East Norwood, OH in Z Scale

[Jesse6669]

I finished up GK Tower and printed the utility building.  After posting a pic on the Weekend Update along with a prototype pic I noticed I had added gutters along sides of the roof that CSX hadn't bothered with.  I suppose their main concern was visibility and drainage on the track-side of the building. So I carved them off and touched up the paint!  Problem solved.   I added a window AC, train order signals, smoke jacks and downspouts and calling it a day.

 



On to the retaining wall along the Midland Sub from Zumbiel westward.  I glued on the "caps" (not sure what they are actually called, but small walls) at the top of the retaining wall.  Then I sanded the outside to be basically flush with the face of the wall.  Oddly enough, this provided a pretty authentic look compared to the prototype which has a lot of stains and spalling.  I am printing a Section Ave bridge--well, half of it--that will butt up against a mirror as a scene-end at the west end of the Midland Sub. 

I also picked up a bunch of scenery materials, like tufts of fiber of various colors, static grass, some ground foam, and some wire to make trees.  The area along the retaining wall gets pretty well vegetated, probably due to it being pretty wet there.



Here's a fairly modern view showing the retaining wall and (stick season) vegitation;  Zumbiel would've been visible above the boxcars, and GK tower above the end of the train where the new high-tension towers are located.




   

[NorthWestGN]

Awesome job on the tower model Jesse! Any other 3D printed buildings we haven’t seen yet?

Brent

[Jesse6669]

I've been working on the road bridges and retaining walls.  I did make the utility building that sits alongside GK (as seen in Weekend Update) and some additional details for the Zumbiel factory such as a boiler smokestack and roof details.   I *might* make the brick building seen on the east side of GK that was the agents office/crew room.  But there's not much room really and I need to squeeze in CPLs there as well.. 

I'm going to start work on several buildings needed where the Weir Frog Co (Cohen Scrap) and Dana/Dalton Adding Machine (Rumpke Recycling).  I have an Archistories kit I want to use for the Dana site.  Weir Frog might be 3D though.  Perry & Derrick is likely to be mostly backdrop but maybe a part of it would be 3D..  The sanding tower in McCullough is another one. 

[Jesse6669]

I made the Section Ave bridge--it's just a half bridge really, butted up against the mirror.


I'm starting to plan the area between the B&O main and McCullough, what I'm calling the "East Norwood Industrial Area.  There are three primary industries here noted above--modern day Cohen, Rumpke, and the (former) Perry & Derrick paint.  P&D will just be a backdrop; Cohen and Rumpke will be modeled but highly compressed served by a single spur--probably only serving Cohen. 
There's an area just behind GK tower and across Beech St. from this industrial area that I'm trying to imagine what should be on it. 

In reality, there are a couple large industrial buildings (Orchem, Harris Dist) in this section, plus some residences (see the aerial shot).  I'm inclined to think smaller is better--an Archistories house kit for example--  because there really isn't much room and I'm already wondering if the space for Cohen Scrap/Weir Frog is just going to be too small.  Maybe just a parking/drop lot?  This will also leave a bit of room for moving the switch points right behind the area and give a bit of "negative space". 

The Rumpke/Dana building is planned to be this kit Archistories REA building kit, without it's foundation but with some mods to give it a main entrance along Beech St.

Here's the layout view of the area.


Here's an aerial Google Map image. 

[Jesse6669]

There's a memorable Marathon station on the north side of the Midland Sub tracks along Norwood Ave.   It was torn down and a new station built sometime in the last 10 years--here's the new one:  New Station  It's in the same general location and the substation was replaced as well.

The old one was (what appears to me) to be a standard design used for Marathon stations.  Here it is back in the 90s or early 2000s.  It had been shut down as a gas station:


Here's another one in Indiana:


The Norwood one looks like it had siding put on it over the original surface (brick?)  And it has a service bay.  In the space between the regaining wall and the backdrop I don't have room for a full-size replica, so I compressed it to a 2-pump "mini station" with the same general architecture as the prototype but no service bay.

Here's a rendering:


I 3D printed a test and made a few tweaks, and here's the model in a test installation.  It still needs paint and decals (the logo and lettering) but I think it captures the feeling of the prototype.  The pavement around it will be styrene painted to look like asphalt and blend in with the backdrop--that's just a paper template for now.


I also started doing the ground cover along the Midland.  This ground is generally covered with weeds/Honeysuckle/small trees and brush.  At first I painted a layer of AK Interactive Terrains Dry Ground Texture--but it was far too yellow for my liking--maybe it would be ok for desert ground?  Remembering the favorite earth color of Boomer Diorama, after it was dry I gave it a strong wash of Tamiya Flat Earth which looks pretty good.  Actually, with a little yellowish ground showing through it lends a bit of color variation--a happy accident.   

