Small Highway/Switching Layout

[Trucklover]

Looking great, as usual !

Grin,
Stein

Thanks Stein

Im going to re-work the on-ramp and make it a little less of a grade lol

[steinjr]

Looking great, as usual !

Grin,
Stein

Thanks Stein

Im going to re-work the on-ramp and make it a little less of a grade lol

Whimsical thought - you could possibly do a Mythbuster parody or two on your model: like mounting small "lit" rockets on the roof of a Chevy Impala, put a couple of guys - one with a walrus like mustache (sp?) on the overpass, and model the driverless Impala as just having crashed through the railing and being about to go airborne at the end of the ramp, where the car should have turned to cross over the overpass

Grin,
Stein

[foulrift]

Josh-Sorry but I can't find that article but I think it was in the 2007 issue of Model Railroad planning. Anyway the article was by Chuck Hitchcock and had to do with his use of bridges as view blocks. Bob

[steinjr]

Josh-Sorry but I can't find that article but I think it was in the 2007 issue of Model Railroad planning. Anyway the article was by Chuck Hitchcock and had to do with his use of bridges as view blocks. Bob

Page 91 in MRP 2007 - "Bridges as scene separators". He refers to pictures in the article on his AIDRY (Argentine Industrial District Railway) in the february 2007 Model Railroader.

Then scene most similar to the one Josh is working on is a bridge made by several Rix highway overpass kits, with a ramp up to the bridge on one side, is the one separating Chuck Hitchcock's Freight House zone (furthest counterclockwise on his layout) from his Sinclair zone (lower wall on his layout plan).

Bridge comes out of the wall between two buildings, crosses four RR tracks using three sets of pillars and continues out to layout edge. Inset about an inch from layout edge is a ramp running parallell with the tracks between the tracks and the layout edge, looks about 1.3-1.5 times as long longer than Josh's cardboard placeholder.

Smile,
Stein

[foulrift]

Stein-Thanks for providing the information for Josh on that article.I appreciate it.

[Trucklover]

Whimsical thought - you could possibly do a Mythbuster parody or two on your model: like mounting small "lit" rockets on the roof of a Chevy Impala, put a couple of guys - one with a walrus like mustache (sp?) on the overpass, and model the driverless Impala as just having crashed through the railing and being about to go airborne at the end of the ramp, where the car should have turned to cross over the overpass

Grin,
Stein

That would make for an interesting scene for sure lol

[Trucklover]

Page 91 in MRP 2007 - "Bridges as scene separators". He refers to pictures in the article on his AIDRY (Argentine Industrial District Railway) in the february 2007 Model Railroader.

Then scene most similar to the one Josh is working on is a bridge made by several Rix highway overpass kits, with a ramp up to the bridge on one side, is the one separating Chuck Hitchcock's Freight House zone (furthest counterclockwise on his layout) from his Sinclair zone (lower wall on his layout plan).

Bridge comes out of the wall between two buildings, crosses four RR tracks using three sets of pillars and continues out to layout edge. Inset about an inch from layout edge is a ramp running parallell with the tracks between the tracks and the layout edge, looks about 1.3-1.5 times as long longer than Josh's cardboard placeholder.

Smile,
Stein

Bob and Stein, thank-you very much for all the info on that article Ill have to see if i can get my hands on the articles form Feb. MR 2007
and the MRP from 2007 Thanks again guys, i think i should be able to order back issues hopefully lol

[Trucklover]

I have made a new ramp, just working on the other side of it now. ill post some pics when i get it done. In the meantime:

Layed the first coat of the next section of Highway 10. I also put a second coat on the first section of Highway 10 i layed last night. Next to come is section 3 first coat, section 2 second coat, and section 1 third top coat followed by a tutorial on the WS Smooth-It and how i use it

[Trucklover]

Okay so, Here is the ramp that has been built longer with less of a grade. Its still a bit steep but its better then it was before lol. It's 5' long lol and i will not have enough room to model the off-ramp on the otherside of Washington Street, only the on-ramp will be modeled, the off-ramp will be a partial and keep going as if there was no wall lol

Here are a few pics of the ramp and also some smoothing/filing of the newly layed section of the 10

[Ralph]

This is shaping up to be very interesting Josh! I'm looking forward to more.
Ralph

[Bigsteel]

looks great josh,that grade doesn't look bad at all,there are alot worse around here ! ill keep watchin long as you keep postin pics --josh

[Dan85]

Nice Josh, I'm liking where this layout is going!

[Trucklover]

Ralph, Josh, and Dan, thanks for the comments Im about to post the last of the progress for the night and prolly for this weekend. Weekends are usually dedicated to my girlfriend hehe, and since she has Friday though Monday off from school, i suspect not much work on the layout will be done LOL

[Trucklover]

So i pulled the on-ramp up off the layout one last time, this time to add some support to the inside of the structure before i add the pavement to the top. Im glad i did it, it made it a lot more rigid and really helped it stand up straight and look better. I have not decided what im going to do with the sides of the on-ramp, but im thinking of gluing plastic or card stock "concrete" to it, that should look pretty cool I will also add k-rail barriers along both sides of it all the way down the ramp.

Here is a couple pics



Look up the on-ramp

These next 3 shots show the first coat of the pavement on the ramp. This is just to show that the first coat of the Smooth-It does not have to be perfect at all, its a first rough coat. Once this dries, you can scrap off any raised parts, open the air gaps, and fill in any holes or dips with the second, third and or fourth coat if need be. I am working on getting all the pictures i need for the tutorial on the Smooth-It right now, so bare with me, i still need pictures of the 2nd coat or semi-smooth coat, 3rd coat or smooth coat, and or the 4th coat or touch-up coat. i should have this tutorial up in a few days, like i mentioned in my last post, my weekend is most likely going to be busy with the girlfriend hehe









The picture above shows the smooth coat that was applied to parts of the 1 section of pavement that was layed. This particular area of the first coat still needs 1 more touch up coat after this dries. the rest of section 1 is complete and just needs a coat of paint



Here you can see most of the first section is now complete minus painting

[Trucklover]

I had another thought, and i know this cant be good LOL

On the left side of the layout, im going to curve the Highway into the wall so it disappears. Im not going to model the off-ramp for Washington Street like i had planned, Instead, for the Washington Overpass that crosses the freeway and 2 tracks, i will make a road coming off the overpass towards the wall side and make it wrap around sorta creating a view block for the 2 tracks going into the wall. The road that branches off the overpass will continue and come down on the shelf that is already in place. On this shelf will be the home of a Cement Company and Asphalt Plant.

Ill post some pics as soon as i start this part so you guys can better understand lol