Wascana Canyon Railway v2 - Part 4

In Part 3 I described the way in which I constructed the benchwork.

The next step was to finalize the backdrop. Unfortunately, I neglected to take any photographs of how I made the cove between the vertical Masonite panels and the false ceiling under the lighting apparatus. However, to describe the process is not difficult.

I purchased 20 or 25 sheets of white Bristol Board from a dollar store. I painted each sheet with three very light coats of white paint primer, taking care to ensure that each coast was VERY light – if the Bristol Board becomes saturated it will warp and won’t return to its original shape when dry.

Using a pencil and straight edge I drew a line towards the top of the vertical Masonite and another pencil line along the false ceiling. These lines marked where I wanted the Bristol Board to align.

I then applied spray adhesive to two strips about 8 inches wide along each of the long sides of a sheet Bristol Board and carefully positioned it in place, lining up with the pencil lines. I overlapped the next sheet of Bristol Board about 2.5 cm (1 in) over its neighbour and continued on around the room.

I then applied two more very light coats of white paint primer to make sure the Bristol Board was extremely well sealed. Using drywall mud very sparingly using a smooth plastic putty knife I applied the lightest possible coat along the seams of the Bristol Board. When completely dry I repeated with one or two very light coast of drywall mud until I was satisfied it was smooth enough. I then gently sanding with fine foam sanding blocks until I was satisfied. I finished this off with two more very light coast of white paint primer.

The goal in each of the above steps is to not get the Bristol Board so wet that it warps, either from paint primer or drywall mud. I am pleased to report that after four years of summer and winter weather there are no cracks in this surface.

I then painted the entire backdrop with a light blue colour followed by a darker blue on the horizontal part beneath the false ceiling. I blended the two blues using an airbrush so there was not a distinct line visible. My rationale for using a darker shade of blue is to mimic nature – when you are outside on a perfectly sunny day the blue sky close to the horizon looks is a lighter shade of blue than when you look above your head. I was very pleased with the result.

For lighting I used double fluorescent strip lighting, daylight in colour tone.

wall showing partial paint application, showing two shades of the same blue

note the curved corner and coved top

Completed walls ready for backdrop. I painted the valence the same blue as the lower part of the walls.

To be continued……

Wascana Canyon Railway v2 - Part 3

In Part 2 I described the way in which I mounted the Masonite and prepared the surface for a future backdrop.

The next step was to construct some bench-work. The bench-work that was to sit on top of the shelf brackets was based on simple L-girder construction with a 1/8 in. Masonite fascia mounted to the front of some basic framing.

All bench-work would eventually be topped with extruded foam insulation panels.

I wanted the peninsula support to be very strong, but light and I wanted it to be self-supporting and not in any way relying for its strength on the shelf supports.

Having seen many and built several railway trestles in my time was aware of the strength of this design but without having to use a lot of material. However, a traditional trestle would not lend itself well to supporting my peninsula because the base would be wider than the top, creating a tripping hazard.

I reasoned that an upside-down trestle would be just as strong so I built my trestle structure upside down. With the base being narrower than the top, there was no tripping hazard. I used 2x2 and 1x2 lumber to construct the trestle.

To be continued……

Wascana Canyon Railway v2 – Part 2

In Part 1 I described how I was going to fasten the 1/8 Masonite to the walls. This worked very well because there were enough fastening points that the Masonite stayed flat.

Before mounting the Masonite in the two corners, I bent it into a gentle curve on the workshop floor, wrapped it with string so it would roughly maintain the desired curve and sprayed the outside of the curve with water approximately every 90 minutes for a day, leaving it over night to make sure it was completely dry.

I didn’t saturate the Masonite but made it wet enough that it was damp to the touch (if you saturate Masonite it can “puff up” but it won’t return to its previous state once dry). The Masonite took on a gentle curve, making it a lot easier to screw into the 1x2 framework I had fastened to the wall.

After all the Masonite was mounted to the wall, I gave it a coat of paint primer to seal it. Then, using drywall tape and drywall mud I covered all the joins and screws. As I had used drywall screws to mount the Masonite, the screw heads were flush with surface without any need for countersinking. 

After two or three rounds of sanding and patching I had a very smooth and stable surface which I again painted with primer to seal it – I applied two coats of primer.

To be continued……