10 MAY 2020 – Beginning Work on the River Banks

Now that the bridges are largely constructed, the river bank must be constructed to hold the embankment bents and establish the bridges at the correct elevation to align with the rest of the layout. I’m using pink foam insulation to construct this. Once the foam is in place, the river bed will be sealed using plaster cloth and sealing paint. The timbers will sit on cement piers that will also be made of foam and painted to look like cement. Perhaps I will get ambitious and try to make them look like they’re made of stone.

The trick is to make the river banks so that this section can still be removed from the layout for construction and demonstration. I’m doing this by building the banks to abut to the layout with some overlap at the top. So far so good.

I’m also going to make the river twist a little bit. My correction to the bents on the curved trestle yesterday helped, but they are not quite square and since the river is not built yet, changing the direction of the current will be easier. It will also provide a little variation between the two bridges and allow the viewer to see how the bents are constructed.

The bridges have also been weathered now. The weathering processed I used was to first spray them with Testors dull coat so there was some tooth. I then used a grimy wash and followed that with a generous application of weathering powders. This was sealed with another coat of dull coat. My goal was to make them look like they are treated with creosote and less like a piece of walnut stained furniture.

I also added a leg to the support structure for the hydro plant. This is glued to the cross member and then super glued to a styrene foundation that the chipper and de-barker will be built around. The sloped platform for the falls was also glued in place. This will make pouring the water for that section a little more challenging, but I will be doing this with the section removed and will prop it up so that it is level when pouring. This will allow the two sections to have a smooth joint where they meet.

The next step will be to build the river banks around the curved trestle in the same way as the straight trestle is supported.

9 MAY 2020 – Completing the Curved Trestle

I needed to build the bents and assemble the curved trestle. It turned out the platform was a little too long. I removed a little more of the ore line from the layout and trimmed about 8 ties from each end of the bridge platform. This necessitated locating the bents between the joints on the stringers instead of on them. The first try I followed the instructions. When I placed the bridge in the river, I noticed the bents were not aligned to the current. This would not be at all realistic so I removed them (quite a trick) and realigned them to the current. (see photos). I used an oil based walnut stain to add color and let this dry over night.

Next step is to add a leg to the hydro plant support infrastructure to build the chipper / debarker on, weather the bridges, and begin building the river banks out of pink foam.

7 MAY 2020 – Building the Curved Trestle Bridge

I only got halfway through the curved trestle before I needed to quit. The curved trestle is a little more complex. Both kits are Campbell Scale Model kits, but the quality of the lumber in the curved kit is much better. Both are good and they are fun to build. The curved bridge is a little larger than it needs to be so some trimming will be required.

I should finish over the weekend and be able to turn to building the structures to hold scenery around the river and connect to the rails on either side.

6 MAY 2020 – Building the Straight Trestle Bridge

Before getting too far in constructing the platform, I wanted to see what the trestle bridges would look like and how much support they would need to get to the proper height. I have had these models for over two years when I first decided that I would like trestle bridges over the Menominee. I don’t know the history of these bridges (in fact there is only one). I do know that there is an iconic looking bridge upstream from the location I am modeling where the branch crosses the Menominee to get to Niagara, Wisconsin. These bridges are not prototypical, but I think they are attractive. To be somewhat realistic I am going to but them on cement pilings so they would have some chance of surviving the constant pounding they would receive being downstream from Quinnesec Falls.

I did some reading from other modelers who model with wood to determine what adhesive I should use. I expected to use Elmer’s Wood Glue, but it seemed most people with experience building wooden ships, etc. prefer to use CA (super glue). My experience with using CA was that it did not set up fast enough so I used an accelerant with it. Ultimately I got the best results by preparing one surface with accelerant and the other surface with a very small amount of CA. I have another bridge to build so by the time I’m done I should be very good at it. The first couple of bents had a lot of extra glue on them.

The next step will be to add some details to the straight trestle and construct the curved trestle bridge. Then both can be stained and set aside while the river and scenery is completed.

5 MAY 2020 – Support Infrastructure

It’s been five days since the last update. Too many distractions! Now the support for the dam and the surrounding scenery and buildings is getting closer. The next step will be to begin applying plaster to contain the river and form the river bed.

