East Norwood, OH in Z Scale

[Tad_T]

Just a quick update, nothing very dramatic to report but I have been testing my track work…

I know what you mean. That is what I have been doing the past couple of weeks. Nothing exciting to photograph, but a critical step in having a smoothly operating layout.

[Jesse6669]

Update time.. 

Ballast:  I received my screens and sifted out the AZL N scale ballast to which I added an equal amount of Platinum Laticrete grout sand.  The screens are  0.3mm and 0.15mm and they nest together so I dump ballast in the top (.3mm), it catches the "too large" rocks, and the bottom (.15mm) lets the "too small" stuff go through.  It looks pretty good.  Here's a test section of track for comparison to the other tests.  I think this is the ticket..



Track Painting:  I'm testing painting track using primer vs non-primer.  The primer definitely helps with the acrylic paint adhesion to the rails.  I think it's mostly because the solvent base cuts through any oils remaining on the rails and sticks better--at least compared to acrylic.  But the light gray makes the ties a bit harder to cover..  I might try find a dark brown Tamiya rattle can or good ole' Roof Brown to spray as primer, and if it's good for rail color just skip the airbrush--or use the airbrush for a top layer.   It's going to make the train room a hazmat zone while painting (no windows) but I have a good NIOSH canister filter mask good for paint, fortunately, and can prop the door open.  Still pondering this.

Flat/Backdrop:  Design work and some testing progresses on the Zumbiel factory 3D flat.  I started a thread in 3D printing as this is mostly a 3D printed building, using Archistories brick for the curtains.  Happy with how this is going so far.

[Lemosteam]

I like it! Any metallic debris?

[Jesse6669]

I like it! Any metallic debris?

Yes.  Quite a bit.. I ran a neodymium magnet through the mix and... holy cow, tons of stuff stuck to it.  So much that it's probably 5% of the ballast.  That being said, I'm never going to get it all, so if I use this ballast my strategy is to glue it down really well.  And then be aware that flakes may come off in the future and be prepared to ultrasonic clean my loco mechanisms. 

That being said, here's another shot of the test track against a prototype pic.  Vallejo flat earth rails and ties, ballasted with the Az Rock & Mineral blend w. grout, then sifted ballast.  I used the rubber black AK Interactive pen to do the "new" ties.  I think I'll do that sparingly and just stick to the brown for the majority..they look too new.

[Jesse6669]

Primer down, this is about half the layout.  Going to do in two "halves"-- paint this, then the other half.

[Jesse6669]

Track was painted per the specification I came up with-- Vallejo flat earth airbrushed, then AK Interactive pens dark grey (for newly replaced ties) and brown (which is a bit lighter than the flat earth) to accent ties.  I did more of the light ties on the siding since it would be worse-maintained than the mainline.

I then hit all track with a wash of AK Interactive "Oiled Earth" to tone down and blend it all together.


I ballasted the siding with Arizona Rock & Mineral PRR N-scale ballast plus platinum Laticrete grout sand (50-50), screened to be .15-.30mm size. 

Ballast in place on the GM-Norwood siding.




There's weathering still to do with pigments/chalks, a dummy dwarf signal, misc vegetation, etc. but this should keep me for a while.  I'm planning on building up some of the surrounding scenery including a retaining wall and an overpass, and I'd like to get that in place before the final weathering, details, and ground cover.   

I mocked up the overpass--this is Wesley Ave.  I need to verify height, etc but I want to get the retaining wall on the north side of the track and overpass installed after the ballast.  Zumbiel is coming along and that'll be installed next. I need to get the photo-backdrop going as well. There should be room for some interesting scenes on top of the retaining wall--to the east of Wesley Ave, the parking lot for Zumbiel--to the west, perhaps a bit of Norwood Ave--there's a gas station that I'd have a reason to model if that's the case. 



The prototype view (Zumbiel was torn down by this date--it would've been just behind the transmission tower/above the boxcars):

[Jesse6669]

Making some progress on ballasting, just a bit more of the Midland Sub to do. 

I have the Wesley Ave. overpass "done".  But I don't like the concrete color 100%--it has a greenish tinge.  I ordered some different paint to try as "standard" concrete. 

This pic actually looks ok but in real life it seems greener.


Then there's this:


Prototype in bright sun:


The good thing is since it's 3D printed it's easy enough to just run off another copy. 

[Jesse6669]

After playing with Google Gemini making AI "winter scenes" I started toying with it to envision the scenery on the layout.  Using one of the previous model photos, it yielded this:



Some obvious gaffes but interesting none-the-less.

