Brian’s been back in touch. There are some fab model railroad harbor layouts on the blog, but Brian’s really does stand out:
“I thought that I would send an update of the progress of my layout. I hope you can use it.
I have started on the lower level at the end where my harbour will be situated.
It has to be a well thought out process as once the water (Woodland Scenics realistic water) has been poured, it will be too late to add any submerged debris that would be found in and around harbours.
The only things left to do after the ‘water’ has been poured is to place the boats that have lights on them, the marker buoy as well as the barge in place to determine where I have to drill holes through the ‘water’ for the wires to go underneath to the buss wires below the layout.
Remembering that the holes cannot be drilled before the water has been poured as you would have a huge mess on the floor under the layout. The harbour area has to be well sealed beforehand.
Once I have everything in its correct place and happy with the layout of the harbour, they will be all removed, a thin layer of very watery plaster will be poured to ensure the base of the harbour will be level. I will then paint the plaster to the correct colour, add the debris and then only can I pour the ‘water’.
The attached photos show the progress to date.
Below is the base of the harbour area with the cork overlay.
Basic layout of what I would like in the harbour.
By removing the cork here, I was able to mark out the cutting area.
Made a few changes – the cardboard mock-up of a building (boat repair shop) on the right hand side below was changed to a scratch built one which is about 75% complete. See photos of it a bit lower down.
This is the ’new boat repair shop at the top of the ramp.
This is Red Hook harbour masters office where he has a full view of his harbour.
A view of the harbour.
The interior of the boat repair shop with a few castings still to be painted and weathered.
A fully equipped workshop inside to enable all sorts of repairs to the boats brought in.
Here is another inside view of the repair shop. The rail line brings in all types of equipment needed for the boat repairs as well as bringing in small boats for repairs.
An overall view of the harbour with the buildings correctly placed. The green base coat is just for effect. It will be covered with plaster and then painted the correct colour and the realistic water will be poured last.
There is a working marker buoy with a flashing red light at the entrance to the harbour.
The boat ramp with a boat dolly.
The parts below the pilings will be hidden once the plaster and water is in place.
A dockside crane used to load equipment from the dockside.
A close up view of the harbour masters office with him inside looking out across his harbour.
The street lamp was repaired outside the bar and now patrons are waiting for it to open.
After eight hours of electrical work on the lighting, all the buildings with full interior detail and lighting all done.
The photo above was taken with only a blue ceiling light and a timed exposure. It gives the effect of a full moon night.
There is still a lot of work to be done here. I have to sort out wiring circuits for the different buildings, boats and boat repair shop which will have seven lights inside and outside of it.
The lighthouse works but I need to find a circuit that imitates a revolving light. At the moment, it just comes on and off at short intervals.
Then I will connect the harbour to the rest of the trackwork on the lower level of my double deck layout.
Brian”
A huge thanks to Brian for adding to the model railroad harbor layouts – a wonderful update. I do love seeing how your layouts progress. Stunning stuff.
You can see more of Brian in the Hall of Fame.
That’s all for today folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if today is the day you get started on your layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
PPS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.
