Modeling a On30 Gravel Barge

One of the features of my new harbor area of Seal Cove is going to be a gravel barge anchored at the dock for my mining trains with their V tippers to unload. I haven't figured out what the final product to be mined will but I need a barge never the less. Something along the line of this:

At the Amherst Railroad Show I saw an unpainted resin kit for a barge from Frenchman Model Works for around $32. I also saw a laser cut, wooden barge kit from Deerfield River Laser for about the same price.

Trying keep costs down, I figured I try to make one myself. After all the shape of the barge is rather simple. The hardest part was figuring out how to cut out the depression in the middle. I thought about carving the basic shape out of foam but getting that middle cut out will be tricky.

I used a piece of graph paper to come up with my rough dimensions that would fit the area available. This is going to be custom made barge built by the local company. No need to be worried about exact dimensions. I just need something that looks like it makes sense.

In the end I used MDF scraps that I had laying around. The basic body of the barge is layers of MDF with the top thicker layer cut in to four pieces using my table saw and miter saw.

The shapes were then glued together. I then cut an angle in the front and back and sanded it down until it was smooth all around. The MDF keeps a nice smooth finish.

For the inside of the bay I used styrene scored with a paper cutter and then snapped apart. In the photo I'm using an extra piece of styrene to keep pressure on the sides as the glue dries.

Here is a shot after making some brackets out of angled styrene and adding some detail parts I got at the Amherst Train Show.

Unfortunately after finding the first photo in this article I see that I put the details in the wrong place. I'll remove them, paint it and add some more details...be right back.

...here we go...

Now that is a boat load of salt!

Note: MDF is a thirsty material, it soaks up a lot of paint so be sure to use a sealer. I used a spray on lacquer sealer made for wood.

On30 Mining Office

Here is the "final" result of my mining office showing the weathering from the salt process. I say "final" because I can think of a few more details to add (like a bucket for under the water pump). The office has a full interior. I didn't have room for a wood stove. Maybe I'll give it a little electric heat unit. The mining area is going to include some power generation. Plus I'll need to light the interior so all of my interior goodies show.

I build the "stone" foundation using cork tiles. I wrote about the process here.

I'm in the search for a better digital camera!

Example of the "Salt" weathering method for rusty relics

http://www.migproductionsforums.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=3115

Make Your Own Corrugated Roofing

The recipe:

ArtEmboss Aluminium Medium weight embossing sheets.
Evergreen Scale models metal siding sheets in the 6 x 12" size, .040 spacing and .040 thick.

More detail from David D. Free Rails.

Farm Stand Part 3

Update on my Farm Stand project. I found out the over sized skids I used make the whole building too high for the wee folk. I sanded down the skids to bring the whole thing down.

Added signage (notice the poster for the Yee Haw County Fair with Earl the Singing Chicken and the poster for a Tent Revival) and some veggies. I'll still be adding a lot more veggies.

Moveable Road Side Stand - O Scale - Part 2

Moving along...

I'm using 2x4's and coffee stirrers. The beams on the bottom are rather over sized but that's old barn beams Farmer Joe had laying around.

I'm covering the roof with corrugated metal.

Now to find/make some signs. Still have to make a door for the back.

Movable Road Side Stand - O Scale

Last summer my 10 year old son wanted to sell some extra veggies at the end of our driveway. I looked around on the web for some plans for a farm stand and I found these plans from 1949 for a Movable Roadside Stand from the USDA. You can probably ask your local agricultural department for these plans.

I never made a full size version but I did think it would make a neat model for my On30 layout. The plans are actually in 1/2 scale or O scale. But unfortunately my print out was smaller than actual size. So I had to print out a scale ruler and take it from there.

For a little building this model actually has a lot of parts to it but fortunately there are no windows to deal with.

Resources:

Movable RoadSide Stand Plans
http://msucares.com/pubs/plans/5699.pdf

Building and Construction Plans from MSU
http://msucares.com/pubs/plans

Farm Building Plans from Colorado State Extention:
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/blueprints/farmbuildings.html

Peco 0n30

For On30 track there are basically four options. One take Atlas flex track and cut every other tie out. This makes it tough to use Atlas switches. Second you can hand lay track. Third use Micro Engineering On30 Flex Track. This track looks good, has a lighter rail and can be orders pre-weathered. The flex track itself kind of stays bent when you bend it which can be good and bad. Its hard to unbend but if you bend it right the first time it stays put. The fourth option is Peco On30 flex track and On30 Electro Frog switches. The Peco On30 is also known as crazy track, it is code 100 and has short fat ties with random lengths(Micro Engineering track is code 80 I believe and has long skinny ties).

I've been using the Peco track and switches the mountainous side of my layout. On the lower part I'm using the Peco switches with Blue Point manual turnout controls. I had them from my last layout and I wanted this lower area for kids to be able to help out with the controls. I can't say that using the Peco switches with the Blue Points is a good idea. You have to modify the switches by taking out the spring so the Blue Points can move the turnouts.

One good thing about the Blue Points is that they provide contacts for frog power routing and for indicator lights. I also used on LIT On30 switch on the lower level which works better than the Peco but looks more like the Micro Engineering track. I think I might end up using Micro Engineering rail on the other side of my layout with a few LIT switches I have from my last layout. I think I'll also use slow motion Tortoise motors because I think at this point I'm convinced that the Blue Point controls after buying all the parts are about the same price.

On the top of my mountain area I have two hard to reach switches. I'm using the Peco On30 switches here. One is a turn around loop that I'm auto reversing the power using the DigiTrack AR1 auto reversing circuit. This is a very simple device and its only about $25. I have on the turntable at the loco service area also.

I automated the reversing turnout using and automatic circuit that is triggered by infrared reflection. When a train approaches the switch, it triggers automatically.

One major boo boo on my part was installing the upper switches with out thinking about frog polarity. I used Peco PL-10 switch motors and they don't come with any accessory contacts. Out of the package you can't attach indicator lights or change the polarity. You have to purchase their PL-13 switch to the bottom and wire it to control your LED indicators or use it to change the frog polarity. The pin of the motor extends upward (to move the turnout points) and downward (allowing it to move the PL-13 switch).

On30 Trestles

The worst part of building a model train layout is all of the work that needs to be done prior to the running of your trains. If you are like me you can't wait to get your trains running on at least on part of the track. I enjoy having my trains run around while I work on parts of the layout.

So the only thing stopping me from getting my trains to run around the lower loop is trestle building. For the major trestle on the lower layout I used this free O Scale trestle template.

http://on30annual.com/extra/on30_extra_washbasinbridge.php

I printed out the template and glued it to a spare piece of plywood. I then glued some bits of scrap dowels down to hold the pieces in. Next I started assembling the parts using 1/4 inch square dowels from Home Depot and craft sticks. I found it to be lots of fun! It took many nights of work but it certainly is a project anyone can try.

The only thing left on my first tresle is the NBW (nut, bolt, washer) castings I ordered from Grandt Line.

Model: Convert a On30 Gas Mech to Gn15

Instructions

Model: My Mod of the Gas Mech

Here is my modification of the Bachmann On30 Side Rod Gas Mech so far. Not everything is glued in place yet and I have a lot more of detailing planned - driver, sun screen in the back, clip board, tools, driver etc.

I removed the cab. Cut away most of the cabin just leaving the bottom panels. On the roof I filed off the ridges and plan to add a metal roof. The new roof supports are painted plastic lollipop sticks. - EMF