[Cory Rothlisberger]

I looked at the picture before I read your post and thought to myself that something looked WAY off about that track!

Sidenote, what color did you use for the concrete on your bridge? I'm still not a fan of what I used...

[Jesse6669]

I looked at the picture before I read your post and thought to myself that something looked WAY off about that track!

Sidenote, what color did you use for the concrete on your bridge? I'm still not a fan of what I used...

The switch is spiked and OOS! .. AI..

The greenish color is Vallejo Deck Tan.  Definitely not gonna use that. 

I want to try Tamiya AS-16 Sky Grey (the acrylic equivalent of XF-19 USAF Light Gray) which was recommended by John LeMerise on the Zumbiel flat thread.  I think the Tamiya Buff XF-57 with some white added would also be good, maybe I should just work out a formula instead of trying to buy off the shelf.  The good news is concrete takes many colors/shades due to the different sand and age, so all of them are probably ok.  Except the green one!

[Jesse6669]

Update...

Ballasting: 

The ex-B&O/CSX Midland Sub is completely ballasted, with a little touch-up needed.  It does need to be more weathered and I'm planning on using some chalks for this.  This will wait, however, until more scenery is in the ground, if I need to patch the ballast I'd like to do it before weathering.   There will be a couple signals near the ROW as well and those'll have ballast around them.  I used a blend of Arizona Rock & Mineral CSX ballast plus Platinum Laticrete, I have a good sized container left for patching, etc. that I'm saving. 

The I&O Yard Lead is going to get the ARM PRR blend (plus Platinum Laticrete).  It's a little more brown than the CSX.  This trackage was ex-PRR then PC then Conrail so it's accurate.  Also I like the slight contrast in ballast between CSX and I&O--it denotes the different heritage of the railroads.  It also allows me to run PRR era stuff on it in authentic "retro mode".   For the yard I want to use an even lighter blend though on some ladder tracks.  The engine facility will be almost buried and covered in oil and sand so it doesn't matter too much there.

Scenery and Structures:

I'm starting the basic scenery on the Midland Sub, which will include a retaining wall behind the line, then the Norwood backdrop.  The foreground is mostly right up to the edge of the layout, a little embankment will come off the fascia down to the tracks.  There will be two overpasses--one, Wesley Ave and the other either Montgomery Road or Section Ave.  The latter will butt up to a mirror used at the end of the tracks to give a sense of space.    Section Ave is a smaller road (2 lane) vs Montgomery (4-5 lanes) so will be easier to model and more compact.  It also used to look down on the siding to the GM plant so it fits the scene more prototypically.  Here's a quick mock-up I made of this area.



Wesley Ave overpass is being built (3D) as discussed previously and I'm waiting to receive a couple new paint options.  I also redesigned it a bit, to look a little more accurate to the prototype and print easier.  I added some neodymium magnets to the abutments and a strip of steel wire to the road that will allow the roadway to be lifted off for things like track cleaning or scenery work. 

The Zumbiel Plant is partially printed, I have put it on the back-burner while doing the ballasting.  I still need to print the modern addition and the loading dock for the old plant.  Most of the design work is done, though.

As an experiment in "AI" I have been playing around with using Google Gemini to generate elevation drawings for structures.  It's a learning curve--you need to learn how to communicate with Gemini, it doesn't understand some logic.  But although I've been frustrated at times, it has save me a little time generating a drawing for the sand tower at Norwood Yard.  Here's the final product: 



and prototype:



Scenery Time of Year Decisions..

I haven't committed to any particular time of year so far, but we are getting closer to whether it's stick season, spring/summer, or fall.  There isn't a lot of vegetation but there is some, along the tracks in Norwood, in the backdrop of the yard, then along the "street running" on the yard lead to McCullough.  Not gonna deal with snow so that's out.  Clump foliage makes foliated (?) trees a bit easier and backdrops will be easier with leafy trees...  Z scale doesn't really lend itself to fine scale leafless trees either.  So I'm inclined to do late summer or early fall...with a few trees starting to get brown/yellow.  Anyone care to chime in?   
 

[Jesse6669]

The new Wesley Ave overpass, sans guardrails, and a test print in B&W of the backdrop. 


This backdrop was created using Gemini AI from Google Maps aerial/3D photos--which I instructed AI to fix (make trees and structures realistic and lower perspective..).  It wasn't easy as that, it took a bunch of revisions.  Also it seems there's a limit to the size (length) of an image it can create.  But it was easier than cutting apart photos that I do not have and Photoshopping together.
This is what I started with:


I ended up with this after a couple hours of back and forth with Gemini.  I did some Photoshop revisions as well, and re-worked the result with Gemini to create what gives me the right "feeling".  That blue apartment building is very memorable to anyone visiting the area. 



