Beverly's and Chris's Slab Door Layout

Hello Rainer,
rayzz wrote:

I never knew that the old cobblestones were called "Katzenköpfe" (cat heads).

well, that might be something just from the northern part of Germany where I'm from. But here this phrase is used very often. If you ever have to drive over one of this roads you will knew why...

Here in Belgium they are called worse ("childrens heads" ) because of their size. Normally the old ones are about 10x10x10 cm and slightly tapered towards the bottom. Sometimes a bit more rectangular. The old tapered ones, when put in a sand bed tend to be forced together harder when you ride over them. But very heave vehicles that turn on them rip them apart.

They look like this: nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestand:Esen_-_Steenstraat_2.jpg
nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestand:Bovekerke_-_Vladslostraat_1.jpg (enlarged with a piece of tarmac besides it)
Very famous ones: nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestand:Geraardsbergen_-_Muur_2.jpg nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestand:Trouee_dArenberg_-_Paris-Roubaix_2008.jpg Here the bicycle race passes almost every year!
Some german ones: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kocicihlavy3.jpg

Most of these are not that old as the carriage you showed in previous posts.

ULie wrote:

Hello Rainer,
well, that might be something just from the northern part of Germany where I'm from. ...

no, it's not just northern Germany
in Polish they are also "kocie lby" - just slightly more impossible to pronounce
here another example for Beverly:
static.panoramio.com/photos/original/13946921.jpg

Wow! Those are all great photos Thank you all for posting them. The half timbered houses were especially wonderful to see as I have several Kibri kits that were built last year.

One the one hand, it would be great to have detailed cobblestones like those in the photos. On the other hand, I don't quite know how I would accomplish it. The aluminum screen made my hand black and the nylon screen flexes too much when working on larger areas. I have a lot of basic landscaping features to work on before I get to the cobblestones, but I must keep it in the back of my mind of how it can be done as I work on the other elements.

Has anyone carved cobblesones out of plaster or drywall compound? Maybe I should give that a try.

Hello Beverly,
Beverly56 wrote:

The half timbered houses were especially wonderful to see as I have several Kibri kits that were built last year.

Just one detail: since you are modeling the southern part of Germany: Neuschwanstein Castle...) you're half timbered houses should have stucco walls between the timbers. Up here in Northern Germany pure brick walls are to be seen between the timbers. AS my father in law told me when we started to plan for our own house: "Don't think about stucco walls, since they can't do it up here..."

Has anyone carved cobblesones out of plaster or drywall compound? Maybe I should give that a try.

There might be a source worth to think about:

Z-fm

Cobblestone streets

here's a review about those products:

cobbelstone diorama

Details for the streets, like gutters and such you can find at Rolf's Lädchen under Z - Strasse.
Edit: they are also available from Z-Track Center .

Hi Uwe,

Thank you for the additional links I found the Z f-m cobblestones a few posts ago and have considered buying them, but think I may be able to make some of my own instead - hopefully



Back to my PhD in CelluClay and mountain making ....

Below is my first test mountain that has been covered in a 1:1 mix of CelluClay and drywall mud. The area in the oval is the largest of the small cracks that developed while the CelluClay dried. This mountain was both air dried as well as force dried by putting it in front of a baseboard-mounted heating duct. While it was in front of the heating duct, it dried quite quickly and a few small cracks appeared. When the cracks were noticed, this mountain was left to air dry until it was completely dry. The cracks did not get larger during the final air dry phase. If anything, the small cracks seemed to slightly close up.
My conclusion is that air drying causes the least amount of cracking.


The two photos below are of the second test mountain and show many more small cracks. The cracks appeared in places where I added another layer of CelluClay mixture to the mountain while the original CelluClay was still wet, making these areas thicker than the original 1/8" to 1/4" layer. It was both air dried as well as force dried the same as the first test mountain above. While it was in front of the heating duct, it also dried quite quickly and several small cracks appeared. The cracks here also did not get larger during the final air dry phase and the small cracks also seemed to slightly close up. Again, when this mountain was left to air dry until it was completely dry. Surprisingly, while being force dried, the sturdy wood base warped slightly. I don't know if it was the action of the heat or the force of the drying and contracting CelluClay mixture that warped the base, but the fact that the base warped was surprising.
I don't know if the greater number of cracks is due to adding more CelluClay to already sculpted clay, due to the thickness of the additional clay, or a combination of the two. I'm going to fill the cracks in this mountain with left over CelluClay mixture, which is still very pliable after several days wrapped in a wet cloth and stored in a cover plastic container.
I will have no conclusion about the warping of the wood base until a second test is conducted.







