February 2010 Update

With almost a month of school under my belt, I can get a more accurate feel for how work is going to progress on the layout. I might be able to squeeze an hour or two a night during the week, but mainly I'm only able to work on the layout during the weekends. I've also got some other side projects coming up on the horizon soon, so the layout will be hitting the back burner a lot.

This whole effort to retrofit the layout and make all these big changes makes the project a complicated puzzle.  So in addition to having to take the time to put in more details than I did in earlier years, planning how everything will come together is taking some time if I want everything done perfectly without having to go back and fix it again. Since some area have to wait until that area is done, but that area needs this aspect, but that aspect needs to be worked in for future additions, it becomes a big domino effect that I need to coordinate properly. So even if there isn't much going on physically, there is a lot going on (at least in my head!).

At this point, I've adjusted my work schedule for the layout. Right now I'm going for a "generally finished" layout for an upcoming Patrick Hurd podcast. That means the most of the areas on the layout will hopefully have most of their major details and will look basically "finished" . I would like to get this "generally finished" look by about mid-March, but even that is a stretch; there's simply too much to do being that I'm a perfectionist these days and the amount of planning it takes to bring all these elements to the new layout together. By March, I might be able to have Rainbow Caverns done,  Cascade Peak redo done, Bear Country roughly blocked in, and I just barely might have the cardstock mock-up buildings for Rainbow Ridge (Rainbow Ridge has about twice the amount of buildings, and I only want to build them once!). We'll see, things could change.

My plan of attack for the layout is to get the track for Rainbow Caverns and the Living Desert done (which includes adjusting the track for the uniform grade I discussed in a previous post). From there I'll hop over to the opposite side of the layout and work on adjusting the grade for around Cascade Peak and Bear Country. There I'm also going to give Bear Country a new trestle and plan out that area for development (and also figure out if I'm going to put in jumping fish) and Cascade Peak will get a major facelift with more details and new water falls. Once the two ends are pretty much done, the track ends will join together at Rainbow Ridge were the big construction job will happen with all the buildings I'm going to make (but starting out with cardstock mock-ups to figure sizes out). If everything goes well, I just might have every detail in by the very end of 2010 or early 2011 but I can't count on that. With this project, I don't want to rush it with a deadline, I want to actually enjoy working on it despite how repetitious and tedious some areas are. It's too bad I can't get it done before the real attractions turns 50 in may, but hey, that's just how it's going to be if I want a cool looking layout!

Since the layout had changed so much in the last couple of months, I decided to film another "aerial" video explaining what's going on.

To see the annotations that I put on the video, go to the video on YouTube here

As for what has been done within the last month, the Living Desert is shaping up very nicely and I think I'm in the home stretch for this area in case of making it look "generally finished". I'm proud to say that Balancing Rock  Canyon is finally finished after doing heavy work on it and also having to fix the mechanism a few months prior. This section was crucial to get finished, considering it would have been a lot harder to work on if the areas around it would have been developed more.

Going back in time a little bit, in the last update, this area just got it layer of scultamold and it was ready for paint and scenery. From here more foam rocks were added and everything was painted. 

As I was adding these rocks, I decided that I'm going to branch off a little bit of the accuracy side and more towards what looks good. A lot of the rocks that were added were basically made up and don't correspond to anything in the original attraction. I just went for what looks good, proportional, interesting and didn't worry too much if it looks like something that the attraction had. With this in mind, my rocks actually look more realistic and less "blocky" or "edgy" like my earlier rocks when I was more tight and constrained in sculpting the rocks when trying to be accurate. 

From here, I'll let the time lapse demonstrate adding the details to a portion of the desert:
Unlike previous time lapse videos that I've done, I didn't do captions.

I must say, the Desert area is looking very beautiful, and it's great to do detailing instead of redoing the same thing again!

Here are a couple of shots of the train in the scene as well as a neat POV shot. 

 

Although not pictured, the pond in the back of the desert is finished and that area should see more detail soon. (Don't know when I going to do the Dinosaur bones though!)

Meanwhile in the geothermal area of the desert, I think I've finally come up with a solution to simulate those geysers. 

After considering using ultrasonic misters for some time now, I think I'm going back to my original idea of having a static column of "water" that raises up and done on an actuator. The thought of a whimpy mist and the potential for a mess kinda shelved that solution for now.

I was initially thing of using a screw type with a motor and bolt, but I later figured out a way to do it with pneumatics. I started playing around with a few short lengths of small brass tubing and an aquarium air pump (the ones that are about 2-3 psi) to my surprise, it actually works quite well, more than enough power to push up a rod of plastic (I might even be able to power all the geysers off of the same pump).

I built a prototype and I've been playing around with it, adjusting the amount of air pressure, location of overflow holes, and a bunch of other things. Basically, with my brass tube pneumatic actuator, when the air pump is turned on, the column rises, when power is off, column falls. I can control the amount of air pressure by using a dimmer switch on the air pump (a 3-way gang with adjustable valves is probably ideal). Since it's all aquarium equipment, it's virtually silent, aside from the very slight rumble of the air pump. The next thing to figure out is making the column fluctuate and vary in height, probably with a valve on a cam.

I've also been looking at making the Bubbling Mud pots actually bubble. The basic premise here is to make tube full of  water, and adding an air line to make it bubble like an aquarium. I built a few prototypes right in the scene, and so far, things haven't been that successful. Since I'm using 1/4" tubing, the water tends to get sucked out of PVC pipe mud pot when the air pump is shut off, and controlling the amount of air flow to get the right bubble interval isn't easy. Plus, in some tests, I found that the bubbles weren't popping easily (maybe the painty water that I used did that). I'm still working it out, and this element might need to end up being static.

Since both the Geysers and Mud pots have materialized in some way, I'll be holding off on improvements for now until I get other area up to par for a "generally finished" look. 

Meanwhile, just next to the Living Desert, Rainbow Caverns is progressing very slowly. At this point, the new Rainbow Caverns has just become a chore since this is the 4th time I've had rebuild it. I'm tired of it and I'd really like to move onto something else, but I've got to do it! 

