Living the dream.
Hello everyone, it is the beginning of our weekend!
Alright, I am just going to confess right up front that this is the lamest start to a Weekend Photo Fun in forum history. I still don't have a layout room, and I am running out of stuff to share.
A few weeks ago Ed posted a tip about a handy tool that he bought on Amazon he uses for marking evenly spaced holes. I bought one, and Ed was right, this thing is great.
-Photograph by Kevin Parson
Well, there you have it. I just bought something that I copied from Ed, then I shared it with you. Like I said, completely lame.
The bar has been set very low. I need lots of people to post good stuff this week so WPF can be the best, like it is supposed to be.
Thank you for your support.
-Kevin
Thanks for yet another great WPF for 2022, Kevin! So glad you like that little divider. I'm a nut for neat little tools, too. After trying to locate points for drilling grab iron holes and the like I found that little divider to be ideal for the task!
This week I continued on the downtown scene and made some progress on one of my kitbashed Cornerstone buildings. I sliced and diced this one to a 45 degree angle and used the extra walls to increase the height of the building:
City_Hotel_Overall by Edmund, on Flickr
This structure has some great details and it seems a shame that it will be relegated to a distant, back corner.
Hotel_city by Edmund, on Flickr
I used a stippling effect with brown India ink to simulate a marble finish on the ground floor columns:
City_sidewalk by Edmund, on Flickr
I'm glad to finally make some progress on this neglected corner of the layout. I've been gathering figures and details for a city scene for years and it will be a relief to see them in their proper place.
Pretty_Woman by Edmund, on Flickr
I chose Vallejo Ivory for the glazed tile and Iraqi Sand for the masonry details:
Hotel_Upper-floors by Edmund, on Flickr
The "marble" is brown India ink stippled onto the flat Ivory using a little scrap of foam. I sure like the way it turned out.
City_sidewalk-2 by Edmund, on Flickr
On an other note. I have to admit that sometimes procrastination can have its benefits! This Sylvan ore boat is actually the third attempt at having a docked ore boat under the Hulett ore unloaders in this location. It has probably been three years or so since I've made any progress on THIS particular scene.
So I was pleasantly surprised to find that the fellow that runs Circus City Decals made some 3D resin prints for details to enhance the Sylvan resin ore boat kit:
Ore-boat-view by Edmund, on Flickr
I bought a pilot house, hatch crane, hand rails, hatches and detailed coamings plus a pair of anchor pockets from him.
Ore-boat-deck by Edmund, on Flickr
These parts will get me motivated to finally make some progress on the ore boat. Since the model I bought had the smaller hatch openings which wouldn't allow the Hulett buckets to pass through them, I had to modify the hatches and comings.
These parts will alleviate this problem and offer the additional benefit of having the detail of the dogs which are prevalent on any ship model.
Ore-boat by Edmund, on Flickr
The railings and pilot house will also speed up the time I'll have to invest in fitting-up the kit parts which would have taken quite a bit of fussy work to get right.
Busy week for me (also installed a few decoders in locos, too!) Let's see what you folks have been up to!
Chewers, Ed
Thanks for starting WPF, Kevin. The dividers look a great tool.
Ed. Fantastic biuilding, figures and ore boat.
I cannot remember if I showed this picture last week.
New view from the control area over Charlie Marston's Yard and beyond.
IMG_5875 by David Harrison, on Flickr
A Wakefield Kirkgate to Leeds Central DMU passing the Junction.
IMG_5893 by David Harrison, on Flickr
Passing behind Marston's Yard. Like the real thing sometimes trains are hard to see, but I know they are there.
IMG_5894 by David Harrison, on Flickr
Keep the pictures coming.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Good morning from partly cloudy and cold Northeast Ohio!
Thanks for starting us out Kevin, I prefer using jigs rather than that tool that Ed likes also, I have a number of jigs from BLMA, Yarmouth and others.
Ed, Great looking buildings and scenery, also like the added details on your ore boat. Our club has one of Sylvan's kit boats on the layout and they are a bear to build, I'll bet there are more unfinished kits than finished kits out in the world.
