The Western Maryland in Free-moN Modules

[PiperguyUMD]

Got a little more done between my practice session this morning and rehearsals tonight.

The main is C55 and the siding is C40. Got all the track glued down and made the transition joiners. Got the transition soldered in place, added filler ties and touched up the weathering.



I was also able to sketch out the rest of the scene on the module, and start shaping the foam. There were a couple different style company houses next to the right-of-way. It’ll be a fun stretching my scratch building chops on those!

[PiperguyUMD]

A flurry of work this weekend, as this is my last weekend off for a few weeks. The goal was to knock out a number of projects so that I can keep things moving with the limited free time I'll have next month.

First was detailing WM RPO 182. The 3d printed shell got a number of details ahead of primer. Not pictured, is the 3d printed "glass" that  fits flush with all windows. All grab irons are home-brew .008" bronze wire. Stirrup steps, trucks, and roof are salvaged from a Micro Trains RPO, and the mail bag hook is from the Kato 20th Century Limited. These are all of the shots documenting the added details ahead of primer. Still looking for the right brake wheel.







Next up, lots of progress on the Dawson Truck Dump Module. All of the foam carving is essentially done. I wanted to get the fascia on this weekend so that I could add sculptamold, then roads as time allows. I clamped pieces of masonite to each side of the module, traced the profile of the terrain, the cut out each piece with a jig saw. I then attached each side using wood glue.






The final project that I needed to tackle this weekend was the basic structure of the truck dump. Having this piece in place will allow me to guesstimate the size and shape of the hillside. The hopper was an old WM U channel 55 ton hopper. I've 3d printed nearly a dozen of these for my roster, so I chose one that lost its stirrup steps on one side as a starting point. I added only the grabs and ladders that appeared to survive into this service, and painted the hopper Polyscale Zinc Chromate Primer. I used to use Polyscale paints exclusively. This is my very last bottle of Polyscale paint, and man it was awesome to use! Sprayed beautifully and cleaned up with warm water and a paper towel. Those were the days!

Next I 3d printed the frame of the covering over the hopper. I probably could have whipped this up using some scale lumber, but since it will be mostly out of view, I decided to 3d print it instead. I estimated dimensions based on the size/shape of the corrugated panels. The frame slips into the hopper, and will have a grate floor made out of GMM industrial walkways.






The last thing I needed to do was the cribbing that supports the hopper. Once I have this, it will allow me to shape the hillside around the tipple. The cribbing appears to be made of cross ties, and is roughly 11 layers tall. Fortunately I have a bag of N scale tie scraps that made quick work of this. I setup a simple jig to cut them to length, then stained them using Minwax Jacobean stain. I stacked the cribbing using CA.




I painted the frame using Apple Barrel Paints, then set everything in place. I'm very happy with how this is shaping up! Adding the sheathing will really bring it to life, but man! Looking at that rickety scaffolding on the prototype, that will be a challenge! So here are things at the end of the weekend





So next up, sculptamold for the final ground contour, which will include planning the cribbing for the tipple. Followed by roads, and basic ground cover. The turnouts will be controlled by tortoise switch machines activated by Barrett Hill Touch Toggles. These will be installed once the basic ground cover goes down.

[PiperguyUMD]

No progress to report on the modules this week other than the arrival of the Barrett Hill touch toggles. I took advantage of some intermittent down time today to paint WM RPO 182. I used Tru Color Paints thinned 50% with lacquer thinner. Very happy with the results.



Changing the viewing angle reveals a surprising amount of detail from the Photon. Some of the panel relief lines are only 1/4” and those rivets are a scale 3/4” round and 1/2” tall!! Unfortunately the angle that makes them visible also highlights what I’m assuming is a Z wobble in my machine.  If anyone has any tips, I’m all ears!

[PiperguyUMD]

What to projects to take on when you're busy busy busy!

Roads in Dawson! I use Dap latex concrete patch for my roads, which when applied as thick as needed here, takes forever to dry - the perfect project for 30 minutes of trains every few days!

Forms made out of strip styrene


First smear


48 hours later, forms removed. When applied in these quantities, there's lots of cracking.


First patch and sanding with 80 grit sand paper



While I was at it, I discovered that despite my best efforts - including soldering wire L brackets to the throw bars - one of my turnout points came unsoldered. I think this will be a quick fix though


WM RPO 182 received windows and mail hooks. Nearly done with this one. Fun project!



I've been doing quite a bit of work on the K2 boiler. Its pretty easy to throw drawings, a scale ruler and the BLI pacific in my bag so progress can continue while I'm traveling. This is my first test print of the boiler. I don't really trust the drawings that I have, so I really needed to check the look of the extended smoke box, the location of the stack in relation to the cylinders, and the fit of the fire box. The overall shell is a little shorter than the USRA boiler so I will have to be mindful of the amount of space between the back of the cab and the tender. Some adjustments to be made for sure, but having a shell in my hands, and staging this photo got me really excited to keep working on this project! Hoping to have this train done +/- some stand in coaches by Nashville.


