Photo fun Sunday 9-12-04

[AggroJones]

Well my dawgs, its that time again. Lets share some photos! Everyone regardless of scale can post. Have at it!


As you can see, still no scenery. The Mallet marches on past the WS risers.


Here's the superstar J1e. Somthing is wrong with the sound system, but she still runs okay.


A weather beaten tank at the end of the train.

[dave9999]

I got the sub-roadbed down and the track laid out for a test run. The trains run as smooth as silk!
Now I have to decide between cork or ASI roadbed. Dave

(Click image for larger veiw)

[Anonymous]

Aggro: Nice Hudson!

[egmurphy]

It was a good week for the FCVN. I've probably got 80% of the track layed. Of course it's a lot easier if you've got a small layout. [swg] I'm hoping to complete trackwork this week, and get the small control panel built so I can get the blocks hooked up without using a bunch of alligator clips and jumper wires.




Regards

Ed

[TrainFreak409]

I have some photos, 1:1 proportion!




All of these were taken Friday, September 10, in Historic Sykesville, Maryland, behind Purkey's Toy Trains. The picture in my signature is me in the cab!

[8]TrainFreak409[8]

[rexhea]

O.K.! I give up. How do you post a photo on this thing?

REX [D)]

[egmurphy]

To post photos here (or on most forums) you need to have the photos 'hosted' on a site set up for that purpose. You don't actually upload your photos to this forum, you put a link in your post to the photo.

For example, I and a lot of people use www.railimages.com as a photo hosting site. It's free, although they do like to have contributions to help pay for the site. So you need to go to RailImages (or another site), open your account, and follow their instructions to upload photos to your 'album' there.

Once you have photos on the hosting site, you post them here by including in your post (or reply) the forum code, which is [ img] in front of the url address and [ /img] after the address. (Note, the space I included inside the brackets should not be included. I did it just so the forum wouldn't think I was trying to post a picture.

Typical url address for a photo on railimages looks like this
http://www.railimages.com/albums/johndoe/xxx.jpg
where ''johndoe'' is the name of your album, and xxx is the sequential code for the photo you want to post. This whole address is what goes between the img /img tags. If you want to see what it looks like in a post, go back to one of the posts in this thread with photos and click on the reply button. What you'll see is the img tags and the address as it actually needs to be written in the post.

Hope that wasn't too confusing. Feel free to ask more questions. Maybe someone better equiped will provide a better answer or reference a good post in the past that explains all this.

Regards

Ed

[dharmon]

Nice work and photo's everyone. I can't seem to take a good photo to save my life today, but here's my latest project, a Guilford GP40-2L. I started with an Athearn GP40-2, removed the cab, nose and battery boxes. I added a Details Associates Canadian safety cab, and some detail parts from various sources. The air filter shields and recessed brake wheel were made from styrene. The shell is pretty much done, with the windows, wipers and antennae left to add, and then some chassis work.

Dan

[rexhea]

Thanks egmurphy.
I understand and have applied for an account at railimages. Soon as I get a reply I will give it a try.

REX

[Anonymous]

Aggro,

I like the idea of real models from real people. I am no where near the stage of posting photos of the new layout, would it be cool to post a pic from time to time of the old layout??? Here are a couple of shots from the defunct Gaylor Mountain Lines.

The crane on the flat is a Rio Grande Kit as is the side dump go next to it . The flat is scratch built.



The donkey is a RGM kit as well as the tank and fuel car. The water car is kitbashed and the small flats are scratch built.



Guy

[egmurphy]

QUOTE: would it be cool to post a pic from time to time of the old layout???

Yes it would. Very nice work. Always a pleasure to see stuff like that.

Ed

[rexhea]

Well, its Monday but I guess it's ok for my first attempt at a photo post. Hope this doesn't pull the plug on the server.[:D]

This is my first attempt at Scenery. It took many hours during a two month period.

The FA's are on loan to Southern Passenger service until Southern receives their E-7's



USRA 2-8-2 rounding the loop at Rock Quarry


Notice Southern 4-8-2 Mountain on the above ridge


2-8-2 exitiing Rock Quarry Tunnel


If you want to see all pictures of my layout from beginning to present:
http://www.railimages.com/gallery/rexheacock

[egmurphy]

Boy Rex, you're a quick study. Didn't take you long to figure out how to post.

Very nice woods effect on the hillside. Good rocks.

Congrats

Ed

[rexhea]

Thanks Ed. Your a good teacher[^] I had to have a sweat towel before I hit the post button.[(-D]

I used the polyester ball with mixed green ground foam method for the trees. There were over 500. The rocks were from Woodland Scenics molds. Many, many more to go. But, it's a lot of fun with plenty of time.

REX

[egmurphy]

QUOTE: I had to have a sweat towel before I hit the post button.

You're welcome. You might want to try using the 'preview 'reply' button first, before hitting the 'submit reply' button. It will show your post with all smilies and images as it will appear on the screen. If it's not the way you want it, you can close the preview window and keep editing the original post until you have it right.

