Still haven’t had time to do any modeling lately, but here are a few recent photos…
Multiple crossings over Serenity Canyon:
The sorting house at the top of the Mineral Ridge Mill, with the Cliffside Mine visible in the background at upper right:
A train passes through the town of Mineral Ridge:
Enjoy!
Let me be the first to say, great work! Looks very typical of the old mining towns in Colorado. Is the mine structure scratchbuilt? How about the wooden tressle in the first photo? Very impressive! The corrugated siding on the mine buildings really sets the structure off and brings out the details. I aspire to do work that is half as good as that and I wouild be improving!
Thanks Tom! Yes, the buildings are all scratchbuilt, as well as the trestles and bridges. The railbus is also scratch, and the RS-3n is heavily kitbashed.
It’s all 1/24th scale, outdoors.
I had a little time today to put up a few more pics… Here’s the ore bin at the Princess Shilo Mine: 
A freight train pulled by a steam locomotive passes through the town of Dos Manos: 
Here’s a close up view of structures at the Cliffside Mine. On the left is the powder magazine, where explosives are kept. On the right is the wooden ore bin: 
An old stone cabin at the ruins of the Monolith Mine: 
And here’s the interior of the cabin. A 55-gallon drum has been turned into a crude wood-burning stove: 
Also, yesterday we finally replaced our flimsy, canvas-topped gazebo with a new, all-metal one. Made by Hampton Bay, it’s attractive and very sturdy! I had to replace the canvas on the old one every two years, at least. This one should last a good long time: 
Ray!
Great modeling! The attention to detail is superb.
Nice job on the gazebo too.
Dave
Thanks!
I actually hired someone to assemble the gazebo, it would have taken me days to do. Plus it’s so heavy one person can’t get the legs set up under it.
Here are a couple new pics. In this first shot, a train is seen from below as it crosses the big trestle over Serenity Canyon:
Here’s a shot from late in the day as a freight train crosses a stone arch bridge at the west end of the line. Above it is the Princess Shilo Mine. The Cliffside Mine can be seen in the distance at the top:
Enjoy!
Great pictures and modeling all around. Boy the natural light and real sky backdrop can’t be beat. Dan
For the past few months I haven’t been able to get any modeling done, but recently I had a little time and felt the need to work outdoors. I’ve long planned to put a small depot between the tracks at the town of Dos Manos, so I decided to do some prep work for that.
Until now, the tracks going through that area have just been on dirt, rocks and ballast. Even on the two stone bridges, there was a couple inches of soil under the tracks. I wanted to replace this with a concrete base, and also create a concrete foundation and sidewalks for the depot.
In this shot I’ve removed the track at the edge of the layout, dug out the ballast under it, and poured some concrete into the bridge. I used 1/4" hardware cloth to reinforce the concrete. The concrete is actually a mix of vinyl concrete patcher and high strength mortar mix:
I built up the track base, foundation, and sidewalk a little at a time, in sections. I also left a depression in the middle of the foundation – this will be used to hold the wiring for the depot’s lights. There is a 3/8" copper tube used as a conduit for the wiring. Then I marked the position of the tracks onto the concrete base, and built two forms out of foam core art board. These were positioned on the base in preparation for pouring the sidewalk:
Here’
With the rain parts of in CA, is the foundation now a swimming pool??[swg]
Ray, Looks like lots of outdoor fun, nice work!
Thanks and regards, Peter
Looks like an out door large scale RR in the spirit of Malcom Furlow southwestern. To the new comer the name sounds Japanese or maybe native American?
Yes, it’s from a Native American word meaning “east people”, referring to the tribe that lived in the area, and is now used as a place name for the In-ko-pah Mountains and In-ko-pah Gorge.
Ray - pretty impressive
Way back when I first envisioned this depot, it would have been one of my first buildings on the layout. I used an antiquated 3D modeling program to create a couple renderings of what I had in mind:
However, at the time I decided that I should wait until had some more experience with structures, before attempting something as relatively complex as the depot. I’m glad I waited, because I know a lot more about what I’m doing now, than I did then. I will be using different materials than I had originally planned to use.
Today I put together a crude foam core mockup of the depot and placed it on the layout, to help me get a feel for how it will look and fit into the town. The center part of the building will be two stories. Both that section, and the west wing, will have peaked roofs covered with Spanish tiles. I decided to add an east wing which will be an open, shaded waiting area. This will have a flat roof supported by arches. Here are some photos from various angles:
What do you think?
Ray,
Looks good to me. It’ll be impressive for such a small station, so I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes together.[:D]
You Rock Ray!
I got sidetracked a bit into another project:
Recently I needed to build a small wooden shack using Sintra PVC foam board, to be featured in an article I’m writing for Garden Railways. At the time I didn’t know where it would fit into the layout. Eventually I decided to put it in the town of Grandt Cliff. Until now the only other structure I’d created for that site was a miner’s cabin. This will be an old shack which has been converted into a sandwich shop, called Serenity’s Sandwich Shack.
The town site is at the base of Grandt Cliff, and was undeveloped. To prepare the site, I had to chisel out some of the rocks and mortar near the base of the cliff. I built up a foundation for the shack, starting with a section of miniature stone wall made of real rock and mortar. I also used some small slabs leftover from a previous project:
Strips of foam core art board were hot-glued in place to make a form, for extending the foundation:
Mortar was poured into the form, then shaped and leveled. The cavity in the foundation is to hold wiring for the building lights. A brass tube acts as a conduit. Another tube provides drainage:
Eventually there will be two or three other buildings at this site, including a RR depot. So after pouring the foundation, I also began pouring part of the slab for the platform of the future depot:
I added a small slab to one
Well, I was going to try to hold off posting more pics of this until it was finished, but I’m so tickled with the way it’s turning out, I couldn’t resist. This has been a really fun build!
I’ve finished painting it, including many hand-painted signs. Still have to add the corrugated metal to the main roof. Also need to add some light fixtures and other exterior details, and glue the porch to the building. Also need to finish the surrounding landscape, and the stairs/path leading up to the building on either side. Eventually I’ll build and detail the interior too. Here’s how it looks so far:
Enjoy!
Beautiful work, as usual Ray!