Little Touches I

Great road trip Labor Day weekend to Fleetwood, NC, and Roanoke, VA, with BIL and nephew to see VA Transportation Museum, O. Winston Link Museum, two model train shops, and the NC Creeper (the part of the Norfolk and Western that went into NC down to Todd for the timber/lumber there).

Items at the shops (model train, that is) spurred efforts to add a few detail touches for the Blacktop Crossing.

Found some PAINTED assorted junk (Woodland Scenics).  Had tried to paint a few castings on hand earlier, but found it very tedious.  Today, one of the granddaughters was kind enough to get a good start on the unpainted castings while staying in Rock Hill to escape Dorian in Charleston.

DIL took time to encourage Granddaughter and created two front windows for the small rural church.  Also cut out the foundation but hesitated to install it.  I was out in the Miata allowing older daughter to practice stick shifting!   Windows look great:

In the meantime, it became apparent that the location for the Rural Church was a little bit out of plumb.  Will use the foundation to help with that some (just cutting a few stones here and there), but figured that would not correct the whole problem.  Added a bit of Sculptamold over cork in hopes of improving the orientation.  Continued adding "earth" a little bit down the mill hill to provide parking for church service.  Hope to paint it first thing tomorrow with possibility of granddaughters returning.  Maybe we can place the church and start a little scenicking around the area.

Back to Fleetwood, my BIL had HO scale train from the '80's that he was going to pass along to his son.  I was offered any rail cars I needed.  Didn't feel I should run off with too many, so picked up a gondola with a pre-1950 build date.  Swapped out horn for Kadee couplers and added just a little weathering when I got back home.

Before leaving for the road trip, I had painted a small chimney for the crossing tower with flat black and rust Testor's paint.  Stuck the chimney in place today; even let a little "soot spill" down the roof.  Now maybe I need to do that with the team track shack and the woodyard shack. . . .

Hoping to have Little Touches II after tomorrow.  Let's see where the assorted junk and recently painted junk ends up.

Not Exactly Blacktop Crossing

Historic Rock Hill has "fallen into" an N scale model of the city in 1953 -- July 17th or maybe it was July 24.  In any case, it was a Wednesday afternoon.  The modeler didn't want a lot of people on the streets to model.  For those too young to know, in 1953 banks and most businesses closed on Wednesday afternoon.  The banks, supposedly to balance the books midweek; but most bankers seemed to like to play golf Wednesday afternoon. . . .

Anyway, the model if a fairly accurate representation of downtown Rock Hill, much more so than Blacktop Crossing.  It's a layout that's about 5 feet by 13 feet.  I helped move it from the former owner and modeler to Historic Rock Hill's White Home for display beginning in November.

We installed a polycarbonate protective screen around the front of the layout.

Took it off of the tables and constructed gusseted supports so the wiring underneath was accessible.

And added a skirt to cover the supports.

Currently working on cleaning the tracks and loco wheels, finding out which switch works which turnout, and determining the wiring for the three DC transformers.

Great layout!

Crossing Tower

Started fabrication of a crossing tower while visiting SIL in Lakeland, FL:

Was not pleased with the look of the "white side" of the stairway/deck support pieces so used Word to rotate the image and printed on copy paper to avoid thickness. That helped.  And allowed the crossing tower to be finished.  Then decided that cardstock supports were too flimsy.  Cut plastic "6X6" to fit and added a little color.

That seemed to help the situation.

Granddaughter had helped with 6X6's and chose placement on layout.  Not permanent at this time since the section needs more scenicking:

Confirmed that Rock Hill had crossing tower -- Sanborn Insurance maps and picture document "Watchman Ho" on White and Black Streets but have only found photo for Main Street!

Room for the Rural Church

Since the Clever Bros Rural Church was a bit larger than I had anticipated, a little extra "earth" was needed to make room.

Used pink foam insulation to get some earth going:

Just glued it down with white glue and tried to contour a bit mostly with a welding wire brush.

Found some Sculptamold in Charleston while visiting with The Wife for a granddaughter's ballet and stopped into an art store.  Everybody seems to rave about it.  Tried to used same dark brown paint as used with "ground goop" but color turned out a bit lighter.

No problem; needs to be covered with ground foam and/or static grass, anyway.  Added some "local" boulders just because I could. . . .

More room for church, now, but still looks a bit large!

Have not added the Clever Bros foundation, yet.  With the cardstock foundation or maybe one of "local" boulders, the church will be leveled up somewhat.  Will have to call that progress!

Fauna of Blacktop Crossing

Well, not only do we get suggestions from the grandchildren, but even the children, too!

Recently, the trail camera caught a new resident of our "prototype" neighborhood:

So, now the child (who is the mother of three) decides that the Blacktop Crossing should also have a new arrival.  Sorry about the size of the spots; they seemed a bit large so a few more small spots were added using a straight pin for application of white paint.

Scenery still needs some work on the forest floor, but the fawn will be available when completed.

"Little" Church

Well, the granddaughters suggested any small, Southern town needed a little, wooden church -- a church of some sort, anyway.  So, Clever Bros just came out with a Rural Church that would seem to fit the bill.

Took the weekend visit to in-laws in Lakeland to put the cardstock kit together.  I must admit two things:
1.  The church is a bit larger than anticipated
2.  The construction leaves a bit to be desired!  Couldn't seem to keep everything square. . . .

From a distance and with the preacher carrying on in front, it looks like what's needed.  Still wondering about windows on the front of the church -- maybe a small one on each side, somewhat high on the wall, like maybe there are steps going up to balcony seating.

Some scenery work will be needed to fit the church into the mill village.  The blacktop road can be seen in the background.  With it somewhat permanently installed, it allows some encroachment that might give the church a little better foundation.  Some work will be required.

Blacktop Highway

So, if it's a Blacktop Crossing, it must have a blacktop highway.  The asphalt shingles have been cut for quite some time, but just recently some "weathering" and "elevating" has been completed.

Tried diluting medium gray paint to produce a wash to age the roadway.  That didn't look too good, so just used full strength with some dry brushing to distribute over the road but leave a darker center on each lane.  That was a bit better:

Wash on right, full strength with dry brushing on left.

Then used a Sharpee to add some tar strips and white paint to add center line.  A 1948 federal traffic signage brochure suggested 15 feed of white stripe with 25 feet between stripes.

Sort of free-handed the railroad crossing warning.  Not the best, but cheap!

Added two layers of cork to give the roadway some elevation and maybe allow for a ditch along the road.  Glued it all to layout.  Used handy nut and bolt containers to weight down overnight.

Will probably connect dashes on curve to make a solid line there.  Will need to do a little more work where the pieces join together -- after glue dries a bit.