Yea, I think so too, Rich
So, it's a CAD cutting machine? I'll have to Google that and see what comes up. It sounds pricey, and I would guess you need programs to go with it? for designing and drawing?
Back to the X-acto knive. I have boxes of blades.
Mike.
PS. Just looked at some of those machines. No wonder Roberts stuff is perfect! I'll be buying more blades for my X-acto knives.
My You Tube
WOW!!! Thats all I have!
mbinsewi Yea, I think so too, Rich
Hey Mike-
Yes, I also interpreted Bear's comments as nothing more than some good-natured ribbing. I like the idea that our community spans all the way around the world.
Yes. Technically it's a CAD-CAM device. Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacture.
No wonder Roberts stuff is perfect!
Hmmm . . . hardly. More tongue-in-cheek good-natured ribbing. I suppose I could claim moderate expertise in the CAD part, but I will freely admit my CAM skills are lacking. But I'm working on it.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
Yes Robert, TIC. I'm sure there is a lot of programing that goes along with this. Along with working off of drawings, etc.
I would love to see some of your completed creations, like that bank building, or whatever else you have built with the CAD.
More boat stuff that I'm currently working on . . .
I've posted several times regarding 3D Printing and how it does not yet meet my expectations. Not that it's bad or anything, just that it is still a little rough, especially for N Scale stuff. I need some deck furniture for my current project, and I went looking for some at Shapeways-dot-com.
A coupla photos:
They are a little ragged and the detail is extremely fragile and almost crumbly (notice the protective cage still around the deck gun), but they are all that is currently available, and I could never scratch-build such things no matter how many X-acto blades I have.
Have you looked into resin 3d printing yet?
I'm beginning to realize that Windows 10 and sound decoders have a lot in common. There are so many things you have to change in order to get them to work the way you want.
richhotrainBesides, methinks that JaBear was speaking tongue in cheek!
Yes, I was aware of that. I guess my response was a bit too serious, but it was just my worth.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Partially painted and minimally decorated with homemade decal number one.
Really nice Robert!
mbinsewi Really nice Robert! Mike.
Hey thanks, Mike.
Rough layout of the streets in the downtown area.
I really like those paper roads! Is there a way to get them in HO?
BNSF UP and others modeler I really like those paper roads! Is there a way to get them in HO?
Hey BNSF et al -
I don't know that such roads are available, in either HO or N.
I drew the roads using AutoCAD and printed them on tabloid-size (11"x17") sticky back label paper. The paper is just like those sheets of little rectangular cut out mailing address labels, except that the peel-back label takes up the entire sheet. I laid out the roads to modern size and markings and basically shaded the whole shebang in medium-dark gray. Then I added a million little speckle points in various tiny dot sizes; the dots range from black to dark gray to light gray to white and from sharp pinpoints up to small splats. The pavement markings are not exactly what I want, but they'll do for now.
I don't know how well this 'road system' will work, but I spend a lot of time during this layout build doing stuff I've never done before. The thing about peel-and-stick roads is that they can be unpeeled, unstuck, and replaced with something else.
I'll let you know how things turn out.
Backtracking a little . . .
This is the N Scale version of the Wells Fargo bank in Casper that I scratch built a month or two ago.
When an engineer or a designer uses the phrase 'prototype', its meaning is a little different than when a model railroader uses it. To a designer it means the first thing; or better yet, the thing before the first thing, especially if the intent is to follow the first thing with more things. But sometimes the prototype is the only thing.
I get ideas. Once in a while ideas come to me more or less fully formed, but usually the ideas are only ideas that need to be developed and fleshed out. I think about them and ponder them and turn them around in my head. I doodle on a piece of paper with a piece of pencil. Sometimes I doodle with AutoCAD. I piddle with the pieces and parts and work out dimensions and whatnot. I draw sections and details and elevations and schematics. Sometimes I prepare fairly complex 3D sketches and renderings.
But nothing really counts until I pick up the raw materials and let the chips fly and give substance to the thing . . . and create the prototype. This is that. It's a little rough and the details are lacking. It's unpainted and barely sanded and the joints are not as smooth and clean as I'd like. It was cut and assembled from 0.0625" sheets of white, black, and tan styrene and 0.032" sheets of smoke gray translucent acrylic. The goal was to give form and shape and mass and color and texture to some abstract ideas and then stand back and squint a little to see what's what. Not too bad.
