Backdrop Painting and Bridge Construction – Peace River Valley

Work continues on the backdrop for the lower level Peace River scene.  Midground and foreground painting was completed on the far side of the river.

Work also began on constructing the bridge girders for the final scene.  I am kitbashing two of the new Central Valley 150′ Pratt Truss kits to form one single box truss span for the Peace River bridge.  I have eight more kits on order to complete the other spans.   The Central Valley kits are the closest affordable option for the bridge.  They have excellent detail and can be formed in to box trusses quite easily with minimal cutting or extra parts.   The resulting spans are about 80% of the dimensions of the prototype.   This works in my favour as I will be able to fit in the five full spans across the river – an acceptable trade-off for losing some of the size of the prototype bridge.

Info on the Central Valley Pratt Truss Bridge can be found at

http://www.cvmw.com/1900/1810.htm

Backdrop Painting – Peace River Valley

Here are some photos of the progression of the backdrop scene at the Peace River bridge. This is my first attempt at backdrop painting and although I have some existing artistic talent, I credit these very pleasing early results to Mike Danneman’s  “Painting Backdrops for your Model Railroad” (One of Kalmbach’s Model Railroader How-To Books). This book takes you step by step through painting mountain, farmland and desert backdrops.  I merely applied the book’s techniques to my backdrop after taking time to refine the viewing perspective for the scene. In addition I printed off lots of photos of the real location for reference.

The Peace River bridge scene is a challenge because it is only 6″ deep.  It is also the lowest part of the layout with a track height of 36″  The real Peace River curves  in such a way to as to make it easier to extend onto the backdrop.  However blending the painted backdrop river with the modelled river surface will still be tricky.

I use acrylic paints for backdrops.  Liquitex has a ‘Basics’ line that is more affordable than the premium artists line. I purchased a wide variety of colours including Hookers Green, Chromium Oxide Green, Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red, Titanium White, Raw Umber, Raw Sienna, Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna.  I also bought a variety of brushes including pointed, flat and filbert in various sizes.

With the help of some 3D mapping software I mapped out the equivalent ‘real world’ eyepoint from where I plan to view this scene the most and rendered and printed off some terrain images from that vantage point.  I used mapping software i have access to at work, but you can also use Google Earth.  With Google Earth you have to ‘eyeball’ the real height and viewing angle that would correspond to where your eyes are with respect to your backdrop, but it is better than just guessing.

With 3D terrain images printed, It was then a matter of carefully marking out the hill profiles and Peace River banks on to the backdrop.  My strategy for painting the hills is to start from the most distant hills and work forward.  I mix a quantity of the blue used to paint the sky with small amounts of dark green, grey and red.  This results in a muted blue-green hue with very slight purple notes.  This mix is used to paint only the most distant terrain features.

To add some atmospheric depth I mist a very fine spray of white across these painted hills.  I used a small can of white enamel spray paint I had kicking around.  A quick misting pass across the distant hills is all that is needed.  Nearer hills are painted with a mix of hookers green, black and grey. The profile of these nearer hills stands out dramatically against the background hills thanks to the misting of white spray paint previously applied. Depressions and folds in the landscape are simulated using darker and lighter shades of green and blue

I have chosen to model the late spring period when newly-sprouted aspen trees have a vibrant light green that stands in dramatic contrast to dark coniferous forest.  The long ridge feature that dominates the mid-ground was painted to simulate the sporadic bright green crowns of spring Aspen in an other wise dark coniferous forest.  Liquitex chromium oxide green is the perfect shade for reproducing these bold spring tree canopies. Simply stipple the paint in and around the darker green shades in descending lines following the terrain. Increasing the size of the light green patches towards the base of the ridge helps give depth and perspective to the scene.

The next steps are painting in the vegetation along the far river bank, painting the river surface and completing the foreground areas

Trains 2009 Photos

This past weekend, I drove out to Vancouver to attend the Trains 2009 show in Burnaby.  The main purpose of the visit was to meet with other modellers of the British Columbia Railway and its predecessor, the Pacific Great Eastern.

We all contributed display boards and models illustrating various eras and areas of the original PGE/BCR network.   It was great to spend the weekend with other talented finescale prototype modellers.   The quality of models was inspirational and I have lots of motivation to continue working on my layout and showing off my progress at the Trains 2010 show.   Here is a selection of photos from the BCR/PGE display area.

Backdrop Painting

I am working on the lower deck backdrop before installing sub-roadbed and track.   I am using a pale blue colour called ‘Alice Blue’ that gives the feeling of warm hazy summer skies without dominating the foreground scenery.   As tempting as it was to pick an intense dramatic blue typical of the big skies in that area I did not want to draw too much attention to the backdrop.

In order to increase the impression of depth I blended the blue with increasing parts of white towards the horizon.  The basic technique is to apply blue and white in parallel bands and then very quickly blend them with a wide brush.  This is quite tricky because latex paint dries so quickly.  This will provide a basic gradation between blue and white however.

I then applied the white horizon haze using dry brushing.  This helps to feather the transition between blue and white.  I simulated distant cirrus clouds by spreading small amounts of white in horizontal bands slightly above the horizon line.

