Three Tiers or What You Will

[CourthsVeil]

The other day I had quite a silly idea.

 

So crazy that it will most probably never ever qualify as a serious participant in this Challenge.

 

Nevertheless I dare to tell you:

Having read the posts to this forum during the first few weeks I felt that in the entries the third dimension is quite neglected; I wondered why so few participants made full use of the 20“ limit for HEIGHT (e.g. HIGHGATE, VERTICAL O; and MOORSWATER VIADUCT). Myself, however, being low on rousing ideas (sometimes...), did not fancy anything of interest and let the challenge go its way.

 

The other day I „demessed“ my workshop and stumbled on an old, weathered Aufbewahrungsbox of Aldi origin:

 

 

 

Not before I had thrown it away it dawned on me that this cardboard thing is nothing else than a 3-drawer box file (I had used it to stow electrical thingies away). So I hurried to the ash can, got it back, dedusted it (the „weathering“ was just thick n dry dust) and began pondering...

 

For instance: One could produce in each of the three boxes a separate diorama (AHA IDEA!). These three dioramas must be related to each other, either by theme or by an elegantly laid piece of flex track. Which of course with its length of 37“ would have to be cut into three pieces. In the latter case the three boxes might considered as modules that can be connected by short pieces of track. Which is not a must, because the challenge rules do not request operability.

 

So I saw three dioramas - all train related - stacked in three tiers into a single box with the dimensions 12.6 x 9.5 x 9.5 inches. Consequence: My quest for an entry making use of the third dimension finally had come to an end - just by chance, without any strain (tbh: in fact, this „quest“ was long forgotten).

 

Here you see the measures; the sheet on top is DIN A4.

 

 

 

And here a first attempt at visualizing the flow of the track to get an idea of what will work.

 

 

 

Which themes to choose for the boxes? Quite different ones, of course!

In other words: WHAT YOU WILL.

One combination I could imagine would be, for instance: at the left DROUGHT, to the right plenty of WATER, in the middle „NORMALITY“.

 

I always wanted to make steep rocky walls (like in a quarry) in an unusual manner, leading me to a desert theme far left.

I also would lay my hands at a convincing aquatic surface, which will result in a ferry terminal - quite a small one, of course, say like Dagebuell at the North Sea coast. This locality sports a ###### with high water port - an excellent scenic break!

„Normality“ might be a plain platform with the usual surroundings - as the theme says, nothing exceptional.

 

So no special region nor era nor livery - from left to right. And all in H0 (1:87 or 3.5mm per foot).

 

Regardless whether these THREE TIERS will be allowed as valid entry to this contest or not, I’m going to write down what I've done in the meantime. Because now I’m really intrigued by this little project and will continue.

 

Your opinions and suggestions are welcome.

 

PS: And I hope you can live with my rather rusty English...

[CourthsVeil]

Ooops - there's a word missing - despite two trials to change it by editing (software glitch - or my fault as a novice to this site??).

 

Anyway, the relevant sentence should read:

 

This locality sports a ###### with high water port - an excellent scenic break!

[CourthsVeil]

No, it's not me - let me try with the word dyke...

[Earlestown]

Sweet .. good luck with this .. it's a neat idea.

 

Dave.

[CourthsVeil]

Thanks, Dave.

 

 

The other kinda challenge: it became quickly clear that any structure must not be higher than 7.5 cm ( 3 in ). Simple to reckon: the container with its three drawers is 9.5 inches high...

 

This is no problem with the stratified rocks I want to place in the deserted quarry to the left. The mock ups of arched walls in the middle section were also not oversized. But the quay in the right diorama has to be raised over the water (of course); thus any structures standing there are quite limited in height.

 

Here go the three drawers with their mock ups, the little portholes to the adjacent sections already being cut out (somewhat too little, I found out...) and the flextrack cut down to fit and provisionally fixed with double sided tape (carpet tape):

 

 

 

The arid section has already its „floor“ - wet & dry duly wetted to render it somewhat uneven when dried. Underneath is the track of cork hidden.

 

 

 

Despite I love to work with Scalescenes material (I learned with said products what kitbashing is and how easy it is, which in turn led me to scratchbuilding), in this case I will revert to retaining walls made of paper-mache.

 

 

 

Two of the latter are already visible in the third picture, though its focus is on the quay. It’s a later picture anyway, cause it already has a ramp to the exit (four cork tiles, formerly trackbed) and a stripe of blue card destined to become the backscene - eventually...

 

 

Comments and suggestions still welcome.

 

Regards

Armin

[bcnPete]

That's an interesting twist - I like it!

 

Thanks for the mention too...

 

Good luck and keep us posted on progress...

