Franksville Wisconsin N-scale modutrak module buildout

[lashedup]

What about doing the fence near the edge out of metal? Make it robust enough that when it does get bumped, it doesn't die.

I like Bryan's idea about the breakway too.

I had thought about the break away as well. I'm going to build the outdoor lumber sheds back there and that will serve as a better barrier and eliminate the fence all the way to the edge. I suppose the sheds themselves will be the next likely target, but I just output the drawings to the cutter and they are quick to make. The detailing inside is more of an issue, but I'll figure out a way to streamline that as well.

I've reversed the fence and started building the back fencing as well. More pics later.

Thanks for the suggestions!

-jamie

[wm3798]

You could kill two birds with one shed...  That is construct a sturdy lumber shed to form the back edge of the yard, which appears to be in keeping with the photo.



That would be like the one in the background here... a simple one side open affair that would be far more durable than a fence.

Lee

[lashedup]

Yep. That's what I was doing a poor job of describing above. I already cut the pieces in a design that is similar to the old black and white proto photos. And I'm thinking about the lights inside the shed as well Lee. That would be a nice touch, but I'll have to step up the interior detailing a bit.

[wm3798]

The one you see in the above photo was done with "metal roofing" sheet styrene for the interior, with the ribs representing the steel purlins that would catch the vertical siding.  I simply painted every three ribs, leaving the other two the lighter color.  The exterior wall isn't detailed, though, since that was against the backdrop.  But you could make a siding sandwich and put the vertical metal siding on the outside.

Lee

[lashedup]

I like how you painted every third beam to give it that look. That worked out great.

I'm actually going to build this one similar to the prototype photo out of wood (or at least what will look like wood). I'll include some internal heavy beams to beef it up and it should work well. I'm going to give it a more weathered look as well to try and give it some character. So far I used the Silhouette SD cutter to score the wood planks and cut the pieces. I sanded the styrene in one direction to add some wood grain appearance and I've primed the pieces. Right now I'm applying multiple coats of thinned paint and an alcohol/india ink wash to give it a weathered wood look. I also applied the same wash to the balsa beam pieces. Later today I should have the basic structure together. The additional fencing is also done and just getting some india ink/alcohol washes. Hopefully that next step will be some greenery.

-jamie

[lashedup]

Ok, couple of update shots. I still need to add the tar paper roof and fix the slope of the land as I just set this building down to see how it will look.





Overall I'm glad I built this and once all the details are added this should all come to life pretty nicely. I might need to make that rear door opening a bit larger though.

-jamie

[wm3798]

Very nice!  That's going to be a fun scene to detail.
Lee

[lashedup]

Ok, I had to add a large gravel lot as a base for the Klema buildings and figured I'd shoot some of the step I use to create it.

First I bought some sanded and non-sanded grout from Home Depot. I picked the color "Snow White" as the label made it look a little more off-white and not so stark bright white. It isn't as tan colored as it looks on the label, but I think it is just about right. I bought both the non-sanded and the sanded as I wanted to try them out. The non-sanded is a bit too much like flour and ends up looking chalky and too smooth once you hit it with water. The sanded grout gives it some texture which looks more realistic. I mixed them both for this lot, but that's not a necessity (I just wanted to use up the products I bought).



This gives you an overall view of the area that I'm going to cover. You can see where I've already put the grout down and I've started to rake it out with a plastic fork. At the far left end you can see where I've already compressed it with a piece of paper.



So I pour small piles of grout on the area I want to cover and then spread it out with a plastic fork, raking it out and distributing it out to the edges where I try and keep it a little thinner.



You'll want to make sure you get the grout only where you want it and brush it off the areas where you don't want it. Otherwise when you apply the water to it, any place there is grout it will be a pain in the a$$ to dig out (like in between ties!). Once you have it raked out to a fairly uniform depth, take a sheet of paper and gentle lay it over the top and push down evenly with your hands on top of the paper. You can feel it compressing and it should be fairly even when you lift the paper. You can take the paper and gently smooth out ridges or other uneven spots and then reapply even pressure to compress it again.



I take a brush and touch up the edges and try and get them relatively even, but in real life gravel does get all over the place, so you are just trying to remove the heavy unevenness and things that don't look right. Once it is all compressed and looks the way you want it, I take paper towels to cover/mask anything I don't want getting wet. Then I use a misting bottle with some water in it and hold it about 18-20 inches above the grout and mist the whole thing heavily. You should start to see the grout look wet. When you just start to see actual ponding or saturation of water on top of the grout, you've gone far enough. You don't want pooling of water as it will float the grout away and leave a mess, so be careful how much water you put down. Here is what it looked like after misting it:



You can always go back after it dries and add more water if you think it needs it.

Once it dries it will look like this:





Overall this technique seems to work really well and leaves a nice textured surface that has enough variation in it to look more like real gravel (as opposed to just painting some sandpaper white).

Later on after the buildings are in place I'll go back and weather the roads and add cracks and such. I'll also take some white weathering powder (or the non-sanded grout) and drag a little of the gravel lot gunk onto the road.

On to the next thing...

[wm3798]

That looks great! 
As a note to the penny savers out there, check out your local second hand building supply stores (I work for the Habitat ReStore) this stuff is always coming in.  The color might not be exactly what you're looking for, but the price is right!  It's also a good place to look for half bags if you don't need a whole box.

I'm getting ready to start surfacing my yard area... this looks like a good option.
Lee

[conrail98]

That looks really good. A lot of people around here use Sanded Grout for ballast because they can mix and match it to get the color makeup they want and it's about 1/4 the price of "railroad ballast" sold by the scenery stores,

Phil

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I love grout, I've used both sanded and unsanded, and so far I like them both for different applications.

Definitely a great discovery.

[sirenwerks]

Jamie,

Out of curiosity, have you ever tried a toothed grout spreader or a wide-toothed comb to get the same effect as the fork? Doing it with a fork just seems so painstaking.

[lashedup]

Jamie,

Out of curiosity, have you ever tried a toothed grout spreader or a wide-toothed comb to get the same effect as the fork? Doing it with a fork just seems so painstaking.

LOL - I actually just used what I had on hand. Yes, a mini trowel or maybe even a piece of styrene cut with pinking shears would work. The only trowel I had was a larger 10" unit and would have been way to big. That said, you are often working in very small tight spaces where you need to spread the grout carefully. Smaller instruments definitely help.

- jamie

[lashedup]

Just a quick update on a few things.

I painted the Klema store MILW grey and will paint the trim a blackish color per some direction from one of our guys that grew up in that area. Here it is with a first coat of paint...



There is a scale in front of the store (which has been updated with the shake siding in recent years). I'm going to scribe the scale in front of the store with the Sihouette, break out the wood deck out of the styrene sheet and attach it separately so there is clear separation. Then I'll bury the whole thing. Should be fun to work on and let's me add the weathered wood, rusted metal pieces and concrete:



Here is the current state of what will now be referred to as the H.P. Hansen's Feed Mill.



Lots to do, but moving along. More pics later...

-jamie

[Dave Schneider]

Looking good Jamie. Is that a mill stone to the left of the scale next to the gas meter?  The other detail I find missing from the Mod-U-Trak layout is small taverns and beer signs. Are you guys modeling Wisconsin or not? 

Best wishes, Dave