Pole Line

Pole line from Potomac Creek to Stonemans Station.

I made a few more telegraph poles tonight.  I  also modified the existing poles by increasing the sharpness of the angle where the insulator pegs meet the poles and shortening the pegs a bit to better match the prototype photos.

I started to emplace the poles spacing them at 18 inches where the terrain allows. The lines and touch up paint are next.

The box car is a stand-in for the telegraph shed that will be made from a conductors car on blocks as seen in the prototype photo. I wonder if that stick leaning against the telegraph pole is a brace? If so, it can't be very strong.

The line of soldiers  in the background is inspired by this prototype photo showing a scene at Falmouth. BTW this is the only photo I have seen of Falmouth that shows the railroad.  Note the box cars up on rise in the background.

The Stonemans Station scene is close to being complete. The box car is a stand-in to check composition.

Where's Ben?

Gerry came up for a work session Saturday. Ben Hom also tried to attend, but he never made it in the house as no one heard him ring the door bell. Sorry about that Ben. You missed a good session and not one, but two cakes that Gerry brought up from C'ville. Hopefully we can get you over next time.






Gerry worked on detailing the Stoneman's Station scene. He added stairs to the freight platform and to the embankment. The ladder in the embankment was based on a similar scene at the prototype Stoneman's.

Then Gerry took on the challenge of adding nail holes to the freight platform. He actually liked doing it.

The rough frame for the porch roof. 

I continued work on the tavern. It is just about done except for the sign and some touch up.

Almost done with the tavern

Gerry brought over an impressive assortment of reference books for additional ideas for out buildings and 19th century vernacular architecture in general. I am looking forward to studying them. We also discussed the ACWRR Road Show. The design in coalescing, but still not finished yet.

It is hard to get a good photo of the tavern without the lights or valance showing.

50 Tons of Hardtack

Stacks of hardtack boxes, barrels and grain sacks begin to fill the loading docks at Stoneman's Station

I made about 50 O Scale tons worth of hardtack boxes today. Fifty tons of hardtack (Army bread) is about one quarter of the daily requirement for the Army of the Potomac in winter quarters. Each box hold 50 pounds of bread. So a stack 4 by 5 by 6 is 3 tons.

These boxes are the Mark II version. I had earlier made a large number of bread boxes using laser cut one-quarter inch aspen wood. These looked OK, even though the grain on the boxes was not correct, especially the end grain and the sides had a noticeable draft angle.

The Mark II versions use a laser cut 1/8-inch plywood core with laser engraved and cut cedar veneer on the surface. The Mark II design builds up quickly and makes a nice stack. I may try some basswood later, as the grain on the cedar is fairly pronounced. I made stacks 4 by 5 by 6, but they can stack on top of each other. Prototype photos show these stacks 16 boxes high.

I also made some single and double boxes for miscellaneous detailing.

Two  hundred twenty new boxes at the Falmouth Depot.

Last spike... for now

No, not that kind of spike! However, while we are at it  congratulations are due to Kerri and Misty for their third Olympic Gold.

This is the kind of spike I meant. Over the past few weeks I have been driving spikes for 30 minutes to an hour each night. Tonight I finished all the spikes in the main room. There still is more spiking to do at Aquia, but that won't be for a while.

First version of the worm fence

I also did some more scenery work between Stoneman's Station and Potomac Creek. The layout here is a narrow shelf. There is a long stretch where an open field abuts the backdrop. At first I tried using grass and scenic material to disguise this interface. But upon reflection, I decided to add a fence to visually minimize it.

 I went with a worm type fence. At first I built it full size, but I decided to remove a few rails to make it appear further away and force the perspective.

I also added more layers of ground texture including some stumps, grass, ground leaves, twigs, and a few cedars.

A lone picket stands behind the  reduced height fence. He is a 28mm Renegade figure.

A train head north from Stoneman's past the new scenery.

Small stand of trees

Engine Haupt rumbles past the wet scenery at North Stoneman's Station

Having completed a batch of trees, it was time to install some of them. I had planned a small stand of trees at the north end of Stonemans Station.

After I had mocked up the scene, I decided that the backdrop needed to be augmented with some more trees. This extends the scene in depth and makes the foreground trees look more detailed than the really are as it is hard to tell the modeled branches from the branches painted on the backdrop.

Painting more trees on the backdrop

I installed three of the wire trees along with several smaller weeds and crepe mrytle twigs to simulate younger trees.

The single tree in the foreground is a wire tree. Since it is near a switch stand I expect it to take a bang every now and then. Hopefully the wire tree will hold up under that abuse.

A lone picket guards the wet scenery

Overview of the scene.

Grain Shed at Stoneman's Station

Prototype photo showing freight platforms under construction.
Note the big logs in the foreground.

I added the shed structure for the grain wharf at Stoneman's Station. The prototype photo shows the inspiration for the model. I used laser cut basswood for the frames and cooking parchment paper for the cloth roofing. I also nearly finished the small shed next to the grain wharf.

The tree next to the sheds is supposed to be a pine. I need to figue out the best way to simulate that small tree. This tree is a stand-in for now. It will go in a different spot later.

The rafters are laser cut basswood. By using the laser, the miter joints are exact and repeatable.

I have two photos of this shed from opposite directions, thus I know they only partially sided the back. Note
also the vertical siding on the gable and horizontal siding on the rear wall.