Since the new town of Rainbow Ridge ate up some of the land for Rainbow Caverns, the entire caverns had to be reworked to fit in a more compact space. I moved the viewing window to the side of the layout and I was able to squeeze a new "show building" like structure into that small plot. 

Here's what the area looked before the new structure to house the caverns went in and the new "show building" made of old sintra signs.

 

 This "show building" I paid a little more attention to in the overall architecture of it. I made it shorter in height to put it in scale more, and also so it can hide behind  that hill in he desert. The angles of the roof also are very similar to that of the show building for the original Rainbow Caverns structure. Once again, the roofs are made removable so I can access and build the inside the caverns. That small tunnel will lead to Rainbow Ridge and it will be hidden with foliage like the original attraction

 

For now, wood blocks serve as handles for the access hatches, though eventually they will be made to look like AC units.

Inside the "show building" work is going ahead on the rock formations made out of sculptamold. I decided to not shoot construction with time lapse as it is a smaller work space and I just wanted to get the caverns done and not fuss around with filming it. Using the same notion of making things look good and not being to worried with accuracy, I'm just making up how the caverns are looking considering how compromised the space is. I'm going for a Geyser Grotto feel with a pond of geysers and the Rainbow falls as the end. This time around I'm actually using UV LED's instead of a small fluorescent blacklight. This way I can light everything precisely without worrying about changing the batteries for the blacklight bulb or the bulb "burning out". Plus, the deep purple light the LED's give off looks really cool (though, unfortunately, impossible to photograph accurately).

I've also come up with a way to lay track efficiently. Since I've got that grade issue, coming up with a way to lay track wasn't easy since it had to raise at a specific height every few increments. I came up with a pretty genius way (at least I think it's genius!) of laying track precisely. By gluing a strip of pre-drilled countersunk masonite to the track at specific increments, all I have to do to make a grade and install the track is to add spacers between the strip and the actual base of the layout. This way I can precisely control the grade, but all since I'm screwing the track, I can torque the track the way I want it and be able get the joints nice and smooth, as well as be able to make adjustments easier. Here's a close up of the strip screwed down with one layer of spacers. 

 

This is only for the Rainbow Caverns portion, until the track hit the plywood base for Rainbow Ridge.

Speaking of grades, the section of track for the Living Desert that leads to Crossover point (see previous post) is locked down permanently.

January 2010 Update

Since the Nature's Wonderland project is the only project I have in the new year, I hoping to get more progress on it before I get distracted by something else or when College gets in the way. I've been doing a lot of planning for newer areas to come as well as fixing and sprucing up existing areas so this will be a lengthy update.

First up, Rainbow Ridge. This area was recently cleaned out and I started figuring out my complicated grade I need to incorporate into the new trackage as explained in my last post. I'm almost ready to lay track, but Model Railroader mentioned that their next issue will feature an article on laying track (more specifically, HO flex-track) which I'm very curious to see. So I'm holding off on any track laying until then. In the meantime, I've still got more planning to do in that area, and if I want to make any changes, I better do them now because I am not going back to fix any mistakes (again!).

In the planning of Rainbow Ridge, the goal is to get the entire town on the layout and also be able to fit some other areas nearby like the Pack Mule load area and Mineral Hall--if possible. I wanted the layout of everything to be as accurate as possible, so I turned to "satellite imaging".

I photographed overhead the area where I will be working on so I can draw all over it and make drawings that will aid me in the process. From here, I took an aerial photo from the real attraction and overlayed it on my model photo to figure out the position of everything.

I distorted, moved, changed, and tweaked the photo until everything fit on the layout table. The outcome is quite exciting because of all the new things that will be added to the layout. In this expansion I will be able to add an entire Rainbow Ridge town (the one for the mine train load area), almost everything for the Pack Mules (a few buildings will need to be cut), the entire load area for both attractions (barely), Mineral Hall, and to my surprise, part of the Casa de Fritos building with it's outdoor seating area! Before I decided to expand, I only had room for just half of the Rainbow Ridge buildings and nothing else!

The photo below shows the superimposed image over the photo above which shows everything that will be added to the layout as part of this expansion. The green lines represent the track for the model which dictated the layout of everything, and the yellow lines represent the proposed Pack Mule trail.

But before I can get started on the construction of that area, I need to do more planning like making drawings of all the buildings. But I also need to get some other areas finished before, like Balancing Rock Canyon, because once the new Rainbow Ridge goes up, that area will be a lot harder to work on!

Balancing Rock Canyon is located in the middle of the layout, which makes it difficult to work on with everything around it, especially when the new Rainbow Ridge gets constructed. Lately I've been working on getting this area fixed up since I tore it up to fix the gears and I would like to finish it all the way, right down to the ballast on the track (which is something that I usually tend to save for last).

The track in this area has been getting special attention, as up until recently, I didn't really pay attention to the appearance of it. When I originally started the layout, a year or two after I initially layed the track, I ballasted the track with real dirt and the scenery started to grow over the ties, leaving the track looking like a dirt covered area with some rails stuck in it. Today, now that I pay much closer attention to detail, the track is getting a lot of cosmetic care like cleaning the ties up to make them more visible. Unfortunately, the track sits a little lower than the scenery (on the real attraction, and on real railroads, the track typically sits on ballast a little higher than the rest of the surrounding area) and there's really no way to fix it without redoing the track (which is an option that I am not considering). So, I've been extra careful keeping the scenery as far away as I can from the track and the ballast area--which is also good, because scenery too close has been known to derail my trains in the past.

Speaking of track and ballasting, this is the first finished section of track on the layout. I painted the track in the back corner of the the layout and added ballast, near the Devil's Paintpots and geysers, just to experiment with colors and such. It still needs more work (and more ballast).

