I have a very large workbench. I have been spending time working on various parts of the layout. Today was a scenery day...some ground foam texturing, some ballasting, some background painting. Most of the time was spent painting the background on the Dayville module.
Still Fighting Plastruct's Refinery Decided to build the small 3 tank structure on Plastruct's Refinery kit and learned valuable lessons. The tanks are larger than the prints show and therefore the structure can not be built as show on the print (for folks that haven't had the pleasure of building this kit, you get a bunch of plastic parts, a semi-helpful instruction set and two blueprints). As an engineer by profession, the blueprints didn't scare me, but now knowing they don't reflect the actual size of the components provided I will be approaching the rest of the kit differently... I did manage to get the main subassemblies built and will get painted prior to final assembly. Still need to clean em up a little before primer. Still too durn hot and humid to paint...... NCDaveD
Burlington Northern #7309 is seen here leading an Undecorated SD9 into the paint shop. This unit was purchased used from the Southern Pacific after a chemical spill heavily melted the locomotive body. SP decided to just get rid of it. Upon further inspection, the buyer at BN realized the locomotive was in prime operational condition, and that the damage was purely cosmetic. The purchase price was so low that BN sent the unit in for a complete new body. Once this SD9 is decorated for BN, it will be one of the top workhorse locomotives on the Thunder Ridge division roster. Close up: Here's what the SD9 looked like after the chemical spill.
Absolutely! Being more of a low-nose fan myself, I originally thought about it thinking it would be more of a freelance thing. But now that you mentioned it, I did some quick Goggling to find they really did cut those noses down! Gonna have to do some more reasearch now.
Going to have to keep that in mind.... It will run great with the GP39v I already did. Especially since I think i still have a 35 cab floating around the parts box. Now all I need is the SD9...
I'll have to wait for funds to build up before I can start the bash job on the SD9 (have to order the complete GP-35 shell now). So, in the mean time, I'll just make some trees! Here's a tutorial of my take on a technique I've read about. I start off with bamboo skewers dipped in Joint Compound. Try to get them thick at the base and thin at the tip. After the Joint Compound is dry, I sand the trunks to a more tapered shape, then carve bark groves along their length. Since branches will cover the top, I mostly only groove the base of the trunks. Close up of the sanded, pre-grooved trunk. Close up of the carved trunk. Once painted, this has the perfect trunk texture. See next...
For the branches, I use shredded scotch-brite pads. I can usually get 4-5 layers from the standard thickness pad. I purchased mine for 1.40 per pad (6x9") at a hardware store in the paint section. I cut the pads into 1.5 inch squares and use approximately 2-3 squares per tree, so a single pad can make about 24 trees. Not bad for a buck forty! Here's the painted trunk (this ones a double trunk tree) with the layers of shredded scotch-brite glued on. I brush the trunk with Woodland Scenics Hob-e-Tac, then poke the trunk through the square of scotch-brite. Make sure to leave some trunk visible between layers (about 1/4th inch or so). Next, I point the top of the tree away and spray black/brown paint to cover the bottom of the branches. After that, I point the top of the tree towards me and spray a very light mist of Super77 spray adhesive to cover the tops of the branches. Before the Super77 dries, I then sprinkle ground foam over top of the tree. I may tilt it as much as 45 degrees from vertical to get some ground foam near the trunk on each layer. The ground foam is what really sells these trees! Here are my first 5 standing tall as a Burlington O-4 Mikado rumbles past!
And here's the final cherry on top of these trees...dead branches on the bottom! I crushed a small bit of a scrap bamboo skewer and CA glued the bits to the trunk base. Then, very delicately, I painted them to match the trunk. It's tough to say how the CA will hold being glued to Joint Compound, but I dont plan on moving these trees permanently once planted, so I'll just be extra careful until then.
Mark, Looks great. On my workbench right now is my disassembled laptop. The charge section of the motherboard went up in smoke Monday. Waiting to find a replacement motherboard. The data is safe (and is most of my MR stuff) but no way to retrieve it with a dead battery. I tried to put the magic smoke back in but it kept leaking out.
SP&S 761 SP&S #761 was one of 6 shop built 30 bay window cabooses. BUT, beacause of expense only 760 and 761 were completed. This was the last scheme and painting she was to recieve. The last bay windows were NP 'hand-me-downs. This was made from a Model Power bay window caboose. It was sanded and the scribed and the bay lowered and windows changed.
Thanks for a well compiled "how to" Mark, You've changed the way I now will think about how I make my pines > the old "spun wire" method & I can't wait to try your technique Steve
Hey mark, if you have a dollar tree near you they have 5 packs of those type of scrubber pads for a dollar.
Mark, great tutorial, I think you should add it as a stand alone thread, that way you can keep adding to it when you do new styles of trees Yet-to-be-numbered BN SD40 and SD40-2 Mike
This is my latest project I’ve been working on seemingly forever. It is the forth in a series of small modules that fit on one end of my layout. These modules allow me to model and operate virtually anything I can fit in the space allowed. So far I have a scrap metal and recycling center a refinery and a large import dealership/warehouse. This one will be “Old Port Eureka” and will be a nice place to park a couple of small boxcars or a flat of lumber or a mechanical refer for the “Catch of the day” The track will pass over two tiny bridges while in the back the road passes over two concrete pipes that drain the uplands. The rest should be self explanatory.
