CN Yellowhead Division

[Scottl]

@GGNInNScale Thanks!  You have quite a family history with CN, nice to have that connection.  I grew up in Edmonton so it was the local railroad.

[Scottl]

I've needed to complete lumber loads for my sizable fleet of centerbeams.  I want to have something more realistic than the commercial offerings so I came up with an approach using balsa wood strips (1/4 X 3/16") where I scribed the end of lumber bundles into the wood so I could have paper wraps appear to go between the bundles.  It looked pretty good with just enough irregularity to look like the prototype.  I glued a magnet at the back to keep them attached on the car although that turned out to be unecessary.  I print out my own paper wraps for Canadian mills using files from Chris Vanderheide's great Algoma Central layout website:  https://vanderheide.ca/blog/lumber-loads/.

The problem was that the wood is relatively expensive and takes quite a bit of time to put it all together.  I wanted to streamline the process so I came up with a 3D printed block with the scribed lines in to assist placing the paper wrappers and to hold the magnet in a consistent location.  I made three variants with different combinations of lumber lengths so there will be variations between cars.

I printed some out today and I'm happy with how they turned out.  I'll make up a bunch to take traveling next month to keep me busy when I'm cooling my heels waiting on the weather.  Hopefully I'll soon have a properly loaded lumber fleet!

Here is one of my original loads made from wood strips to compare.  The new 3D block fits both Rapido and Red Caboose cars.


There are scribe lines on the front, sides and top.


The magnet indent on the back.  Each block takes about 20 g of resin including supports.  They are hollowed out a bit.

[Scottl]

I've been away mostly since mid-February, so no real layout progress.

I've had lots of time to study my pictures and one thing that really bothers me is how little foreground I have in front of the bridges at the Snake Indian River.

While waiting to leave, the solution came to me.  The layout unnecessarily narrows at this point as I was blindly following the design I did on the computer.



If I just bring the edge out at the bridges, I get another 5-6" of foreground.  A quick mockup shows how this gives much better photographic options of this scene.  You can see how the added layout deck, here in dark foam, is a big improvement.

A minor tweak, but I'll do this work when I return in September.

[GaryHinshaw]

Ah, taking a page out of Grant Eastman's playbook.  Good for you!

[Scottl]

Haha @GaryHinshaw , you are right about that.

I am now back for the autumn so time to work on the layout!  I adjusted the fascia and will fill the new scenic space with foam scraps.  Very happy with this foreground space.  Backdrop up next.

[Scottl]

Layout progress with the scenery department.   

I added about 5" of foreground to the Snake Indian bridge scene.   I'm very happy with the new photo perspectives but I need to go hiking and get more deadwood!




I also replaced the last of the ebay trees with homespun versions and generally added many more to fill in the forest.  There are now ~2500 trees in this section of the layout.



Hoping the backdrops apear soon so I can move onto that.

[Scottl]

I trimmed 39' of new backdrop and test fit the pieces to make sure everything fits.  A few issues at Windy Point, but otherwise, I just need to trim off the lower 2" of all the prints.

I'm really happy with how Jasper looks.  The spatial position and relative heights work very well.

[Scottl]

After a week hiking, I am back and mounted the backdrop this morning.  It worked out very well and I am happy with the scenes.

Jasper West, looking east:


Jasper West, looking west:


Jasper East, looking west:


Jasper East, looking east:


Henry House, looking west:


Windy Point, looking west:


So now I am ready to finish the scenery.  I'll need thousands of trees that I need to make.  I collected a nice supply of deadwood from my favorite alpine plant last week and it is ready after drying in the oven.  It was rather enjoyable to collect for an hour!

[Mike C]

   Are the backdrops from Larc ?  I need about 44 feet of backdrop , is this going to break the bank ?     Mike

[Scottl]

I made them from my own photos and printed them as banners at Staples.  39'+ cost me about $120.  I doubled them up so it was only 20' of printing.

Pretty reasonable.

[Mike C]

  That's a pretty good price !  Thing is I don't have the skills to do the photo shop work . I'll have to think on this a bit .     Mike

[Scottl]

My photos weren't all ideal but the area burned in 2024 so I had to go with them.  I used GIMP to edit the photos and then Inkscape to organize them into printing packages.  Staples used glossy heavy photo paper so I sprayed them with a rattle can of clear matte. 

[James Costello]

Jasper West, looking east:

Looking great Scott!

Out of curiosity, how long is this scene here at Jasper West?

[Bob]

I am really impressed with your scenery. Really like the rock faces.  Are you just using molds?  Doing some carving?  Really nice work.

[Scottl]

@James Costello the scene is about 11' deep.  It will be great to try some focus stacking.  I'm really happy with how it turned out, like standing at the yard in Jasper.

@Bob the rocks are a combination of my own molds cast in place and then some minor carving before the plaster cures.  The color is paint mixed in the plaster.  I need to detail it with some dry brushing.