Fin.

In a test before the show, a short circuit was discovered in the point to the siding to the loader. This meant that feature could not be used.
The layouts appearance at the Granite City Train Show had to be cancelled at the last minute.
Fail.
Will be taking an extended break from the hobby now.

A weeks worth of work (6)

Welcome to the last week of work on the layout.
Well, pretty much the last week. I have 5 days (nights) to work on the layout before the Granite City Train show on Saturday. So by the end of today the layout has to be very presentable so that I can spend the next week completing the wiring trouble shooting it, making sure everything works OK. So that I won't look stupid at the train show.
The plan I laid out at the end of last weeks post was to work on the train storage cassettes for operation. I made them from 5mm foamcore board. They were pretty easy to put together if a little laborious to construct.

Making the cassette1) Size up the stock for it. This short cassette is for the railcar ONLY

Step 2) Glue everything together. Even the track is glued in place.
Gorilla woodworking glue, being the adhesive of choice on all aspects of the layout. 

I made two cassettes for the freight train that will drop off the gondolas to be loaded. Even though these will be short trains. In On30 the cassettes are big.

It's longer than the layout!

A scenic detail that I found I could work on as the glue was setting was my pile of pit props. These were made from dried  Milkweed stalks. The are very straight and dry out a good weathered colour.

Milkweed stalk "pit props"

 The dried stalks that I cut to a scale 6' length yeilded 60 props. Which in my naivety thought was plenty. Until I stuck them together. An ordeal in itself. I glued the singles into pairs. The those pairs into fours so they were easier to glue together in a pile.

The mine boss is disappointed that he only got an order of 60 pit props.

It could still be a bigger pile.
I had agonised over the colour of my ballast for quite a while, before settling for a mid tone buff. Too darl a ballast would make the pale ties stand out too much. Too pale a ballast would make them difficult to see.

I think it's the right colour ballast

A ballasting technique video.

With that, I was pretty well there. This is mostly acceptable to me. I need to add a few woodland scenics trees to hide the exits offstage. If I had more time I'd find a more realistic tree but because if time constraints. I'll use what I have. Besides, using things that you buy off the shelf in your local hobby shop should show anyone can produce a nice presentable micro.

A pretty general overall view

So, five days left. I need to get everything wired up and working properly. Then tidy up the presentation. Hopefully everything goes according to plan and I'm not left pulling all nighters to be ready for the show. The Granite City Train Show. Rivers Edge Convention Centre. St Cloud, MN 

A weeks worth of work (5)

Is it five weeks already? I'd better get working!
It really feels like I've done nothing much this week, though I have done a lot of work on the scenery.

Work on making the PECO crazy track look better.

The first task was to improve the track. I love PECO track. I wouldn't use anything else, and this time I've been making an extra special effort to make it look more realistic. I've spent a lot of time looking at track, and many sleepers/ties are a variation of greys rather than browns that the track is moulded in. To start with I scribed into some detail into the grain of the sleepers than after a spray with light earth I added some washes of greys acrylics. Then when that dried I wash some of my Indian ink/alcohol weathering mix pick out the grain in the ties. After painting the "chairs" and rail a rust colour things are starting to look OK.

Looking better.

Now I find myself agonising about what size and colour of ballast to use.

The other major task of the week was to get on with the ground covering. Nothing much special here. I have plenty of Woodland Scenics turf products of various sizes and shades. So it was a given to use those to keep the costs of the project down. 

Who remembers a few years ago when reversible pot toppers were discovered as a cheaper source of grass tufts? I bought a topper to use and I thought it was about time I used it. It looks a little bright on the layout, so it needs a little toning down in places. But I like the effect. I might go out and see if I can finds another topper.

Reversible Pot toppers. Remember those?

Once its broken up and glued oil place it looks quite acceptable.

One task that went a little easier than I thought but still has a few issues, was the working loader. If I was an expert in trigonometry I would have been able to calculate the prefect angle and length of chute. But instead I had to guess...

Finding the right length of chute.

It works! But not perfectly. 

Luckily, guessing was relatively easy. But the loading is not perfect. The material I had been using for loading was Woodland Scenics Talus. It has no weight, so emptying by gravity is minimal. The friction of the Talus on the cardboard structure of the bin overcomes the gravity so I'll need to concoct a shoving stick to help empty things or find a heavier loading material.

Though the weeks work didn't seem all that much, on reflection I achieved quite a bit. Aside from Ballasting and fixing the mine in place, the cabinet is exhibitable. I need to add trees and mining detritus around the site for atmosphere and I need to put my wife on the task of dirtying the figures I have. As for me next week I'll have to work on the off stage storage.