Back to Balancing Rock Canyon, the track is getting the attention that I described above. In addition to that, I also started wiring that section for the future two-train operation with block control and my experimental automatic train operation (where the last foot of each block is isolated, which will stop a train if there's another train in the block ahead. So, if a train were to go into Balancing Rock Canyon and if there was another train in the next block, the 1 foot dead section of track would cause the train to stop right in front of the tunnel leading to Rainbow Caverns). The wire leads coming from the track are all connected together for a simple single train operation now, but when I do switch to cab control, this prep work that I did will make the switch-over much easier.

The rocks themselves for Balancing rock canyon are also getting some work; I've actually gone back and carved more out of them to make some of the rock towers less blocky and more realistic. I also cut the spinning rock column down so it's a tad shorter and the actual spinning rock was made smaller so it's more in scale. The ground work is going back in and consists of sculptamold with some tint in it so I know when batches of areas were done in terms of drying time. Unfortunately, in the last batch I threw in some celluclay as an experiment (the brown stuff in the right area of the photo below) which didn't work out because the sculptamold set but the celluclay hasn't, so it's this weird kind of spongy surface that I can't really work on just yet. The light yellow areas are the carved areas, which is the exposed foam.

I've also adjusted the color palette and refined my painting process for the desert, which is a little more accurate to the real thing and little more orange than what I've used in the past. This time I'm using paint straight out of the bottle, so no complicated mixes will have to be made (and so patching can be done easily without having to color match). The area below was the first area to use this new painting treatment with Balancing Rock canyon soon to follow.

If anyone is interested, I might post a step-by-step process of painting the rockwork.

Heres a panorama of probably the only finished area on the entire layout and the area being worked on nearby.

I've been thinking about animated the geysers for some time now, and I still haven't found an ideal solution. The obvious one is to have the geysers on cams that go up and down (a solid plexiglas rod will represent the water). But I've also been looking at using mist or fog. I have a fog machine that might work, but trying to fit it in that area isn't easy and it doesn't operate the way I would want it to. It would be idea to have a shot of fog every few minutes for a few seconds, but the fog machine I have doesn't do that. I came across some little fountains that are called "ultrasonic misters" which turns any bowl of water in to a mist. That could work, but I'd have to try it out myself to see how it works and I'm trying to use little to no water at all (and not break my budget in the process). And depending on the model, the actual "geyser" for these fountains doesn't seem to be much so they might not work anyways for what I'm trying to do. We'll see, the geysers are not a priority at the moment anyways.

Lately I've been also planning out the new train for Nature's Wonderland, which might replace the current one or join along side it as #2. This train will be using a new drive system which includes the powered truck from a Bachmann Cable Car and a dummy free-wheeling locomotive in front (just like the real thing!).

I got a Cable Car and I've been fiddling around with it the last week or two figuring out how I'm going to mount it and how it'll work. First off, I couldn't believe how small it was! It was tiny, and it definitely will fit in the current tender that I have for the current train (for consistency the tender and cars will be built to the same specs as the current train) 

But small size comes with a side-effect--weight, and no weight= no traction, something that is an issue on the NWRR. Luckily, since the motor truck is small enough I have plenty of room for weight. The tender drive needs to weigh as much as the current locomotive for the grades that I have tested and planned. The porter (current locomotive) tips the scale at 3.80 ounces and the motor truck comes in at about .80 ounces, so weight really needs to be added. I found my answer with tungsten weights. I found these really small weights made of tungsten that are used for Pinewood Derby cars that I will be using. They measure about 7/16" X 3/8" and they weigh about 0.5 ounces each. A pack of 6 brings the total weight to 3 oz. Adding these to the motor truck makes the future tender drive weighing exactly the same as the porter engine I have now! And since they're so small, I can even fit them standing up below the tender deck (and that doesn't include the higher space on top of the tender for the "hatches") as shown below:

There's room for even more of them! I can fit 3 more if I wanted to as shown below (the extra ones would fit between the two rows)

Even then, there's still room for weight on the sides of the motor truck, under the tender frame and all kinds of other places, but that might be overkill (or is it?).

As for the performance of the motor truck, it'll work, but not out of this world great. The porter still has some advantages though. First off, like any other 4-wheeled locomotive, the power pick-up is terrible unless your track and wheels are *spotless*. No worry, like the current train, more power will be picked up from the two mine cars behind it. Speaking of that, the wiring between the cars is also going to be different on the new train; this time everything will be able to disconnect easily for movement and maintenance, this means I can remove the tender for fixing without having to take off the locomotive in front, and the two cars behind it also (The locomotive, tender, and two cars are counted as "one" on the current train). I'll probably use two-pin micro-connectors for this and I won't have any wires going to the locomotive.

The tender truck, when fed power efficiently, runs ok. I have to realize that it's not from a Spectrum model like my porter, so it's not built with total precision. It's a little noisy compared to the porter, but it runs fairly well with plenty of power. My only problem with it is that it can't handle the ultra-slow speeds like the porter; the porter can run half as slow as the power truck's slowest speed. But, from my tests, the slowest speed for the power truck seems to match those of the real mine train after studying how many times the wheels turn per second on the locomotives. I just have to accept that I can't run the train in sync with the lengthy soundtrack and just have to enjoy running it at a slightly higher speed through the layout.

Here's a quick video showing a test of the power truck with the chassis of a former porter in front. The bag on top of the truck is the tungsten weights, which improves it's traction power and even it's electrical conductivity. The video is a little jerky, thanks to the digital point-and-shoot camera, but you get an idea of how it runs.

Speaking of the porter chassis, that will be the new dummy locomotive to go in front of the powered tender. Since there is no motor to hide, I can finally make an accurate model that's the right size (the locomotive on the current train had to have some proportions changed to accommodate the high sitting motor). And since there's going to be nothing to hide in the boiler, and no wires to feed from the track, how am I going to power the headlight? Answer: batteries. If I were to stash a battery in the boiler like a AAA battery or even a AA battery, I could have a 1.5V bulb (or LED) for the headlight on a switch so I can turn it on and off whenever I want to. That could be really neat, being able to stop at the station at night with the headlight still on or keep it off when running during the day with out using DCC!