[RJS1977]

Another possibility would be to do each file with a different season - I seem to remember a 009 layout some years ago which had 4 scenes on a carousel so the backscene of each was the underside of the baseboard of the next. Each depicted the same station but in a different decade and a different season. So the first was spring, with the line newly opened and all buildings, rolling stock etc in good condition. The next was summer, with some improvements and extra rolling stock added. Autumn showed the railway beginning to 'economise' with some petrol locos but most of the stock and structures looking worn. Winter had the petrol locos only but in a worn condition and perhaps a derelict steam loco in one of the sidings, and all the structures in a state of decay. Each scene had its own sequence and at the end of the sequence all the stock was run into the fiddle yard and the boards rotated for the next scene. Whilst you couldn't quite do that in this case, it might be possible to do something along those lines with the layout in one box being in one time of year and period and the others in slightly different periods & seasons.

[CourthsVeil]

Pete: many thanks - its appreciated!

 

Richard: that's an interesting suggestion - thank you. However, considering the time constraint it's unlikely that I can pursue it.

 

Regards

Armin

[CourthsVeil]

I forgot to mention that the flextrack had obtained a nice rusty appearance by a rattlecan with brown acrylic colour.

 

I supposed that the left and middle parts were relatively simple to make, whereas the right one would pose some difficulties - for me! Because: I wanted to cover the pier in (kind of) concrete hardstanding - and I never had buried a piece of track in plaster before. Also - as already said - I aimed at a convincing aquatic surface. This too being a „first“ for me.

 

So to take the bull by the horns I started with this quay part of may little project.

 

 

I got a piece of MDF (scrap), cut it down to fit into its drawer...

 

 

 

...and glued four lengths of 1x2cm (scrap too) to its backside:

 

 

 

 

I decided to dispose of any hint of a ferry. Construction of a ship (even only a small part of) would have been another „first“ - too much, too late. So I envisaged just a small portal to the ferryboat. Not too high for my diorama, but hopefully still high enough to look plausible. Anyway, my quay should represent just a small terminus of age, somewhat worn down and never been modernized.

 

Next came the thing at the left side, that some ?? hiding in some piece of software does not want to be printed here.

The spelling DYKE is no problem, but #### is unwelcome (funny: a four letter word without a leading F...). Still, I try: __d_i_k_e__ it spells... Ha !!!

 

 

But back to the point: I had secured a handful of those well known styro beans, these I heaped up and let hot glue drip on them.

New experience: they melt under the hot glue. Whether it’s heat or chemistry, I don’t know.

 

 

The little walls making up the casing of the high water port were already cut...

 

 

 

...and provisionally put into place:

 

 

 

Looks not bad, I think.

Your opinions are welcome.

 

 

 

Next enterprise will be the hardstanding - wait a bit!

 

Regards

Armin

[CourthsVeil]

Next adventure was the hardstanding on the pier.

 

First I had to domesticate the unruly flex track with push pins (the carpet tape insufficient due to the strong curve).

Then I made a rim to the MDF plate with fabric tape...

 

 

...mixed a portion of plaster and spread this over all.

 

This I flattened with a joint knife with rubber blade; this is broad enough to smooth the whole thing in one draw:

 

 

 

 

After some two hours I scraped the grooves for the wheel flanges with my smallest screw driver. It was a bit late (1 1/2 hour would have been a bit too early...), so I had to call my trusty Dremel for help. Which worked - at some places the grooves are a bit wide, but this may be one of the effects of aging ;-):

 

 

 

 

The next day I got the wet & dry to grind everything flat. Where it touched the rail heads, a bit of the metal came off and produced a nice first coat of weathering...

 

And the two rusty blobs between the rails? These are not the first patches to test the best colouring. No, they are real rust, creeping from two of the thumb tacks below - obviously these are not pure brass...

 

 

 

Again not a bad start into the weathering procedure.

 

I’m surprised how easy it was to obtain a pleasing result. Pleasing me, at least ;-).

 

I appreciate your opinions and suggestions.

 

Regards

Armin

[CourthsVeil]

Elsewhere on the web I had found a nice picture of a prototypical concrete floor - wonderfully dirty, with cracks and green patches (algae, lichens, moss?). This became my model.

 

First the plaster got a very light wash with acrylic anthracite grey colour. I used my broadest brush.

Into the wet colour went the next - again very light - wash of ochre. Thus it could not develop any brinks.

 

Next I made some scars with a needle and fine screwdriver and scribbled some cracks (needle and pencil).

 

Then there came the green grout in. In this case two shades of green artist’s chalk. Next morning this - to my taste - proved a litte too colourful. So the whole plate got another very light anthracite wash to tone all a bit down.