Robert, Please keep the updates coming.
I think the Wells Fargo buildong is very impressive.
Printing roadways could be the best way to go. When I build my city scene I am going to look into some large fprmat printing on cardstock.
I printed some of the roads I used on my photo prop board.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
SeeYou190 Robert, Please keep the updates coming.
Alton Junction
ROBERT PETRICKThis is the N Scale version of the Wells Fargo bank in Casper that I scratch built a month or two ago.
Very nice work.
Gary
Robert,
There's an HO scale version of the bank (originally the Wyoming National Bank back in the '60's) that sits on the Central Wyoming Model Railroad Association layout. I heard you did that one, too...
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
That is an incredible model! I can't imagine the complexity of getting the 'flower' section so exact.
Pruitt Robert, There's an HO scale version of the bank (originally the Wyoming National Bank back in the '60's) that sits on the Central Wyoming Model Railroad Association layout. I heard you did that one, too...
Hey Mark -
Yeah, that was eight or nine years ago when I lived in Casper. We'll call it the first initial exploratory pre-preliminary prototype. It was a model of only the blooming onion corner of the building and had twelve sides. It was made of white cardboard, and the windows were cut from a glossy black file folder I got from Office Depot.
It's funny how ideas can sit idle in the back of your mind for years and still continue to peck away at you.
EDIT
Even the current iteration is not completely complete. There's still something gnawing at me.
There is a curved sloping second-story shed roof sort of thing over the gallery between the round corner room and the square main building. I still haven't quite pondered how I'm gonna model that. I'm perfectly okay having the current model on my layout in its present state for the duration, but still . . .
A View of San Juan Inlet from the Owl Creek Mountains. Or, a more accurate title: Fooling Around While Ballasting.
Same scene, from operator eye level.
Robert, what material do you plan to use to create water under that bridge?
Rich
I really like that river scene! I can just imaging is fully sceniced! You've made a lovely long bridge that really makes that scene look super realistic! Can't wait to see move of your work!
Regards, Isaac
I model my railroad and you model yours! I model my way and you model yours!
richhotrain Robert, what material do you plan to use to create water under that bridge? Rich
Hey Rich -
I dunno. I'm not sure, I'm still dithering.
I've never really done large bodies of open water before. A few creeks and ditches here and there, and the chicken-out version of a dry gulch arroyo.
For the water of the Wind River Canyon, I painted the plywood deck dark dark green and black, and then slathered on about six heavy coats of water based polyurethane. It came out all right, but not as great as I envisioned (nothing ever does).
This bridge spans the inlet of a deep-water port: ocean to the right, tidewater river estuary to the left.
The waters of the St Johns River in Florida (near where I grew up) vary from muddy murky brown to murky muddy brown. In the glamorous world of model railroading, I hope to be a little more . . . umm . . . glamorous.
My port scene is based, more or less, on the Port of Miami and the Port of Los Angeles. Since the ocean in the vicinity of South Florida is a light aqua-greenish, that's the color I'm going for. Some silty sandy brownish tans, of course, and lots of ripples and windcaps, but no rolling waves.
But I'm still not fully confident how to proceed. I've been looking for detailed videos or photos or narratives how others have handled similar challenges, but the stuff I found so far is lacking. I'm looking for step-by-step sequential photos and clear instructions. Most of the photos I've seen appear to skip over the mundane procedures and jump right to the finished product. Interesting, but not terribly informative.
Please feel free to jump in with any info or advice.
Thanks.
ROBERT PETRICK richhotrain Robert, what material do you plan to use to create water under that bridge? Rich Hey Rich - I dunno. I'm not sure, I'm still dithering. I've never really done large bodies of open water before. A few creeks and ditches here and there, and the chicken-out version of a dry gulch arroyo. Please feel free to jump in with any info or advice.
richhotrain I am in the completion stage of adding a river in an urban area of my new layout. After experimenting with different materials, I decided to go with Envirotex Lite. The results are fantastic, but the only shortcoming is that it is self leveling and dries like glass, no water movement whatsoever. But I think that I have found a solution by adding gloss gel and shaping movement. Rich
I am in the completion stage of adding a river in an urban area of my new layout. After experimenting with different materials, I decided to go with Envirotex Lite. The results are fantastic, but the only shortcoming is that it is self leveling and dries like glass, no water movement whatsoever. But I think that I have found a solution by adding gloss gel and shaping movement.
