Part 2: Building the
Layout
CONSTRUCTION
OF THE HIGH RAIL LAYOUT
Grades: Can’t Live With ‘em, Can’t
Live Without ‘em.
Short of having separate tiers (and there is nothing wrong with this alternative!),
most layout plans and visual interest require you have grades on your layout.
Because of their effect on operations, I would rather have none. But on the
main line there is one along two sides of the room, rising just two inches on
a 1% grade. It was done to add visual interest to the scenery and to help differentiate
the two tracks paralleling themselves around the room.
The other, more substantial climb is on my suburban loop starting from the terminal
in Douglas and going to the town of Rock Springs. Here the track goes up 7”
to clear the main line on a 3% grade.
On the narrow, 3’ wide sections, I used an open framework where
plywood roadbed is cut to shape and held up with 1x4” risers screwed to
the joists of the benchwork. For rigidity, I added an additional joist within
each four foot grid to have a riser every two feet. When planning the grade,
I also always add a foot to the calculated length to allow for rounding of the
grade at the beginning and end of the ramp. You will find this makes for much
smoother operation.
Where there are solid table tops I used a cookie cutter technique by
pushing up the initial elevated section from a cutout on the table top.
Use this procedure only until the elevated section is high enough to clear the
table top. From then on, leave the table top whole and simply extend the precut
plywood pieces of the elevated section. Glue, and if desired, screw, the bottom
of each riser to the table top and screw it down from the top.
I also use cork roadbed under all track. This not only makes the track look
better, but it also aids in sound deadening. It is a perfect base for ballasting
later on.
Track Laying Sequence
Gar Graves track, is more difficult
than laying sectional track. But, I have found that if you follow a sequence
and use a couple of track laying tips, it goes down reasonably quickly and can
look great.
My step is to first draw a centerline for all track on the table top (one reason
for laying Celotex with the white painted side 
up).
This is perhaps the most important thing you can do to ensure a smoothly running
layout. Two tools are essential for drawing centerlines. First is a trammel
for drawing curves and the second, a steel straight edge for drawing
straight lines.
Finally, draw switches by tracing the outline where they are to be located. The length
and angle between tracks is unique to each brand and size of switch and in this
way you can get their exact location on your roadbed.
Cork Roadbed
Laying
cork roadbed is actually easy, and when done it really starts to show off your
track plan. It is sold in three foot strips with two halves. You tear them apart
and butt the perpendicular edges together leaving the beveled edges on the outside.
WIRING
Such a short, simple word. Such a large, daunting task.
I will admit it up front, I really like building layouts. But the part I really
like only a little bit is wiring. And that is only partly due to the hours you
spend on your knees or back with a hot soldering iron overhead, hoping that
molten solder doesn’t drop onto a vital body part.
I broke up the wiring task by doing small wiring phases interspersed with the
beginnings of setting up for landscaping and other fine tuning of the layout.
For example, when wiring the accessories in Aguila I found there needed to be
some servicing on the two magnetic cranes and the Mi Jack piggyback loader located
there. No problem, I like servicing the trains and accessories. So now Aguila
is all wired and the accessories are cleaned and operating as they should.
Common Ground
I am a believer in common ground wires. That is, use one wire from the common
side of your power source and running it the length of the layout. Then every
ground wire from track, street lights, accessories, etc. can be connected to
the nearest point on the ground wire. This saves a whole bundle of wires going
back to the transformers.
A nice thing about a common ground is that you can even feed DC currents into
it which I use for signal relays. To creatge a DC circuit just add a full
wave bridge rectifier. I also use stranded wire for the common ground as
it is supposed to carry the TMCC signal better than solid wire.
Power Feeds
Just what is a power feed? Simply, a short, 6 - 9” piece of wire
from the track or an accessory pushed through a hole in the table top to be
connected to a hot or ground wire. As opposed to trying to string a long wire
up to every power point on the track or accessory, I find this method much more
convenient and easier to wire from underneath.
Transformers
Peter’s Rule #1: “Never use the same transformer you run your trains
with to operate accessories”. Every accessory takes power away from the
trains because almost every transformer uses only one core to power all of its
outputs.
