Forced Perspective 23FEB14

Hanging Out with Model Railroaders

One of the great things about model railroading is sharing your enthusiasm with other modelers. Rail fans tend to have a certain personality that lends itself to comraderie. In order to get a model railroad into operation, a person has to have imagination and creativity. Model railroaders can set goals and do the work required to see their dreams come to reality. Almost all model railroaders also have a playfulness about them and a sense of humor. These things, combined with an interest in history, industrial activities and trains in general tend to make railroad people fun to be with.

Big Trees

Dick Kilday is one of those delightful model railroaders who are thought-provoking and interesting. You've probably seen Dick giving his tree clinics at the Narrow Gauge Conventions or at other model railroad meets. I'd like to talk Dick into doing a shared blog on his incredibly realistic trees. After you've made a tree following his methods, you will end up wondering if you have to water it once it is installed on a layout. In this view above, he is holding an NCE Power Cab during some experimental operation on my layout.

Forced Perspective

One of the things that we got to talk about in our visit was the concept of creating the illusion of depth. How can you create the illusion of miles on a board that is only a couple of feet deep?

Put the Big Buildings in Front

No matter what the scale, when the big buildings are closer to the viewer and the buildings get smaller toward the rear of the scene, the distance to the background will seem greater. I conducted this imagineering experiment to prove this point with the layout of buildings on my HO model of the Denver and Rio Grande dual-gauge in Salida, Colorado.

The white building, closest to the camera, is a tall building with a false front. It is the Wickenburg, Arizona Telegraph Office by Bollinger Edgarly Scale Trains. From this view the Telegraph Office seems to tower over the other buildings.

In the middle distance is a Kibri log cabin that I modified with HO True Wood Rustic Shake Shingles by Builders in Scale. European plastic kits tend to be smaller than HO scale size. In fact, I put Musket Miniatures children that I had painted on the porch and for the Kibri kit, the children are perfectly sized for adults. So, this less-than-HO building is a good far-away building.

Put the Tiny Buildings in the Back

Just or fun, on top of the mountain, I placed an N scale false front building. It's only a couple of feet back, but it seems very far away because it is a smaller scale.

Converging Lines

To further add depth to the scene I have used converging lines to draw your eye to the rear of the scene. Particularly the roof lines tend to point to the mountain in the back. This gives a feeling of being pulled into the scene. In fact, when you first looked at this photograph, your eye probably went to the mountain before it saw the Denver and Rio Grande narrow gauge Class 70 Consolidation by Blackstone.

Setting the Course for the Stream and Background Scenery 20FEB14

Creative Use of Roadbed

Just because it says "roadbed" doesn't mean the Woodland Scenics product has to be used just as roadbed. Anytime a level wall or foundation is required, the flexible foam roadbed is ideal for creating shapes on a model railroad.

In these views, I am providing the walls to form the South Branch of the Arkansas River as it goes through the territory served by the Monarch Branch of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. The foam roadbed provides the support structure for the edge of the deep cutting stream and it also will provide support for the towns of Monarch and Garfield.

Foundation for the Foundation

Since I would like to use switch machines to control the HOn3 turnouts around Monarch and Garfield, I will place a sheet of plywood over the top of the oval-ish area, supported by the foam roadbed.

Just the Right Weight

Books are a good way to weigh down the foam roadbed to ensure that the glue sets with the foam as level as possible. I put wax paper between the foam roadbed and the books to prevent any contact between the Elmer's White Glue and the books.

I prefer using Elmer's White Glue because there is at least a half-hour or so that things can be adjusted. In the overhead shot, you can see the long path of the South Branch of the Arkansas River, which is a critical feature of the Monarch Branch.

Adding Rock Castings to the South Branch of the Arkansas River Model 9FEB14

Cutting Mountains in Minutes Castings

Mountains in Minutes castings are still available in some places, like Gilbert's Hobbies in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. They are getting a little hard to come by, but an internet search turned up the Flexi-Rock castings that used to be made by I.S.L.E. Laboratories are now offered by Scenic Express. I like these castings. They are good generic rocks that can be cut apart or used in big pieces to create mountain details. The "Royal Gorge" casting is excellent for use on Colorado model railroads.

