AT&SF standard 92' Rounhouse Robert, that's fabulous, YES! Nice work....can't wait to get my hands on some castings. Otto K.
Thanks, Flash. They are, I think, more detailed and cost less. I am getting inquiries from defense and shipbuilding companies and also museums. I am going slowly with this venture, to make sure I get it right.
Indiana Railroad SD90MAC #9025 aka their 25th Anniversary paint scheme from 2010. Finished this one over a couple of days since it was just a simple paint job without all the extras added. Decals are by Highball Graphics and I used Polly Scale paints as required. Laying those black pinstripes was the hardest item to tackle. The "warbonnet" curve was easy to mask because the decal sheet includes a template. Cheers, Brian
More weathering fun- Santa Fe and Chessie System More weathering fun. Athearn Airslide- Still have to finish the trucks and couplers, add more white streaking running off the Santa Fe letters (Dullcote diminished the effect) and I also want to hit the roof abit more as I am going for a peeling paint, galvanized gray metal finish. Nice factory detailed car. FVM Chessie Can Stock-Nice model from Fox Valley
I've been working on sprucing up a Life Like NYC E7. I may model modern NS, but NYC is my favorite fallen flag.
Not quite museum quality yet, but lately I've been able to use 1 mm design rules on .5 mm styrene, resulting in this walkway for the Mobil Engineer tanker. I can actually cut .5 mm x .5 mm legs, but I can't handle the way they curl sometimes, requiring a finicky correction. Styrene is styrene! The pipe brackets are also cut with the BlackCat cutter. Latest deck details. I've been able to cut styrene on this project for some detailed platforms and details such as the boom rests. I think this tanker is going to be a wowza! I'm finally taming the big beast digital cutter, after about 16 months of experiments.
Wowza should definitely cover it. I'd hazard a guess that once painted the difference between 1mm and .5mm won't be obvious to most of us. And I googled those cutters, ouch that's a price tag...
Started some study and review of the Little's Lumber wood kit. A complete sawmill in a craftsman's kit. I identified all the various scribed wood and marked the backs of the sheets to make sure I grab the right stuff for the required steps. Gave the supplied windows and doors their coat of paint and decided on a red mill with white trim rather than the green they call for. Also decided on using all ACC glues for this kit so a run to the LHS will be in order for some more ACC for wood. Also using solvent based paints as It will reduce any tendency to warp far less than using water based. Daggone near a half inch thick sheaf of instructions but there are a number of transparent cutting templates provided. Figure this will be the sole occupant of the workbench for the next solid month or more.
The Cougar is probably too expensive ($750 up) for the ordinary modeler. And the cutter reviews are pretty much controlled by the makers or distributors, so they are utterly unreliable and sometimes completely false! The top rated cutter, in other words, is often the top rated cutter because the maker has published the review under something like "Digital Cutter Review Magazine," and flooded Google with thousands of fake responses, all of which point to "Digital Cutter Review Magazine." There's plenty of support for cutting flowers and doodads out of paper for scrapbooking; virtually nothing for cutting styrene. Sadly, even BlackCat doesn't know anything about cutting styrene. I'm pretty much on my own for this surprisingly difficult material for a cutter.
The little cutters for about $200-$300 can scribe 0.5 mm styrene, which is great for larger parts with the scribe-and-snap technique, but I went crazy trying to make platforms like this.
John, Be careful with the CA glues on wood. Although they glue wood like crazy (put intended), they can also soak into the grain and change the surface characteristics so that when you paint your wood assemblies, the paint doesn't soak into the wood equally and you can see where the CA has soaked into it and hardened. I discovered this fact way back when I was scratchbuilding 1850's American Clipper Ship models for various museums, which were all painted using solvent based paints. Now, I use CA on wood sparingly but instead use yellow carpenter's glue, which works great. Cheerio! Bob Gilmore
Nice work! I have an old Kato blue box undec F unit I plan on painting PRR Brunswick green if I ever get around to it.
Some new models have reached completion. Tractors and trailers for my Cargill Ltd. grain elevator at Dawson Creek: A Motorways Ltd. tractor and a pair of trailers for my highways: Tim
A National Steel Car exterior post double door boxcar decorated for British Columbia Railway: And an identical car decorated for Northern Alberta Railways: Thanks to friend Jeff Briggs for his usual fine job with painting and weathering on the above models. Looking forward to Meet N March in Portland next weekend. Tim
Thanks but I am aware of the issues with ACC use. It also can effect painting on styrene. All my wood is pre-stained or painted before assembly unless I want to simulate fresh wood.