Peter’s Rule #2: “Never use a fixed voltage terminal when you can
use one with variable voltage”. I have found that no two accessories work
best at the same voltage. You don’t have to remember the best voltage
for each accessory. Neither should you try to feed several off the same 14 or
16 volt fixed terminals. I like to have a separate, variable voltage control
for each accessory - or groups of similar ones where they can work on the same
voltage, for example, batches of street lights wired in parallel. Now you see
the true calling of ZW’s and the less popular and less
expensive VW’s, Z’s, V’s, R’s - all transformers with
two or more variable voltage outputs.
Because of the size of the layout, to facilitate the TMCC system, the layout
is broken into five zones with one Power House for each section. I also have
a Command Base on the suburban line so can run either conventional or command
trains there with my CAB controllers.
Signal circuits take some special wiring. Because I am signaling almost all
the layout, the common ground is wired to only one of the two outside rails
on Gar Graves track while the other is used as a floating ground. The
control rail is also broken where there is an operating accessory. I just run
a jumper around the accessory section for continuity of the signal control rail.
SCENERY
I am a total convert to Styrofoam scenery which became the foundation of all
my terrain. In addition to the Styrofoam your scenery "kit" will consist of a bucket of texture
paint and a gallon of dirt colored, light tan or beige, flat wall paint and some inexpensive serrated kitchen knives. And,
oh yes, if you don’t already have one, buy a hot glue gun and lots of
glue sticks.
Styrofoam is used to create all the
hills, mountains and valleys while the texture paint will cover everything -
both flat and hilly areas to create the basic ground surface. Finally, a coat
of paint gives a base color before adding scenicing materials.
Basically I left yard areas, towns and the Aguila industrial area flat while
the rest of the layout had open benchwork for rolling or hilly areas. There
are also three stream valleys crossing the tracks roughly at right angles; the
wide Colorado River between Aguila and Seligman, Big Chino Wash, a small stream
in a shallow valley, and the Verde River in a rocky canyon. These were all in
the area that I lowered the main bench work an inch to have room to drop scenery
below track level.
Making Mountains
With Styrofoam sheets, the first thing I did was to rip most into 2 1/2
inch wide “boards”. For flat, areas to which you want to add hills,
I made a shell of the Styrofoam boards. I like to use the boards because they
are much easier to work with and use less Styrofoam than making layers out of
full sheets. Trace the outline of your hills on the table top and then cut some
boards into an approximation of the hill’s outline, angling cuts on the
ends to match adjoining pieces hot gluing them in place.
You are now to be a sculptor. Underneath
that Styrofoam wedding cake is the mountain of your vision. Start slicing away
at the Styrofoam until you begin to make a smooth, hilly surface. You are truly a sculptor
and will be amazed how the form takes shape. I don’t try to carve rocks
or detail into the foam, they will be created that later,.
Surfaces
I now have my mountain. Well, not quite, because there are two more steps. You
will probably notice that you can see the lines between the layers of foam or
that some of your surfaces are none too smooth.
Not to worry, for here comes the magic of texture paint. With an old 3”
paint brush I coat the mountain (or maybe two coats to make sure there is a smooth surface). Again after everything is dry and I am totally
satisfied with the results, I get out the can of earth colored paint and cover
the whole affair. This will ensure that bright white texture paint will not
show through the scenicing textures.
To Rock Or Not To Rock
There are two types of casting materials, plaster and an epoxy type of material.
Both use similar molds but they are made and used quite differently. Although
you can make your own molds, this is beyond my abilities so I buy them at hobby
stores.
One thing that is critical to the
appearance of any rock castings is how you fill in between individual castings.
For plaster castings, I mix a batch of plaster and with a spatula, fill in gaps
between individual molds, shaping it a bit to conform to the shape of adjacent
castings. When dry, finish shaping the area by chipping the smooth, new plaster
with the edge of your spatula to match the character of the adjacent rock castings. The
goal is to not to be able to distinguish between the original castings and the
filled areas.
Similarly with the epoxy castings, but here I use Sculptamold. This is also used to fill
in between castings, but since it cannot be carved when dry, I shape it with
the spatula as it is drying to create final shapes. When dry you can do some
scoring and blending into the adjacent castings, but not much.
