To ease switching, scenery, and maintenance work, I decided to narrow the benchwork at Hancock, as well as bringing the backdrop forward almost a foot. In order to fit the new space, Hancock Elevator was rearranged, doing away with all bins on the west (aisle) side of the structure and moving the smaller ones to the east side.
I also built a new sawdust bin for Midwest Walnut, west of Bluffs Yard. While I was painting that and Hancock Elevator, I decided to finally paint Cass County Elevator at Atlantic as well, although all three areas will eventually be getting more detailing and scenery work.
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"After" view of backdrop changes, narrowed benchwork, and new elevator arrangement. Although I'll miss the opportunity to model Hancock's "sea of grain bins" look and the huge bin on the north end, the new scene will be much easier to maintain and scenic, with far fewer obstacles to snag when reaching in to switch. I also like that the truck unloading shed will be visible now, as I think it gives more of a sense of the elevator's purpose in the transportation chain, and should be fun to detail.
This scene is still very much in progress. When I make my final pass through the area, I plan to add many more trees on the left to hide the spur's passage through the backdrop, as well as much more detailing to the elevator itself. Being the West End's biggest customer, though, I wanted to get the elevator's basic structure in place early on to help crews visualize things during operations. By: Joe Atkinson
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Looking north at new Hancock Elevator arrangement. Bins closest to the spur used to be on the aisle side of the original elevator structure, but were increased in height and moved to the back to allow the benchwork to be skinnied down. Hillside on the right was cut back, and taller bins were moved back further to accommodate the new arrangement. The entire structure was painted with Rustoleum Flat Aluminum.
The more I look at this photo, the more I realize I need to excavate more of the hillside so I can spread the grain bins out more, better matching the prototype's footprint. By: Joe Atkinson
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Cass County Elevator finally got a coat of paint as well. It's attached to a sheet of styrene to ease the addition of scenery around the bins, but once that's done the plan is to attach it to the layout and blend everything together.
As with Hancock Elevator, this was just a quick initial effort to get this structure's core in place for operations. Much more to come here as time allows. By: Joe Atkinson
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The north end of the Midwest Walnut complex, with the IAIS connector that serves both MW and Searle Petroleum passing to the right. By: Joe Atkinson
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Midwest Walnut's sawdust bin was built from a pair of Rix oil storage tanks. The ties for the grade crossing at right, called the CBGR crossing, are the first of many upcoming road and crossing projects. Once those are behind me, the area between here and UP's Pool Yard will be my primary focus for several months of scenery and structure work. By: Joe Atkinson
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"Before" image.
"After" view of backdrop changes, narrowed benchwork, and new elevator arrangement. Although I'll miss the opportunity to model Hancock's "sea of grain bins" look and the huge bin on the north end, the new scene will be much easier to maintain and scenic, with far fewer obstacles to snag when reaching in to switch. I also like that the truck unloading shed will be visible now, as I think it gives more of a sense of the elevator's purpose in the transportation chain, and should be fun to detail.
This scene is still very much in progress. When I make my final pass through the area, I plan to add many more trees on the left to hide the spur's passage through the backdrop, as well as much more detailing to the elevator itself. Being the West End's biggest customer, though, I wanted to get the elevator's basic structure in place early on to help crews visualize things during operations.
Prototype view of Hancock Elevator.
Looking north at new Hancock Elevator arrangement. Bins closest to the spur used to be on the aisle side of the original elevator structure, but were increased in height and moved to the back to allow the benchwork to be skinnied down. Hillside on the right was cut back, and taller bins were moved back further to accommodate the new arrangement. The entire structure was painted with Rustoleum Flat Aluminum.
The more I look at this photo, the more I realize I need to excavate more of the hillside so I can spread the grain bins out more, better matching the prototype's footprint.
Cass County Elevator finally got a coat of paint as well. It's attached to a sheet of styrene to ease the addition of scenery around the bins, but once that's done the plan is to attach it to the layout and blend everything together.
As with Hancock Elevator, this was just a quick initial effort to get this structure's core in place for operations. Much more to come here as time allows.
The north end of the Midwest Walnut complex, with the IAIS connector that serves both MW and Searle Petroleum passing to the right.
Midwest Walnut's sawdust bin was built from a pair of Rix oil storage tanks. The ties for the grade crossing at right, called the CBGR crossing, are the first of many upcoming road and crossing projects. Once those are behind me, the area between here and UP's Pool Yard will be my primary focus for several months of scenery and structure work.
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