24 APR 2020 – Adjusting the Platform – Scenery in Spots

By shaving a bit off of the inside of each leg with the table saw (a tricky maneuver), I was able to get the platform to fit without too much shoving.  It will be somewhat fragile when it’s complete, so we don’t want to have to force it onto the risers.

Today’s main event is finishing the scenery on the outside of the ore line near the backdrop while we can still get to it.

The scenery work will go like this:

1. Prepare a batch of Lou Sassi ground goop. 
2. Apply the ground goop in the valley between the ore line and the paper mill. 
3. Apply flocking to the scene.
4. Apply long grass in patches as appropriate

I purchased a Noch Grassmaster and this will be its inaugural use.  It is likely that I will have more ground goop than I will need, so I will use the excess at the southeast corner of the layout where I have begun to prepare a roadway and grade crossing.

Lou Sassi’s Ground Goop

• 1 cup Celluclay

• 1 cup Vermiculite

• 2/3 cup Elmer’s white glue

• 1 cup Tobacco Brown house paint

• 1 oz. concentrated Lysol

This was actually wrapped up Saturday morning. The Noch Grassmaster is going to take a little getting used to. Here’s how it went:

The next project is to build the slope and dam platform onto the diorama.

23 APR 2020 – Adding legs to the diorama

Today I will attach the legs to the base of the diorama and attach it to the layout.  I will also do some scenery work in areas that are soon to be blocked by the diorama.  Here’s the plan.

1. Additional trimming of diorama base – there is no reason to make this a snug fit.  Provide plenty of the clearance for the base to make taking it in and out as easy as possible.
2. Cut legs for diorama – the legs will be about 2.5″ long and made out of the same 1×3″ stock as the risers.  The leg will be clamped to the riser and a hole drilled to allow installation of the tee nut and bolt
3. Attach legs to diorama base – with the legs attached to the risers the diorama base will be put in place and clamped. 
4. Mark all attachment points on the bottom of the base and remove base to drill holes for attachment.
5. Apply wood glue to all legs and drill pilot holes for all screws before they are screwed in place.
6. Remove the diorama from the layout so the excess glue does not permanently attach the legs to the risers

Unfortunately I did not follow my instructions to the tee and so the platform legs that are now solidly glued and screwed in place require some adjustment. The next installment should explain how I made those adjustments!

22 APR 2020 – Designing the Removable Diorama

Challenges

1. The diorama will be shaped asymmetrically.
2. The diorama will be heavy and awkward.  It may not be evenly balanced

Solutions

1. The base must be narrower than the top to ensure removal and replacement does not damage surrounding scenery and structures
2. The diorama will be built with four hooks that will be hidden by removable objects or scenery.  The hooks will allow for the diorama to be lifted evenly from a central hook above the layout

The base of the diorama does not need to be perfectly formed to fit the space.  It only needs to attach to the five risers that support it.  From there the boards that will provide the base for the river and falls as well as the buildings related to the hydro-electric plant can be attached and supplemented with foam to support the scenery and be fitted to the adjoining layout.

The first thing I had to do today was remove more of the roadbed leading into Niagara in order to allow the new diorama to clear them when being moved (may have gotten a little too aggressive on this – oh well!).

The next thing was to move a couple of the risers so that they were inside the footprint for the new diorama base.

The diorama base will be 1/2″ plywood and will span the length and width of the area.  The base will support the river downstream from the falls and the two timber bridges for the ore line and the Niagara branch line.  There will be a sloped platform that will support the falls and the rocks and trees between the two channels.  The slope will end at the top where a level platform will support the dam itself and will extend onto the layout where the building flats representing the plant itself will be built.

Here is the new base which has been cut to move in and out of position without getting hung up on the scenery:

There is no room for the plant on the mill side of the Menominee River which is unfortunate.  On the prototype, the hydro plant contained gears that were driven along with the turbines that powered and assisted the debarking and chipping machines.  These machines are off stage on my layout where visible signs of the paper process begins with two pulp tanks where the pulp is cooked before going into the kraft mill.  Many compromises were made for space, but at a high level the model will still support basic instruction about how a paper mill works and the moves required to switch the Niagara Mill are somewhat realistic.

Next the cardboard scenery support to the right needs to be secured and a platform built between risers so that foam can be used for a clean abutment to the diorama scenery.  A second platform needs to be built to support scenery and the Niagara branch in the foreground due to some aggressive trimming.

Here’s the solution so far:

The next step will be to complete scenery behind the curve of the ore line since that will soon be blocked. It will not be visible from most angles, so it will be minimal effort. Also any adjustments to the backdrop will be made now because it will soon be blocked. I will also build the legs for the diorama that attach to the risers on the layout.

