Finished Model Power's City Substation Kit, Again

I already built this kit, or more correctly, half of it, back in 2015 (link). I figured the other half would be a good fit for Johnstown. In order to differentiate it from its sibling in Gallitzin, I decided to paint this one. After Supperior Paper, this kit was blessedly simple and went together in about ten minutes.

For the base, I used Testor's Flat Light Aircraft Grey and for the transformer and other stuff, I use Tamiya Metallic Silver. After assembly, I hit the entire structure with a coat of weather wash and sprayed it with Dulcote. I opted not to bother with chalks this time around.

Since the kit doesn't include enough fencing to enclose both sub stations, I used some Gold Medal Models barbed wire fencing to do the job. Frankly it looks a lot better than the supplied fencing and the barbed wire should deter any N Scale copper thieves.

While I was at it, I also assembled a pair of Rix Early Highway Overpass kits. They carry Main Street in Gallitzin over the eastbound tracks just before the west portal of Portage Tunnel. Now Gallitzin's business district has a more direct rout to the great beyond past the edge of the layout.

The bridge ended up being longer than needed and hangs off the edge of the layout. Originally, I thought I would cut it down to end at the peir, which sits at the edge. But I think it actually looks better this way. I guess all I need now are some N Scale models of a red Ford Pinto and the Bluesmobile.

Finished Cornerstone's Superior Paper

Wow, it took me nearly a month, but Superior Paper is finally finished. If you've been following along on Facebook, you'll know this kit had become something of a knock-down drag-out fight to complete. Truth be told, this is a kit I've been wanting to include on a layout for a long time. When the box from Trainworld finally arrived on my doorstep back in December, I could hardly contain my excitement. Then opened up the box and had one hell of an "oh shit" moment. I thought this would be a simple four walls and a roof-type kit and boy was I every wrong, because there most have been over a million pieces in that box!

Not only were there lots and lots of little pieces, but they all required paint! I ended up studying the instructions a bit and opted to paint some parts before assembly and some parts after. For main mail (the brick building) I used Floquil Boxcar Red for the walls and Testors Flat Light Aircraft Grey for the foundations, Floquil Grimy Black for the roof, either Tamiya or Testors Silver for the roof details and doors and some cheap Wal Mart spray paint for the tanks.

The Kraft Mill (The tall Yellow Structure) is where things started getting hairy. The walls looked good in there stock colors but the foundation needed paint. So I carefully masked the bottom of each wall and sprayed on some Flat Light Aircraft Grey, which unfortunately bled under the tape. I tired to clean up the mess but soon realized I would have to paint the entire building. Frustrating for sure, but I carried on. I used Floquil Depot Buff, which was close enough to original color of the walls. Again, it was Grimy Black for the roofs.

Things took a turn for the worse when it came time to paint the Kraft Mill smoke stacks. The box shows them painted white with red strips to warn aircraft. I also remembered reading on Spookshow's web site (Link) of his experience building this particular kit. His advice on painting the smoke stacks was to spray on your base color, allow it to dry for 24 hours, apply the masking tape and spray on another coat of base color to seal the tape. You then wait another 24 hours to apply the top coat.

So I started by spraying the smoke stacks with some red Wal Mart spray paint, and allowed it to dry over night before applying the tape. I put on another coat, waited another 24 hours and sprayed on a coat of white Wal Mart spray paint. And that's when the trouble started. The white paint started crackling and flaking off! I had to set the stacks aside I was was headed down to my parent's house near Hilton Head for Christmas. When I got back, I decided to take the cowards' way out and paint the stacks black.

I sanded off most of the white and red paint and sprayed on a coat of black. That ended up crackling even worse!  By now I was ready to throw the smoke stacks on the ground and spend a good long time stomping on them whilst laughing psychotically enough to make Bellatrix Lestrange back away slowly! But instead I threw them into some 91% isopropyl alcohol and stipped off all the paint and started over again.

The second time around, the red paint kept bleeding through. so I bought me some white automotive primer. I strayed the stacks from top to bottom. Since the primer was already the right color, I didn't bother with another coat and called it done.

With the building finally assembled, I turned my attention to weathering. I coated everything with weather wash, applied the decals and then a coat of Dulcote. Next came the chalks and another round of Dulcote.

I have one more building to assemble for the Johnstown area, an electrical substation and then I can move on to the roads and other scenery. Since I already modeled one town, Gallitzin, in it's entirety,  Johnstown will largely focus on the industrial areas with a bit of Main Street creeping in around the periphery.

Finished Cornerstone's Reefer Icing Platform and Ice House and Started the Johnstown Industrial Track

 

The title kind of says it all doesn't it?  The Cornerstone Ice House and Icing platform is a pretty simle kit and took maybe half and hour to put together. I went with Krylon "Meringue" for the walls, Floquil "Roof Brown" for the doors and wood work and Floquil "Grimy Black" for the roofs.

The ice house itself has no windows, so there was no need for lighting. However, the guys on the platform would probably want to see what they're doing at night, so I installed a pair of LEDs under the platform roof.

Now, in case you're wondering what this structure is used for, here's a little history lesson. Back in the days before mechanical refrigeration, reefers had  bunker at each end of the car that was packed with ice, loaded through hatches on the roof. Periodically, the cars would have to be re-iced. This will give the crew of the Johnstown Local something more to do.

 

Work has also begun on the Johnstown Industrial Track. It forks off the inside loop just after the crossover at the beginning of Johnstown. It serves the aforementioned ice house, Water Street Freight Terminal and will serve Superior Paper. Between this, the yard and the South Fork Branch, The west end of the layout should keep several crews busy for a while.

Illumination!

