BCSJ II - February 8, 2002

Hillmovers Construction Co. has made substantial progress emplanting basic landform shapes and two bridges (including the missing Crabtree Creek trestle) have been installed. Their new engineer Mary Keigh has evidently been hard at work.

Soon, the local citizens expect some of the strange snow that precedes finished scenery development. It's been a long time, living on the plywood! In the meanwhile, experimental scenery mock ups with trees and rocks are being checked before final contour signoff.

I'm trying out sheet styrene for backdrops. They look nice, curve into and around corners easily, splice together well, don't get "ripples" from too much humidity, don't create dust when cut, and are white. I bought several 4x8 sheets of .060 thick stock from a local distributor for about $12 per sheet. The drawback to using the stuff is construction adhesives don't adhere well to them, especially Latex Liquid Nails. Bummer... I'll be investigating epoxy, screws, and carpet tape as alternatives. You'll get some views of the unfinished styrene backdrops in these pictures.

10/13/05 - Bummer is right! I found NO adhesive that would reliably bond styrene to wood. I used screws and made a purely mechanical fastening.

The company photographer took these pictures of the new area and we are happy to present them for you, courtesy of Hillmovers Construction Co.

Click 'em too enlarge 'em.