Rehab Work Continues on the Module
Photos by Glenn Koproske February 17, 2006
| Cloud stencils from New London are the standard way to do a skyboard. Just use ordinary cans of spray paint in flat white and gray primer. Plastic trigger attachments are very handy on the cans. Just hold the stencils up and spray away. Don't be afraid to use more gray than white. The worst thing you can do is make Peter Cottontail fluffy white clouds. Take some time to go outside and observe cloud patterns in the "prototype" sky. Notice how they are layered and how they are outlined. Be creative. If you don't like the outcome, spray more the next day. If all else fails, roller on another coat of blue paint and start over again. |
| We wanted this module to have some operations capability. Here we see positions for 3 new switches plus the connecting flextrack laid out. |
| The ends of the track must be an Atlas half straight section from the end of the module. The way to measure this is to simulate the adjoining module by clamping a board to the end so that it sticks up above the surface of the module. Here you can see that the tracks were cut way short. Atlas quarter straight sections will be used to make up the difference. The flextrack will be cut back and the quarter straight sections installed so that the tracks end at the proper distance. You should not have to cut special fitter sections at the show to get modules to join together. |
| The old siding is scraped off so that the track gang can lay new rails. |
| Cork roadbed is the best way to establish where the track goes. It forms natural easements. Just use push pins to hold it in place. It was 10 PM on a weekend and we discovered that we were out of cork roadbed. A call to David Johnson was made, and he provided an emergency supply of material. Have you ever noticed that you never run out of stuff until all the hobby shops are closed? |
| A long view of the module shows where all the new track will go. A section of black foam core board was glued down as a filler piece to make the elevation level with the main lines. |
| A sanding drum in a Dremel tool is used here to smooth things out. If the roadbed is smooth, the track work will be smooth too. |
| Cast resin plowed fields were ordered and are being painted with Dirt color acrylic model paint. It was applied with a brush because hauling out the airbrush and compressor and then having to clean it all is just too much bother. |
| This tractor was ordered from one of our favorite Internet supply houses because it is so cool. And you don't have to put it together. |