Happy Valentine's Day to everyone

Hi Beverly, I don't know about CelluClay's tendency to crack, but I am keenly aware of that tendency in drywall mud. Which is why compounding drywall is such an iterative (and tedious) process, since the mud cannot be any more than about a quarter of an inch thick--preferably much less.

As for the cracks in your scenery, I should think that ground cover materials will hide nearly all of them, whereas some of those visible in the rougher rocky areas would pass for natural cracks. So, while there may be techniques to avoid such cracking, it may not be all that undesirable.

While I had no cracks to hide, if I did, they'd quickly be lost amidst the vegetation:



And I've only just started adding greenery to this area (this being the same one I'd highlighted earlier in the discussion about using Sculptamold for rockwork).

I'm of the same mind as David, those cracks don't seem to matter here. The only one that I really recognise as a "non intended" crack is in the last picture the large horizontal oval. The others just go up in the scenery. If they would appear after you painted it then maybe they would show up.

David and Johan,

Thank you both for your opinions. I won't concern myself with these small cracks.



I'm still working out the best method to use the CelluClay. I did a test each with straight drywall mud and straight CelluClay for the nylon screen cobblestones. The drywall mud cracked, even at 1/8" depth, so using it alone is not an option. Straight CelluClay was bumpy, maybe because it wasn't mixed well enough. I do, however, get a pretty even surface using a 1:1 mix of CelluClay and drywall mud and I think this will be my material of choice. Also, I am able to see how well the two are being mixed together due to the different colours of each material. I also like that the 1:1 mixture stays pliable for several days when wrapped in a wet cloth and stored in a plastic container. When I get to the stage of being able to use this mixture, I can mix up a somewhat large quantity and store it for the few days I'll be working with it.



On a different topic....

Everyone seems to have a name for their layout. David has James River Branch, for instance, and of course, there are many others. We need a name for ours, but because it's a German layout, I'm going to need a German name - one that's easy to understand in both languages, if that's possible. Here are a few names I've been thinking about. I'm using online translation software for these names, and I'd very much appreciate the proper German way of writing them....

Blick auf die Berge, Mountain View
Schloss Berg, Castle Mountain
Tal des Königs, Valley of the King

I would appreciate any suggestions for a name

Beverly und Chris Europäischen Eisenbahn

B&CE, for short.

One vote from me........I like it.

David,

Well, BC&E is okay

Any other suggestions out there? I was thinking about something along the line of Jurg's Rosetown, only in a German version, but not Rosetown specifically

A few fun names to try on, mostly for the alliterations and/or sounds they make...

Grünen Wald Eisenbahn (Green Forest Railroad)

Schönen Tal Eisenbahn (Beautiful Valley Railroad)

Landschaftlich Aussicht Eisenbahn (Scenic Vistas Railroad)

Berg Burg Eisenbahn (Mountain Castle Railroad)

Städtchen und Großschanze (Little Town and Big Mountain)

Any other suggestions out there?

This is easy. "Beverlischen ZeeBahn"

Lajos

David K. Smith wrote:

Grünen Wald Eisenbahn (Green Forest Railroad)

Schönen Tal Eisenbahn (Beautiful Valley Railroad)

Berg Burg Eisenbahn (Mountain Castle Railroad)

David,

I like these. They would have to be "Eisenbahnen" because we have three trains



zthek wrote:

Beverlischen ZeeBahn

Lajos,

Your idea to put Z into the name is great I think this would have to be "ZettBahnen" for the three railways. Also, most Canadians say "zed" instead of "zee". Canadians who grew up watching Sesame Street might tend to say "zee" more often that older folks like me I'm not that partial to "Beverlischen", though it does sound rather endearing



How about an amalgamation and slight variation of the two, GrünenWald Zettbahnen?



More... (someone please correct the grammar where necessary)...

Felsigen Ansicht Zettbahnen, or Rocky View Z Railways (is there a way to make "Felsigen Ansicht" into one word but still have it grammatically correct?)

Talsicht Zettbahnen, or Valleyview Z Railways (I like this one because "Talsicht" is one word; hopefully it's grammatically correct)

Hello Beverly,

They would have to be "Eisenbahnen" because we have three trains

nope...

"Eisenbahn" is correct. The word means "railroad" as in "railroad company". One company can have more then one train.

"Eisenbahnen" is the plural and means more then just one railroad company.

The translation for "train" is "Zug".

GrünenWald Zettbahnen?

since the name Schwarzwald = Black Forrest is already occupied by the 220:1 scale, Grünwald Zettbahn = Green Forrest Zettbahn could be an idea.

Felsigen Ansicht Zettbahnen, or Rocky View Z Railways (is there a way to make "Felsigen Ansicht" into one word but still have it grammatically correct?)