On this level the scenery will extend quite high on the backdrop so most of the rougher blending areas lower down the backdrop will be covered with foreground scenery and painted backdrop hills.   There should still be a subtle gradation from a paler to darker blue along the top of the hills however.

Detailed Trackplan – October 2009

After several evolutions since deciding on this prototype, here is the full detail final working trackplan for the layout.  The design is a point-to-point triple deck layout which features the layout design elements that I just could not live without: Peace River bridge, Taylor and Fort St. John.

Previous designs and concepts always included one or two of the design elements but this design allows all three.

The space between the wall and the back drop of the middle deck (Taylor) contains the support structure for the upper deck (Fort St. John).  The lower deck (Peace River) hangs off the main L-girder joists as a retrofit to benchwork designed for a single deck layout.

The front fascia of each level is inset slightly from the level below.  This, and the fact that the lower and middle decks are narrow,  allows decks to be spaced at 10 to 12″ vertically.

In the strict sense this is not a true triple deck layout because all three decks are not the same width.  The reason the design works is that the variations in widths allow room for the risers supporting neighbouring decks, while allowing sufficient visual separation.

Experiments with Photo Backdrops

It’s getting close to the point where I have to decide on a lighting system for the lower deck (and the 2 others that will be on top of it).  I figured that I would be able to get a better sense of the colour balance of  various lighting options by temporarily installing a photo backdrop and laying out a train on the mock up bridge.   The photo backdrops are derived from actual prototype photos I took of the ridge behind the Peace River bridge.   I will hand paint the final backdrop as it is much easier to adjust and force perspective where needed (and its an excuse to be artistic)

The photos above were taken using only the natural light coming through the window.  Whatever artificial lighting I use should produce the same quality of light.

The lighting options are:

1) low wattage (15-25 watt) incandescent bulbs as suggested by Joe Fugate in Volume 2 of his Siskiyou Line DVD series.   Pros..  its cheap and the colour balance is a little more ‘natural looking’.   Cons…  Some heat build up and incandescent bulbs are on borrowed time in this green economy.

2) fluorescent lighting, either under-cabinet strip or compact fluorescent bulbs.  Pros.. cheap and readily available.  Cons..  colour balance not always ‘natural’ looking and still.. some heat build up.

3) LED strip lighting.  Pros..  Thin profile, minimal heat output, bright illumination and a variety of available colour ‘flavours’.  Cons..  The only one i can think of is the high cost.

With the triple deck design I am building I will require about 16 feet of linear light per deck.  That assumes that only one row of lighting is used.  Multiple parallel rows or lights will add a whole new cost surprise.  If I can keep the cost below $10 per linear foot I will be happy.

Update – Sept 27, 2009

With the return of cool fall weather to Calgary it’s full speed ahead with layout construction.  My goal is to put about 10 hours per week into layout construction.  I would like to have track laid and powered up to the second deck (Taylor) by Spring 2010.

This weekend was spend fitting temporary river bed bases around the mock up bridge piers.  Some 1/4″ masonite off cuts were used for this.  A small transitional truss section was added to the north end of the mock up bridge.   Backdrop sections were cut and fitted into position along the lower deck.  These are made from 1/8″ masonite and have been given a couple of coats of white primer.

The next decision is whether to continue laying track on the lower deck or stop and paint the backdrop first.

Update Sept 20, 2009

Just a quick update on where things are.   I installed a mockup of the Peace River bridge this weekend.  This mockup was made by printing photographic images of the real bridge box trusses (taken at maximum zoom from a few miles away) to scale.  Photoshop was used to clean up the images and size them correctly for N Scale.  The textures were then glued to masonite strips which were attached to strips of wood which will form a temporary roadbed.  This mockup bridge will probably exist for a while because the final structure will likely have to be scratchbuilt.

Other benchwork included installing backdrop supports along the remainder of the lower deck where it leads towards the helix.

The SD40-2 project is stalled while I await some more detail parts.   I also have to do some surgery on the inside of the shortnened nose cones.   The nose parts I removed during the shortening process contained small pits to allow a snug fit over a bump in the cast metal engine mount.  I need to reproduce this on the inside of the shortnened nose sections.   This explains why the cabs in all the photographs do not sit correctly.  They are being pushed up and out by the nose.  I did apply some light weathering to the units using Bragdon powders.   Once the nose and cabs are seated correctly I will seal the paint, decals and weathering with Dullcote and these locomotives will be ready for service.

I revived another SD40-2 which I had painted last year.  I was never really that happy with the result as the paint had gone on a bit thick.    I figured this unit was a great candidate to be made into a remote control unit or RCL.   Used as additional head end power or mid train helpers, these units were acquired from American railroads and equipped with remote control electronics.

As former American units very little modification is needed.  I chose to model RCL 743 which was a unit that BC Rail acquired from Oneida and Western.  I took my original painted snoot nosed shell and shortened the nose section from 118″ to 88″ as per the prototype.   The bell was mounted on the side of the long hood.  I took 2 Kato stock 3 chime horns and combined them to make an over cab mounted 5 chime cluster.  Nose lights still need to be installed and a couple of ditch lights added but that is really the extent of the required modification for this RCL unit.