30 APR 2020 – Construction of Diorama Infrastructure

Today the platform began to take shape.  Planning how the buildings will be constructed to both block the view of the ore line until it is away from the backdrop and give the idea that it’s a natural part of the mill and related to the hydro plant.  A rough drawing showing where the buildings will go.

And here’s the first bit of construction:

Next project is to continue to build out the support infrastructure for the falls and the rocks and trees that will block the view of the ore line coming out of the backdrop.

29 APR 2020 – Diorama Infrastructure Considerations

The diorama will mainly consist of

1. The base which will include the Menominee River downstream from the falls and supporting scenery including two bridges.
2. The slope which will include the most turbulent part of the falls and rocks and trees to the mill side of the falls.
3. The upper platform which will support the dam and power plant buildings

The base legs will be bolted to the five risers supporting the layout

The upper platform will rest on the layout to the mine side of the river

The scenery on most of the diorama will be designed to sit on top of the scenery on the layout to avoid vertical seams in favor or horizontal and irregular seams.

The catwalk connecting the dam to the debarker must clear the opening in the backdrop where the ore line emerges.

This weekend should allow for some progress to be made. The sawmill outbuildings have shipped from Walthers and should arrive early next week.

27 APR 2020 – HydroElectric Plant Power Distribution Planning

On the mine side of the river a small power house and electrical distribution station will be built as part of the diorama

The base for this will be plywood and will be removable with the diorama.  Power lines will cross the river back to the paper mill to provide electricity. 

Parts from the Walthers kit will be used, but the plastic base will not be used. Parts of the base may be harvested to emulate the cement mounting blocks for the various electrical components.  The station will be paved with asphalt with cement pilings for mounting the steel infrastructure.

Next task is to get back to working out the substructure of the diorama to support this new design.

26 APR 2020 – Planning the Paper Mill and Hydro Plant Interface

Now that the scenes between the mill and the hydro plant have been rearranged, it’s time to plan some new buildings.

I ordered the Sawmill Outbuildings kit from Walthers since it contains some details that may help to enhance the idea that this mill makes its own wood chips.  The footprint of the buildings are as follows:

Log debarker 5 x 5 x 4 3/8″

Wood chipper 2-1/4 x  1-3/4 x 5-3/4″

Rail car loader 2-1/2 x 3-3/4 x 4-3/8″

Truck loader 3-5/8 x 3-1/4 x 8″

The log debarker and wood chipper will be adapted to the new space available between the mill and the hydro plant and positioned so that the gears from the plant could conceivably help with power.  Off the layout is the log pond and loading facilities including a conveyor that brings the pulp wood to the debarker.

The Northern Light and Power substation kit will be used on the mine side of the river to distribute power back over the river to the mill.

25 APR 2020 – Adjusting the design

Since the start of this project, the interaction between the hydro plant and the paper mill has been something that didn’t quite work. The design for the hydro plant had the buildings that connect to the mill on the prototype on the wrong side of the river. Further analysis revealed that the pulp tanks on the layout were also positioned impossibly. Even though I did not require this project to adhere strictly to the prototype, I was bothered by the fact that everything was a little out of whack.

When I built the paper mill several years ago, my main interest was in building some large industrial Walthers kits for fun and putting them together in a way that would enhance the switching part of the layout that had recently been completed. Without any strong understanding of how a paper mill would be arranged, I situated the buildings with an inch or so of space between each building. I placed each building on a foundation so that they could be removed for maintenance and cleaning and placed back on the layout accurately.

As I considered how to make the hydro plant and paper mill linkage work, I started moving the buildings closer together. Ultimately this gave back about five inches to the layout in this area and allowed the pulp tanks to be placed more prototypically. I also removed a part of the view block at the back of the layout and placed a new foundation. There will be a scratchbuilt building here meant to function as a chipper and debarker where pulpwood will be prepared for the pulp tanks. The grinders in the building will be assisted by gears in the hydro plant as was done on the prototype as early as 1910 or so.

Here’s what the area looks like now.