Peter's Model Railroading | The Layout | Hazel Mine, Canonsburg, PA - Module #3
Construction #3

The actual construction of module #3 has commenced. Much like with module #2, I am not going to fully document all of the individual steps, as most are identical to those fully documented for module #1.

What you see here is the core basic box of the module. All of the Gatorfoam boards are edge-glued to each other, so their connections are very tenuous. Because of that, the blue masking tape will remain on the box under the full interior honeycomb is built. The only things I'm doing different, starting with this module, are that I am not doing the alignment dowels and that I decided on 4 magnets rather than 3. The alignment pins proved to be useless in module #2 unless they are 100-percent spot-on even between the two modules. The three magnets are powerful enough to hold the modules together, but they can still be separated when I accidentally bump into one of the modules. That is why I am going with 4 magnets now. There is a trade-off, in that too many magnets will make the modules hard to come apart, as there is no place to conveniently grip them. Three magnets almost already does that.

The creek cut-outs in the back have been made. For this module, the creek swings out and away from the front more as well as widens, so a good portion of it will be "open" water.