 

I must say: now I’m quite satisfied.

 

 

After weathering the hardstanding I tried my luck at scribing some cobblestones. I hadn’t managed to make the plaster completely even, so there was left a slight depression. This I used as an area with damaged concrete, leaving the old layer of cobblestones bare and visible.

 

I first scribed the lines with a needle, using a ruler, then made the single stones with a fine screwdriver. The finish was done by treating the area a little with a bristle.

 

To make the cobblestones somewhat darker I „drybrushed“ them with a simple pencil:

 

Here unfortunately it looks like a net - in the flesh however it is quite convincing.

 

 

The whole enterprise took no more than a quarter of an hour - and it proved so uncomplicated!

 

And here the concrete quay in total - duly aged after long service and neglect:

 

 

 

 

Here a quick look at a part of my workbench: it is a piece of MDF bearing a short length of track buried in plaster - to test my skills before I ruin the real quay .

 

 

 

Later I tried the various colours and cobble-scribing and drybrushing.

Above is a pill dispenser I use to dilute water colours to various degrees.

Far left visible is part of the printout of my prototype for this weathering procedure.

 

Armin

[Earlestown]

Coming along .. The rust from the thumbtack adds to the scene as you say but once the plaster has dried out that should be the end of it.

 

Dave.

[CourthsVeil]

Thank you, Dave, - and: you are right, it has stopped whilst drying.

 

 

 

 

After the weathering I glued a strip of paper to the pier wall, duly printed to show a rotten algae/seaweed surface (source: CGTextures.com).

 

Credit where it's due here to Alexander Lösch - known to readers of Carl Arendt’s Small Layout Scrapbook (#90) - for shamelessly borrowing his technique used on Inselbahn Bieberoog to make in a relatively simple way the „water“ needed for a seascape.

Alexander tells us he has as water a piece of Plexiglas (acrylic sheet) normally used as shower door, with a rippled structure, coloured and varnished. Gives a very nice sense of depth, as can be seen here.

 

So I sought at the next DIY store a fitting sheet - not so easy, if you are for a surface exhibiting not just flowers, butterflies or bark, but looking like waves. Finally I found something similar... This sheet is then coloured on the flat (lower) side to look like muddy water, i.e. a mixture of brown, green and blue.

 

Left: too much brown, right: much better.

 

 

After several trial runs (I believe I sawed five pieces fitting into the space between pier and drawer rim and sprayed them with rattlecans...) I found the combination of colours and shades that I was after.

 

The six matches (posts) fit quite well into the recesses I filed for them into the Plexiglas:

 

 

 

After cutting them down and adding two 6mm-dowels (1/4 in) to secure the ferryboat, the wall looked like this:

 

 

 

Before coating the whole quay with matte varnish, the posts got their lower portions chalked green.

 

This all (pier, posts & acrylic sheet) was fastened together with a generous dab of PVA which will be transparent when dried, however matte.

 

An overlook of what I have achieved until now:

 

 

 

 

Later, when the dyke with its reinforcing rocks will be done, the relevant areas will be painted with high gloss lacquer to make them look wet. Only thereafter the blue backdrop will be fixed in place.

 

Armin

[CourthsVeil]

So the next step was forming the dyke.The casing walls of the high water port were dry brushed with mossy green (daughter’s paint box) and got lengths of rail to accept the door (which is thought to be stored away during times of regular water level):

 

 

 

After gluing these next to the exit hole I covered the foam „beans“ with masking tape to provide a smoother surface.

 

 

 

This in turn got its layer of papier-mache:

 

 

 

Now I’m waiting until this is dry and ready for adding a foot path and grass etc.

 

Any comments are really welcome,

Armin

[CourthsVeil]

Papier-mache takes its time to dry thoroughly. So I turned to the lefthand section of my project: the deserted quarry and its walls of limestone (sandstone?).

 

As already shown in post no. 5 the track was fixed on the wet & dry floor. This is how I did it: I prefer acrylic caulk, in this case covered with finest sand as „ballast“

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To form the steep terrain I bought a 60x80cm (24x32 in) sheet of cork, some 4mm (1/6 in) thick, and cut it into a lot of tiles. These I tore (no scissors, no knife, just my hands) into shape - i.e. a quite irregular shape. Properly laid down and glued into place they look like geological strata of brown stone.

 

 

 

Some of these tiles/layers got an individual colouring (stain - nut-brown). So this it is partly assembled:

 

 

 

Armin

[Stubby47]

This is looking really good. I like the weathering on the quay, and the old cobbles do look very convincing. The use of the cork tiles is alos very effective.

 

Looking forwards to seeing the finished layout !