So far the new train (and the rest of the layout) is looking pretty good on paper; I'm anxious to seeing it come to fruition.  

December 2009 Update

After completing the massive project below the layout (www.20kmodel.blogspot.com) I'm finally getting back to doing some progress on Nature's Wonderland. The main focus now is to get the track locked down and left alone as I don't want to do anymore track work in the future, it should all be scenic work from then on.

Yesterday I finalized the height of Crossover Point. Crossover Point is the point in the track where it crosses over itself (makes sense!). This is the highest point that the train has to climb and also the lowest point where the train has to duck under it's own track underneath in the Rainbow Caverns.

I set the height of the track above at Crossover Point to the absolute minimum--just a 1/16th gap between the train crossing under and the track above. That shouldn't be too much of a problem, eventually the train I have now will be retired and replaced with one that is shorter in height so that will clear very easily.  The height for Crossover point is at 2.75 inches and so everything has to match that height, mostly in that corner of the layout as shown in the picture above.  Since the track around the geysers and the paintpots is slightly higher than Crossover Point's new height, I knocked out the supports and lowered it about 1/2".

It may look like an earthquake fault line, but here is the newly lowered track in relation to the scenery. I cut that "fault line" so when I lowered the track, it didn't angle outward like a piece of super-elevated track reversed. I lowered that section of scene to match the new height and now it's just some patch work in the crack. The ground of the scenery slopes every so slightly but it's hard to really notice.

Now that the highest point in the layout it locked down, it's time to work backwards down the line all the way to Rainbow Ridge.

Rainbow Ridge is currently a piece of plywood with some flex-track temporarily tacked down with some screws so I could figure out the arrangement. Unfortunately, the spur line that I had planned to go in the Caverns had to be eliminated; the curve was simply too sharp for a turnout in the desired location. But,  I've got an idea on adding another spur line in the desert that I'll get into in another update. Since I'll only have two trains max with only one train at the moment, the double track Rainbow Ridge will do just nicely for now.

As you can see in the photo above, there is plenty of space for a much better Rainbow Ridge. The blue line hovering above the plywood indicates the original edge of the layout before the expansion; anything that wasn't on the table wasn't on the layout!

But before I even get to Rainbow Ridge and all that fun stuff, I have to deal with the track. The grade going into the Desert and over Crossover Point is being a troublemaker again and the joints before and after the Bear Country trestle are making the train stall. I thought it was time to solve this grade/stall problem once and for all. The track from Rainbow Ridge, around Cascade Peak, through the Living Deser and over Crossover point is made up of track that is raised at different gradients (sections here and there were changed over the years and that resulted in different gradations). Before I get to Rainbow Ridge, I want to regrade the entire track from Crossover point, through the desert, over the trestle, around Cascade Peak, through Beaver Valley, and Rainbow Ridge. I want the route through these areas to be absolutely smooth, gradual, and consistant. This way, the train should have no problem at all on any section of that track on it's way upgrade.

So, the last few days I've been doing a lot of math, measuring, and testing to find the right grade to raise the train without causing it to stall out. There 3 main factors in these calculation: Whether or not Rainbow Ridge would have a slope to contribute to the grade; the height of the Bear Country Trestle that results from the grade, and the steepness of the grade itself. The track will raise in increments of 1/8" and the  space between these increments is what establishes the steepness and the other 2 factors.  The train will have to negotiate a height distance of 2.25" (even though the height of crossover point from the base is 2.75", the grade will start 1/2" from the base on that new piece of plywood). From all of my calculations and testing, I came up with 2 plans, each with it's own pros and cons:

Plan A 

• The grade will start from Point A  and end at Point C/Crossover Point (refer to photo above) and will rise 1/8" every 10.25".

• Pros:
•  This is the most subtle and gradual grade which makes it the easiest for the train to climb. 
• The height of the Bear Country Trestle remains at it's current height of 2" (I want that trestle to have some height; otherwise it'll look lame and un-prototypical).
• Cons:
• The entire Rainbow Ridge will have to have a slope as the section is part of the new grade; this isn't easy to hid or build with the number of platforms and buildings that can look odd all leaning to one  side). 

Plan B

• The grade will start from Point B and end at Point C/Crossover Point (refer to photo above) and will rise 1/8" every 7.7".

• Pros:
• Rainbow Ridge will remain perfectly level and flat, which makes it much easier to build with all the platforms, buildings, turnouts and track. Won't have to do any visual tricks with the slope. 
• Cons:
• The Bear Country Trestle has a disappointing height of 1 7/8", I don't want the trestle to look lame and un-prototypical. I could "dig down" 1/2" to make it appear taller, but that's nearly impossible to do with the layout screwed down into the table already making it impossible to cut. 
• The grade is steeper than in the plan above; although the grade from under Crossover Point in Rainbow Caverns to point A is steeper than rising  1/8" every 7.7", I'd rather have the majority of the layout be subtle in gradations. 

I've been testing the two plans above a lot with some pieces of straight track set at those increment distances with a train full of weight (I also testing the train with a 3X the weight and an underweight locomotive, since the newer train I have planned will weigh a little less than my current locomotive). Obviously, the grade in Plan A is easier to climb, but the train was able to do both grades with double the weight of the total future passenger load. I was indecisive with which plan to go with, but I reminded myself why I'm re-grading the track--to make the train run easier.

With that in mind, I'm choosing plan A. Although this plan will make the train run better, it makes construction of Rainbow Ridge a heck of a lot hardre to do; since the track is sloped, I have to figure out what will run parallel with it in terms of the raising height, what will stay level, and what building will have to be level corrected. That's what I'm up to now. Once I figure it out, the track will be re-graded and installed, and I can finally have a trouble-free train completing a full loop.

Progress Report: 10/30/09

At this point, the entire Rainbow Ridge area has been cleared out, as well as a good section of Beaver Valley and Rainbow Caverns. From there I'll install a plywood base along the front to bring everything to the proper height and give the future trackage and scenery a good base to work on. Once the plywood is screwed down, the next thing to be done is figure out the track layout and get that installed. Then it will be construction of Rainbow Caverns (version 4) and then Rainbow Ridge.

Progress Report: 9/17/09

"The Mine Train model will never be complete, as long as there is always something to improve, modify or change"
(a play on Walt's quote)

That certainly is true. What was once a small project of adding a spur line, has now turned into a massive rebuild. It opened up a big can of worms.

But before I get into that, I'd like take a look at what's been done in the desert; the lighting. Since the grade in that section was redone, most of the lighting that was mounted along the track got all screwed up. Having the lights at that low vantage point didn't really help as scenery easily blocked the beams of light. And since I needed to put the ground work back in after I fixed up the balancing rocks, I didn't want to do scenery gingerly around every light. I came up with a solution to fix all of that, using "light towers".

These are, in simple terms, blocks of 2 X 4's with LED's glued to them. This way, I can streamline the lighting by having them all in two areas and not in the actual scenery. I can adjust them easily too without having to dig up the scenery too. These "towers" will be hidden by trees in the future. The amount of light being thrown from these towers has actually been improved since part of the light isn't being caught by the ground anymore.


Perhaps the biggest news this week was this ambitious undertaking that I decided to go with a few days ago, on pretty much the same scale the the big desert redo of last winter. It all started with a spur line:

On the side of the layout I have this space where I've always wanted to put in a spur line to pull a train off onto. This makes it easier for a two train operation, or if I just want to test a non-NWRR locomotive without taking the whole train off the track. The turnout would be located in the caverns, as with the real thing and the spur would exit onto the side of the layout. To install the switch, I had to tear out that wall in the foreground of the caverns. No big deal, it really had nothing on it and it's an easy fix.

Realizing I needed more work room, I tore out more of the cavern walls and eventually sections of the rock works and waterfalls. Pretty much half of the caverns were exposed to daylight now. No big deal, I was going to expand the caverns anyways and the walls were going to be replaced anyways. Suddenly, an idea popped in my head.

Why expand the caverns when I can expand Rainbow Ridge instead?

For years I've been disappointed with the space alloted for the little mining town of Rainbow Ridge. There wasn't enough room for all the buildings and the general spacing of everything was pretty tight. My original buildings were built too small, and new more detailed buildings at a slightly larger, yet more correct, scale were slated to be built at some point. The Rainbow Ridge area is probably one of my favorite, if not the most, section of the whole attraction. With a desire to have a larger town, I began to plan the new Rainbow Ridge (mind you I have yet to finish my little spur line project).

After reviewing some aerial photos and several vintage photos, I was able to determine the amount of space I needed for an entire Rainbow Ridge. The new space for the town would be double of what the old space was. That would allow for a correctly proportioned town with all the buildings and best of all, room for the spur line out front in the load area. (That would make two spur lines to be made; one in the caverns and one in the town; could have a three train operation now!). After some research I decided to go for the expansion. At this time, Rainbow Ridge is already stripped down and ready for it's rather small redo that was originally slated before this craziness.

But expansion comes at a price; Rainbow Caverns would need to be cut down-- a lot. Almost half. It wasn't a big deal after I thought about it; Rainbow Caverns really had a lot of wasted space. The scene could easily be condensed and still have the same effect. However, I've decided to move the viewing window to the side, so I won't have that picture-esque composition with the train making that curve anymore (it's just going to pass in front). There's also some space underneath the future Rainbow Ridge hill where I can expand the caverns and make it deeper. (So essentially, it'll be the same size, just that the volume has moved around).

Also, I will be switching from using a tube blacklight to some UV LED's by Lemax that I picked up from Michael's last year ; these "near-blacklights" are small LED's that give off a nice deep violet glow and make any fluorescent paint glow nicely. It isn't exactly the same effect as a tube UV light, but it's pretty close; as long as the viewer goes "ooohhh!" when they see it, I'll be good. The pack comes with two spot lights made up of 3 LED's each (six in total) that I will dissect and rewire for my own practical use (they'll be hooked up to a transformer too) . Each LED will have it's own mount so I can adjust and point them wherever I want. By using these, I won't have to worry about the bulb burning out (they don't last long) or the batteries going out if I forget to turn it off, which has happened a few times.

So, here's my plan of action:

The yellow line represents the current track (or what use to be the current track) and the red represents the planned new track. The green portal represents where the town starts after the train comes out of the tunnel. The caverns spur line route is also visible.

My to-do list just got longer.

Progress Report: 9/5/09

At this point in time, Rainbow Caverns is undergoing a lengthy refurbishment. The main bulk of the job will be the installation of the new spur line where I can park one of the trains off if I need too (I'm preparing for a future 2 train operation). In addition to that, the caverns will be expanded due to the larger base the layout got over 6 months ago. Then there will be smaller aspects to the refurb, including more stalagmites, more rock work, a new roof to match the real thing now that good photos have surfaced, and a bunch of other things.

As mentioned, I am preparing for a 2 train operation. It's not official yet, but I'm just prepping the layout so if I do decide to add another train, the addition will be easier to bring in. That will include the installation of a block system with 2 tethered throttles (in reality, are only dimmer switches for the transformers; I've been using this kind of operation for over a year and it works great) since I'm not going into DCC anytime soon. I've come up with a genius way to create an automatic operation too if I just want to watch the trains do there thing, with only some relays and reed switches.

Basically, if my idea works out, as one train enters a block, a reed switch triggers a relay that turns the last 12" of the previous block off, forcing the train behind that's about to enter occupied block to stop. Once the train ahead moves into the next block triggering another reed switch flipping the relay again, the previous block will clear and the train stuck in the powerless section of track resumes it's journey once power has been restored. Every block will be this way, so that even if the trains are going on their own without any human control, they won't run into each other.

In addition to that, I've also found a use for that timer relay I posted a while back. I'm planning on using that for the Rainbow Ridge section for where the train stops. The train will trigger the timer relay to shut of the power where the locomotive stops at the station for a certain amount of time. Once all the pick-up wheels enter the dead section of track, the train stops, as if it were loading and unloading. Once the timer expires (up to 45 sec) power comes back on, and the train starts the journey into Nature's Wonderland--without human control, something I've been wanting to do for a long time!

"Publicity" shot

Progress Report: 8/30/09

As of late last night, I'm proud to say that my Balancing Rock Canyon is now controlled entirely by reed switches! I have a magnet in the third car trip the first switch, activating the relay which turns on the rocks as the train starts to enters the section. Then once the entire train enters the Caverns, another reed switch flicks the relay, turning the rocks off.

Even though I did get an Atlas Snap Relay, I ended up making my own relay from an old Life-Like turnout. The snap relay didn't really operate to my satisfaction, since it required a lot of power (more than most of my transformers put out), buzzed quite a bit, couldn't switch completely sometimes, and heated up a bit.

Using the same idea with the solenoid controlled switch, I took the old automated turnout I had (since I wasn't going to use snap track anytime soon again) and turned it into a relay. I soldered one wire to one rail and the other to one of the switch points, so when the two touch, a circuit is made. To my surprise, it works! It doesn't just work, it works GREAT! The neat thing about it is that it doesn't take much power (so I can run it off the same transformer that's powering my rock motors) it's quiet, doesn't buzz, doesn't create heat, and is reliable every time. It was one of those situations that was kinda like "whatever floats your boat"; I'll be using my makeshift turnout relay for as long as I want, as long as it works every time.

Progress Report: 8/30/09

Here's the craziness going on the desert, replaced the final few axles today. All the rock are getting a refurbishment, which means replacing glue joints and lubricating rods and such. I've also ordered some reed switches and a relay to got with them, so I'll be experimenting with that. I've got a circuit that looks like it'll work so when I draw it up, I'll post it (and maybe even animate it!). At some point I should be back where I was before the fiasco with the mechanical issues and the grade issues started.

Progress Report: 8/28/09

The balancing rocks have been pretty much finished--mechanically. Appearance-wise, not so much. All the gears have been give new axles and much of the rocks given replacement parts and an overall refurbishment. I added a second motor to the gear system, giving the mechanism quite a bit more power. I placed it on the other side of the tracks where the "gear chain" pretty much ends. (The gear system starts with the spinning rock, travels parallel to the tracks, crosses under the tracks, and travels parallel to the other side of the tracks towards the tunnel).

Since there is a motor on either side of the tracks powering the "gear chain" I can either have each side operate independently if I take out a gear, or the motors help one another if the gear is left in. The blue areas indicate where the future access hatches will go. The one in the top-left is already there, but it needs a new cover. The large ones at the bottom will the large buttes as hatches. The next phase is to patch up the area and make it nice, pretty, and presentable!

Now I can be confident that the propulsion system will keep the rocks moving for years to come.

I picked up one these neat pulse timers  which are really timer relays for circuits. Using the adjustable timer, you can either turn off a circuit for a certain amount of time, or turn on a circuit for a certain amount of time, or both which makes this gadget really cool. All it takes is a quick pulse of power to the trigger wire and the timer starts. Really useful. I'd use this for my balancing rocks if I take out my light sensor, but I've got some reed switches coming to replace that.

Progress Report: 7/29/09

I Picked up a Sensor Switch from Lowe's the other day, and I've been doing some testing night and day to get the optimum operation in different variations of angles, positions, amount of light, and how much of the sensor can be covered up.

The main drawback being that it's an off-the-shelf part is that the setting don't work with what I need. It's got intervals to set the ON timer to; 5 seconds (Test) 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and 20 minutes. A 20 second interval would have been perfect, but I can't ask for too much out this little switch. 5 seconds would work if the entire train was picked up by the sensor (which is rather odd, only the locomotive trips the sensor and non of the cars, even if full daylight. I guess it's the motion of the side-rods).

So right now I've got it set to 1 minute, and the train trips the sensor just before the first balancing rock column and the motion of the rocks stop when the timer expires just as the train comes to a stop at Rainbow Ridge (that's if I run it at minimum speed, 1" a second). It actually works surprisingly well in the dark, which is good for when I do night time operations.

The only other drawback I have with the sensor is I need to wire a couple of "night light" bulbs to it to "soak up" the extra current going through, otherwise the rocks would still turn slowly even when the sensor isn't in ON mode.

Despite that, hopefully the sensors keeps the wear down and lets my rocks run a little longer before they need another refurbishment.

Progress Report: 7/14/09

Well, Nature's Wonderland has had yet another set-back--Balancing Rock Canyon. I hoped the day would never come, having to dig up scenery to fix gears and such. Apparently, after having the rocks turn and move for pretty much half a year has put some wear and tear on the mechanism. The axles drenched in lubrication, stress and even the changing weather has affected how the rocks operate and they eventually they stop moving. But that is something that is suppose to happen; when something gets caught in the gears and causes them to stall, I've got a gear that will slip on purpose so that the obstruction doesn't stall out the motor. so when something stops the rocks, the motor keeps running. Now it's gotten to the point where the rocks don't want to move anymore because they're putting to much stress on the slipping gear. And to make matters worse, the axles for a couple of gears and rock column gears gave way because they were surface mounted with hot-glue, and you through in over-lubrication, time, weather, stress and weak points. Also, once the hot-glue finally loses it's grip (what was I thinking using hot glue!), the gears start to shift a little which results in gears binding more, putting more stress on the motor.

So now I've gotten the whole area pretty dug up, with holes cut in the scenery (I've kept the "plugs" so I can make them into access hatches) and a lot of gear axles being replaced. This time I've actually drilled into the wood layout base and inserted longer axle rods, instead of gluing a shorter rod to the surface of the masonite. This way, the gears won't move at all. I've had to remove some of the rock columns, which was a bit painful to do since sealing around them into the surrounding scenery took a lot of time. One column is getting a total refurbishment. Now that I've replaced most of the axles, the whole mechanism runs a little smoother and quieter, so I know the work made a difference.

