Santa Fe in China Basin

[railnerd]

Dry fitting the outer pilings and making modifications to the printed parts with my flush cutters.

[3DTrains]

Holy Toledo - that looks great, even unpainted!

Cheers!
Marc - Riverside

[Specter3]

I was gonna say the same. Really looks good. It really is amazing where 3d printing is going so quickly.

[railnerd]

After assembling the prints and plastic pilings, I decided to go ahead and add the additional timers, along with some Tichy nut/bolt/washer castings.  I am looking to add interest to the most exposed side of the print, and draw attention away from any printing artifacts.



The next step was to apply a "base" primer coat to the entire assembly.  I stole a trick from my military modeling friends and instead of using a gray primer, I sprayed the whole thing with Games Workshop Chaos Black primer.  The idea here is to get my "shadows" for free:



After the primer dried overnight, I added some additional layers of Vallejo acrylic paint.  Some full strength German Camo Black Brown, and some washes of Leather Brown.  I'm debating about whether to add any additional lighter washes, as every time I add a lighter shade, the printing artifacts appear to be enhanced. As I'm modeling the pier much earlier than any of my reference photos, I also need to restrain myself from over-distressing the structure.

[Philip H]

Add a couple of guano streaks here and there and call it good.

[Cajonpassfan]

Awesome work, joy to follow
Otto K.

[railnerd]

Spent another insanely hot day working on the pier end.  After the initial coat of paint was dry, I finally had a chance to add on the real wooden parts to the structure.  Formula 560 Canopy Glue turned out to be my weapon of choice, as it will adhere wood to plastic, dries fast, and dries clear.





Once the large pilings were in, I shifted attention to wrapping the structure with the smaller pilings.  Several attempts were needed to wrap a painted plastic structure around the hulk to attach the outer pilings.  After lots of trial and error, including some ill advised attempts to use CA adhesive, I got things to work.  It turns out PRE-bending the plastic worked much better than attempting to bend while gluing.





While the NASCAR Brickyard 400 race playing in the background, I methodically attached the outer piers one or two at a time. Around the time the race ended (it went to overtime) I was finished with this daunting task:







For some context, here's the assembly placed adjacent to the under construction ferry slip:





P.S.: Yes, the entire dock will eventually be visited by N Scale seagulls, for you weathering fans.

[Santa Fe Guy]

Simply superb Railnerd. Have you given any thought to dry brushing the timbers with a flat gull grey and adding rust to the bolts and nuts? Would look striking.
I have learn a lot about weathering by following some military modelling sites and following their tips.
Great job on everything thus far.
Rod.

[railnerd]

Simply superb Railnerd. Have you given any thought to dry brushing the timbers with a flat gull grey and adding rust to the bolts and nuts? Would look striking.
I have learn a lot about weathering by following some military modelling sites and following their tips.
Great job on everything thus far.
Rod.

Yep, that's the plan, want to attack weathering the whole dock at once, though.  I'm grinding away on this like a glacier carves down a mountain— slow, yet relentless.

-Dave

[Spades]

P.S.: Yes, the entire dock will eventually be visited by N Scale seagulls, for you weathering fans.

Dave

What is the source of these seagull? Shapeways?

[railnerd]

Dave

What is the source of these seagull? Shapeways?

Nah, not everything is on Shapeways…

http://modeltechstudios.com/nscaledetailsseagullspack7gulls.aspx

[dcutting]

Did the second print, and added some pilings.  Going to do some more tweaking before I glue, detail, and paint.

This is making me want to seriously consider some LIRR platforms again. Nice job!

[Spades]

Dave

Have you done a test of the module in the Mini, with the structure in place? 

G

[railnerd]

Dave

Have you done a test of the module in the Mini, with the structure in place? 

G

The pier isn't tied down to the module yet, and I don't yet have plywood endplate on the other end of the module yet.

That said, with both rear seats down, everything fits and sits flat with plenty of space— but it is more likely that by the time I finish this module, I'll have a different (larger) car.

-Dave

[railnerd]

Started construction of the benchwork for Illinois Street shelf layout.   Cut two 12" x 36" long plywood tabletops as a start:



Adding 1x2 and 2x2 hardwood framing below the layout to provide some strength and make room for the low profile switch machines and other electronics.  Side rails are fine without additional woodwork— will eventually trim plywood flush, as it was a tiny bit longer than 36":



Cutting the oak cross braces to length:



Dry fitting the side rails and end/cross bracing: