Gallery

Here's an over-view of Cole's Farm.  Whose corn is that?

More pictures are coming - soon!

Description

by Jeff Peck

Cole's Farm is the second in a series of modules named for family members, this one uses my wife's maiden name. Having done a standard NTRAK POFF, I wanted to try a corner for a change of pace since it seemed the club hasn't had more than one or two new corners in the last few years and I like watching an N scale train as it plies through the large radius curves on a corner module. I got started using a Skip Hayes 3 foot corner module; Skip's module frames are a great way to get started if you lack the time or experience to do it yourself . I wanted to avoid the "billiard table" look, so I overlayed the plywood with a layer of 1" extruded styrofoam. I then sweated over laying out the curves, having the usual first-timer fear that it wouldn't come out right but our own "Zen-Master" of NTRAK (aka Matt Schaefer) put me at ease and it came out just fine. I used cork roadbed and Atlas flex track for the right of way, using full strength Elmer's to hold it all down and removing the nails after the glue had dried - I haven't had any trouble with anything coming loose and I can easily remove the track later if need be. Wiring was done in accordance with NTRAK guidelines. After all that was in place, it was time for the foam to fly. I went to work using a Surform and a paring knife to rough in the scenery. Then I covered that with earth-colored latex paint and sprinkled on ground foams to complete the scenery layers. To combat the problem of foliage not sticking to the sides of some of the slopes, I used a Dave Frary trick and made up a "goop" of a white glue and water mixture with the ground cover thrown in until it reaches the consistency of oatmeal. You just plop it down where you want it to go, press it down and when the glue dries, it's just about bulletproof. The trees were made using Scenic Express' Easy Trees, which are a plastic trunk that you cover with a foliage that looks to me like some sort of plastic flake. They have a nice lacy look to them and they're great for module use as they withstand the rough handling our modules sometimes get in their travels. About the time I had the idea for this module, Bernie Kempinski's Alkem Scale Models came out with their N Scale corn so I picked up a few packs, followed Bernie's excellent instructions and added a cornfield to the module. I added a few plastic buildings, including a nice barn that Brian Chibbaro donated to the cause. I tried making a small pond using gloss medium for the water, but I'm not too happy with it so I'm going to re-do it with Envirotex, I think it's better suited for still water. Future additions include a barbed-wire fence to keep Farmer Cole's Holsteins and Guernseys from becoming "track pizza" and some of Alkem's signal bridges when I get the moxey to do them - maybe another visit to the "Zen-Master" is in order!