mainegardenrailwaysociety2023

On Friday September 9th Nancy Norris from Garden Railway Magazine came to visit Terry & Sue's Norton's garden railway in Eliot. They had it ready, including carefully trimmed trees thanks to local arborist Courtney Goodwin. Very realistic trimmed leaves She toured the layout in detail, photographing trains, plants, buildings and scenery. Nancy and Terry also discussed his plans for a new water feature and a granite mountain that will be in the middle of the Vacation Campground. Where to put the Mountain? Nancy, Sue and Terry on the Visitors Bench After visiting Terry and Sue, Nancy was heading north to see Scott Gould's layout in Cape Elizabeth and then to visit Eric Schade in Phippsburg. So watch for Maine layouts appearing the future issues of Garden Railway Magazine!!!

Paul has a 1-page project on Page 82 of  the June 2015 Garden Railway Magazine. The title is "Make PVC Lumber Abutments". It explains how to make bridge abutments that look like concrete using "Azek" or "Kleer" plastic trim boards. Here is a picture of the finished product on his outdoor layout.                    

This roof is copper "flashing" from Lowes. it is not the real thing...copper sheet but is copper foil bonded to a plastic backing. I wish it was self adhesive-peel and stick but it is not. As the material came in a 12" wide roll, I had to cut 13" wide sections which overlapped to cover each side of my 30 x 13 roof. I used a dulled awl to "draw" the raised seams from the bottom or baking side of the material. It is soft enough that a firm uniform pressure makes a nice line when I used a square as a guide. I distorted the material when drawing the lines on it so that it did not want to lie flat. I needed to glue it down. I used waterproof contact cement which seemed to work quite well; but as it was cold (no power-no heat) when I did it, it came unstuck...well only partly unstuck. I was able to peel it back a bit and brush in some more glue...we'll see if it works, I guess I have enough flashing to try again. by the way, the building in the background...

The window I showed you before was actually an extra, the reason to make the windows was this cupola. I had enough windows to make the rest of the building which cried out for the cupola!

I have been working on a little industrial building (well nothing is small in 1:20 scale) Purchasing windows is difficult and expensive, so I make my own. I have several ways to make windows. the easiest is just to paste sticks to a peice of plywood and paint it to look like a window with black painted plywood "glass". This is the next fancier system which is to make a "grill" like window so light and air can pass through. I start with some 1/4" thick strips with square ends and cut grooves in them half way through with the tablesaw. Each groove corrosponds to a cross peice in the finished window. Next I slice off 1/4" strips for the window frame and 1/8" strips for the grill parts (mullions?) The pieces are assembled like Lincoln Logs with a dab of glue. finally I add trim around the window (see top photo) and glue it into an opening cut in the wall of the building. These are fairly easy to make though they do take time. The hardest part is figu...

Here is a link I ran across, that you Scratch Builders and Kit Bashers that haven't already seen it, might like. Interesting water tower. A lot of detail parts, mainly 1:20 - 1:22. Some 1:24th. http://www.tracksidedetails.com/watertower/watertower.html