I plan to eventually model trains #1 (Baltimore-Hagerstown) and #10 (Elkins-Cumberland). Having a pair of K2s and a few RPOs will go a long way towards that goal. Just a baggage car and a coach left to go!

[PiperguyUMD]

5/10/54 was the day that the fires were dropped on the real K2s, but one was sighted tonight in primer at Dawson MD 😎

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Yeaaahh boy!

[wm3798]

That's going to be magnificent!
Lee

[wm3798]

You'll need an odd number K2 with a coal bunker for the Elkins run... but you probably already knew that...

And remember, if you have any test prints that you don't like, they'll always have a home here!

Lee

[PiperguyUMD]

I'm getting this shell pretty dialed in for the BLI pacific, I'm trying to check my work as I go. I'm sure I'll have more than a few rejects!

[wm3798]

I've got a Rivarossi dinosaur that I can shoe horn it onto!

[PiperguyUMD]

Finally getting around to posting about the work I've been able to get in over the last few weeks. I plan to take the Dawson MD module to the National N scale Convention in a few weeks, so I really need to keep rolling!

First up, finishing the grade crossing. I used simple styrene forms to gain the elevation from the road surface to the rails. The crossing is from GCLaser and stained with Minwax jacobean stain. Despite my best efforts, I would discover later that the crossing was sitting high. More on that later! One of the nice things about using concrete patch is that it cuts easily and cleanly with a sharp blade, making it a breeze to install the timbers on the outside of the rails.





To pave the sliver between the two tracks, I masked them with painter's tape and dabbed concrete patch in the middle. I did a little smoothing/shaping with a wet paper towel, then sanded to match its surroundings once dry





I started my usual terrain treatment of sculptamold, painted some shade of brown, and covered with sanded grout. I stopped short of where the coal loader and houses will go so that I can more easily "plant" them when they are ready to be installed. The big thing at this stage of the game was to get the terrain finished adjacent to the fascia so that I could paint it.



Since Nashville will be my first FreemoN event, I wanted to get some break-in time on the new module. To do so, I needed another straight module so that I could expand my circle to an oval. Once Dawson is finished, the next scene I plan to model is the 4th canal crossing, so I went ahead and built the frame, installed foam, and temporarily laid track.



In an effort to combat the vertical curve that can happen at the edge of a module, I'm trying installing a strip of plywood that extends a few inches from the faceplate. At the very least this should make it much easier to level out terrain.



So now I have a much larger roundy-round. I am discovering a few glitches, so I'm glad that I took the time to set everything up ahead of the show. I've also been working on a few houses and the coal loader, but I'll make another post about those along with trouble shooting repairs.

[PiperguyUMD]

Wow, I'm long overdue for an update. I've been plugging away at the Dawson module on a number of fronts. I'd hopped to have this module complete in time to participate in the FreemoN gathering at Nashville, but I was offered some summer concerts with the Charlotte Symphony, so I had to back out. None the less, I've been making lots of progress. I'll do my best cover it all in a coherent manner!

First up, a housing for the residents of Dawson. Pictures of the homes in Dawson during the 1950s are hard to come by, but I have found a few from the early 60s. Rather than attempting to recreate the scene board for board, I've decided to try to capture the feel of this little backwoods holler. To do this, I started with the Blair Line shotgun house and the Two Story Section House from American Model Builders. These turned out ok and gave me a chance to see some of the different ways that these type of kits go together. I had one more company house from Jim Cushon that fit the feel of the neighborhood, which I assembled to put off my first scratch build

Feeling better about my chops, I decided to tackle a simple two story house based off of the building shown below. Really straight forward, and a good starting point for me. I used scribed siding and Tichy windows and doors. The roof is sheet styrene, and isn't completely square, but I think I was able to fudge to be usable - especially once shingles where in place.




I did scratch one other house by accident. I mistakingly printed an extra interior for Jim Cushon's two story company house. There seemed to be a one story version of this house near the end of the street, so I lobbed off the top story of the interior and build a building around it. So now the neighborhood is complete. Several of these houses have been wired for lighting, but I'll get to that tomorrow.



The next project was finishing up the coal loader. This was a tedious project for me, but for the sake of organization, I'll make a separate post about that. Spoiler alert, I'm a glutton for punishment!

[sirenwerks]

I tried emailing Brunel more than a year ago to get that rig, never got a response.  Did you get it state-side, or have better luck or have better luck communicating with the Aussies?

[PiperguyUMD]

I splurged and bought it directly from them. I ordered from the website and it arrived a few weeks later. No trouble at all. With shipping factored in it was expensive, but I figured it would earn its keep paneling coal tipples and such.