canyon scene

Introducting: Utrainia Broadcast

Tonight I would like to introduce you to Utrainia Broadcast, bringing you the finest news from around Utrainia.

Their first feature is this short video of a coal train along the coast, and the express sleeper service speeding through the canyon.

The supremely observant will notice that the diesels appear to have GE motors, yet EMD bodies. What can I say...

I guess the question on everyone's lips is: when will we see a Shinkansen???

Canyon taking shape

I took a day off from work on Friday and spent it all downstairs in the garage. Much got done! Among the more exciting advances is this:

Yes, the canyon scene has taken a giant step forward in the rock department. As of the last update, I had the sides of the rockfall shelter in place, but no roof. Since then I've made a roof for it. A pattern was initially made, then transferred to 3mm MDF and cut out with a jig saw. Then with Dremel in hand, I sanded off the corners until it fit nicely around the rocks. Some 5 minute epoxy secured it in place, while I filled the gaps with some kind of gap filler.

Meanwhile, the rocks were a few different shades, and I needed to blend them in to the rest of the scenery. I started with some white...

Rockfall shelter progress

Some more progress on my canyon scene. The rockfall shelter is the focus of my attention this time. During the week I used some premixed plaster to make little foundations for each leg of the shelter. With the shelter roughly in place it was time to make some ends for it. I made a rough pattern out of cardboard and then made a matching mold. Poured some plaster, strengthened it with some balsa splints, and clamped it between two plates of glass.

I then did the opposite for the other end of the shelter.

While studying some photos of the prototype I noticed how uniformly coloured the scenery was, so while waiting for that to dry I started working on blending the rocks into the rest of the scenery. I'm trailing using a medium-gray base coat on the scenery that I'm dry bushing...

Ballasting the canyon scene

Progress continues on the canyon scene. Today the hard working Utrainian railway crews laid down not one, but two, main lines.

The tracks have been carefully curved and aligned, and clearance tests done to make sure even the largest Utrainian trans will be able to pass with ease.

A quick test with the start of the rockfall shelter. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished scene, I think there are going to be a great angles.

On a roll, the hard working Utrainia engineers added some superelevation to the curves. Superelevation is where the outside edge of the curve is sli...

Rock progress

Been a bit quiet here in Utrainia for the last month or so. With good reason however, as my CNC machine has been taking up all my time. I am hoping that once I have ironed out the bugs it will be both accurate and powerful enough to help make many of my models. I can design them upstairs in comfort, and then "print" them out on the machine, which will then carve them out before my very eyes. Currently there is still a bit of work to do on it, and I'm waiting on a few final components.

In the meantime, I have resumed work on my canyon scene. I have finally finished carving all the rocks, after a couple of additional weekends work carving away. Now it is time to move on to more exciting stages, as I stain all the rocks.

Rockfall shelter progress

I did more rock carving on Sunday, but soon got a bit bored of that. It's a pretty slow and tedious process, although it's really starting to look the part now.

I decided instead to tackle the rock shelter. My masters had dried by now and were ready to be turned into molds.

Step one is to attach the masters to a smooth base, and build a fence around them. I'm making these molds upside-down, so the flat surface at the bottom will become the top where I pour in the resin. These are just simple one-piece molds.

The fences are cardboard, hot glued in position. As long as it's water tight that is all that matters.

Step 2 is to mix up some silicone. I have some highly accurate jeweler's scales which I use to measure out the precise ratios, and a 100 pa...