Alright, all you eager beavers who enjoy building or running stuff and taking pictures, here's your weekly opportunity to post up just about anything model railroad related.
The beavers are working hard to tidy up their home.
How many do you count?
I've always wanted a beaver pond, since they are so common in the area I model, southwestern Colorado. Then I was at our local train show a few weeks back and members of the Illini Railroad Club were selling surplus items and they just happened to have a Rustic Rails Beaver Pond kit (# HOC3886) for $3! I was on that right away. I got the pond, a domed beaver lodge, and some of the furry critters. I also happened to have just the right place to put the pond,
I used my Dremel with a cut-off disc to cut through the existing resin "river" and it stunk like the melted plastic it was, but eventually coughed up this chunk of "water" to allow me to place the beaver pond.
In it's place, I started fitting the resin pond in place.
The objecrive was to settle the pond in so it was level and connected at appropriate levels up and downstream.
Then I mixed up a batch of Sculptamold to dirt the pond in, followed by a coat of primer.
Then the ground and pond were painted to bring out the detail and blend everything to look natural.
Ground cover was then applied.
I used Alumilite Amazing Clear Cast for the water. It mixed easily and was virtually odorfree.
Then the wildlife biologists flew in on a helo with some HO scale beavers and released them into their cozy new home.
If you're counting, there are 3 beavers.
What have you been up to?
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Thanks for getting us started this weekend, Mike
I see you've been busy as a — one-armed paper hanger You have made a beautiful scene there. The beaver dam is a clever idea, for sure! The rapids look excellent.
mlehmanWhat have you been up to?
I fired up the paint booth for yet more Tuscan Red projects, a D78 diner and an X42 mail storage car. Waiting for decals from Mount Vernon Shops for the X42.
PRR_X-42-D78 by Edmund, on Flickr
PRR_X-42 by Edmund, on Flickr
Well, another little project this week was to {finally} clear off my bench a little.
Shop-Bench by Edmund, on Flickr
As a reward I put together an old Intermountain PS-1 kit that I've had on the shelf for years
C-G_PS1 by Edmund, on Flickr
I used a nicer-lookinng Kadee roofwalk on it.
So, that's my weekend update. On to more great contributions
Cheers, Ed
Good morning from cloudy, cool and rainy Northeast Ohio!
Thanks for starting us out Mike, good looking Beaver Pond, too bad they dried up the creek.
Ed, can't wait to see the finished product, would be nice if that mail storage car was availiable in plastic. That CG scheme is very attractive.
Got a couple of more cars done this week!
First is a West Indies Fruit Boxcar, the West India Fruit company was started in 1946 as a car ferry operation between Palm Beach, FL and Havana Cuba. Started out with some used PRR X29 type cars and some old reefers. These cars were purchased in 1952 from ACF and utilized ACF Roof and Carbuilder ends. This operation ended in 1962 after the Cuba embargo stopped operations. Car is an IMRC 40' AAR Welded side boxcar kit, painted with Scalecoat II Boxcar Red paint and lettered with Speedwitch Media decals.
Next another P&LE PS2 2893CF Covered Hopper (Athearn) kit, painted in the latter scheme after the PC merger. While part of the PC the P&LE still operated as a separate railroad and was spun off as the PC owed the P&LE some $16 Million after the bankruptcy. Kit was painted with Scalecoat II UP Covered Hopper Gray and lettered with Microscale Decals.
Tangent PS3 Hopper car kit under construction, most of the basic car is complete, all that is needed is to add all the detail parts.
Thanks for looking!
Rick Jesionowski
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
Rule 2: I make the rules.
Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!
Mike L ... I like your beaver project. We actually have beavers around here, and we can see their chewed up trees and dam from the road.
Ed ... Great work with painting and buliding models !
Rick .... I like your work this week. I actually have 40' boxcar with the same WIF lettering. It was one acquired with a group of used freight cars.
.....
Below is work in progress..... I am trying to make a coal mine resembling mines served by the CB&Q in the southern Illinois coal fields. Some of them had a large hoist at the mine head. My structures are from kits by Faller and by Walthers. I scratch built one structure, too.
Much work remains. I need to add scenery and surrounding details. I am considering adding more structures, too. ... I have a very full calendar the next two weeks, and I will not be able to work on this project until after that. So, there will not be more photos for a while.
In the distance on the far right in the first photo, you can barely see another mine structure. It was made from a Campbell kit.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Being Canadian, I have a love-hate relationship with beavers (they can really do a mess!) but I must say that Mike did a really good job reproducing the real thing. I also made progress on my ore chute. My 2-footer section is now operational (well, the trains move, I don't actually have ore falling into the hoppers). I will now proceed with the next sections of my trackwork: logging scene and HOn3 trackwork.
Have a great weekend - we are finally getting some decent weather on Saturday and Sunday in Eastern Canada!
Simon
20190501_214822b by on Flickr" alt="" />
Hi all, I mounted an air tank to the front of mister mikado, probably not prototypical but I think it looks cool. (please excuse lo-res image) -rob
Mister Mikado Hi all, I mounted an air tank to the front of mister mikado, probably not prototypical but I think it looks cool. (please excuse lo-res image) -rob
Rob, very prototypical see picture of Pennsy L1s. The Pennsy mounted air tanks on the pilots of a lot of their locomotives like the I1sa and N1s.