Thanks, this is good.
Now . . . and I realize this is a lot of me to be asking from you . . . do you have a sequence of photos and a description of what you've done?
My area is about 52" wide by 28" deep and has a smooth masonite hardboard surface.
How thick should the pour be and how much material will I need? Is it poured directly from a bottle or do I need to mix two parts in a coffee can or something? Paint compatibility?
How long to set up and/or dry? Do I do it all in a single pour or multiple pours?
I'm okay with the self-levelling smooth-as-glass surface from the Envirotex, but what about the gloss gel you mentioned? N scale ripples/waves are very tiny and I'll need a million of them. What kind, what brand, and how much gloss gel will I need?
I'm sure I'll probably have more questions, but I don't want to wear anyone down.
ROBERT PETRICK richhotrain I am in the completion stage of adding a river in an urban area of my new layout. After experimenting with different materials, I decided to go with Envirotex Lite. The results are fantastic, but the only shortcoming is that it is self leveling and dries like glass, no water movement whatsoever. But I think that I have found a solution by adding gloss gel and shaping movement. Rich Hey Rich - Thanks, this is good. Now . . . and I realize this is a lot of me to be asking from you . . . do you have a sequence of photos and a description of what you've done? My area is about 52" wide by 28" deep and has a smooth masonite hardboard surface. How thick should the pour be and how much material will I need? Is it poured directly from a bottle or do I need to mix two parts in a coffee can or something? Paint compatibility? How long to set up and/or dry? Do I do it all in a single pour or multiple pours? I'm okay with the self-levelling smooth-as-glass surface from the Envirotex, but what about the gloss gel you mentioned? N scale ripples/waves are very tiny and I'll need a million of them. What kind, what brand, and how much gloss gel will I need? I'm sure I'll probably have more questions, but I don't want to wear anyone down. Robert
1. Your 52" x 28" area is 10.1 sq. ft, so you will need 1/2 gallon of Envirotex Lite if you go that route.
2. Envirotex Lite is a 2-part epoxy, so a 1/2 gallon kit includes two 1 quart bottles, one of which is a hardener. The mix may be tinted with acrylic paint and, based upon my tests, you can use up to 1 ounce of paint per quart.
3. The two parts of the epoxy, plus the tint, are mixed in equal portions in a smooth sided bowl for two minutes and then immediately poured. At that point, you have 25 minutes of working time.
4. The mix can be poured in portions, but all portions must be poured within a 25 minute time span. If you try to overlap separate portions over a longer time period, the overlaps will show.
5. Envirotex Lite is self-leveling and should be poured in such a manner that the depth is 1/8", no more than that.
6. Once poured, the epoxy dries to the touch in about 6 hours and takes a total of 72 hours to permanently harden. The epoxy should be covered during the 72 hour hardening period.
7. I haven't yet experimented with the gloss gel, but I will report back once I know the results.
After I posted those comments about an unrealistically calm Chicago River, I found this image on a Twitter. So much for unrealistically calm water. Who knew?
https://twitter.com/barrybutler9/status/721750922842529792
We use to make a yearly trip down to your town Rich, wifey went to a podiatry convention at the Hyatt on Wacker, a block east of Michigan, and the only time I've seen the river NOT calm was the time when the convention was during St. Patrick's Day. I watched a crew in a boat stirring up the green dye.
Love those river taxis, used them to get back and forth from Navy Pier and the Shedd Aquarium, and Union Station on a rare summer time visit. If Photobucket was being nice this morning, I'd post some pics of the river.
Anxious to your see your layout progress!
More Mid-Century Modern stuff . . . this time, two skyscrapers from Florida. Well, one fairly short skyscraper (420') and one fairly tall tree-topper (250'). In fairness to the Gulf Life Tower, there was a time in the 60s when it was the tallest building in Florida. It was quickly surpassed when NASA built that one-story Saturn rocket Vertical Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral.
Frank Lloyd Wright would have hated both these buildings. He did not ascribe to the idea of glass curtain walls. He would have ridiculed them as having 'windows upon windows to the nth degree; the buildings are completely bewindowed'.