How much are those Cripplebush rubber rocks? The place is only like an hour away from my house, so i’m wondering if driving out there would be worth it to save on shipping or something
I haven’t checked out all the products, but the popular ones range from $30-$70.
For actual costs and a style you want browse around their site.
I just add to cart to show price. http://www.cripplebush.net/index.htm
I’ll bet you that you don’t believe in Santa Claus nor the Tooth Fairy either!
I do not like tunnels preferring to break/hide the monotony of my ovals with other scenery mechanisms i.e. structures, foilage, rock cuts, etc. I have, however, incorporated a few on my layouts over the years, all of them short. My preliminary designing for my (hopefully) soon-to-be-built layout is going to necessitate at least two short ones.
I don’t know about Murphy but I do know about gremlins which suddenly leap onto your layout from who-knows-where-they-hide. They are enticed from their hiding place(s) by the presence of visitors. Despite meticulous trackwork trains can still come to griefs for unexplained - read: gremlins - reasons. I don’t care how carefully I adjust my switches I still find an occasional picking-the-points an occasional - read: gremlins - occurrence. Admittedly most of my derailments have been caused by faulty/defective equipment and one of those defects - a dislodged screw - caused a derailment right at the entrance to one of those rare tunnels; my train remained intact and upright but even with my 0-5-0 switcher it was havoc trying to unsnarl. On another occasion - shades of SDP40F - I had the rear truck on a three-unit brace of old 1980-era Atlas RS3s keep derailing on one particular curve. It didn’t matter which loke was trailing and it didn’t matter which direction it was pointing, it just kept derailing at near the same location. Then, one day, those pesky gremlins returned to their hiding places and I stopped having troubles. You explain it!!!
What, pray tell,
I have hardshell-type scenery construction. For my removable tunnels, I just shaped some aluminum foil, spray painted the inside black, and set it in place. Gives a reasonable cut/blasted stone look. Not highly detailed, but, hey, who closely examines the insides of tunnels?
I’ve got 5 tunnels on my Yuba River Sub, 3 of which are accessable from the backside, and 2 of which are accessable by removing the portals (which are held in place by scenery, not permanently fitted). The inside tunnel linings are only about 4-6 inches long, just long enough to fool the eye into thinking the tunnel is fully lined, so when I’ve had a derailment (and I’ve only had one or two), it’s easy to remove the portal and lining in one piece and reach in and collect the errant rolling stock.
Tom [:)]
ts:
Personally, I don’t like the foam-stack method. I think it works better if the whole table is sculpted foam, but when I tried it on a solid top, I got something that looked like a lump of foam stuck to a table. Might as well get that Model Power tunnel. I did have good luck once with a foam mountain covered in plaster, but once the time has been spent to shape the foam, one might as well save money and make a frame.
Usually I have built up a frame of scrap wood and cardboard, then draped screen wire over it and added plaster. My only scenery at this moment is a pair of small hills of kraft paper draped over a cardboard framework and stiffened with brushed glue. I think I’m going to have to have a geologic event, though, because our little boy has been tunnel-mad for the last week or so, after riding the zoo train…tun-nel tun-nel tun-nel…
I suppose this might be a good time to tell about the time my 4 year old granddaughter brought Thomas the Tank Engine some flowers. I don’t know exactly when, or where she put them on the train, but my 4-6-2 K-4 Pacific found those dandilion stems in the tunnel.
Fortunately for all concerned, my tunnels are all open from the back. I can reach every inch of my track.
Hi;
Here’s what I did to make a tunnel. For any derailment I can get to the stock from underneath the layout.
http://www.grizart.com/images/before.jpg
http://www.grizart.com/images/after.jpg
Hope the photos help a little.
Bud M.
Make your base which will not move but don’t make the edge straight. Place a plastic sheet (a garbage bag works well) over the area. Then build the removeable portion. I used plaster shell and worked up the underside and then the upper portion. Once the plaster is dry pull it appart and remove the plastic. Check the fit and fix any irregular looking areas. Put the plastic back in when adding scenery details and remove once dry. If you can see the joint hot glue bushes here and there to hide it but glue to just the lower or upper part. I made the inside of the removeable portion out of foam and made sure it sat lower than the scenery edge so it would sit level and not break edges off when I removed it and sat it to the side.
Actually, the tunnel itself can cause derailments if not properly designed. For example, if the construction of the tunnel is such that the clearances for the train are very close to the tunnels walls, and if the tunnel is not ventilated properly, and if the track is not perfectly centered in the tunnel, then air pressure will build up more on one side of the train than the other. This results in an unbalanced Bernoulli effect and instant derailment. Streamlined trains such as F7s pulling streamlined passenger cars are especially vulnerable to this problem.
This problem can be greatly alleviated by adding adequate ventelation shafts to the tunnel.
- Harry [:-^]
HH:
You left out relativistic effects, which can be significant with Athearn Hustlers and older N scale.
I lost an Athearn Hustler once. It turned up the day before.
[2c] Anything like these PRR Tunnel Steam Blowers at Gallitzin’s Tunnel Hill?