Monday, February 22, 2010

glueshell part 2

Last thursday I started with the next phase of the glueshell scenery: applying pieces of old bedsheet that have been drenched in white glue.

The bedsheets have been ripped in pieces of about 10 by 10 centimeters (about 4 by 4 inches).

These pieces are thoroughly wetted in water (squeeze the exces out of it) and then dipped into the white glue. Make sure it is covered in the glue and then drape it over the cardboard strips.


Make sure that the pieces overlap a bit for strength. Slowly but surely a lightweight, thin but strong shell comes into being.

What you need: glue, pieces of cloth, disposable gloves and water. This can be a messy process so make sure that your worksurface is covered / protected!









Here you can see the overlapping pattern.










The result of one hour of relaxing but messy work.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Start of glueshell scenery


Glueshell scenery was developed by my friend Léon Honings. It provides a flexible and very leightweight underground for the scenery.

It consists of a web, usually of cardboard, a covering layer of textile dipped in water and then white glue and then a layer consisting of white glue and plaster of paris. This gives you a thin egglike shell that is very strong.



I used old file folders as I could get them for nothing (I am an archivist). Here are pictures of the web being made. To hold the web together I use a hot glue gun. Next up will be placing pieces of old bedsheets, soaked in water and then in white glue, on the web and letting that dry.




(And yes, I am a big fan of the late Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway, even though this Model Power steam engine is more or less freelanced after the last passenger steam engine of the Louie)




And this is the progress up to now. Both sides of the track have their web made from file folders.
Condsidering the temperature outside I did the work on the dining table. That is not much of a problem since it is a big glass plate in a wood frame and easily cleaned.

My father helped me build the first few modules

Sometime ago my father helped me making the first few modules. The modules are made of birch plywood, 9 mm thick. The height of the frame is 10 cm, length is 100 cm and width is 40 cm. This width is conform the America-N standards. Off course I could make them wider between the end plates but you always have to take into consideration that the thing has to be transported. Which is why I will build shorter modules in the future. 100 cm is a bit long when you have to transport a few of them by train to a show....
Here are some pictures of the construction of the frames.









Under construction

Hello and welcome to my blog about the construction of a double track N-scale, 1:160 proportion, module following the standards of America-N, the Fremo group that models American railroads in N-scale. Fremo is the pan-European modelrailroaders group and can be found here: http://www.fremo-net.eu/index.php?id=23&L=6 . America-N can be found here: http://www.fremo-net.eu/index.php?id=168&L=6 .

The inspiration for this module came from pictures I came across on the internet. It was of the BNSF mainline across Nebraska, specifically in the western part of that state called the Sand Hills. It is easy to see why I like to model this country, particularly because I will be one of the few to model double track within the America-N group and one module is simply not enough!

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=241319&nseq=13

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=13273&nseq=94

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=302548&nseq=1

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=293416&nseq=8