I got to pondering the entry module just west of our Noble Street staging end loop. The module needs to transition from a standard module end, meant to pair with any Modutrak module, into the urban setting that is representing Chicago at the east end of the layout.
Poking around on Google maps for inspiration landed me on the ubiquitous steel underpass structure at Ashland Ave.
I got to work on a design in Fusion 360, since this was going to be much more involved than kitbashing a couple girders.
As for the physical parts, todays efforts are lead by modeling robots in the form of a Prusa filament printer for the large retaining wall sections. I find the texture just fine for concrete retaining walls. Then, for the more intricate riveted details of the steel sections, I turned to an Elegoo Saturn 8k and ABS like resin.
Since this is the entrance to a 4-track staging loop with a couple dead end spurs, I’ve also been pondering the best way to get easy turnout control on this module. I wanted to put a dial-a-track rotary switch in, but didn’t want it protruding from the fascia. So I 3D printed a pocket and put it in the hill side behind the smaller retaining wall. For model shots, it won’t show, But is easy and convenient to operate. Underneath, a diode matrix handles the power to Tortoise switch machines.
Rough scenery is in and blended out to match up with any Modutrak module. And we had to pose it with cars to see what it looked like. This is a collection of more modern cars than is typically on Modutrak, but I had them handy at the workbench.