Hopefully I'll be able to patch the area back up in the next week or so, I've also need to do some patching from the re-grade I did a couple days ago. In the meantime, while everything is still kinda dug up, I might install a sensor used for security lights so the rocks will start moving automatically when the train hits a certain point. I'll have to do some experimenting.

Progress Report: 7/10/09

Well, not really any progress, my 20,000 Leagues under the Sea project is soaking up pretty much all of my time and I'm at a point where I need to do a big supply run, so can't really do much until I have everything I need.

Unfortunately, compromises are great once you figure them out and put them to work. But eventually, they'll come back to bite you in the rear--hard. I've had a couple of setbacks in Nature's Wonderland, but I've overcome a hurtle that I've been wanting to avoid for some time now.

I'm talking about the re-grading I did as part of the great Desert Redo of Winter 2008 (go back a bunch of pages). I raised the grade of the track so the train could pass over itself. Everything worked great in the tests and in the following weeks as scenery went in. Occasionally, the engine's wheels would be on the verge of slipping and that'd be it.

Though now it's gotten ridiculous. I've had a few episodes like this before; the train can't even make it up the grade without slipping. It'll stall out once all the cars are on the inclined track, and this is with an empty load of cars! There's no way it'll be able climb the now nicknamed "Devil's grade" with a full load of resin passengers. It's very frustrating knowing the train can't even make it over the hill and finish it's run.

I've tried everything to correct this, using Bullfrog Snot -- which works great on other locomotive BTW-- cleaning the track constantly, checking for any stuck/sliding wheels, and trying to add more weight to this petite locomotive which is nearly impossible (if you want it to be accurate and look good!).

Then I decided to look at what's causing the problems--the track itself. The only solution would be to re-grade the track again, but that was an option that I really didn't want to carry out. But after some inspections, I found that it could be possible, lowering the track just enough without any major work so that it makes it easier for the train to climb the grade but not necessarily eliminate it.

So yesterday, I pulled back the Rainbow Ridge hill (luckily I didn't scenic it yet!) where the track borders the scenery. I knocked out the roadbed supports and slowly forced the track and roadbed down, careful not to warp the track itself. I managed to lower the track about 1/2 and an inch in one spot and a 1/4 inch where the track passes over the Rainbow Caverns track. I secured the right-of-way in it's new position for testing.

I tested the train loaded with weights to simulate the future passengers. I tested the train with maximum weights and the most the train can pull without slipping is 5 oz. (with 6 oz. on the verge of slipping). That is great improvement considering the weight of the future passengers will only total at about 1.5-1.8 oz. and the fact that the train before couldn't even make it up the grade with no weight at all. I did have to sacrifice not having a whistle on the locomotive so it can clear the overpass in the caverns, but hey that's a detail I can live with out (I could always make a removable one for Photo OP's!). Although I still have to do some rockwork and scenery touch-ups, I think the effort was well worth it.

Problem solved!

(What still puzzles me is how the train was able to do the grade for about 6 months with only a few problems every once in a while. But after thinking about it, here's my theory: when I tore out the old desert, I think that an extremely fine layer of dust settled on the track and allowed for traction when I was doing the first couple of tests. After a couple of runs, I confirmed to myself that it works and it was time for scenery and no adjustments were to be made. I did the tests without weights thinking that the future passengers wouldn't really weigh anything (only to find out that the weight adds up and is enough to affect performance!). Once the dust went away, the train slipped and a new layer of dust from sanding or from outside formed, the train worked again.

From the initial construction, everything worked great. Fast-forward a couple of months and the train starts slipping. At this point I think that dust layer wore off and it's just bare track. Strangely, for some reason, the train starts working up the grade easily a few days later. (could be dust from the changing weather outside)

Fast-forward a couple more months and the train starts slipping again. At this point, I'm trying everything I could and I just set the problem aside and started working on something that doesn't induce headaches and frustrations--working on the arch bridge. I grinded and sanded some areas on it and when I was done, I blew off the dust; but not all of it (invisible stuff). I ran the train through the bridge, knowing it would start slipping in a few seconds and miraculously, the train chugs up the hill once again.

Fast-forward a few more months to 2 days ago, and you guessed it, the train slips on the grade and stalls. At this point it's getting ridiculous and I'm not going to purposely spread dust on the track for traction. As explained above, I successfully adjusted the track and I can now breathe a sigh of relief that I won't have anymore problems in future (or so I thought...) )

Progress Report: 6/14/09

More night time lighting has been installed, desert lighting is pretty much done, though I'm probably going to add some bright 12 volts here and there to kind of brighten up the scene a little more, "exaggerate" the lighting a bit (I'm sure NWRR wasn't lit up this much, but it's kind of my own little touch)

The white bulbs are still awaiting colored gels at the moment. Also, I rigged the lights on a timer so they'll click on at sundown and shut off when I hit the sack, and then they turn on again in the morning for an hour or two as if the lights were on all night.

In other news, I gave my locomotive some "Bullfrog Snot" to improve traction. I'll do a full review of it later in another thread

This is the current area that's being worked on, the back of the desert:
(this is a supersize image, so click on it to see more detail!)

The little section on the right where the two LED's are is where the Dinosaur bones are going. I'll probably have to sculpt it, since I couldn't find any kits that were the right size or quality (or even the right dino!)

Beaver Valley and Bear Country were ripped up today, or rather the beat-up, torn, and yellowed newpaper forms that were there were ripped out. This area has been considered the "trash dump" because whenever an area was redone, all the debris was dumped into there to clear the space. Once Rainbow Ridge is complete (once the desert is complete!) progress will move into this area. It'll be interesting to figure out, considering Rainbow Ridge, Beaver Valley, Bear Country, Cascade Peak, and Natural Arch Bridge are all in very close proximity with each other unlike the real thing. I have to kind of separate the areas to a certain extant. I'll have to get creative with trees...

