Construction Photos

Here are few photos of Dawson Station under construction. I think I've discovered another secret of model railroading: building is as fun as operating.

Early work on the puzzle portion.

Work on the loading shed.

There is a stream running under the mill. In the mid 50's, they channeled it through a concrete tunnel to keep it from washing away the timber supports. A recent EPA study found more fish in the tunnel that out.

The stream is of course, bridged by large timbers, no doubt cut on site. The owner of the hobby shop doesn't seem to mind that I come in every week and buy several lengths of balsa. They are only 22 cents apiece. The smallest regular balsa I can get is a foot and a half wide in scale. It works well for a lot of things at the mill, but I had to buy some special "scale" stuff for the loading shed and dock.

In the movie The Girl with the Pearl Earring, the painter Veermer asks the maid, "what colors are the clouds?" She initialy answers "white", but after studying them for a few moments, begins to detail all the different colors she sees in them. How about asphalt? I thought gray was gray, but after studying it for a bit, it is a bit more subtle than that. I wouldn't be too concerned, except that it need to match the backdrop image. Most of my photos are in overcast weather with a bit of dampness on the ground. That changes the color dramatically. You can see I'm still working on it.

It is starting to take shape (and color). You can see my "test patch" in the lower center. Next up, the chip loading rig.

Putting a frame around it.

Backdrop a-la-inkjet! Printed in 8"x10" sections on matte brochure paper and then glued to 1/4" foam core board.

Work on the chiploader. Those are Legos at the top.

The underside is rather simple. Just power and two switches.

Working on plexiglass cover (Nov '09). The temporary protective covering is blue.

New cover test fitting without backdrop (Nov '09)

Assistant art director helping with new backdrop, printed in two section on a 24" x 36" (Nov '09).

Packed and ready to go to the hobby store for a holiday display. A perfect fit and lightly anchored to the folded back seat. It is also a snug fit in the back of my extened-cab Dakota, although tougher to get in and out. With the plexiglass cover, the weight is also reaching the limit of what I can do single-handily (Dec '09).
Working on turnout switching with microcontroller (Feb '10).

But wait, there is more . . .