 

Stu

[CourthsVeil]

Stu: thank you very much - your comment gives me a lot of momentum!

 

 

 

Meanwhile, some green stuff started growing over the dyke...

 

 

Nah, this is suited where the 3-feet-rule applies, not on a small diorama!

 

In addition: the grass on a dyke has to be like lawn: short and dense. This here looks just like foamy bushes...

 

 

 

On the other side of my project: Back part is mostly filled up, front half is work in progress:

 

 

 

And here what an „insider“ would see:

 

 

 

Armin

[BlackRat]

Excellent!

 

Some great techniques here

[bcnPete]

Armin, hi

 

Some very nice work here...I particularly like the inset trackwork...you have really captured that very well.

[CourthsVeil]

BlackRat and Pete:

it's definitely good to have such encouragement along the way ... THANK YOU!

 

BTW: your entries belong to those I'm aiming at.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ah, this looking somewhat better...

 

 

 

Now just the stabilizing boulders missing, and the way on top of the dyke and, and...

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile the arid scemery is gone quite far - as can be seen here. The rocks now surround the place completely, there are some lone boulders. Some scrap stemming from better, busier, times is laying around. And an old thyme twig makes a half broken, dried up tree:

 

 

 

 

 

The Better Half stated she missed something dead: the carcass of an oxen, a mule perhaps - just the bones she wanted.

This time I stood firmly and declined. It's my diorama, not hers, right?

 

 

So in my opinion the only thing missing is the „siding queen“ they left there when they went to new fortunes...

 

But this is no problem at all: (as in many MRR workshops) there exists the result of a mishappen bay-purchase: a Fleischmann „Werkslok Anna“. She looks better than it does run. Much better! In fact she doesn’t run even a single millimeter. Which makes her very apt for the intended purpose here, doesn’t it?

 

So this poor little engine will spend its final days on the dead end track in the middle of the desert...

 

Needs only a bit more rust n dust! (No problem, my workshop is very dusty - sometimes... )

 

 

Any comments, questions, suggestions, etc. are always welcome.

 

Armin

[CourthsVeil]

The arid scenery went along rather quickly - some brown grass would be nice to cover ugly spots...

 

 

The quay section too can see some light at the end of the tunnel - so to speak!

 

The rocks now spread at the foot of the dyke are deco stuff of Aldi origin, sprayed black:

 

 

 

(Seems to be not so well maintained, the dyke; has some bald spots!)

 

Thereafter I could glue the blue backdrop in place and cover the water with high gloss lacquer:

 

 

 

Will I be able to find a boat for some industrious fishermen - or even two?

Hmm ... not in the local catalogs, at least. Maybe in my workshop. Another FIRST ?

 

Armin

[Nile_Griffith]

Brilliant!!!

 

Can't think of a better way to describe it.

[Earlestown]

Snip ..

The Better Half stated she missed something dead: the carcass of an oxen, a mule perhaps - just the bones she wanted.

This time I stood firmly and declined. It's my diorama, not hers, right?

 

 

Hai You have bigger cobbles than me mate .. SHMBO wields a big stick here :s

 

Seriously though 'm lovin' this micro layout .. some excellent techniques goin' on.

 

Dave..

[CourthsVeil]

Thank you for your comments!

 

 

 

Some weeks ago I decided to tackle the quay section first in order to get rid of - in my opinion - difficult issues: embedded track, wavy water, boats, etc. And let the other sections wait a bit, because I thought they were - for my limited experience - easier to do.

Today the quay is quite on its way, the desert quarry nearly finished, and the middle part - not even begun.

 

Now I slowly realize that I was simply procrastinating! Why? Due to lack of an idea of how to posit a platform (or something else - or even nothing at all???) between retaining walls in a cutting (as I had imagined).

 

Well, now I’m thinking of some little warehouses/plants served by the railroad (where I live we have a halt mainly for one employer - it even bears its name!). So I’m searching now for fitting buildings...

 

At least I’ve started with the retaining wall that will remain.

 

Pics to follow...

 

 

Dave: not an issue of cobbles, I think. I let her do her knitting (etc.), she lets me do my modelling (etc.) ...

 

Armin

[CourthsVeil]

During the last days I made several sections of the retaining wall. They are of papier-mache which I formed in a latex mould. Now I took two sections (plus parts of a third) and glued them in line onto an L-section. Next will be a lot of weathering, mossing and planting of ivy etc.

 

 

 

 

A sanding sheet is laid out to cover the free space between platform and stuctures.

Beyond the wall - on the viewer’s side - will be some waste land covered with grass & bushes.

 

And again I have a printout - in this case of a cutting - which will remind me of the direction I want to go (i.e.: no plain copying):

 

 

 

Armin