David, another set of great scenes, sad to see all those steam engines in the scrap heap!
Managed to get a couple of kits completed this week!
First is a Tangent PS 4750CF Covered Hopper kit, painted with Scalecoat II MOW Gray paint and lettered with Oddballs Decals. Farmland COOP purchased hundreds of cars in the mid 70's for export grain business that came up with the thaw in relations with the USSR and China.
Next is a Tangent 1970 version of the Greenville 86' Hi Cube Boxcar, car was built with end of car cushioning versus the Hydra Cushion of the Ann Arbor car I did previously. Car was painted with a mixture of C&O Blue, ATSF Red and Reefer White and Silver Paints and was lettered with Herald King Decals. The DT&I purchased these cars with the opening of the Woodhaven Stamping Plant and the cars were routed via DT&I to the PC's Brownstown Yard which serviced the WSP accounting for the BRO above the Car Number. The DT&I also painted these cars in Magenta for this service with other Plants being serviced by the Blue or Green painted cars. After a couple of years the car pools changed and cars were assigned to various other plants.
A Pair of Athearn GP40-2's with a general freight headed up with various RBL's and XLI's for delivery to the Campbell's soup plant in Napoleon, OH, picture taken on the Strongsville Club layout.
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!
Thanks for the start of the WPF, Kevin. That tool is interesting. It kind of reminds me a my high school geometry class compass.
Ed, that is amazing work on the tall building. Your zoomed-in photos of the sidewalk and front entrance are really nice. Like you said, it's too bad it will be in the back where a visitor might not appreciate the detail work.
David, you have another great scene of a dirty, gritty side of a railroad. Too often that is left out of a layout.
Rick, nice work on the covered hopper. I know you show these quite a bit, so you must have quite a few of them. That's a goal of mine. In my part of the country, covered hopper cars and coal cars are about the only cars we see. I'd like to start collecting the hoppers and make a nice long train of them.
My work this week is the beginning of taking apart the layout and planning a new track plan. My wife gave me this Dairy Queen kit two years ago. It is one of the few kits I have on the layout:
York1 John
Kevin - Thanks for the start to WPF. Dividers are a handy tool to have. I have several from an old draftng set that I often put to use.
Ed - Great work on the tall building. I'm going to remember how to make marble. The scene is really coming together! The ore boat looks like a project and a half.
David - Good stuff again this week. I hate to see so many steamers in the grave yard though.
Rick - Fine looking cars as usual. I enjoy the history lesson that goes with them.
John - I'll bet the DQ makes it on to the new layout. Good luck with the new construction.
A little maintenance on the Shocker's building this week. Replaced some blinking LEDs on the upper floor. Placed a cover over the rear loading dock, but the devil is in the details. I'm still waiting for scale wire spools and electric motors to arrive in the mail.
Just for fun: BRVRR #1116, the only 'Home Road' locomotive on the layout.
Keep the photos and ideas coming guys. Thanks to you WPF is always the best thread of the week.
Remember its your railroad
Allan
Track to the BRVRR Website: http://www.brvrr.com/
Thanks for the opener, Kevin. Nothing lame about a new cool tool.
Ed, great building and ship. Don't hide that pretty girl in the background!
David, That scene sure captures the sad "end of the line" look.
Rick, fine work on those big modern freight cars again.
John, I'll have a large vanilla cone dipped in chocolate please. DQ is my favorite soft serve ever!
My entry this week: a project I started years ago. I fell for a photoshopped picture of an Alco "indistrial switcher". Then I thought, well now I have to build it! There's a G scale version of it, but I started on mine before I ever saw that.
I got it out earlier this week and started in on it again. The drive mechanism is based on a Kato blomberg truck, modified into a single with 2 flywheels, and a CD drive motor. Here it is with an unaltered Kato one.
Note that this side of the truck's side frame has had the ends removed that went up around the front an back of the truck. That allows that side of the frame to pivot horizontally, equalizing the weight on all 4 wheels, eliminating the common problem on 4 wheel switchers only riding on mainly 3 wheels at any given time.