Coloring is also critical to the appearance of rock castings. First paint an initial
coat on each type of casting. For plaster, I mix a batch of paint
consisting of 1 part flat white latex paint, 3 parts water, squirt of detergent
and a basic rock color pigment such as Burnt Sienna. The color should be very
subtle, just enough to start from. Epoxy rocks are first coated with artist’s
Gesso, a white coating used to prepare canvases for painting.
Ground Covers
With the painted surface and rock castings in place, the next step is to put
on surface textures. I ended up with five layers - a basic grass/texture material,
dirt and three sizes of shrubs and trees. I use a combination of home made materials
and commercial ones, primarily those made by Woodland Scenics.
The most important step is the first, putting a basic ground cover over anything
that will not be rocks, water or bare dirt. All of it is put down by sprinkling
texture material over an adhesive coating made from two parts water, one part
of Elmer's glue and a dash of detergent.
I like to use sawdust as a base since except for city lawns, real ground covers
usually are more yellow than green. And here in the west, yellow is the color
for much of the year. I saved the sawdust when cutting my bench work and
when ready put it through the “Atonna Processor”. That is simply
taking an old piece of window screen and sifting handfuls of raw sawdust through
it to get rid of large chunks of wood to leave a uniform, fine sawdust. Batches
of sawdust were put into three coffee cans and various amounts of green grass
from Woodland Scenics added to get a yellowish, light green and dark green mix.
Some areas are greener than others; valley bottoms, areas along watercourses,
depressions, etc. Since I am doing Northern Arizona high desert and mountain
scenes, colors are mostly yellows from Rain Mountain to Seligman and Paulden
then they get greener as we pass through agricultural Alhambra and towards the
mountains at Rock Springs. Once the basic texture in on, the layout jumps to life. All
of a sudden, track is no longer set on a table top, but cuts through real terrain.
Adding dimensional depth to a scene is done in the tradition way by layering
more coarse texture material in those areas which would support denser vegetation.
Let me expand on the last of the materials I use. The Atonna Processor is also
in the business of making dirt. Particularly along streams 
or
washes, among rocky areas and at the foot of cliffs nothing looks beats the
look of the dirt, sand and rock where you these dirt, sand and rocks in real
life situations.
This began with a shovel and a bucket in the yard (this is Arizona, we have
lots of areas of just dirt). The Atonna processor yields three buckets of material,
pebbles, sand and fine dirt. You can place this along stream banks, in stream
bottoms or among rocks or the base of cliffs. Attach them with the usual glue
mix. You will be amazed how much real dirt, sand and rocks will look like - real
dirt, sand and rocks!
Grade
Crossings
Roads crossing your tracks are a double edged sword. On one hand they are something
all of us can relate to and are from where we often view real trains, but what
is the best way to make them.
My favorite solution is to build a ramp from the table top roadway with Sculptamold.
Start by making wood strips to use between and outside the rails to simulate
the lumber crossing material used in real grade crossings.
Sculptamold is easy to ramp up to the rail top height and back down to your
table top. The surface of Sculptamold does not smooth well, so when dry, I add a skim layer
of plaster or spackling and sand it smooth to represent concrete or asphalt.
Just paint it the color of the material you wish. By the way, I also use it to build up cinder platform areas along the tracks
at stations. Just paint the Sculptamold black and add cinders for the surface.
Edging Boards
Scenery along the table’s edge is not always be flat and level. When hills
are complete and shaped, but before adding texture paint, I place a sheet of
Masonite along the hill and trace its outline. Cut it with a saber saw and hot
glue it to the face of the foam. That way, the texture paint is blended right
out to the edge of the layout and fills any gaps between the facing board and
the foam. The front face is painted to match my table work.
Track
and Ballast
As noted earlier, cork roadbed was used under the Gar Graves track. It not only
adds to sound deadening, but it simulates the layer of ballast that all track
is set into. To give the track a finished appearance, I did two things.
