Thises and Thats

 

I've been piddling a away on a few little odds and ends as of late. First and foremost, I took my son up to Day Out with Thomas at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer last weekend. Anytime I go up to Spencer, I stop in at the Little Choo Choo shop. I spied the Conerstone Municipal Water Tower on the shelf and picked it up. The stock colors were spot on perfect so all I did was use some Woodland Scenics dry transfers to add "Gallitzin" to the side of the tank. Now, rather than apply the letter directly, I applied them to some clear decal paper and then put the lettering on just like a regular decal. I then added the "Welcomes You" decal that came with the tower, did some weathering and called it done.

 

Next on my list was this small farm scene located between  Gallitzin and Cassandra. The Farmhouse and Barn are American Model Builders structures. I built these years ago and honestly don't remember the colors I used. The windmill is a Conerstone Van Dyke Farms Windmill. The uprights are painted Floquil "Rust" and the blades are Testors white.

I also went ahead I put in a gravel driveway, turf and some details. All that remains for this area is trees, both background and foreground and ballast. 

 

The last thing I took care of is a project I've been dragging my feet on for a while and that's putting a new decoder into my L1 Mike. Originally I'd used a Digitrax DZ123. It did the job but cause the shell to sit too high. This looked really stupid. After living with it for a while, I pulled the decoder out and stuck it in my Model Power mogul. While in Spencer, I went ahead and picked up a DZ126T. This is the same practically microscopic decoder I used in my Minitrix B6. This decoder is a perfect fit. All that remains is to use some fiber optic to get the headlight working. 

The Digitrax DZ126T is a much better fit

Here Come the Trees!

 

This past week, I planted just a ton of foreground trees in Gallitzin. The effect was immediate.  The deciduous trees quickly transported the layout from high plains Colorado back to Pennsylvania. With the exception of a select few, the trees are all Woodland Scenics. Some were salvaged from my previous layout and some were even salvaged from my old PR&Y layout (link). 

Now, as you know, over by Horseshoe Curve, I chose to use trees made from goldenrod to save money. Well, I think the Woodland Scenics trees look a ton better, so I decided to just cough up the extra saw buck and go with them. Another downside of these trees is the require assembly, messy, tedious assembly. The prescribed meathod is to take the plastic armautres, bend them into the shape of a tree and slather them with Hobby Tack (yet another expensive Woodland Scenics product). Once that's done you dip the armature into the bag of "clump foliage," give it a hake and presto! You have a tree! Or so Woodland Scenics says anyway. More often than not, I pull the tree out of the bag and about 90% of the folliage falls right off.

Anyway, after assembling about three trees using the aforementioned method, I chucked the Hobby Tack and grabbed my can of Elmer's spray adhesive. This was the ticket!  I was able to crank out enough trees to finish Gallitzin in no time at all. Now, all that remains is staining some rocks, adding the power lines and some detailing.

Finished with the ballast and turf at Gallitzin

The title of this post really says it all, doesn't it? As you can see from the photos I also started planting some trees and added an underpass to the eastbound tracks. Said underpass was constructed using part of the base from a Model Power house kit, the girders from an Atlas code 80 through girder bridge, some Plastruct styrene and some Floquil "Grimy Black" paint. The abutments are from Chooch.

Now, all that remains is planting some trees, adding the remaining power lines and some detailing. Hopefully, Gallitzin should be done by week's end. With that, about half the layout will be seniced.

Earthworks Finished at Gallitzin

 

The terrain at Gallitzin is well and truly finished. Now all that remains is to do the roads and the plaster work is done. After that, I have to paint the terrain, turf it, plan some trees and ballast the eastbound tracks. When that's done, it's on to Cassandra!

Lighting up Gallitzin

 

Last night I sucked it up and wired up the remaining building lights in Gallitzin. All told, it wasn't that bad. I must say the results are quite impressive. Now, one problem I consistently find myself running into with these LEDs is they are so bright, the make the  buildings glow. The only real solution is to paint the inside black. 

Anyway, with that out of the way, Gallitzin is one major step closer to being done.

More Structures for Gallitzin

 I finished up a few more structures to round out Gallitzin. First and foremost, we needed a depot. For that I turned to Model Power and their built up station. The first thing I did was pull out the filament bulb and replace it with an LED. Next I painted the walls Floquil "Depot Buff," the roof "Grimy Black," and the trim and doors Polyscale "PRR Tuscan." I also lopped off most of the structure base.

For weathering, I started off with a coat of weather wash. Once that dried, I sprayed on some Dulcote and then some chalks followed by one more coat of Dulcote.

Overall, I think the station turned out quite nice. Granted, it only serves the westbound trains, so I will need something else still for the eastbound tracks.

 Next up, Gallitzin has churches, lots of them. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of N Scale! Can I get an amen? Basically you have a couple of goofy-looking prebuilts or a wood kit from Banchline Trains. Given my experience the latter's "Tower House" kit, I opted for the goofy prebuilt, Bachmann as it turns out.

Out of the box, this kit is fairly lame looking. The walls are slid white and the roof and windows black. And there were the fake-looking bushes painted on the side; those had to go! The first thing I did was attempt to remove the windows and doors so I could spray paint the walls. Unfortunately, no dice, they weren't coming out. So I painted the wall Floquil "Antique White." This presented it's own set of problems as said color is very thin and runny. As such I had to lay on several coats over the course of several days to cover the bushses.

With the walls done, I painted the corner blocks Floquil "Roof Brown" and the windows "Southern Freight Car Red." The roof got, you guessed it, "Grimy Black." After the paint, it was time for weathering. I followed the exact same procedure I followed with the depot so no point in repeating it.The building did turn out a little dingy looking but since it's a white building right next a heavily-traveled main line during steam days, it would be covered with soot and cinders.

The last structure I tackled was a Model Power house kit I had tucked away, "Mr. & Mrs. Diggers" as it turns out. What a name, could you imagin if the Mrs' maiden name was "Gold?"

Anway, one problem I've been having with most of my structures is the LEDs are so bright they make the walls glow. So I started things off by spraying the sided of the wall with some cheap Walmart black paint. Not wanting to use more of my precious and dwindling supply of Floquil paint, I used Rustoleum "Hunter Green" for the walls and Krylon "Meringue" for the windows and doors. I did end up using "Grimy Black" on the roof (don't look so shocked).

As you can see, I also started mockin up the area between the two sets of tracks. Once I'm satisfied with everything, I'll install the lights and start permanentizing things.

More Progress at Gallitzin

This poor couple has broken down in front of the Haunted House. All that's missing is Vincent Price.

Gallitsin Business District looking north.

The gas station is doing a brisk business.

Ballasted track looking towards the Gallitzin Tunnel

Looking west.

Overall view

Wow, where to even begin. I've planted trees, added details, ballasted the westbound tracks, got the business district installed and installed the western portal of Portage Tunnel. All that remains in a relativly small area between the two sets of tracks and then it's time to head west.