Felsenblick would be the one word version for this. It describes a place where you can see some rocks or mountains.

Talsicht Zettbahnen, or Valleyview Z Railways (I like this one because "Talsicht" is one word; hopefully it's grammatically correct)

As in the one before Talblick would be more correct. Sometimes a valley has a special name. There is a Höllentalbahn in Germany in the Black Forrest. The translation from "Höllentalbahn" into "Hölle Valley Railway" isn't perfect. If I would build a layout with this theme in English I would call it "Hells Valley Railroad". Besides, there's a lokomotive and a car set available from Maerklin:

BR 85

car set 87672

ULie wrote:

"Eisenbahnen" is the plural and means more then just one railroad company.

Uwe,

Ah, you are definitely the man to answer these intricate questions. Thank you for stepping into the conversation

Would you consider the Marklin Rheingold Express, the Marklin Ochre King Ludwig II loco/tender plus passenger cars, and the Marklin 8891 DR loco/tender plus passenger cars to be three different railway companies? Would "Eisenbahnen", in this case, be correct?

Grünwald Zettbahn = Green Forrest Zettbahn could be an idea.

Grünwald Zettbahnen (Green Forest Z Railway Companies) is also correct? Could I type it with my non-German keyboard as Grunwald and still be correct?

Felsenblick would be the one word version for this. It describes a place where you can see some rocks or mountains.

And Felsenblick ZettBahnen (Mountain/Rocky View Z Railway Companies) is correct?

Talblick would be more correct. Sometimes a valley has a special name.

How would King's Talblick ZettBahnen be stated?

Hello Beverly,

OK, you got me here with those different railroads from Germany...

Since your trains are from different epochs they qualify for different railroad companies. The King Ludwig train is from the Bavarian railroad, and the Rheingold Express from the German railroad of the times when it did run. I couldn't find any information about the 8891 set you mentioned. So yes Zettbahnen would be correct in your case.

I found out about those different railroad companies and some other details through some Wikipedia sites:

History of railtransport in Germany

King Ludwig I (he was king when the first railroads came to Germany)

King Ludwig II (he did build Neuschwanstein Castle)

Bavarian Ludwig Railway (the first railroad company in Germany)

Rheingold train

Kings Talblick Zettbahnen is a language mix, Königs Talblick Zettbahnen is completly in German. Felsenblick and Grünwald Zettbahnen is also correct.

About those special German letters you have two options. In German it is correct to use either the special letters or you can use only normal letters. Then you have to replace the letters like this:

ä = ae
ö = oe
ü = ue
ß = ss

Except for personal names it is always correct to use either of those options. In personal names you have to use the correct version. An aunt to my mother was named Louise Schroeder , and here I learned that in this case I may not write the name like "Schröder". Another example would be Schroeder ...

But back to those German letters. There is another option to get those letters if the are not found on your keyboard. You can get them with this little trick:

You hold down the ALT key while you type the code for the letter you want. When you release the ALT key the letter will appear. The code has always 4 digits! Here are the codes:

Ä = 0196
ä = 0228
Ö = 0214
ö = 0246
Ü = 0220
ü = 0252
ß = 0223

There is also a little program included in Windows. It is hidden somewhere in the accessories and/or system programs. The exe. file is named chamap.exe With this program you can find any code for any letter that is available in the font you are using. I use this help to get the special Danish letters (Æ æ Ø ø Å å) which I don't have on my keyboard.

Uwe,

Thank you for your excellent help with German names of our layout The extra lessons and links have also been helpful. Chris and I will take some time to decide which name will best suit the layout when we actually have something to show for all the talk




Back to my CelluClay PhD.....

I had a bit of time this morning to test paint this test mountain, which is shown unpainted on this page. I used artist's acrylic paint to do the colour washes. The first wash was a mix of black and burnt umber that was applied fairly evenly over the entire mountain. The mountain looked rather bland after the first wash, so I did a second wash with the black and burnt umber less diluted. A third wash of diluted black was then applied in select areas. Still requiring more colour, I mixed a wash of cadmium red, red oxide, raw sienna and a bit of raw umber. Unfortunately, the mix was a bit too red and not as rusty as I wanted. A raw sienna wash was then applied over the over the reddish wash and this is what you see in the photo.

At the time this photo was taken, the washes and mountain were still wet. The 1:1 CelluClay and drywall mud mixture absorbs water easily and I expect the mountain to take a few days to completely dry. I'm very satisfied using the artist's acrylic paints for the washes, and the CelluClay and drywall mud mixture is easy to paint.

Hay! I think we took the wrong path. Nice colors. Cheers, Jim CCRR:)