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….............................--- Scenery to Track Elevator – Part 3 ---

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Continuing on with the scenery on the upper level going to the track elevator and taking a short break to build most of a curved turnout and a first attempt at backdrop painting ……...

Working with stacked foam can go pretty fast. One aspect is how to cut and fit it into the scene where you need it. I’ve covered this before on the build but thought I’d give a quick update again. Using a paper towel to make a pattern is simple and easy as it conforms easily to the area where you are working.

I cut pieces out with a hot knife and/or with a Ryobi bandsaw I bought some years ago. Both work well but I can get the cleanest/straightest edges where pieces butt up against each other with the band saw. More foam mess with it though and as I head back to where I’m working I use the shop vac to such the foam particles that are stuck to the piece due to static electricity off..

I love the ‘router’ hot wire knife as I can bent the wire to work well in different situations. Well worth the price which isn’t that bad. I think of it more like a ‘sculpting’ tool and not so much a router myself (think they should rename it).

The last thing I did for this section was to add some thinner cap-rock. I might be able to add a little vegetation on the top of the mesa.

Since the track-work under the scenery here is a little complicated with the crossing I want this piece to lift off so I can get to it anytime I need to..

Instead of really wearing myself out like I had on the couple previous days I took a break and started on a curved turnout that I needed for the one end of the track in this area.

I cut my PCB ties from pieces of PCB that I get really cheap on eBay (.030-032” double sided PCB). I cut enough ties for this turnout and one or two more in less than 10 minutes. Using those and individual wooden ties vs. the tie strips I can build a turnout for under $5.00. More info on all of that ( HERE ).

The turnout when finished will go just past the tunnel portal. Being able to use a curved turnout here allowed the passing siding past it to be over a foot longer and also didn’t interfere with where I wanted a side canyon with a bridge over it.

As I mentioned in the image above ‘building your own turnouts lets you build turnouts to fit the scenery and you don’t have to make the scenery fit the turnouts. You can have turnouts that aren’t available and also have 5 or 6 for the price of one and they aren’t that hard to build after you do a few.

I want to finish all of the scenery above and by the tracks that go in this area before laying them so had to take the plunge on trying to paint the backdrop. I watched one of Dave’s ThunderMesaStudio videos on painting clouds and tried some clouds. I’ll come back and touch them up some more and try some other cloud variations but overall fairly happy with the results.

Next up I think will be Spackeling the track in this area and then finish the scenery down to the lower level and then paint it all.

To be continued…....

A link to this whole build ( HERE ).

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