Coping with Cutting

I usually use a coping saw to cut out the sections that I would like to use. A coping saw allows me to do an accurate cut without too much effort. It is a flexible and inexpensive tool.

With a long cutting surface the blade can be turned in different directions to cut out the pieces. There is very little waste and the Mountains in Minutes castings are roughed out. The castings still need to be trimmed for an exact fit.

Making Room for the Castings

An X-Acto #5 knife is a good tool for cutting and shaping the styrofoam, especially with a chisel blade. The large handle of the #5 knife allows the pressure necessary to affect the cuts.

When fitting the Mountains in Minutes castings, some sanding will probably need to be done, especially if you are lining the edges of a mountain stream. I use 3-M sanding blocks for a lot of this kind of work. They come in different grits and it is good to have several on hand for model railroad projects. I hold the sanding block with one on the table and rub the bottom of the casting across the block. This will give a level bottom. It does not have to be perfect. The bank will be filled in with Arizona Rock and Mineral sand and gravel material, so the edges just need to be somewhat level. 

Checking How the Castings Go Together

I check the size as I go to ensure that the castings will fit well and not obstruct the train movement.

I interlocked the pieces and test fit them. I played with placing some of the extra castings on the outside of the curved roadbed to see what the river course would look like. Notice that - as on real streams- the watercourse broadens as it leaves the confines of the canyon. In this case, this add to the apparent length of the stream with the converging lines of forced perspective.

The Renaissance Tool of Perspective

Imagine a vanishing point about a foot past where stream turns to come out of the canyon. This is where the converging lines of the river bank would meet. This is a tool of the artist who paints on canvas to give the appearance of depth to a scene. Since a modeler can work with three dimensions in space, using forced perspective creates an additional illusion of a deeper scene. 

This overhead shot shows the process of putting together the elements of the canyon and the railroad so that they will work together to draw the viewer into the illusion. Next steps including adding a grade to the stream up the canyon and working with various materials to smooth the bottom and edges of the stream.

Cutting into Woodland Scenics Foam for a Stream

It is fun to experiment with what a model railroad is going to look like by laying out the pieces as parts of the layout come together. I use Tru-Scale roadbed from Trout Creek Engineering on top of the Woodland Scenics foam risers and inclines to create my mountain narrow gauge layout. That is a good combination for hand laid track or flex track.

While constructing the switchbacks for the HOn3 Monarch Branch of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, I noticed that the switchbacks were parallel and close together. I set up an early-version K-27 to see what things looked like. The lines wouldn't be as exciting as they looked when I drew out the plan on paper. Something needed to be added, but I had already glued down the Woodland Scenics foam for support for the trackage.

The South Branch of the Arkansas River is a significant feature of the Monarch Branch. It could be added, but would require some surgery. I took a marker pen and roughed out where I thought the watercourse should go. I also used a marker to outline the Tru-Scale roadbed around the 20" radius curve. That would make for continuity over the stream after I built the bridge.

Cutting out the Woodland Scenics foam was fast and easy with a Zona Saw. A flat-bladed wall board tool acted as a thin chisel to separate the previously glued-down foam from the plywood table. 

On the two inch foam risers, a little assist was needed from a hammer with gentle taps to separate the foam from the plywood.

After a some clean-up with a sanding block, most traces of the glue were removed and you could hardly tell that the roadbed had been there.

The course of the South Branch of the Arkansas river was starting to appear. Next, there should be some shaping to the stream bottom.

Painting a Denver and Rio Grande Narrow Gauge Caboose - Part 1

This video is the first one in a series on how to prep, prime, paint and letter a Colorado narrow gauge brass caboose. This is a Pacific Fast Mail caboose manufactured in Japan, probably in the early 1960's. United started making these in 1959 and continued the manufacturing runs for about ten years. We will be adding the Denver and Rio Grande light box on top of the caboose and aiming for a date in the early years of the twentieth century.

Tommy Gilbert is a world-renowned model painter and runs Gilbert's Hobbies in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania - http://www.gettysburghobbies.com

Blackstone Models New C-70 D&RG Consolidation

Yesterday, I got the phone call from Tommy Gilbert of Gilbert's Hobbies - http://www.gettysburghobbies.com - that the Blackstone Models D&RG C-70 Consolidation came in. I have been waiting for this model since it was announced.

The version that Blackstone produced is a model of a WWI era narrow gauge locomotive of the type that dominated Colorado narrow gauge from the 1880s until well into the twentieth century. The 2-8-0 locomotive hustled freight and passenger trains out of Salida, Colorado in all directions, including the Monarch Branch, which is the center point of the model railroad that I am building.

When I came in the shop, Tommy had it ready for me. He's changing the configuration of the shop, so his narrow gauge test track is being moved. But, that's okay. Blackstone packs in the locomotive so well that once it is out of the box, it's easier for it to stay out.

I picked out some Polly Scale Paints, a new palette knife, some styrene strips and a Woodland Scenics styrofoam block and I was ready to take a much needed venture into model railroad land at my home - even if only for a little while. 

Unpacking the locomotive carefully, I set it up on some BK Enterprises' ties that I had glued down, but hadn't gotten a chance to ballast and lay rails on. You can see the scratch built trestle to the right of the locomotive starting to come to life. Behind the C-70, the tiny town of Garfield, Colorado is going through an experimental arrangement. On the left is an auxiliary building from the Grandt Line 10 Stamp Mill kit - East Terrible Mill and Mining, customized to be a blacksmith's shop. To the right is the Campbell Scale Models Bunk House "B" which should be on everyone's HO layout.

Here are views of D&RG 401 and D&RGW 347, to give a comparison of the C-70 to the previously released C-19. In the 1920s, there were some phases of reorganization, rebuilding and reclassification. The C-70s became classified C-19 and were renumbered in the process. So, these two photo's represent two sequential eras. It is quite likely that in the mid-1920s, one could see mixed paint schemes as the Denver and Rio Grande was reorganized into the Denver and Rio Grande Western.

I am very pleased with the level of detail on the 401. I have a Westside 1903 K-27 that Tommy will be painting for me. We talked about what scheme that the 1903 K-27 Mikado (2-8-2) should have. Should it match the 401?

There has been a great deal of discussion on the internet about what color that boiler jackets were during this era. There are no color photographs of what the early twentieth century locomotives looked like on the Denver and Rio Grande. So, most discussion centers on a few lines of references in shop instructions and letters from the early twentieth century. Tommy and I think that the boiler jacket would have been a lighter color - maybe green or greenish blue. That assumption comes from the use of Russian Iron.

Russian Iron was imported from Russia and was a high-quality iron that surpassed American technology at the time. American iron before 1900 had varying degrees of quality. But, the Russians had developed a special sheet iron that worked well on boiler jackets. The color was probably lighter than black. Tommy believes that the color was a little lighter than the Pennsylvania Railroad Brunswick Green.

In a posting on UtahRails, the author talks about "Dark Green Locomotive Enamel" that could have been used as late as 1940 to paint D&RGW boilers. This posting is interesting as it gives a lot of detail about the possible green coloring of Rio Grande boiler jackets.

It makes me wonder if the 401 should have a dark green boiler jacket, also. Blackstone Models is located in Durango, Colorado. Since they are at one of the centers of the narrow gauge universe, I have to give them a degree of trust for their color choice for the 401.

But, I think Tommy will be putting a dark green color on the boiler jacket of the 1903 K-27, which will look good - and has a good chance of being very accurate. After the weathering is applied, it should be a star model. Tommy Gilbert is one of the best professional model railroad painters in America.

If you want to read a detailed discussion of sheet iron - and a detailed history of the iron industry in these United States, I highly recommend Robert B. Gordon's book, "American Iron 1607-1900". For anyone interested in the iron side of the railroad industry, this is a fundamental book. It's part of the Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology series.