Regards

Ed

[dave9999]

Rex,
Excellent work on the dense forest...
I have always been a little intimidated by trees. My last layout looked like it had been through a forest
fire.... one tree here, one tree there..... I like the idea of the polyester balls. Sounds like a good way
to cover a lot of area quick. Dave

[egmurphy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dharmon

I can't seem to take a good photo to save my life today, but here's my latest project, a Guilford GP40-2L. I started with an Athearn GP40-2, removed the cab, nose and battery boxes. I added a Details Associates Canadian safety cab, and some detail parts from various sources. The air filter shields and recessed brake wheel were made from styrene. The shell is pretty much done, with the windows, wipers and antennae left to add, and then some chassis work.

Dan

Nice detailing. I'm a bit envious of the amount of detail you guys in Horribly Oversized can put on your cars and locos. And you can actually see it without using an optivisor! [8D]

Say, I'm no great photographer but if you don't mind I have a few easy suggestions for improving your shots.

1. the biggest problem with these three is that the loco is a bit out of focus. Strangely enough, the background is in focus. Without knowing what you actually did I can think of a couple of possible reasons. Could be (a) the camera is too close to the locomotive and can't focus properly (do you have a close-up or 'macro' setting on the camera?), or (b) maybe the loco was off center on the original shot (did you crop this from the original?) and the camera is center focusing, and focused on the background.

2. The cluttered background distracts from the locomotive. The easiest and cheapest way to solve this is to buy some cloth (or large posterboard). Drape the cloth over the table, sit the model on the cloth, and bring the cloth up behind the subject. The idea is to screen out everything but the subject.

3. Photographing something dark (like a dark grey loco with black trucks) on a white background results in too much contrast to show all the detail. If you buy cloth or posterboard, go for a couple of different shades of grey, maybe a light, a medium, and a dark. Dark items show best when shot on a background slightly lighter (but not white). So this loco might turn out better shot on a light or medium grey background. Light items show better when shot on something slightly darker (a medium or dark grey). Colors work too, but grey is nice and neutral.

4. While you don't normally want to use flash, you need to try for as much natural light as possible. When it's a bit dark, the camera (assuming an automatic setting) tries to open up the lens to let in more light, which shortens the depth of field. What that means is that the front or rear of the subject may be in focus, but it's hard to get the entire item in focus.

Maybe someone who knows more will chime in with some corrections or clarifications. But I hope these ideas can be of use to you.

Best regards

Ed

[dharmon]

Thanks for the tips Ed. I'm going to try some more experimenting this week. Our digital is an Olympus box with a hole and a button. That's about the limit of its features. I'm going to .....I can't believe any self respecting male would say this...open the manual .....to see if it has a macro setting....I tried using a darker background, but it didn't seem to help, and without the flash, it was a dark blob. I think I'm going to have to go outside or the kitchen, rather than the bench and try to harness the power of natural light.

Dan

[rexhea]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dave9999

Rex,
Excellent work on the dense forest...
I have always been a little intimidated by trees. My last layout looked like it had been through a forest
fire.... one tree here, one tree there..... I like the idea of the polyester balls. Sounds like a good way
to cover a lot of area quick. Dave

Dave.
Thanks much.
Trees are an obvious hurdle to modeling the Appalachians.
After many great ideas submitted by members of the forum, one member steered me to Ian Macmillian's web site. http://www.portsmouthbranch.com/trees

I was very impressed by his method of making hillside trees. He is N gauge, but I just made the polyester balls larger for HO. You can get a bag of polyester at Wal-Mart for less than $2.00.

I probably didn't spend more than $20.00 for the trees and it only took about 16-20 hours for over 500. The big time user was building the mountain and the rocks then painting and etc... Oh, yeah, I had to paint the backdrop at this time because it was tied in with the mountain. [V]
This one is only one of many since the majority of the layout is elevated.

Dave, are you starting to feel like the center of a bullseye??
BTW: Gators may eat Seminoles, but Elephants stomp Gators.[:D][:D]


Almost forgot, I'm 59 today. Love to get'um but hate to count'um![:D][:D]
REX

[egmurphy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rexhea

QUOTE: Originally posted by dave9999

Rex,
After many great ideas submitted by members of the forum, one member steered me to Ian Macmillian's web site. http://www.portsmouthbranch.com/trees
I was very impressed by his method of making hillside trees.

Almost forgot, I'm 59 today. Love to get'um but hate to count'um!
REX

Thought the technique looked familiar.....................

[bday]

Congrats old man.......you've got about 4 months head start on me. [:D] I stopped keeping track even before my eyesight started going.

Ed

[dave9999]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rexhea

BTW: Gators may eat Seminoles, but Elephants stomp Gators.[:D][:D]

Ah yeah... I remember the 1999 season. We did get our butts handed to us.
You know Florida/Bama play again in 2005 in Tuscaloosa.
I'd like to see that one. The last game I went to was 2001 Sugar Bowl in the
Big Easy..... lost at the casino and the Gators lost to Miami. I did go see Florida
and LSU earlier that same season in the Swamp. The results of that one were a lot better[:D]

QUOTE:
Almost forgot, I'm 59 today. Love to get'um but hate to count'um![:D][:D]
REX

Rex,
Happy Birthday....... I'm not THAT old yet[:D], but birthdays seem to come a lot
quicker lately.

[:D]