I like how the roof overhangs the tracks slightly.  Since the interior of the gable wall will be visible, I scribed
wood seam lines on the plain back of the Mt Albert siding using a 0.5mm pencil.

Still lots of details to add including stairs, grain sacks, telegraph lines, crates, hard tack boxes, tents, and people.

A view of the sidings being worked by the engine Haupt.

The devil made me do it

Diablo 3: One of my many distractions

Work on the layout has been slow lately thanks to many other distractions. But Gerry emailed me about a work session and thanks to this motivating kick start, we had a mini work session on Saturday. Gerry continued to spike rail at Accokeek Creek, while I started the cargo platforms at Stonemans. Here are some photos of the WIP.

Later Sunday evening, I continued work on the platforms.

After dinner on Saturday, Gerry and I discussed some ideas for an ACW Roadshow. Nothing is definite, but I would like to start working on it in October to be ready for the Atlanta NMRA National show in 2013. We spent a good amount of time looking at Alexandria, especially the waterfront as a potential prototype inspiration. But trying to do it in O Scale will probably be impractical. The area of interest, from the Wilkes St Tunnel to the Hay Wharf to the north  is 1200 yards long. That works out to 75 feet in O scale. I'll post more about this later as the planning proceeds. In the meantime, work will continue on the Aquia line as we will be hosting an open house for the ACWRRHS in September.  I would like to have the main room pretty much done by then.

The mess before the storm

Laying out the posts and beams for the platforms. The prototype photos show several
different methods of construction, so I mixed them up.

The foreground platform is about 30 inches long.  Both the back and front platforms curve
to follow the track.I fretted about how to deal with that curve, but in the end it just worked out.

This is about as far as I got when I ran out of decking boards. I'll cut some more and finish the planking job.

Track bumper, grain sacks and more trees

I added a few details to the Potomac Creek scene including an end of track bumper for the stub siding at Potomac Creek, some grain sacks and more trees.

The Waud drawing at the left was the inspiration for the track bumper seen below. I used 1/4 inch scale lumber and a few NBWs to simulate the bumper. I sized it so the horizontal beam is the same height as the couplers. It's a simple detail, but it really completes that section of the layout.

I tried an experiment using Sculpey polymer clay (Oven Hardening) to make some grain sacks. This clay is available at most craft stores and comes in a variety of colors. It can also be painted once it is hard.

I cut and modeled the clay to look like grain sacks
I have seen in some prototype photos such as this.

I used a piece of slate as a baking surface based on some reports I read where metal pans can cause the clay to burn while cooking. The slate worked well and 15 minutes at 275 degrees did not burn the clay and it set rock hard.

Once it cooled, I primed and painted the sacks. The clay is not as easy to sculpt as the two part epoxy, maybe because I am not as accustomed to using it as the two part epoxy. But it is cheap and easy to get started.

Watching the parade from the top of hard tack boxes

Grain sacks on the platform. The more I think about this, the more likely I am to show this roof under construction
with some workers involved in putting on the roof pieces.

I added a few more trees to the woods. I'll post more detail about these later.

Morning Formation at Stoneman's Station

I painted some figures this week to populate the newly sceniced areas. This batch of 28mm Renegade Miniatures will be posed as a unit in morning formation. They are still on their paint sticks as I am waiting for another batch of similarly posed figures to come in from the custom painter. They should be arriving sometime in March. Then I will remove them from their sticks, cut off the bases and glue them into their final position.

This image at Falmouth is inspiration for this scene

I plan to mix is some other manufacturers figures to add some variation to the figures to match the image at the left.

I painted the figures as members of 1st Division, XII Corps. This unit was stationed near Brooke. I later decided that these soldiers will be stationed at Stoneman's Station, so I need to change their Corps designation to III or V Corps since those were the units near Stoneman's Station.

I also ordered some bell tents from Empress Miniatures. These are notionally tents from the British-Zulu War. They are not exactly correct for the ACW, but should be acceptable for background use. One drawback is that they are rather expensive at $15.00US each. The smaller bell tents in the background are from Reneda.

Renegade Miniatures 28mm figures awaiting final placement. Behind the men are two unpainted 28mm Bell tents from Empress Miniatures. In the far background are two bell tents from Reneda.

A Turret and Some Scenery

The portholes are glazed,
 but still need detailing.

Work continues on the USS Passaic.  The task board surface on the hull texture was not as good as I hoped after I painted it, so I laser cut a fresh layer of hull plating using resin impregnated paper. It has a smoother texture that is closer to scale.

I started building the turret using a series of laser cut rings and discs. Next I will add the armor plating and rivets. The turret armor plating will be also made with resin impregnated paper. I will use sewing pins for the rivets as I found some that were the correct size and shape. I do not plan to add extensive detailing on the turret interior as I don't have great references. So the interior will be pretty basic.

While the laser was cutting turret parts I added a base coat of scenery to the Stoneman's Station area all the way to Potomac Creek. I now have at least base scenery from Potomac Creek all the way to the end of the line at Falmouth.

It is curious but with just the base scenery, the layout looks smaller. I need to add some view blocking features to break up the line of sight and add some visual complexity.

Base scenery at Stoneman's Station. The tents are just placed for planning purposes.
They are not in their final position. There will be an extensive supply depot here.

Looking from Potomac Creek to Stoneman's Station.