21 APR 2020 – Today was mostly planning although I did add three new pieces of wood to the layout (one joist and two risers). A method of attaching the removable diorama and building a display/carrying case to show it at club meetings follows. Here’s a photo of the new risers.

I have also located the tee nuts and bolts that I will need to secure the diorama in place.

And here is the detail on how the legs of the diorama will connect to the layout. I have to decide if I want to use wood for this (less precision, prone to splitting but I have plenty on hand) or angle brackets (more precise, but requires a trip to the hardware store).

Here is the detail planning as far as construction:

Designing Quinnesec Falls as a removable diorama will allow it to be brought to shows and also facilitate construction at the workbench, enhancing the overall quality of the model.  Care must be taken to ensure that the diorama is not damaged in transport and that the attachment to the layout is done in a way to facilitate precision so that trains traversing the joints between diorama and layout do not derail.

The layout is built using L-girder construction with risers.  The diorama will be self-contained and will feature legs that line up with the risers on the layout.  The legs will have holes drilled that will allow for the legs to attach to the risers on the layout with a bolt that is threaded onto a tee nut on the risers.  There are four risers that will hold the diorama in place.

A carrying case will be built for the diorama with matching risers and tee nuts so that when transported, the diorama will be connected to the carrying case in the same way that it attaches to the layout.  The carrying case will be similar to the layout and will include some surrounding context to improve the appearance of the diorama when traveling.

This design will allow for the diorama to be constructed without further disruption to the layout.

Construction steps – Platform and legs

1. Measure and cut the platform for the diorama and place on existing risers and test.
2. Add riser(s) as necessary to ensure adequate support and reasonable access for removal.
3. Label risers and remove from layout.
4. Attach legs to risers and secure with bolts and tee nuts – ensure tee nuts are installed on permanent risers.
5. Reinstall risers with attached legs to the layout.
6. Place platform on legs and clamp in place.
7. Mark locations of legs on bottom of platform.
8. Remove platform from layout and drill holes for attachment to legs.
9. Apply glue to top of legs and replace platform on legs ensuring proper alignment.
10. Drill pilot holes through platform into legs and secure with wood screws.

Construction steps – Carrying case

1. Prepare bottom of carrying case (1/2″ plywood) to adequate size to allow for surrounding context and backdrop.
2. Measure and cut 1×3″ joists to support legs – glue and screw to case bench.
3. Measure and deploy tee nuts to joists to match locations of holes in legs and attach with bolts.
4. Build case with removable panels for access to bolts for removal and attachment.
5. Complete diorama to support display in portable setting as desired.

After these two construction projects are complete, I can build the diorama on the layout and then complete the carrying case with similar scenery to the layout so that the removable water feature and hydro-electric plant can go on tour.

Tomorrow’s work will be to begin construction of the base of the diorama to facilitate removal and support the scenery and models.

20 APR 2020 – Today’s project was to remove the impediments to working on the water feature for Little Quinnesec Falls and the hydro electric power plant there. I did some fiddling with parts in my extra parts box to determine how the actual scratch built buildings might go together, but that will be a project for next week. The immediate need was to remove the tracks spanning the Menominee River and remove the makeshift riverbed that was in place. Here’s what it looks like now.

I will be able to reuse the board that served as the makeshift riverbed. I plan to make the entire scene into a removable diorama so that it can travel to shows for awhile and receive feedback from other modelers.

The plans for the diorama are very basic at this point.

The next objective will be to design and build the frame for the removable diorama and the carrying case that it will fit into for travel.

19 APR 2020 – Through a series a of blog posts, I hope to bring everyone up to speed on how I got here. Suffice it to say, the layout is about 30% complete and during the Covid-19 Pandemic I decided it was time to work on a water feature. The plan is to build this in such a way that it can be constructed on the work bench and brought out to be shown for a few months before being permanently deployed on the layout.

Here’s what the prototype looks like:

Years ago I made room for this section on the layout, but I didn’t know much about how I would actually build it so the first step is to take out all the foam and rails that are crossing the “river.” I think this is why it has taken so long for me to get to this project. By taking all of this out, it means I can’t run trains to the paper mill in Niagara. More on that in a future post.

Here’s what the area on the layout looked like when I started:

I took a head on shot of the area and then doctored it up in Photoshop to get a clear picture of what I want it to look like when I’m done. Here’s the before and after.

Next installment will show what I needed to do to prepare the area for the new water feature.