Great patch job, Colonel. I mean, the very best yet! I need to do that, too. They really came out nice. How about another picture of the Conrail/MKT patch job, too?
Here are some new photo's of turntable/engine yard/ switching yard modules in progress. The lighting is natural Florida sunlight at 10:30 AM from a window to the right of the module. The conifer trees are made from bumpy chenille stems. There is one goldenrod tree that I pruned, painted and planted near the signal tower in the switching yard. The Shue Cement Company is the Industry near the turntable (N-Scale Architect kit) The Coal loading plant in the switching yard is another N Scale Architect kit. (Somerville Jct. kit) The track rails were weathered with Mineral Red Polly Scale Paint. The ballast is natural rock ballast from Color Canyon Materials. A second Roundhouse is to be added where the radio sits. Stay cool and run steam... Stay cool and run steam....
Russell, That is a killer depot. John W. That bridge amazes me everytime I see it. Balou, The A&C GP is really cool! Is the other one a St Paddy's day paint job? FD, I've been following your bridge progress. It's coming along very nicely. Pete, There is too much outstanding stuff on your layout. Ships, bridges, towns. Very nice! Dan, Nice looking layout. Overshoe, Looks like some serious work you are doing there. It looks good. Flash, Those are really nice E units. Secret Weapon, That is a nice fall scene with the EL units passing through. Bob, You have lots of interesting scenes on the JJJ&E. TomPM, Great work as always. Man, those hoppers are really pink. I remember you saying somewhere that your daughter really liked them. Paul, The hoppers look first rate. Bruce, The shot of the train on your bridge is excellent. Great modeling everyone!
Finally on Espee E units. Espee had daylight E7As and E9As, but no E9B units. (Only one E8A, no 6017 that was called the Queen Mary. It had been converted from an E2A that was originally a part of the UP, CNW, SP City of Los Angeles.) I had the stock Kato E9As but no E7Bs to run with them. I called Atlas and they had no E7Bs from the first run engines (one powered truck and one pickup truck), but one guy there did have two E7A shells left in his desk drawer. Five dollars for both! I kitbashed them into a Kato E7B. LifeLike has now come out with unpowered E7Bs, so I run them in my ABB passenger trains. Here is the Kato E9A, essentially unchanged. E7B kitbash paired with the E9A. Note the color differences between the custom painted E7B and the Kato E9A. We had a thread on the color differences of Espee colors; the slight variance does not bother me. End details of the E7B. Backup light, horn, and hose detail. I use the unimates to get a close couple connection. (Note: Daylights may not have had the backup horn; bloody nose units did have this feature.) I rarely operate passenger units, but the differences are interesting.
Bob Your layout gets more awesome every time i see it. I finaly was able to run one egine around 90% of my lay out. Still trying to figure out way it cuts out on one part. This is in the area of the reverse loop. Running it on dc right now with a kato powerpack.
Big Dome F completed project I completed the basic upgrade of my Bachmann Santa Fe Big Dome car. The painted upper deck: Here's the upper deck seats, painted a two-tone gray, Model Master #4245 acrylic Light Gray for the floor and Model Master #4239 acrylic Ocean Gray for the seats: A *before* shot, with the over-size Santa Fe lettering: An *after* shot, with the decaled proper size Santa Fe lettering and two-tone gray seats: Another 'after' shot: A nice improvement. Nothing contest quality, but a *lot* better than the stock Bachmann car. At least now, the Big Dome blends in well with the rest of the Kato cars, and makes a nice addition to any of my Santa Fe passenger trains. Before, I would have been embarrassed to run the Big Dome in a public setting. Take care, all! [ March 07, 2005, 08:31 AM: Message edited by: atsf_arizona ]
Very nice John. Great looking engines Colonel. Here is an N scale D9-40C I haven't quite got finished yet.
A caboose gets ready to slip into the tunnel. No place names yet. I have really been struggling to come up with some names I can live with.
I love this thread! Every week, everyone's work here inspires me. I'm always waiting for Friday! Mr. Sing, as usual, your models and layout give me hope for my own planned small layout. What radius are those passenger cars on? They look awesome! Flash, great looking E units! Everyone that posts here should be proud of their modeling!
WPZephyrfan, The following photograph is on 28" radius: The following photograph is on 19" radius: For any model railroad, the concept of a gentle sweeping curve does appear much better, as opposed to the 'straight - then abrupt curve' approach. I'd actually tried several different arrangements of the Unitrack, and the gentle sweeping curves you see below clearly were the best appearance: Thx for the very kind compliments!
Pete, thanks for the info and there is now a white light version of this type of lighting and since I am an electrician I can go to the supply house and buy it in as long a length as needed but I have found because of voltage drop over 50' is not practical. I think with some careful planning you could avoids runs longer then that or else feed the run from both ends, (make sure the polarity is the same!!) Pat
John Sing Great job with the dome car! Paul Those are cool patch jobs! Red Rock Looking good so far? What road will it be? Russel Cool picture! Doofus Nice looking scene and train! William and Flash Great picture of an awesome structure! txronharris Great pictures! A lot of variety! Jon Cool looking find. Can’t wait to see what line it turns out to be. Cool looking Mavis!
John Sing, Very astute observations about curves. I have some curves where I've probably gone below an 18-inch minimum in order to broaden other parts. In other areas I've sacrificed some table area to accommodate curves up to 72 inches in radius. I admire the variety of views and the faithfulness of your shots of a small layuout!