Yes, the scene does invoke modelers license, but it also reminds me of a wonderful childhood, where stunts like that were pulled by myself and all my friends. You would flip out, if I were to tell of my trackside adventures as a kid. Life was good, nobody ever got sued, we were allowed to take our own lives into our own hands and enjoy. Yes, some kids got killed, some got mamed, but that was life, and I would not have changed a thing. Now our society has ruined the full life experience, and I would not be suprised if the next step is to surgically remove a childs limbs until they are fully educated and of age, so they cannot physically harm themselves or others. But let me tell you, modeling scenes like that bridge, or of a tree fort built in trackside trees, laying ballast on the rails and standing trackside while playing ballast chicken with your friends, or of a kid with a cherry bomb and a tin can all bring back the wonderful memories of my childhood. We model what we see or remember, and dangerous as many things we did are, there were still great memories that can be captured in such scenes. -Robert
Lot of great shots this week! I finally assembled the frame for my layout yesterday. Soon, I'll be able to post some photos of the work. I just need to get some legs in the next couple of days.
Lots of greats hots folks! Here's a continuation of the ever-so-slowly developing walls around/under the upper-level yard/maintenance area (this is HO): And - I've gotten back to my N-trak modules which have been neglected for a while: Have a great week!
Bob- You have me convinced on the appearance of Unitrack with hard work. Couple the ease of assembly and the work in painting and ballasting and it more than compensates for the Code 80 aggrevation. I painted the chemical (????) containers in a 42' Atlas gondola color coded for use by the operators of a chemical plant on the LLL to help reduce the chance of putting the wrong chemical in the right container. I hope there are no further mistakes by the plant managers and the operator of the LLL.
PSG1790, What are your ballasting plans for the turnouts? I've been (very slowly) ballasting mine - takes a long time (although the results are well worth it). I would love to find any ways to improve my speed of ballasting. Thx!
John: I carefully ballasted each of the 30+ turnouts on the JJJ&E except where the turnout throws. I'll paint the roadbed a mineral red with some brown added. It's just a 3/4" section. I find using a very fine ballast will let you ballast Unitrack more quickly. You don't have that much space between the bottom of the roadbed and the tops of the ties. Before ballasting the Unitrack roadbed, the ties were individually handpainted a rail tie brown. The spike heads on each tie were painted a mix of burnt umber and raw sienna using the tip of a sable 18/0 brush. The rails were individually painted with mineral red, which covered an initial base of black, brown and rust when I first painted the rails of the Unitrack three years ago. Stay cool and run steam.....
Mark: If and when you make your addition to the LLL and use Unitrack, you'll make the whole process easier if you paint the track before you lay it in position. Paint the roadbed a grimy black. Then you can paint the rails (mineral red) using a 18/0 sable brush. After the rails are painted, paint the ties a rail tie brown and then using the tip of the 18/0 sable brush, paint the spike heads a mix of burnt umber and raw sienna. When all the track is fixed to a foam base you can ballast the track and the roadbed between the ties. It seems like alot of work, but you'll have bullet proof train operation using Unitrack and with the above weathering technique, it looks great. I used Color Canyon Materials natural rock ballast using a mix of mostly 00 & some 000 grade ballast,. Have fun, it's worth the effort. Mark: DCC could be next... Stay cool and run steam.....
PSG1790, Thx for the tips on Color Canyon Materials, I'd not heard of them before. I just visited their website and will check them out. They seem to be located in Arizona (which is the exact area of the US that I'm modeling). Did you buy their stuff at a LHS or over the Internet? Thx again. [ October 02, 2005, 06:37 PM: Message edited by: atsf_arizona ]
John: My LHS had the Color Canyon Materials ballast. I've been to their website many times. Give them a call and they'll ship out what you want. They have a very wide selection of ballast colors and grades. I selected the very fine grades because of the lack of space between the Unitrack roadbed and tops of the ties. The finer ballast is easier to work with, and looks more proportional than the conventional ballast available. It's easy to work with and stays in place when you use the glue/water mix with a medicine dropper. Color Canyon Materials Natural Rock Ballast Have fun... Stay cool and run steam......
I just finished making a paper mockup of the control tower for the East Yard, San Antonio. This is a fairly accurate model with all the floors and the walk-around decks. The only time I have ever seen it, it is standing next to the concrete New Braunfels Avenue overpass and looks like this. On my layout, it is next to the truss highway bridge and appears to be the same. Here is my mockup: Here is an Erie-Lackawanna Fallen Flags picture with the tower in the background partially hidden by the truss light pole.
My recent modeling activity has consisted of installing a fascia on my AD&N layout. I also installed throttle jacks for my walk around throttles. I had a couple of Micro-Mark car card boxes so I measured them and built some more. I installed all of them this weekend. East end of layout South side of layout North side of layout
Here's a Red Caboose 2 bay covered hopper converted into a stealth track cleaning car: This is the undec Kato F40PH that I just did in Florida Tri-Rail. I still have to get resistors for the 1.5 volt strobe lights on the roof before I can wire them to the FX decoder:
Paul Nice shots with those F-units! Russell Cool photos! I can’t say that I have seen too many prototype stock cars. NS Cool pictures! Brings back memories of the NRHS Convention in Roanoke in ’87. We rode behind 1218 from Roanoke to Bluefield and then 611 back. Hemi That is an awesome photo! Tad Great photos of UP steam! John Breen Neat little subject and great job on it! Paul Great line-up of locos! John W Cool layout shots! Stefan Awesome shots of great looking locos! Scott Cool photos! Mike Nice looking EL units! John Sing That is an awesome looking layout! Bob Neat photos of the viaduct! Great layout shots! I am always amazed at how busy the layout looks Mark Cool shot of the steamer! I really like the ripples in the stream passing under the bridge. Bob Nice locomotives! Chad Nice shot of the great looking locos! I really like the look of the photo with the SP F-units. Flash More great looking locomotives! Overshoe Awesome looking locations! Tad Looks like the layout is coming along nicely! HERMANzGERMAN Nice looking train! Nothing for me this weekend. I was too busy in the 1:1 world. Also the few attempts I made at modeling this weekend just went bad so I decided to pass for the weekend and try again later this week.
Herman: What is the secret handshake on making that stealth track cleaning covered hopper? All of mine are boxcars; a covered hopper would be a nice change.
N scale locomotive servicing scene. CNR's Downtown Edmonton facility(Ex Canadian Northern) was a secondary location in the city with the bigger Calder yards being the primary spot.
Here's a well-used SD9: Here's the Fallen Flags inspiration for the look: Note to self: More light needed, gotta hang those fixtures!
My new deal is to use Strathmore board, an artist supply item used as a canvas for water colors. I am using the 140 pound paper type. You can cut doors, windows, etc. anywhere on the surface and then attach your external covering with glue. You are not restricted by a plastic casting as you are when you kitbash. The interior is braced with hardwood. I think this is a typical HO scale method of making buildings, but I am just learning about it.
