Port Elderley

Muttley? Now that's a real railroad dog if ever I saw one!

Now, where was I?  Oh yes.

Peter Jackson, the boat builder also supplies and lays moorings for the local boat club.  He uses rejected railroad truck wheels in combinations of one each end for boats up to 30 feet, or two each end for bigger boats.

He uses truck tires which have been filled with expanded foam, with a board top and bottom, to make the mooring floats.

There is a span line ( usually with three styrene floats), between the mooring floats, for the boatman to snag with his boat hook, and so pull up the mooring leads which are attached to each float.

This continues to be a very enjoyable, and informative, thread. Thanks for taking the time to post your progress!

Thanks, John.

Moving right along . . .

There is a shed to be erected on the other side of the winch motor.

First, I have to clear the ground and make a dam around where building footplate will sit.

And then back fill the earth around it.

All of my buildings lift out.

Looks nice Max! And that is a great idea of them lifting out incase you ever want to relocated them or just switch them out!

Thanks, Mike.

The main reason is so I can work up close to them with scenery.  I'm so clumsy these days. 

Next, I drill a hole through the base plate of the building and through the base board, to locate the power point.

And then enlarge those holes to take the RCA jack and styrene plate.

Ralph seems OK with the work so far.

Once the back fill has set up, there will be some more filling to fair the joins with the base plate.

Fine work once more! 

Ralph

Sorry!

jp 

Thanks, JP.

OK.  I've lost me ball bearings again.  Where was I?

I covered each side of the base plate with a strip of sticky tape and finished fairing off the back fill.

The carcass is now ready for finish sanding and cladding.

Breeze blocks, methinks. 

Max,

That is some process. It has yielded great results.

Alan Graziano

Mas That is looking wonderful! Just wondering what you use to build the buildings?

Thanks, Alan.

Thanks, Mike.  It's MDF.  6 mm for the base plate and 3 mm for the walls.

The stiffeners around the tops of the walls are 6 mm Oak.

I thought that this little building would be an ideal subject for recording the process.

The next bit is a ceiling plate.

Max,  thank you for showing the steps in making this amazing layout!  I am blown away at all the great ideas and your patience and attention to detail.  You truly are an artist and this thread is an inspiration!

Nick

Thanks, Nick.

You are very kind.  Most appreciated.

The next step is to make the base plate for the roof.

It's important that it's flat, so when I glue the stiffeners on, I press the assembly on a piece of plate glass.

The stiffeners also act as locating lugs, so it drops in neatly on to the walls.

So far; so good.

Now for the pointy bit on the top.

Next, some cladding for the walls and some lights so the tradies can do the second fix. 

Little by little, this house is growing well!

What does the inspector inside think about it?

And this sailboat! WOW!!! 

It floats a perfume of iodized air.......

jp

Max you sure a fast builder. But beyond that your a very good builder, I bet you don't have to worry  about the inspectors finding anything wrong!

Thanks, JP.  You have the prose by the nose.   

Thanks, Mike.  I can't take anything for granted with Ralph. 

Max,

That Ralph is sure earning his keep!  And to think, if I recall, there will be an additional town-section for us to follow after this corner is complete.  Yeah!

I like the look of the rusted siding of the sail maker's building showing just behind the ship in your top photo.  It's a nice blending of colours and textures.  And the height of the new building leads the eye gradually up to the ship's prow, then to the taller sail maker's building.  It's a very nice transition.  It no doubt will also lead the eye toward the main action of the switching tracks, which as I recall you don't want to detract from.

Just curious (you know me), did you decide to have a closed wall on the outside of your shed so as not to detract from the puzzle part and other visual details?  Or are you planning something special for that side? Colourful but faded posters? Ivy? Machinery? Life vests and horizontally hung ladders? :-)  Again, it too by being windowless seems to help draw the eye inward if you consider the whole layout as a sculpture.  Looking good!

Tomlinson Run Railroad

Thanks, TR.  I hadn't realised I was so thoughtful.  

I spend a lot of time just standing and looking at the scene.  Then the light goes on - I know; I need a shed!  

At this stage, my plan is to just have a blank wall.  To see the building properly, one needs to move around to the end of the layout.  My last layout had lots of little cameos, but you had to do some work to find them.

There is already one behind the rusty building.  No people, but there is still a story there.

I forsee perhaps a cameo between the shed and the winch, one on and around the scaffold and perhaps another under the stern of the schooner. 

I appreciate your interest and your words of encouragement. 

Cheers

MaxSouthOz posted:

I spend a lot of time just standing and looking at the scene.  Then the light goes on - I know; I need a shed!  

