Description

by Peter Pfotenhauer

Well, I did get the module to Richmond for the uNCoNveNtioN. I was shocked to see it show up in an issue of the NTRAK Newsletter, and labeled as a desert scene no less. Not enough trees I guess, although I spent the better part of several hours on Saturday at Richmond drilling holes in my scenery (When no trains were present of course), and planting trees. I have added even more since August. I now have over 100 trees on the module, and need 100 more. They are a combination of styles: Woodland Scenics Pines, SuperTrees from Scenic Express, and Forest in a Flash Evergreens. 

I had no ballast on the module at Richmond, just in case the wiring was not ok and in case I had to rip out the bridge. Luckily, all was ok and now John’s Lab ballast stabilizes the ties on the Micro Engineering code 70 track. I went with code 70 in deference to the rigors of modular life. The track ends blend back to short pieces of Atlas track to match up with the joiner tracks. I do still need to add the code 55 guard rails on the bridge flex track. 

The scenery base is a mix of plaster gauze over a styrofoam forms and Geodesic Scenery from Bragdon Enterprises. The latter is a piece of cake to use, and so light that a module made of nothing else could be a frisbee if need be. The rocks are small Hydrocal castings, as well as several large castings from a resin called cast satin, also made by Bragdon Enterprises. The Cast Satin is a spectacular product. If you have ever basked using a cake mix, you can easily make amazing castings with this stuff. It colors easily with tube acrylics; after a base coat and a little dry-brushing, the rocks really pop out. The large talus slope is all Woodland Scenics talus rock with a LARGE quantity of white glue squirted in. The river banks are New River Gorge granite, courtesy of Matt Schaeffer and Keith Holzapfel. 

The river has a plaster streambed that I painted and then covered in gloss medium. Not wanting to be associated with anything about the river other than the banks, Keith said of my initial attempt at coloring the water, “Looked like toxic waste spilled into the creek.” Not having anyone from EPA handy, I enlisted advice from Bernie Kempinski. Well, actually he just sang out, “Paint it black!”  Last week I did just that, and guess what - it worked, although I added a few other touches. After I painted the entire riverbed flat black, I dry-brushed in some tan and light brown to represent shallow areas near shore. Much better already, and that was before the new coat of gloss medium. After I slopped that on liberally, I put down a coat of clear silicon caulk. I liked this water thing more and more. I finished the river off with dry-brushed white in the areas of rapids and on all the 8 waterfalls in the canyon. One last coat of gloss medium and the stream is now ready for canoeists and fly fishermen (my other hobbies). 

The river is spanned by a 24 inch long (320 scale foot) combination deck plate and truss span. The piers are from Micro Engineering’s Steel Trestle. I cut them to length after the scenery was in place, and slipped trestle footings from Fine N Scale under each leg. The bridge has three40 foot plate girders and one 80 foot plate girder as approaches to a center span I kit-bashed by lengthening an Atlas deck truss bridge. Abutments are from Woodland Scenics, and the whole thing hasn’t collapsed yet despite heavy traffic during train shows. 

Now after two shows, the last being at Chantilly for Greenberg yesterday, I am happy with the module, despite the logging that occurred on the module during transport. I need to add a few more details to the right of way, then finish the skyboard. Now I have a module I can take to shows where One Track is present, and I can contribute more than my setup efforts to the club.