serve as my "street" surface until I get around to making a better one) and then painted the subway cork with gray acrylic paint to match the Unitrack that will be laid on it. Now I'm going to let all that dry, probably for a week or two.

 

Then I cut out hardboard fascia panels for the Urban Station tables, and painted them.  I also re-painted the ones I'd previously done for the River Crossing scene, as the clamps I'd used for temporary attachments had damaged the paint. The fascia gets two coats of gray primer to seal the wood, and then two (at least) coats of the green paint I'm using.  If I see a noticeable difference between the two original ones (which got three coats counting the repair work) and the new ones (two coats so far), I'll add a third coat.

 

Lesson: latex paint may be dry to the touch fairly quickly, but it takes a long time to cure, and it isn't very strong, mechanically, until it does. It also remains a bit tacky, and will stick to things set on it (I'd observed this previously with the paint I used for the river itself, as the pink foam stuck to it in a few places). I've also had some problems with the acrylic paint I used on the cork remaining slightly tacky for a couple of weeks (not seriously, but track set on it sticks a bit when I try to move it later); it finally dried out, but it seemed to take forever.

 

But I did figure out how I was going to put in a plexiglass panel to prevent runaways in the Urban Station and in the subway station part of the Riverside Station scenes.  Basically, I'm mounting the fascia far enough away from the table to create a slot, with a mounting block at the bottom in a couple of places that both holds the fascia and provides a ledge for the plexiglass in the "slot" to rest on.  I don't have photos of the finished assembly yet (I'm waiting for paint to dry), but a test fitting before I painted worked pretty well, some I'm hopeful the finished assembly will work as planned.

 

The plexiglass is quarter-inch stock, cut from a 4-foot by 2-foot panel (about $40, but it made five 4-foot sections). I used that, rather than the thinner 1/8" stock, which would have been half the cost, so that the panel wouldn't flex in towards the station. The thinner stuff was just too bendy for me.

 

I've also been working on cutting/carving foam for the other bank of the river (between the river and the urban station) and working on the bridge abutments there. Nothing to show for that yet, but perhaps in another week...

 

My goal here is to get the Urban Station to the point where I can install track, at least temporarily, and then focus my attention on the Riverside Station scene, which I plan to be the first one I finish (structures and scenery), so that I can run trains once I get the RS scene to the point where it has track.  Somewhere in here I need to build the second level of the unsceniced end, so that the tracks all connect properly. But that's for another day.

 

photo 1: a diagram of how my plexiglass will mount.

 

photo 2: the mounting itself.

 

photo 3: the tables before painting

 

photo 4:masked and with latex paint applied

 

photo 5: with the cork painted, and some of the vertical supports in place

 

photo 6: a collection of painted fascia panels

[Mudkip Orange]

Yep, you're really gettin' serious now.