Thanks Rick! Looks a lot better than the top of the boiler plate variety. Now I have to add those little pipes...
Hello All. I am happy to report that I just finished the street and building lighting on my expansion of my N scale railroad. I am now working on the fun electronics like the neon signs, campfire, welder, and lineside signals... I will post as completed. Cheers!
20190504_010429 by John Collins, on Flickr
John Collins
It's the third week I work on this row of building.
Not time as I would have this week to work on.
But I managed to finish all the roofs of my little N scale buildings and glazing all the windows.
I also nearly finished the second building of the row and named it " Fos ships suppliers" as a tribute to the inspiration of the HO Fos kit.
I made a mistake in my measurements so it was necessary to add a wall and a roof to the Fos building to have the correct lenght.
I hope to finish the green building this we.
Mike, Thanks for the WPF start-up. Leave it to Beaver, oops I mean Mike to skillfully modify a scene in such an interesting way.
Rick, Cool Herald on the W.I.F. boxcar, and an interesting history to go with it.
Garry, Grand project, betcha' can't wait to start rolling in the hoppers to load up with the 'black gold'.
John C., Nice night shot, lighting adds realism and such an eye pleasing dimension to a layout.
Good time for me to pull a special one outta' the archives.
Thanks to all the contributors, have a good weekend and Happy Cinco de Mayo, regards, Peter
dti406Ed, can't wait to see the finished product, would be nice if that mail storage car was availiable in plastic.
Thanks, Rick. I agree about the plastic PRR cars. I swore I'd never pay more than $200 for a freight car... now I just bought two
You're probably aware that F&C makes it in resin?
http://www.fandckits.com/HOFreight/8260.html
Garry, your mine head reminds me of the one used in the movie "October Sky" based on the book Rocketman. Great movie if you get a chance to see it
I really enjoy seeing the "night scene" of your layout, Johnn.
Nice progress on your sea-side town, Marc.
HOVelo, your scene reminds me of the hours I spent at the GE plant I worked at. I was a "surveillance" pipefitter. We had to be at the plant round-the-clock, holidays, weekends. Not another soul around, sometimes for 3 or 4 days. Just me, an electrician and stationary engineer. Very quiet at times...
Since I cleaned off my bench I was in the mood to do some decal work on the backlog of PRR passenger cars I have painted and ready. This one is a Z74 Business car:
PRR_Z-74-Ravenna by Edmund, on Flickr
I have a friend that lives near me in Ravenna. Reading books on PRR business cars I found many of them were painted in all different variations and some were renamed several times. So I opted for an older gold-leaf and black pin stripe. This car was once named Buckeye, so Ravenna isn't too far of a stretch.
Regards, Ed
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
It’s a struggle, there have been some false starts and some bad words uttered,
"Dunno, Bear. Those sure look like flea whiskers to me!
Two_Fleas by Edmund, on Flickr
Or the connecting rods for the world's smallest Fairbanks-Morse engine?
Thanks for sharing. My nerves would be shot!
snjroy ... Nice ore chute.
Mr. Mikado ... The air tank looks good mounted there.
Jiohn C ..... Your lighted layout looks impressive.
Marc.... Your buildings look very real.
Peter ... I like your industrial scene. Thank you for commenting on my mine project.
Ed .... Very nice work on your business car. Thanks for commenting about my mine. I have not heard of the movie you mentioned.
Bear.... The chain detail is so tiny. Must tak a lot of patience and maybe a microscope.
Heartland Division CB&QEd .... Very nice work on your business car. Thanks for commenting about my mine. I have not heard of the movie you mentioned.
Thank you, Garry.
If you haven't seen October Sky you really should see it.
There is a cameo by O Winston Link in the cab of Southern 4501. The story is based on the biography of Homer Hickam of NASA and takes place in coal-country, West Virginia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Sky
Thanks for all the kind comments about the beaver pond. That just adds to the fun of building it.
Ed, I like batches of cars, which remends me I'm not making much prgress on that group of 4 NG boxcars lately.
Rick, I have a WIF car in my storage drawers. Yours looks sharp.
GARRY, Love your mines!
Simon, Nice work on the ore bin. I used three of those kits to build my Haymarket Tram.
I hope this kit is back in production soon, and many others, with the new folks who took over the old Grandt Line items.
Mister Mikado, Nice work, but I'd say air tanks are good signs of locomotive content wherever they show up..
John, Love those lights.
Marc, Impressive work!
Peter, That scene speaks volumes without saying a word.
Bear,
Hmmmm by Bear, on Flickr
Mike, that's quite the kitbash, nice piece of work. Garry's mining complex is also really cool... great job guys!
Mike L ... That is a very impressive structure. I like it. Thanks for complemnting my mine project.
Simon ..... Thanks for commenting on my phtos of the mine.
Ed .... Sounds like a good movie.
This was a very good edition of Weekend Photo Fun.
.
Thanks to everyone for their submissions. I will be absent for another week or two. Thanks for keeping me up to date.
-Kevin
Living the dream.