A little extra weathering is being applied to RCL 743 to hide the not-so-good paint job I did last summer, but with its short nose, over cab horns and distinctive lettering this dirty SD40-2 will get plenty of use in multi-unit consists as extra power for moving heavy freights up the steep grades and twisting curves of the Fort St. John subdivision.

Photos and Video from Recent Trip

I drove up to the ‘north end’ of the former BC Rail (now CN) network last week for a few days of railfanning and photography, and to get some inspiration for the layout.   Unfortunately the weather was not very good. Upon arrival on Saturday Sept 5th, Fort St. John was socked in with rain and fog and was forecast to be that way for 3 days.   I figured this was a good opportunity to drive up the Alaska Highway to Fort Nelson which was the northern end of the BC Rail network; almost 1000 miles north of Vancouver.

The weather in Fort Nelson was just as bad and there was no action in the yard.   I spent most of the time in Fort Nelson working on the SD40-2 models which I had brought along in case of bad weather.  One interesting site in the area is the dual road-rail bridge over the Fort Nelson just a few miles south of town.   Due to the sparse traffic on both the railway and road, they share a single bridge.  There are plenty of warning signs instructing drivers to stop and yield to train traffic.  Trains must come to a complete stop at the bridge and sound the horn before crossing.

There were no trains when I was there and I wasn’t about to sit in the rain and wait for one (it could be several days).  I did take a drive across the bridge and let the camera roll.  Its an odd experience driving across a rail bridge, but you don’t get this chance everyday.

I headed back to Fort St. John on Tuesday and the weather finally started to clear.   On Wednesday I hiked in the hills around Taylor and located a trail that looked like it would allow access down to the Peace River bridge.   The weather turned wet again however, so I decided to save that for another day.  I got a few good photographs in between showers though.

Thursday was sunny and warm and proved to be the highlight of the week.  I had guessed that there would be a train from Chetwynd and that it would probably come through Taylor around noon.  I sat up high on the ridge for a great vantage point of the Peace River bridge and waited.

After a while i scrambled down the steep hill with the intent of getting some closer shots of the bridge.   By a stroke of luck i emerged at a point close to the tracks when i heard the first distant train horn.  A few minutes later I caught a glimpse of the Chetwynd-Fort St. John train snaking down the far side of the valley.  After a short while it disappeared from sight but the sound echoing through the valley was easy to follow.  Eventually the train emerged on to the Peace River bridge and I shot the following video.   A high definition video camera would have been useful but my digital camera did a good job of capturing the moment.

Not wanting to scramble up the slope I just came down, I hiked out on a service road which allowed some more great shots of the bridge.  This one is the perfect angle for how I hope the model bridge scene will look when completed.

The perfect end to Thursday was catching the return Fort St. John – Chetwynd train at the south end of Taylor yard.  After performing some switching moves the train, with four ex BC Rail GE Dash 8s on the head, pulled out of Taylor yard and down the hill towards the bridge.  As it did, sunset emerged from behind clouds and lit up the cars in golden light.

Just as light faded the train could be seen in the distance crossing the bridge on its way to Chetwynd.

Friday I hit the road back home to Calgary.  After stopping for the night  I arrived back home on Saturday afternoon.   It’s a lot of driving to get to the north end but i came back inspired to get some serious work done on the layout between now and next summer.   In addition, thanks to the rain, the SD40-2 project is almost complete.    Next post will show the latest images.

Rain, Railfanning, the Alaska Highway… and More Rain

Just got back from an action packed trip up to the ‘north end’.   Last year I went in the Fall.  This year I caught the last gasp of summer.  Everything was much greener, partly due to the four continual days of heavy rain I endured for the first half the trip.

In an attempt to escape the rain I headed up the Alaska Highway north to Fort Nelson at the very end of the former BC Rail system.  The rain followed me.  If you are ever stuck in Fort Nelson for two days during a downpour, be sure to bring along a modelling project.  There is very little else to do except hang out at Boston Pizza.  I brought the SD40s along in case of bad weather and it turned out to be a wise move.   Now they are decalled and awaiting weathering and few final touches.

The highlight of the trip was capturing video of a train crossing the Peace River bridge and climbing up to Taylor.   The rain had stopped the previous day and the weather was perfect. I just happened to have scrambled down to a good spot when I heard the first distant train horn echo through the valley.  30 minutes and several train horns later a long freight train emerged from the cut, crossed the bridge and thundered up the hill right in front of me.

I don’t own a high definition video camera, but my digital camera does record movies at 640 x 480 resolution.   I mounted the camera on a tripod and I think the result was great.  Nothing can replace the experience of being there in person, but at least I have this video as a memory of a great trip.

As with all trips, coming home means stocking the fridge, doing the laundry and getting ready to go back to work.    When i have time over the next week I will be posting new videos and images from trip.

For now, enjoy the signature video of my trip and an image of the SD40-2s.   Update….They are weathered now…. thanks to another rain day.