First, I paint both track and ties. Any model track, tinplate or scale is shiny
when installed, so I spray paint all my track and ties a Floquil Rail Brown
color. (Be sure to clean off the rail tops as soon as you are done with a section)
When all the scenery is in for an area, I add ballast to the track and roadbed
which really adds to the overall appearance. All sorts of materials are offered
for ballast. I prefer roofing gravel. It is available in many mixes of colors
and it is relatively cheap, particularly in the quantities I needed.
Water
Water is always a magnet on a layout. If it looks real, half your visitors will
try to put their fingers into it to check it out. You can add boats, waterfront
scenes, or float one of the Arttista swimmers or “kid in an inner tube”
in your stream or pond. In the Phoenix layouts, I used a clear epoxy to
which It had a whole stream modeled in sand and stones to which the epoxy mix
was added and made a beautiful stream.
The other method uses an artists’ gloss medium over a painted river bed
which is what I used on the Paulden layout. With this, you make a lake, river
or stream bottom pretty much as part of your foam/texture painted scenery. I build up the banks, make islands and even
set boulders into the wet plaster so they can be sitting in the water or in
the banks.
When satisfied with the shape of the
stream, I paint water areas. In real life, large bodies of water are almost
black in the middle while near banks it almost reflects as white. Harbors or
swampy areas can have greens and browns. Fast running streams are light blue
or even white. Finally, add sand, small rocks and dirt on the banks and islands
from your real materials supply. Wet it with the glue solution to set it. I
usually wait till the everything else is complete before adding vegetation texture
material along the stream banks.
Let’s Make Trees
Why would someone want to go to the effort to make your own trees when there
is such a variety of commercial trees on the market - both in kit and ready
made form? Well, cost is one thing, when you buy trees big enough for O gauge
trains, they get pretty expensive. This is particularly true because trees,
like popcorn, don’t work well in small batches.
I use commercial fiber and chopped foams pretty successfully for small shrubs,
but once a plant is big enough to need a trunk, you really need to make a tree
with trunk, branches and foliage that tries to look like something you would
recognize in nature.
Not that I made all my trees, they do take some time. I also succumb to making
kit trees, particularly those made by Woodland Scenics, often with additional
coloring and flocking. In O gauge a mature 40 - 50 foot high tree needs
to be 10 to 12 inches tall, a size not readily available or very expensive.
Most good quality commercial trees consist of bundles of treated dried weed
material and the trunks are quite slender. This is fine for the smaller scales
where trunks are proportionately smaller, but to me they have always looked
too slender in O gauge. So I experimented and worked up a method of making trees
myself.
I
started with bundles of dried florals from a craft store. You can find them in tans, browns and greens for about
$3-5 per bundle. Depending on the size and density of the tree you make, a bundle
will make 10 - 15 trees. The only other materials you will need, other than
turf and flocking materials, is a roll of floral tape (available at the same
craft store), 1/8 inch dowel and spackling.
They are assembled into batches of a dozen, mainly because as each tree is completed,
it gets plugged into one of my Styrofoam boards - and that is how many one board
will typically hold.
I cut the florals branches that contain small leaves, berries or flowers into
4 - 8” lengths. These will become the branches for the tree. Take a 3”
piece of the 1/8” dowel and cluster some of the short branches around
it, spreading them around to get a full crown for your tree and wrap some floral
tape around the dowel and branches to hold them in place.
For the next step, I coat the trunk and lower main branches with spackling.
Work the spackling smooth, but let it keep the little lumps 
and
irregularities that will look surprisingly like old knots and lumps found in
tree trunks.
Let the trees dry overnight. On the next day, take a basic tree color spray
paint and coat each tree trunk. When the paint is dry, take contrasting colors
and lightly brush on a color pattern for each tree. This goes quickly and as
I do a similar style of tree with each batch.
After drying, Woodland Scenics coarse
turf looks good as O gauge foliage. Spray the crown of the tree from all directions
with spray adhesive. By adding more layers of turf, spraying the tree before
each, you can make the tree as open or full as looks right to you.
When I am happy with the tree, get out hair spray to do the tree again. This
time sprinkle on the contrasting color of flocking, usually a lighter color
to simulate leaves reflecting sunlight. To help that illusion, I sprinkle the
flocking only from the top.
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