Well here I am after many weeks of no updates. As the "Ready to run and be displayed by December" deadline loomed closer and life was getting busier, it became important to do some more work on the project rather than blogging about it :-)
Back to proofs of concepts, or this time around, "try stuff to see if it works and if I like it" which proves the concept too.
I'll get the most embarrassing thing out the way first: using flux while soldering, now that I have done it, is as good as they say. I should have been using flux 20 years ago, oh well. Makes for less melted sleepers/ties, a neater finish, a quicker job...
So flux has proved itself as a concept, it is just sad that it took me so long to try it :-(
The next proof was making the elipse of track that would fit on the baseboard and seeing how things would run on it. An elipse rather than a simple circle or an only slightly more complex oval would make for more intriguing visuals with a nearly constantly varying radius. What did I learn from laying the elipse on the flat board and running trains? Yes: my Union Pacific 119 4-4-0 with three 30 foot long Overton coaches looks great on the elipse! It was also the first time she had run so well as she does not run so well over points on the Peco code 55 track of my shelf layout, but the elipse was cheap flex track (probably code 80 or more) with no between the track hazards. My UP 4466 0-6-0 (She started life as some other railroad and number but when the paintjob is finished, UP 4466 she will be) also ran just fine. Not so my 2-8-4 (formerly of the Nickel Plate but being repainted to a UP scheme, not that Union Pacific ever ran Berkshires but this is my railroad!) that had trouble at the minimum radius sections of the elipse that are equivalent to the practical minimum radius for N scale: 9 3/4 inches. Sad but good to know before I raise the track and watch my largest N scale locomotive fall off the trestle bridge!
Another thing I wanted to test before I used the technique and/or product on the actual December project was what I planned to use for the scenery base: plaster bandage coated foam. Having saved some foam from the bin at work and gone back to my local Riot Art and Crafts store (I do regret the day they entered my life so close to my workplace) for some plaster bandage. The foam was not the traditional expanded polystyrene that makes a great mess when you cut it. So a basic hill/mound shape was cut out and taped together out of the foam layers and then I got to work with the plaster bandage. It does require working/rubbing in the water and after it has been laid on the foam shape to get a good effect instead of looking like gauzy cloth with some plaster on it, but that was a good lesson learned on the experimental mound with tunnel rather than on the full display. The photo for this post shows the as yet unpainted and untextured mound with some of the earlier gauzy looking bandage technique.
Anyway, a short post to make up for the length of the last one, not counting the time between drinks :-)
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