 

That's what I am doing wrong! I go over to stand and look at my layout with the lights already on...nothing ever happens?? 

The midday sun is streaming in through the windows at the moment, so I'll do some daylight shots with the building's inside lights off.

I'll be back later, tonight.

Max,

Those are great looking rain gutters and a great job on the rust on the roof.  ("Mid-day sun", huh? It's pitch dark over here! :-)

TRRR

Thanks, TR.

I've been meaning to ask, if you don't mind too much.

What is the subject of your thesis?

Kind of you to ask, Max. Sadly it predates trains. I'm looking at a small Massachusetts town from the American Revolution to the War of 1812. They had several dissenting religions like Shakers and strong political opinions.  So, it uses case studies of different events to show how the townspeople chose Puritan-style church discipline, violent rioting, and/or the emerging legal system as forms of community control and authority.  My "uni" is in Britain, so I get to learn a foreign language! :-).  

If I last the next four years of full time work, part time school, and elder care and actually graduate, I want to ask my supervisor if he has any interest in railroads, seeing how big they are over there.  But I dare not mention such "distractions" yet.  At least I'm ABD (all but dissertation), but you may have gathered that I'm no spring chicken.  It would be great to research and write about railroad topics afterward, but there are other books planned for my looming retirement years. I.e., all the amazing stories that sadly didn't fit in the required "analytical" structure.

Are you still awake?    I'm off to church in that very town now, and someday hope to get some friends there interested in running trains on a Friday evening to start the weekend off right. Maybe even setup some relaxing switching puzzles?

Thanks for your interest,

TRRR

That sounds very interesting, TR.  Thanks for sharing.

Granted, not as interesting as running trains on a Friday evening - but I reckon that it will be worth a read once it's done. 

Will there be a PhD at the end?

I've tried some shots with the lights off and the darkness on.

Underwhelming?

Looking sharp there Max! I sure will be happy when I get to the point where I can start putting things on benchwork!

MaxSouthOz posted:

I've tried some shots with the lights off and the darkness on.

=snip=

Underwhelming?

Not at all, Max.  The light creeping out the sides of the doors is classic, along with the window shape and proportions. The light is subtle, too, and not overly bright.

For night scenes, how about adding the silhouette of a shaded metal lamp hanging from a cord in the center of the shed and two figures working late inside? Are they working for good or are they involved in some shady late night shennanigans down by the docks? Does Ralph know?

Thanks for the support of my non-RR efforts. And, yes, my goal is to have a "PhD at the end" ... of my name, that is :-).  Back to it!

TRRR

Thanks, Mike.  I'm looking forward to seeing that. 

Thanks, TR.  The silhouette is food for thought.

"Doctor TR."   It has a nice ring to it.  My MMR pales next to that. 

Power to your arm - er fingers. 

Max:

I just interacted with you over on the "Lobster Pot" thread and clicked the link to this thread that you have in your signature.  There's only one word for all that you've presented here and that word is "Wow!".

From the washed out, barnacle-encrusted pilings, to the operating garage doors on the warehouse, to the venetian blinds, to the anemometer (with periodically shifting wind vane) ... the list goes on and on.

I'm sorry I'm joining this so late and not way back here:

Thanks very much for sharing this with us.

Steven J. Serenska, a bona fide piker by comparison

Thanks, Steven. 

The building looks great Max. I agree that an exterior light with a couple of shadowy figures up to no good would set the scene perfectly.

Bob

Thanks, Bob.  Noted. 

Max, I just read your thread from the beginning. I'd been following it recently, but didn't go back to get the context. Terrific engineering and execution. It's a lovely development that should be fun to operate. I didn't realize that you were from Australia until you were using some terms that didn't seem familiar so I checked your profile and lo and behold, you're another example why the Internet is so phenomenal for bringing people with similar interests together from all over the world at the speed of light.

Thanks, Myles.

The clue is in the user ID.  South Oz = South Australia.

Thank you for your kind words.  As you know, I'm following your thread as well.

I trust that your health is improving.

Cheers

I've progressed to the point where I can begin completion of the sea.  I'm starting at the tug boat berth.

Strips of 3 mm MDF are glued down at an angle, to represent the lines of swell - as the dock faces the open sea.

Stage two is dry wall jointing compound, which is built up over the lines of swells.  By dabbing the surface with the trowel, I can pull it into small wavelets.

When it sets up, it will crack.  Then it will be flushed off with dry wall finishing compound; once again dabbing the surface to make more wavelets.

It will take at least 24 hours to set up and finish cracking.