Quiet earth (was: Exercise module for Plettenberg railroad in 1/22.5 scale)

[Hydrostat]

Volker, It's great to see this all in one piece for the first time (at least the first time I've seen it altogether).
It's terrific!

Bill,
it was kind of thrilling to join both parts, because due to available space I wasn't able to have them rigged up at same time for working at it. Only the blending was done in one day with both parts assembled.

Modeling doesn't get any better than that. Most satisfactory. -- Russ

Russ,
come on. Ask Chuck  .

Such wonderful work! What kind of tank car is that?

Ray,
thank you. It is a gauge 2 car by Magnus/Höhne. The company doesn't exist anymore. Quality / detailing corresponds with LGB standard. It doesn't really fit the engines' or Rollwagens' standard. My friend Uwe took the car to the exhibition to take some pictures.

Can you please share a picture of the tree roots at the top of the shale in the last photo? My error.  It should be the first photo that has the tree roots.

Lawton,
I had to wait until today to take some better pictures. There's some sawdust and more fine roots to come, but here we go.

I love your design office. It's kind of like what we had in our teaching department. I worked on a drawing board like this for several years (Kuhlmann, I suppose?).
Bernhard

Bernhard,
thanks, and yes, it is a Kuhlmann easel. There's a lot of info about how I made it from here on: http://www.finescalerr.com/smf/index.php?topic=1983.msg52977#msg52977


Cheers,
Volker

[finescalerr]

I have rarely or never seen scenery modeled to that level of excellence. -- Russ

[Lawton Maner]

Thanks for the photos. 
Fantastic work.
If I enlarge the photos will I see the worms digging through the soil?

[Ray Dunakin]

That overhanging layer of soil, rocks, and roots is incredibly realistic!

[Bernhard]

Volker, looking at the Kuhlmann easel brings back old memories. And the the cliff edge is really of the finest.

[Hydrostat]

Thanks for the photos. 
Fantastic work.
If I enlarge the photos will I see the worms digging through the soil?

The worms are usually inside the soil. They tend to come out if it rains. But it never rains in California.


Some more stuff:










































Cheers,
Volker

[finescalerr]

Simply disgusting. -- Russ

[Bernhard]

The grille and the cemented posts of the railing are absolute tops.

[Ray Dunakin]

There is so much to love about this diorama! Even the smallest details of the scenery are perfect!

[Hydrostat]

The last weeks provided some extra time for the Wiesenthal stop. This is a plan of the Oestertal line's terminus and the Brockhaus & Söhne factory.



(Slg. Wolf Dietrich Groote)


Would it be possible to model that stop to scale? It would, according to some rather big segments of 140 x 62 cm.





There are only few pictures of that area available and most of them are published in this book. This picture isn't in the book, but shows the landscape / environment very well.



Triebwagen T1 und Personenwagen Nr. 7 in Wiesental. Foto: E. J. Wolff 1952, Slg. Wolf Dietrich Groote)


Both turnouts were made as described before in A snapshot in time.


Blades are filed and sanded to scale.





A brass screw brazed to the blade serves as joint.





The blades' lateral rails need to be undercut to provide space for the blades' rail feet.








One turnout is located on the segments' edge. Sockets and brass rods provide exact positioning whenever the segments are mounted.








A very simple drawing with the track axis ant rail foot contour taped to a plywood board serves as jig.








The frog is my first attempt in laser sintering steel.





After some sanding the part was perfect for its purpose.





This is the mechanism to switch the turnout. The lever protrudes underneath and operates a switch for frog polarisation.








After completing trackwork landscaping begins. This is the transition to the former part.





I wanted to use some packaging styrofoam, which usually ends up as rubbish, but I always hated the small pellets sticking on everywhere. And i like the idea to use materials which would have been dumped otherwise.








An electrical styrofoam cutter helped to solve the pellet problem. It was so simple to build it that I'd like to show it; I think it is self explaining  . Only thing I had tu buy was some 0.2 mm NiCr wire. Using a 6V power supply was perfect for cutting 6cm thick material.














Cheers,
Volker

[finescalerr]

Not bad ... so far. -- Russ

[Bill Gill]

That is an impressive start to the new section.
I like your foam cutting tool.

[Ray Dunakin]

Very impressive track work!

[1-32]

Hi Volker.
Very impressive there is so much in this section that it is going to take me a while to follow it all lovely work
cheers

[Bernhard]

This is really great work, Volker!

Bernhard