I need to add on more backdrop on either side but it's definitely usable.  In Z scale it's only 5 inches tall, so very easy to manage. 

I think I will model the gas station just to the left of Wesley Ave;  There's also a power sub-station that I *might* add at some point. 

[Jesse6669]

Wesley Ave overpass (v2) is done but needs weathering.  I think I'll do this before installing the abutments--which will be glued to the base--with the deck held in place by magnets (for ease of removal).

After some experimentation, I arrived at a good mixture for concrete that seems to hold up under the lighting..Equal parts Vallejo Deck Tan, Vallejo White, and Tamiya XF19 Sky Gray. 



Incidentally, that builders plate miniature is from the Nevada Northern Railway and is a "perk" of donating to their upkeep.   I find they are very useful in modeling as weights!  Go get one (or more)!

[Jesse6669]

I finally got back to work on the layout after some holiday travel and distraction.  For now, I'm focusing now on the "back" of the layout-- the backdrop and Zumbiel 3D flat. 

As for backdrops, I'm going with making photographic prints and splicing together.   A couple examples have been shows so far in the thread. My initial thought is to cut out the sky portion and glue them to the backdrop which is already painted a hazy blue.  I *might* use prints with sky included but hiding the seams might be more of a pita than cutting out along the rooflines/treelines.  A thought struck me to make decals of the main scenes since these aren't huge, with the sky being made clear in the software.  This would allow me to skip the manual trimming process.  I can get A4 sheets of decals made--with opaque whites and light colors for less than $20 each.  But applying a decal that large could be problematic and expensive if I mess up.  Photo prints on "good" white paper won't cost nearly that much.  So I probably will make paper prints and cut them out.

As for design-- Photoscape X Pro is my preferred photo editing software.  After the tests I decided to use Gemini AI to assist in making the backdrop graphics.  It's turning out to be extremely useful, and I'm paying for a 3 month trial (iirc $7 a month trial). There's no question this is saving me a tremendous amount of time photo editing and doing things that either are beyond my skills or at very least my patience.  Here's an example of a workflow.  This is by no means all of the steps, just the main ones to give an idea how it goes:

I start with this, taken from 3D Google Map view.  Obviously not usable.  There was no good Google Streetview of this area that I wanted to include.  Incidentally, that's the New Bethel Baptist Church.  If you've ever gone to GK Tower you probably turned right at this intersection.


First I asked it to remove the trees and rooftops in the foreground, center the camera on the church, then improve the quality .


Sometimes it doesn't follow directions precisely but you can go back and rephrase, or just adjust.  I also download and restart the process from scratch every 3 or so iterations.  This seem to help.

I wanted a lower perspective and gray skies/overcast so there aren't any harsh shadows:


I also wanted trees and evidence of a hill in the background.  Eventually I ended up with this:


Then I added it to the main backdrop:


I think it captures the feel of this location just east of GK Tower and Zumbiel Paper. 

I've also been moving along with the Zumbiel structure itself.  I'm test printing the "new" warehouse/office lower section.  Here it is while drying with supports still on, with a b&w test print of the aforementioned backdrop where it'll be located.



I decided to see how the entire structure would fit into the layout and found, despite it being in Z scale, I have to reduce the length a bit.  I lopped off 3 of the old factory curtain wall sections and did a screen grab, deleted the background, and dropped it into a photo to see how it'll look.  I think it still captures the look and feel of the prototype:


Finally, here's another view looking up Wesley Ave.  Pardon the pencil! 













 

[Jesse6669]

After doing some test prints I'm just using the whole sheet including sky, instead of cutting along the tree-tops.  The segment along the Midland and up to around GK Tower is nearly done-- What is a good adhesive to use for adhering paper to the backdrop?  It's not photo paper, just thick 60 lb paper.  I'm concerned that if I spray on some adhesive it'll start wrinkling up from moisture.  It'd be ideal to have it semi-permanently adhered as well--like with gum/white tack-- but I don't think it would hold it flat enough.  I'm going to test some scrap pieces with the adhesives I have on hand.

Here's the view across Wesley Ave.



Here's the view looking down Forest Ave.  The gray is where a crossing will go to access the GK Tower parking /MOW storage area.  Most of the buildings left of the boxcar will be obscured by the Zumbiel Plant.