Euro Rail Hobbies and More Blog

Hello friends.   Sorry that I have been A.W.O.L. for a while.  Life happens as we all realize.

Since my last post I : 

1) Converted to the CS3 + unit !  The learning curve was a bit steep, but ultimately with friends like Curtis of the Marklin Dudes and perseverance I escaped the clutches of frustration.  Wow! What a unit is the CS 3 !

2) Began scenery in some critical areas of the layout to test different construction methods.

3) Have trains running....yahoo !

4) Donated a lot of equipment  / track to the NW chapter of ETE for their SIG modules. Wish them good luck in growing that chapter as led by lots of  energy with Mitch. Please support them if you can....or join !  Great group of modelers.

Now onto the fun ......

Corner Module:   


Began with trusty hot glue gun and styrofoam boards ( 2" thick) molded a little with a rasp. Applied Sculptomold and rocks from  molds with pleasing affect. The idea is to see the train "dancing in and out of terrain features" which adds interest.

 Side view.  Lot of detail in with the rocks from the molds.

Now a coat of inexpensive grey latex paint from hardware store.

Better detail of affect of grey paint. 

Dry brushing with white acrylic paint -paste.  Easy peasy. 

Better view. 

Used dilute yellow ochre, raw umber, etc to add some color to the rocks.  One of the secrets is to spray the formation with dilute Mod Podge ( 1:4 dilution) then "blow" onto the surface Woodland Scenics blended turf ( fine). Process: take folded piece of letter sized paper ( folded length wise), sprinkle the blended turf into the crease and gently blow a sparse "mist" of the material onto the surface treated with the adhesive.  This tones down the rock faces and adds "character"  to the rocks, as if a fine coating of scattered moss is growing on the rocks....looks neat !  

Add foliage and the results can be quite pleasing. 

Final result....Catenary installed over the turnout, track already weathered, ballasted and glued in place with the dilute Mod Podge. ( 1: 4)  Using Mod Podge seems a better option than white glue. The ballast adhered with the MP seems to transmit undesired sound to the underlayment much, much less that that held with white glue. I suspect that the MP has some elastic qualities vis-a-vis the white glue.  I have tested both.

Another view. 

Happy with the end result and especially with the prototypical "super-elevation" of the track around the turn !!! 

More to come .....just finished building a mountain on the helix !!!! 

Thanks for viewing....be well, and blessings....alan