Its time to model the Tower Road crossing:
First, I cut a piece of styrene at about 26 scale feet wide. I put some marks on the back to help me rememeber it's orientation as to the tracks.
Then I placed it on the layout, after cutting away the portions that would cover over the tracks.
Then I trimmed off what is needed to allow room for the BMLA "rubber" crossings.
Using the left over bits of styrene road, I trimmed a piece to place on the opposite side of the crossing. I gave this second piece a bend to represent a hill. This was done to help hide the dissappearance of the road into the backdrop. Here, it is seen upside down.
Here is another view right side up after painting. I selected a light shade of grey from a rattle can as my cover. Luckily, the weather was warm and sunny allowing for quicker drying time outside.
Note here, other than my dry fingers, the height of the rail above the roadway. This is a purely subjective decision. For me, I want to leave a bit of "cheat room" for when I will be cleaning the tracks. That is to say, I want to leave some room for whatever cleaning device or touch pad will be actually touching the rails. I want the cleaner to have a little room so as not to contact, and therefore scrape, the roadway with each pass. This will not be satisfactory for some I realize. The BLMA "rubber" crossings will most likely be closer to the actual railhead. (We'll see. Bit of an experiment here.)
Also you'll notice a piece of styrene here under the roadway.
I used a couple different sizes here. You'll note how I used stock of different widths. I do this so that I get a choice of heights during the same installations. Different circumstances call for different heights. Its nice to have a choice right there in front of you at the time.
Anyways, I glue the styrene right to the cork roadbed taking careful note of the projected road height. Note that the roadway is not yet glued down in the above picture. I am just sizing up the fit first.
Here is the shim glued down. I pretty much glue the shim right up next to the tie ends. As always, test your fit first.
Here I am test fitting again. Note that the road is not actually glued down yet, hence the non-levelness (is that a word?).
Make sure to leave room for the BLMA crossing. Yes, I see the gap between the rails and the crossing. The track is curved a bit here. Strangely, I do not care however as the crossing will be viewed at a low angle most of the time. If the track were straight, I'd want to eliminate any such gap.
Now its time to glue the road down. I pulled up the road to show you something. Whatever glue you use, (hopefully it is somewhat thick), some of this stringy-ness is actually desirable for me. These strings tend to dry in a hardened way for me. They lend support therefore for unsupported parts of the roadway. It may look gross, but they will help you.
So anyways, once again, watch your spacing of things before the glue/adhesive sets up. You may have only seconds until this happens, so don't delay. Keep checking and rechecking.
While the glue is setting up, feel free to press down on it to help create these strings.
I secured the front of the roadway to the shim with plastic cement.
Oh, I decided to support the "rear" roadway with some additional styrene...
Before securing the back roadway, again, check the spacing.
With the roadway secured, its muddin' time. Just like putting numberboard decals in a locomotive, muddin' around an existing roadway will test your dexterity. The end results seem to be worth it however.
At this point I will rest for a day to let the groud goop (or mud) dry.
More later next week...