I took on yet another project I've been dreading, lighting the buildings in the along the wall section from Cassandra to Johnstown. Longtime readers of this blog know of my distaste for wiring, so you'll understand the foot dragging.

In terms of procedure, there's nothing special to report here, just drill the hole, feed the wires and hook them up. All the lighting is LED.

In other news, I've ordered a bunch of flex track and turnouts for Johnstown, so I'll hopefully get going on that by the end of the week. I realized I had room for one more big industry, so I decided to include a kit I'e always wanted but never had room for, Cornerstone's "Superior Paper."

Making a Scene in Johnstown

 

This afternoon, I got lucky and both kids went down for their naps at the same time, leaving me a nice chunk of modeling time. In that time, I decided to finish the beginning of Johnstown. The fist thing I did was stain the rocks (I painted the mountains the previous night). Once that was done, I applied the lichen.

The the mountains themselves finished, I ballasted the main lines up to the crossovers and the short remaining section of the South Fork Branch. The latter is now ballasted for its entire length. I finished things off by adding some turf and talus to the bases of the mountains. Not bad for two hours.

I supposed my next step is to start finalizing the track work in Johnstown and finishing the scenery.

Phone System Upgrade, Scenery and the V&R Railroad

With summer over and the craziness of Thanksgiving behind us, I finally felt ready to get back to work on the layout. I know I haven't been posting nearly as frequently as I used to. Part of the reason is the demands of having a two-year-old and an infant. On top of that, I decided to participate in NaNoWriMo this year and as such spent all of my spare time in November writing. But now, I'm finally back in the saddle.

The first thing I did was upgrade the phone system. As mentioned previously, you could pick up two phones and talk but there was no way to make them ring. To solve that problem, I ordered a device called a Private Branch Exchange or PBX. I got it for about $60 off Amazon. It allows you to connect up to eight phones. Now you pick up the phone, dial the extension you want and the phone rings. If you're looking for an inexpensive way to add a phone system to the layout, this is the way to go.

Another project I'd been dragging my feet on is building the mountains at the entrance to Johnstown. Plaster is a lot of work, I just didn't feel like doing it. I finally sucked it up and did it. I then used patching plaster to create rock outcroppings.Now the mountains need paint and the rocks need stain. A friend of mine (Hi Jess!) told me I should "Bob Ross it up," so in that spirit I'll "put some happy lichen trees" on there. Once all that's done, I'll ballast the track.

 

One more reason I've not made much progress on the Pittsburgh Division is, it's no longer the only layout in the train room. I brought some of my old O-Gauge equipment back from my parents house and whipped up the V&R railroad. It's name for my kids, Victor and Rosalie. 

The layout consists of two loops of Lionel tubular track. The curves on the outer loop are O-54 and the O-31 on the inner. The O-54 is great for my son whose idea of operation is to hurtle the trains around at top speed. The train on the outer loop and can hold the rails while the train on the inside usually goes careening off.

Scenery was dead simple, a few cotton snow blankets from the dollar store, some snow trees and ceramic houses I had laying around and that was it. Right now the layout is on the floor, which works  for my kids at the moment, but ultimately, I'd like to mount it on plywood. 

So that's all for this update. I'n the coming weeks, I'll be building a Cornerstone Ice House and laying more track in Johnstown. Stay tuned.

2016-17 Annual Progress Report

It's that time of year again folks when I regal you with the past year's accomplishments. It's hard to believe I've been at it four years ago, and even harder to believe the layout is now, mostly seniced. But there's still a long way to go.

Before I dive into the recap of the past year, I'll drop the bombshell. I've cut the number eras on the layout from four to just two. Originally, I planned to have a fleet of 1956 Pennsy equipment, a fleet of 1996 Conrail equipment and a fleet of contemporary Norfolk Southern equipment. I decided to add Penn Central to the mix as well. Then I went and switched to DCC and bought some great, road-specific PRR power. As a result the other equipment largely became dust collectors.

While the NS fleet largely accepts drop in decoders, the same could not be said of Conrail and PC. Those fleets required decoders that are both difficult to install and quite costly, in some cases costing more than I paid for the locomotive. With that in mind, the Conrail fleet went on eBay. Now onto the progress report and goals for the upcoming season!

Track: 100% Complete to original plan. However, extensions are planned, more on this later.

Wiring: 99% of original track wired. I still haven't done the engine yard.

DCC Conversion: System install 100% complete, PRR Fleet 100% complete, Conrail and PC fleets: Sold, moot point, NS Fleet: 60% complete.

Last year's goal was to scenic from Cassandra to Johnstown. I managed to not only do that but Made some inroads into Johnstown itself. I also set a goal of working on operations. To that end, I've created printable Form 19s for time table and train order operation. I've also installed a phone system on the layout.

That brings us to this year's goals. I've come to the realization the layout lacks sufficient staging for operation. So, it's time to expand! I will be adding a new staging area at each end of the layout. One will represent Pittsburgh, the other, Enola (Harrisburg). This will free up the existing yards for switching and classification work.

I'm also planning to add some industries in Johnstown and am planning to finish scenicing it. Also on the scenery front, I've been going back over other parts of the layout doing touch-up. I want this layout to grace the pages of Model Railroader some day and in its current state, that just ain't going to happen.

We'll see how this shakes out. My enthusiasm for working on the layout has been lacking lately. Most years by he time summer is over, I'm ready to get back to work. But this year, not so much. For one thing, I have a new baby, and she saps most of my time and energy. Secondly, with most of the layout sceniced now, I'm getting to where I spend most of my time running the trains and enjoying the fruits of my labors. Hopefully when I get into the fall some more, I can dive back in.