A spur was removed from this location years ago, I decided to put it back. The one the Hustler is sitting on. Not a real exiting picture perhaps, but progress, and now I can ballast that yard.
I also went under the bench to add back in the mechanically-raised-under-the-table-uncoupler. I battled with that for well over 2 hours, probably the hardest one I ever installed. Only to find I stuck it up under the wrong track!!! I was too tired to even get mad. I'm leaving it. This morning I put another one in the right location, probably the easiest one I ever installed.
Keep them coming! Dan
Been away for a while.
Kevin - Thanks for the startin us off this week.
Ed - That is a great building. I'm also interested to see if that vendor has a website with other boat parts. Would love to find railing or vents that might work for my carferry.
David - Always like to see different view of your layout.
Rick - Great cars as usual. Will you ever run out?
John - That DQ looks like an oasis in the desert right now. Looks great. I would also add it to your new layout.
Allan: Good looking building, It's well on it's way.
Dan: I really like that little critter
This week we have campers watching the local roll by. My wife gave me the camper set years ago but this is the first set of pictures of them.
Scott Sonntag
Hi, Scott
I bought the parts from Circus City decals:
https://circuscitydecals.com/
What he offers is pretty much geared to the Sylvan kit but his railings might work for you.
https://circusdecals.ecwid.com/Great-Lakes-Ore-Boat-Railings-HO-1-87-Scale-p401939290
I bought two sets and they look pretty good, and are probably faster than me trying to fit up the brass stanchions and thread that comes with the kit.
I have some vents left over from an old Lindberg lightship kit. I'll post photos later.
Good Luck, Ed
Nice work, everyone! I especially enjoyed Ed's huge building, John's DQ and Dan's critter.
After much back and forth, the electric co-op finally got it's Reddy Kilowatt sign courtesy of Miller Engineering's kit. Very easy build amd the darn thing has 46 different patterns of blinking craziness to choose from.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Ed: Thanks again for the tip on the needle pointed mini divider tool. Your skyscraper conversion is amazing. Your work on the marble finish looks 100% correct. Great job. I have never tried to paint a marble finish on anything. I need to give it a try. Vallejo Iraqi Sand is one of my favorite colours for painting horses. I recognized the colour before I read your description. The 3D printed parts for the Sylvan model are a huge improvement, and I'll bet they are a real timesaver too.
David: Thank you for sharing more beautiful pictures of your layout. Your scenes are great to look at, and your pictures are worth looking at for a long time.
Rick: I have jigs from Tichy and Yarmouth. The Yarmouth jig is for installing Kadee grabs and ladders on Intermountain kits, but I heve never found a drill bit size that works perfectly. Do you ever run those 86' High Cubes on the club layout? I'll bet they would look great.
John: I am a fan of that Dairy Queen model. It looks right. I'll bet it can't be much larger than a business card in N scale.
Allan: Still waiting for things in the mail... I can sing that song right along with you. I intended to share an ancient Model Railroading book I bought this week. The USPS had other ideas. It has been from Charlotte to New Jersey to Atlanta to Memphis and back to Atlanta. Come on guys, just send it down I-75! The guy wires for your dock cover look exceptionally well done.
Dan: I love the little Alco industrial switcher. I have never seen one like that. I did see a center-cab version that was on a Bachmann 44 ton chassis. It looks like a fun little critter.
Scott: The campers sure have a good view of your nice little Mogul.
Mike: I have always liked the Reddy Kilowatt character. I remember an episode of Storage Wars where Barry had a light bulb where the filament looked like Reddy Kilowatt. Neat stuff.
I know this is supposed to be model railroading only, but I need to share something related to some actual hobby project building, even if not model railroading!
When I was packing away the living room, I ran across a gaming figure that was already primed and ready for paint.
All my paints are packed away, but I ordered a small set of "leather" colours, and a small paintbrush. I painted this guy over a period of about ten evenings.
Before anyone gets too critical, remember this is only 1 1/8" tall, and I was working with only ten colours. I also did not have any blender, thinner, float, or even my wet pallet and optivisor. I did this completely bare-bones old school.
I don't think it turned out bad at all, especially with such a limted colour pallet.
