Tonight was a full crew and we continued to make progress on several fronts. Wain made great progress on the golf course scene. Shown here, Wain is working on the sand in the bunker next to the green. Here are two more shots (pun intended), the first shows the green and the tee box taped off, with green paint applied to the fabric and fine turf ground foam for texture. This shot shows the green, the tee box, the bunker and the cart path in their final form. Next week the unpainted fabric gets a darker shade of green and heavier ground foam.
In addition to the golf scene, we made progress in the following areas: Scott hit two projects, the lumber mill foundation and the guardrail. Here is the foundation, replete with a unique use of alligator clips: Here is his work on the guardrail. First shot is the close-up of the posts in place and stained, the second of the in-progress scene. Doug added some foam sculpting to a couple of random areas where we will ultimately hide seams; including one with a scenery block. As for me, more (lichen) scotch broom. More next week.
Tonight was crew-lite, only four of us, but good times and good progress. Scott wrapped up the lumber mill pier foundation, now all that's left is some added scenery to hide a few seams. He then set about to glue the guardrail in place, using all manner of clamps in doing so. Next week they'll come off and the scene will be complete. Doug worked on some scenery items, then he and I added the final upper line fascia board. For now it's epoxied to the existing fascia, when dry we'll connect it to the upper line subroadbed. Once sculpted and painted it will look like it's always been there. We will also extend the foam at the left edge to cover the exposed edge of the fascia. As for me, I spent the evening working on the Boeing plant. First, I finished up the plane fuselage car, adding the supports and the ice breaker. All that's left is to repaint the fuselage. I then made some adjustments to the plant entry and the exact location of the rollback door opening. It required cutting away a portion of the backdrop to provide an unobstructed view. I will cover the exposed subroadbed and blue fascia with styrene. I also have photo backdrop of the inside of the plant to show other planes in progress. I received my order of evergreen styrene metal siding #4530, which will cover the foamcore structure. So this building will now take shape pretty quickly. One other project of note, Ed has been diligently working on the double slip crossover in the lower staging yard. He has run about 12 different locos through it, made some wiring changes and tweaked the points to ensure absolutely flawless running. Mission accomplished. I will film a little piece on its operation and post it another time. More later, thanks for checking in. M
Just received this panorama shot of the RGW from Ross Waters from Trackside Model Railroading. It's a great online publication, it is subscription based, but well worth the cost. It was a pleasure to have them shoot the RGW for their magazine.
Another productive work party on the RGW tonight. First, Scott finished up the road scene and it looks great. Doug continued to complete the SE corner, putting our final piece of fascia in place, adding foam filler and later covering the scenes edges with spackle. Scott also had time to relay the tracks at the Edwards & Bradford lumber mill, while Reynold completed two sets of Rivarossi lumber cars, seen here on the center track. Ed and I spent some time discussing the camera system for monitoring helix performance. That will start to take shape next week. More later, thanks for checking in. M
The boys told me to get with the program and get the final structures done for the mill. Guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend. M
Spent some time this past week working on a Keystroke kiln kit for the lumber mill. It's a nice kit, styrene, metal and wood strips are the primary components. Here is a test fit of the facade, styrene front and back, styrene brick walls and styrene floor: You can probably see on the picture above I added a .80 styrene foundation. It replaces a wood foundation supplied with the kit. Here is a shot of the brick walls. On the left an untouched version, on the right I painted random bricks a darker shade, then used C. C. Crow mortar powder to grout the bricks. The final shot shows all the pieces, painted, ready for assembly: Tonight we'll get the parts together and get the roof on. Will also try and get the weathering powders down as well. The doors and the cart system will take a bit longer. M
Also, as long as the airbrush was alive and kicking, repainted the 737 fuselage. Next step is to paint the windows, cover the holes for the wings, then add selective detail painting and yellow striping where applicable. M
Sure wish I'd taken pictures of the mill in my home town. I never got around to it. It had a nice tepee burner, and an interesting kiln building built of cement.
Tonight was a great night at the RGW. Sometimes all the best intentions can be just set aside when inspiration hits. Tonight it was Wain. After touching up the green and tee box for the golf course... He was sitting in the SW corner looking at the lower level Wye and it hit, what about a backdrop between the subroadbed and the wall? I saw him staring at it, asked what's up, he answered. Before you knew it, Ed and I were in the garage firing up the table saw and cutting a 13" inch deep section of backdrop material. Then after much gyration to get the drill and a screw behind the backdrop, we had success! While we did that, Doug was busy in the SE corner working on the terrain and scenery for the snowshed. He added spackle, which will eventually be rock formations, he also started adding real rock along the roof. It's looking great! Ed completed the wiring in the helix and viola, we have light, repleat with pull cord. This was a fun night, thanks for checking in. M
Oh yeah, yours truly put in some more work on the Keystone kiln. Here is the structure assembled, sans roof and doors. After the glue set up, it was time to add weathering powders. Only one of the doors will be open, so only that bay was given weathering. The rest was outside only. The final shot is a test fit where the building will ultimately sit on the layout. Looks right at home. Next we'll get the roof on and finish the doors. M
Spent this evening finishing the kiln. It started with the roof. The kit comes with a heavy paper roof, which I chose to replace with black styrene. I then put a coat of contract cement on the styrene and attached a piece of 600 grit sandpaper. After trimming to fit, we have a roof. After an hour in the den painting, I added the roof vents. Then it became a process of adding the concrete doors and the white metal door opening mechanism to one door, which will remain open. I also added the valves and alarm bell. Finally, it's ready for its home on the RGW (albeit needing some final weathering). It looks right at home. On to the next structure. M
