Quinnesec – July 2020

21 July 2020 – Two months of progress on the hydro electric plant and water feature

What fun we’ve had since the last update at the end of May 2020. The first photo shows the debarker and chipper buildings have received paint. They are white with steel tops. A later photo will show they’re a little rusty. There will ultimately be a conveyor under the debarker to take the bark off somewhere to be converted into fuel. The conveyor is built, but some modifications must be made to make it fit.

Here you can see that a power distribution grid has been placed to the one side of the Menominee River. This is all proto-freelanced, so I have no idea how they got the power to the paper mill. I do know that the hydro plant is still operating and providing power to Wisconsin Electric, so there must be something like this set up. This will provide a nice transition into the scene to the right of this which is the Groveland Taconite Plant.

Here the guardrails and some signage has been added to the debarking building.

This little building came with the sawmill outbuildings kit. I tried it under the power distribution equipment, but have since moved it to the back of the debarker. I imagine that there are some gears that are driven by the turbines underneath the hyrdro plant and these gears transfer power to the teeth of the debarker. This little building is what keeps this equipment safe and dry.

The hydro electric plant is mostly imagined but I did look at some pictures. I figure this one works by lifting these big steel and concrete panels to let water through. I will be adding guardrails and also H steel beams above the panels with augers and wheels so that they can be adjusted up and down. The stairs are there so that the crew can maintain these panels when needed. In reality it’s all stationary of course.

The guardrails were from another kit and happened to fit. I have more on the way. The cement steps were made by cutting pieces of polystyrene into blocks and gluing them together. It was a bit monotonous but fun.

Painting the plaster was fun. Most of the plaster outside the river bed will be covered with ground goop, static grass, flocking, trees and underbrush, but painting it was good practice and also allows some flexibility when the other materials are added.

I have decided to separate the legs of the bridge from the platform so that I can align the legs perfectly to the cement piers and then adjust the bridge platform so that it aligns perfectly with the track on the layout. This will require that the module be put on the layout. I’m hoping to do this by the end of the month and finish the module well enough to remove it one time and bring it to a Michiana Division NMRA meeting for my friends to see. After that, it will be returned to the layout and permanently installed.

The glue is drying on the talus I added to the lower section. The talus is being painted a mix of reds, browns, and tans. I will add some submerged trees and further adjust the paint on the river bed and then pour that section with resin. I haven’t quite figured out how I will pour the middle and upper sections, but where there’s a will there’s a way! Stay tuned!