O Scale Trains Magazine Online

The Art of Finescale
Michael Cougill
26 • O Scale Trains - July/Aug ’06
Little Things
As we take a big picture look at finescale modeling, I’d like
to focus in a little tighter and look at some small details that
can set a layout apart from the ordinary. In the photo below
we’re looking down Canal Road from the crossing of the I&W’s
Whitewater Secondary, our connection with CSX.
The thing to notice here are the crossbucks. I made them
from Evergreen Scale Models styrene using dimensions from a
PRR Standards book. I did the lettering on my computer and
attached it with Walthers Goo. I got extra fancy and added
some nut and bolt details, since these are right at the front of
the layout. I wanted to tell a story here, so I made the foreground
upright out of some Code 125 rail I had laying around.
The story goes that a driver had to swerve to avoid a deer one
night and hit the sign. The always cost-conscious I&W management
simply replaced it with the length of rail, since the sign
itself wasn’t too damaged. I might add some tire skid marks to
the road someday.
The diamond shaped highway sign in the background is
styrene, too; the lettering also done on the computer. I got the
dimensions by measuring a real sign near my house. The model
sign reads, “HIDDEN DRIVE”. The road goes over a slight rise
at this point, creating a partial blind spot for a driveway coming
in on the other side. The road extends into the background by
means of a photo that was cropped to match the modeled scenery
and secured to the backdrop with double sided tape.
Another trick of the artist’s trade was to force the perspective
of the road by tapering it toward the background. At the
tracks, it’s full O Scale dimension at 22’ wide. Where it meets
the wall I used S Scale proportions, again, 22’. The highway
sign is also a bit undersized. The actual front to back distance
from the crossing to the wall is
only 14-1/2”. Not real deep, but
the forced perspective makes it
seem further.
There is a culvert just to the
right of the road that carries
runoff from the drainage ditch
under the track. It’s clogged with
melting snow at this point, so it’s
hard to see. The technique I used
to make these is so bonehead
simple that I’m certain someone
else has done it before, so I’m
not claiming the credit for it. I
just cut a piece of heavyweight
aluminum foil to the desired
width and wrapped it, dull side
out, around a fine threaded
carriage bolt to make the corrugations.
This was simpler than
trying to bend commercial corrugated
stock into
a rounded shape
since the corrugations
would be
crushed or otherwise
deformed.
You could make
any diameter of
culvert needed,
depending on the
size of the bolt.
The whole process
took longer
to think up than
to do. I glued the
two culvert halves to each side of the roadbed with full strength
white glue, being certain to line them up with each other, then
added ballast to blend everything together. You could leave the
foil in its natural color for a new culvert or paint it for an older
one. A little weathering and it’s done. How simple is that?
You may also notice that there is some fresh ballast on the
right of the crossing. This is story telling again. Maintenanceof-way
crews recently did some track work here, fixing a low
spot from a “mud-pumper”, a crosstie where the ballast washed
away or became encrusted with mud from poor drainage. They
often occur near road crossings, from water and silt draining off
the road. Details like these are not expensive or time consuming.
They just need an observant eye and attention to the little
things that can have a big impact.
Best regards, Mike
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