2014-June - Preparing the harbour

A major feature of these modules is a rail ferry, the connection to the outside world (also functions as staging and/or fiddle yard).  Since the layout is assumed to be based roughly on the Esquimalt & Nanaimo (but with the studied-but-never-pursued option of a bridge from northern Vancouver Island to the mainland and link up to the transcontinental mainlines) these modules will represent Nanaimo as the mid-point on the Vancouver Island line.

The real present-day rail ferry in Nanaimo can be seen on Google Maps (49.165,-123.929). It actually looks fairly similar to what I have on the layout, although that wasn't intentional (I hadn't decided this should be Nanaimo at the time of track planning).

I used the recently re-released Walthers Rail Barge (933-3152) and matching Car Float Apron (933-3068), and also the Railroad Tugboat (933-3153). The barge is large kit but easily assembled. And really needs a coat of paint, looks very plastic!

\

(yes, that's a VHS tape, it's the perfect thickness to support the bridge during test fitting)

For the harbour section I cut out the Styrofoam at about a 45-degree angle before I glued it down. The rest of the foam I had glued the plywood with contact cement. Test-fitting the barge and apron on the layout:


Now to prepare the water area. I painted over with some primer and almost-black paint that were lying around, and that already made it look much better than bare plywood. A few more coats of paint in various shades of blue and green made it look a little more watery, but the overall effect is still of very dark water.


I wanted a rip-rap shoreline, and I had a bag of gravel that looked just about right.


It's a fairly laborious process since you have to place each stone individually for it to look right, but once done the effect is quite nice.


The holes you see above are for the wood pilings, which I made from 1/8" dowel, roughed up with a hacksaw blade to give some grain. Seven of them bundle together just perfectly to fit in a 3/8" hole. I used either my smallest spring clamps or rubber bands to hold them together while the glue dried.



With all the pilings and stone in place it's starting to look like a harbour


To make the water I simply dabbed ModPodge gloss medium over the whole area using a foam brush with a wedge tip. After spreading the ModPodge over the whole area I pushed the foam brush firmly into the wet medium and lifted off vertically, leaving a raised line from the centre of the brush where it last made contact with the surface. Just dab and repeat in lines parallel to the shoreline and you get the effect of waves and generally ripply surface. Very easy to do and looks good when dry.


I didn't put much coverage under where the barge would go because nobody will see it.




I ended up putting down probably 7 or 8 layers of ModPodge to build up the gloss and texture. I'm happy with how it turned out.