[Jesse6669]

Catching up on the last month's activities with East Norwood.  I completed the Marathon station on Norwood Ave, which (unfortunately) will be facing the backdrop.  It was a fun 3D design/print project and who knows, maybe it'll be viewed from the other end some time.  I think the signage turned out well which will be visible.. 



I made a puddle made of Liquitex Pouring Medium, tinted with some flat earth.  I started adding vegetation and the bits of foam floating will be removed, and static grass added shortly.  You can also see the siding to Zumbiel which is supposed to be typical of a poorly maintained/buried in dirt industrial siding.  This is the big puddle that ALWAYS forms up by GK Tower..



I finally got going on adding vegetation to the scenery going on the Midland Sub. area.   Here's the view looking east;  You can see the reference picture propped up in the background which is the scene modeled--the retaining wall and Zumbiel from Wesley Ave bridge.  This is only the first layer of vegetation.



My process so far has been this:

• First do any contours with Sculptamold; 
• Next, paint the ground with either Tamiya Flat Earth (darker/moist ground) and Buff (dry ground); 
• When that's dry, brush on some Scenic Cement (or thin matte medium) and sift on Woodland Scenic Blended Turf-Earth Blend as a basic ground cover.  I leave a few blank spots, and in some areas sift on (100 mesh sieved) dirt or various gravel/rocks .
• Then after this is dry, in most areas where weeds would be growing up, dab on some scenic cement and sift on 2mm static grass and "elevate" with the Zapper.  In Z, 2mm is a foot and a half--decent size grassy weeds. 
• Finally, add clump ground foam bushes/trees and self adhesive grass tufts (in browns/olive greens) as bushes, adding some ground foam to them as leaves.  Finally I have added some home-made "honeysuckle" bushes/trees made of wire & foam--although I think the clump foam is just as effective for bushes. 

I'm contemplating giving everything-- or at least foliage--an airbrush of very thin light olive drab to blend everything together a bit.  Incidentally, that is an ArchiStories chain-link fence with a bit of rust weathering.

[Scottl]

Looks really good.  Funny about all that nice design work facing away unseen, I have a similar situation with a major station building.

I think a light overcoat with the airbrush is a great finishing effect.

[Jesse6669]

I think a light overcoat with the airbrush is a great finishing effect.

My thinking is.. do a light fade with highly dilute white (or with tints of green, etc) but shot from the top to mimic the sun.  I recently heard Pelle Soeborg quoted about how a model railroad's overhead lights aren't nearly as bright as the sun--so you need to lighten up your colors to look better.   Hopefully this isn't a disaster--but the nice thing is a well diluted fade is nearly imperceptible until a lot of coats go on.  So I should be able to test on a smaller area first. 

[Jesse6669]

Department of Public Works installed the roads (Norwood Ave) and connection to the bridges this week.  Road was simply 0.5mm styrene painted with Tamiya XF-19 sky gray, and I will weather it with some chalks.  The Wesley Ave bridge needs lane lines painted on it..I should get to that shortly.


I planted more shrubbery along the ROW (ones that looks nice...and not too expensive) and am working on a couple bigger trees that will go next to the Marathon station.

[Jesse6669]

I'm making some trees and utility poles for East Norwood.  The poles are just 1mm diameter steel rod, and I 3D printed the cross-members.  You can find them here.  These will be primed and painted, possibly transmission lines attached-- I have some of that rigging cord that might work for it.

The trees are done with 30 gauge (0.26mm) floral wire wrapped around a short length of steel rod made into branches, then built up with acrylic modeling paste (per the "Grove Den" technique).  I skip the static grass branches and just use ground foam for the foliage.   The acrylic paste is really the key--you can add a lot of thickness, texture and branch "stumps" with it.

[Jesse6669]

I think I'll model the power lines.  This is AK Interactive "Mega-Thin" spandex thread (AK 9134) on a test set-up for the utility poles.


A bit closer-view:

[OldEastRR]

  You can also see the siding to Zumbiel which is supposed to be typical of a poorly maintained/buried in dirt industrial siding.  This is the big puddle that ALWAYS forms up by GK Tower..

giving the industrial siding the wider tie spacing of a spur would help the shoddy maintenace look of the spur.

[Jesse6669]

More trees and vegetation planted along the Midland Sub and Norwood Ave and roads installed.  Still needs more weeds and some detailing.   And I think I might add LED lights to the gas station island canopy..

[Lemosteam]

More trees and vegetation planted along the Midland Sub and Norwood Ave and roads installed.  Still needs more weeds and some detailing.   And I think I might add LED lights to the gas station island canopy..

Yes, with one on a flicker circuit from a cheap tea light candle!

[Jesse6669]

Wesley Ave got some road stripes.  These were done by masking, then using a Q-tip to blot the paint.  I then used some pastels to add some dark brown grime down the center of the lanes.  The masking tape pulled off a layer of paint at one end.  I'm debating just leaving this as-is, since it kinda looks like a patch of some sort.