(Another SuperSize image!)

Progress Report: 6/9/09

This back corner is starting to shape up very nicely. The geysers are complete and colorful swirls in the sand from the paint pots appear. The "spur line" tunnel is also complete.

A POV shot from the train; I can't wait until I get a backdrop in!

Progress is going to move towards the back of the desert, towards the Dinosaur remains and the small pond that is there right up to the Natural Arch Bridge. Tonight while it's dark, more night-time lighting will be installed, and eventually I'll be able to put in the stretch of DLRR!

Progress Report: 6/3/09

Taking a break from the Arch bridge (I have to let it dry for a day or two!) I went over the Cactus Forest. I bought one of Woodland Scenic's 'Scene-A-Rama' kits, the Desert Plants pack. Included are a variety of plastic cacti that were just right for my model. They were about the right size and all they needed was a coat of painted and their "flower" applied. I gonna get some more of these packs, I might even mold the next set of cacti I get. These packs are great for beginner modelers or modelers that just want a variety of materials for a section of their layout.

Progress Report: 6/2/09

Progress slowed just a tad, but stuff is still going on. Worked on the Natural Arch bridge. This is the fourth incarnation, with the first one built on the original layout in 2005, rebuilt in 2006 for the added mule path, torn out and replaced with the big Desert redo of winter '08, and then replaced yet again with the current one (the one before it, even though was brand new, gave me some envelope clearance issues).

The new Natural Arch Bridge is made out of a rigid wood structure draped in aluminum foil and then covered in a layer of celluclay. Celluclay is dry papier mache type material that turns into a malleable wet clay when water is added. Even though it take a few days to dry, it forms a very hard and appropriately textured surface. Here is the bridge already with a layer of set celluclay on it--the light colored stuff-- and some fresh stuff applied today--the dark. (Look you can even see the big 'ol bag of dry celluclay in the back; this stuff ain't cheap--$25 a bag! But hey, it works pretty good)

Progress Report: 6/2/09

Progress slowed just a tad, but stuff is still going on. Worked on the Natural Arch bridge. This is the fourth incarnation, with the first one built on the original layout in 2005, rebuilt in 2006 for the added mule path, torn out and replaced with the big Desert redo of winter '08, and then replaced yet again with the current one (the one before it, even though was brand new, gave me some envelope clearance issues).

The new Natural Arch Bridge is made out of a rigid wood structure draped in aluminum foil and then covered in a layer of celluclay. Celluclay is dry papier mache type material that turns into a malleable wet clay when water is added. Even though it take a few days to dry, it forms a very hard and appropriately textured surface. Here is the bridge already with a layer of set celluclay on it--the light colored stuff-- and some fresh stuff applied today--the dark.

Progress Report: 5/29/09

Here's a quick video I did of the layout, showing progress so far, but mainly to show everything's locations in relation to one another.

Progress Report: 5/26/09

More rocks and more ground-cover went in today; now that is a desert!

Progress Report: 5/24/09

I'm really starting to haul on this project! I don't think I'm stopping anytime soon! Last night I started installing colored gels for the night-time lighting:

The shot is a bit blurry, since the rocks are moving

Here is a pano shot of the current focused construction area, the geysers and paint pots. The geysers are plexiglas rod with some Halloween stretchy web stuff on them. The only problem is, unlike the real geysers. is that this stuff is green and glows in the dark! I might try and spray them with some white, to change the color and stiffen them up a bit.

I still might mechanize them in the future, but since I need to get a motor for them, they'll just be static for now.

Progress Report: 5/24/09

Despite saying there hasn't been much progress, in the last two days there HAS been progress! The gears in Balancing rock canyon have been sealed up, which looks neat seeing the rocks move in way without seeing the gears turning. The gray stuff is celluclay which should harden up in few days and will get some earth tones soon.

Ground cover is starting to go in and Devil's paint pots of sculpy were made.

The geysers were also made of sculpey, here they are awaiting paint. I had a little mishap with the oven (I had it set to 'toast' rather than 'bake') so two of the geysers were a little burnt. The geyser in the rear is bright orange because I switched to a cheaper clay when I ran out of the other stuff (the orange stuff glows in the dark!)

Progress Report: 5/20/09

Not too much progress, been busy working on my On30 Marsh and a 20,000 Leagues under the Sea project below Nature's Wonderland. But so far:

• Locomotive got a mechanical tune-up, though an appearance overhaul may be needed--the wheels are looking a little shabby.
• A prototype mechanism for jumping fish was created, though that little project quickly lost momentum once I realized how small 1/48 fish really are. ( basically they'll be a little chunk of styrene, very disappointing)
• The styrene rod drive shaft for the spinning rock finally snapped and a brass rod was installed; I guess a styrene rod flexing every second per revolution, multiplied by a quarter of million times, is bound to snap!

Progress Report: 3/5/09

Here it is, the time lapse construction of the Rainbow Caverns!



This is probably the last one I'll do, since having a camera in your way while you work is not helpful! Plus, I'm not sure what else I would document that would look good sped up. We'll see.

Progress Report: 3/4/09

Started installing some night-time lighting:

I'm using up leftover strands of white LED's that I was going to use for the Christmas tree base, but canned that at the last minute. I will put some red/orange gels in front of the lights, to give off a glow like how Big Thunder is lit today. Through some Photoshop, it might turn out like this when I'm done:

Progress Report: 2/28/09

Here's what the caverns look like outside. The caverns are housed in a large hill, with a window on the side looking into it, like a cut-away view.

The flat roof on the top is removable, and it will soon be covered with miniature AC's, piping and vents--to give a sense of reality that Rainbow Caverns was once in a large show building.

Progress Report: 2/27/09

Rainbow Falls--

The train making its way through, with a long exposure

The Rainbow caverns is pretty much complete, the water of 'Mod Podge' will clear up and glow in a few weeks (I put on a thick layer). In the mean time, I'm cutting together the time lapse construction--over 10 hours of it; gotta make it so it's under 6-10 minutes!