Projects update 9/2/15

This has a been a week of Projects. 

Today I refurbished the old Yardley Yard West control panel with a new stencil (Track Plan) that is accurate to the exiting trackwork. This required removing the switch's, then the old stencil which was a tedious job. Then I cleaned up the control panel and filled the original switch holes with filler. Once dry I sanded the surface smooth, painted the control panel Matt Black and set out to dry. Whilst the control panel was drying I went to the local Office Works and had them print off the new track plan which I had drawn in excel. With this in hand I went back home and commenced the process of  rebuilding the panel: 

The following photos show the process. 

The below photo shows the control panel after it was painted black. It is drying in the full sun.

This photo is a of the control panel track plan, which is printed on A3 sheet. I've cut a majority of the excess white sheet off in this photo

In this photo the A3 sheet has been glued to the control panel. The round green dots are the DPDT switch locations for drilling

The panel has been drilled and switch's installed!!!

Ok the panel is now ready for installation on the layout

A couple of shots of the finished product. Re installed and rewired to the layout

Projects continued

Well I've had a great week. I've completed Marshal Canyon to a point that I am very happy with. The photos below will show the starting point - roughed in scenery and the processes I used to get the scenery to a basic completion. This involved shaping the styrofoam slopes; Placing the rock embankment; adding the ground cover and lastly installing trees.

Thanks to the help of Steve Ord and Trevor Phillips on Wednesday we completed two hundred fir trees of which 160 were planted on the layout. This effort has transformed the scenery on the layout, almost making it seem live. 

The picture of Marshal Canyon that I envisaged in my head is now actual and I can't be happier with the results.

Looking West along  Marshal Canyon at the commencement of the project a week ago. 













Looking East at Marshal Canyon.

 I've used both Styrofoam and expanding foam to make the basic scenery shell. Here in the photo you can see how I've blended the expanding foam to match the styrofoam. The pink colored landscape is expanding foam. I've used this technique for a long time now and find it helps on the smaller areas where you need to add scenery quickly. 

In the photo below I've commenced placing the first layer of ground materials on the styrofoam. My process is to: paint the area with an earth colored paint, place glue on the wet paint and paint this in, sprinkle real dirt on the paint / glue mix, add 3 shades of fine ground foam, then add the various colors and lengths of static grass as required.  

In the photo below I wanted a rock cut in the canyon. So I've applied rocks from plaster molds. once this has set enough I start the rock coloring process.

Upon completion of the rock coloring process I continue the ground covering process. 

Thanks to Steve and Trev2, I had plenty of trees ready for planting in Marshal canyon

Below is the final scene. I'm wrapped in how this has turned out and how it has seemed to come to life! My good friend Jim Younkins, whom I have traveled with to the Marshal Canyon and Spokane area, has said that I have captured the feel of the area well....That is good enough for me. Thanks to Steve and Trev this has happened fairly quickly. Now we are onto the next project...watch this space!!!