Again, sorry for breaking the rules, I just couldn't keep it in.
Let's all keep the good stuff and helpful responses coming. I am looking forward to more.
Scott, nice low angle shot on that scene, I like the weathering on the mogul.
Mike, I remember that Reddy Killowatt logo from back in the 60s! what a great addition to the building.
Kevin said "Before anyone gets too critical, remember this is only 1 1/8" tall, and I was working with only ten colours."
Critical? Seriously, I had to go get my readers on to even see all the detail in that figure, and it was about 3 in tall on my screen! When you get your railroad built, temporarily add the figure into a scene as a promotional statue or something, qualifying it as MRR detail. Or don't sweat it! Dan
Thank you for your kind comments everyone.
As for the scrap yard of old steamers, I wanted something different from other scrap yards I have seen. I certainly receive comments about it.
Something a little different.
'A Foggy Night'
IMG_5920 by David Harrison, on Flickr
Lakeshore SubEd - That is a great building. I'm also interested to see if that vendor has a website with other boat parts. Would love to find railing or vents that might work for my carferry.
Hello again:
I thought I put a link in my reply to you several posts back?
Scott, here are some photos of the 3D printed railings from Circus City:
Ore-boat_3D-rails by Edmund, on Flickr
Ore-boat_3D-rails-tight by Edmund, on Flickr
They may not be museum quality but they are certainly fine for HO and they are slightly more durable than styrene ones. I was going to use the Central Valley pipe railings or the ones from Tichy. I believe those would be too delicate and fussy to install. These have a nice "toeboard" that will hold cement better.
I found the salvaged Dorade vents I mentioned. Ten of them, if you're interested and if they are what you had in mind:
Dorade_Vents by Edmund, on Flickr
Thanks to all the folks for the encouraging comments on my evolving city scene! I'm glad I jumped into the project, I'm having FUN!
Kevin, your painting skills are astounding! Never hesitate to show more!
David, your moody scene elicits all that is great about this hobby. Pure artistry!
Still plenty of time for more goodies!
Cheers, Ed
I came across this remarkable prototype photo.
16587329_1205624929474953_2500394688081933921_o.jpg (720×568) (bp.blogspot.com)
At first glance you wouldn't think there is anything remarkable about this photo. It is the New York Central Egyptian at Harrisburg, IL, which was a primarily a mail train between Chicago and Cairo, IL. There is a Geep followed by 4 head end cars and what looks like two coaches. What caught my eye is that it is the front cover photo of the New York Central Historical Society's 2021 calendar. Except it is not. At first I glance I thought it was a cropped version of the cover photo but then I noticed the loco has a different road number than the cover photo. This one is 5771 while the cover photo has 5780. The consist, the position of the loco, the position of the photographer, and the shadows all look the same. The foliage on the background tree is the same. Other than the road number and the cropping of the photo, I can't see any difference between these two photos. It's hard to believe this could have happened by coincidence. I'm wondering if the company photographer might have set up this shot and then for whatever reason, gone back on another day to reshoot the same shot.
I wish I could post the calendar photo so you could see just how amazingly similar these two photos are. The calendar photo is dated April 26, 1957 and the photographer is J. M. Westbay. I don't know the information for the linked photo.
John-NYBWI came across this remarkable prototype photo.
Just making it viewable:
SeeYou190 John-NYBW I came across this remarkable prototype photo. Just making it viewable: -Kevin
John-NYBW I came across this remarkable prototype photo.
Thank you, although when I click on the link, it comes up. Sometimes when I post a link it is clickable and sometimes it is not and I've never understood why.
UPDATE: I found an online copy of the 2021 calendar cover photo. If I can do this link correctly, you can see how similar these two photos are. Quite a coincidence.
Kevin, Thanks for starting the WPF with a neat looking tool. I treasure my old hand me down navigators set, the dividers are handy and can even make nice circle cuts in thin styrene.
Ed, Like your ambitious big city and vessel modeling.
David, Dig your foggy scene, can almost hear the fog horns blow.
Mike, Ol' Reddy Kilowatt, almost forgot about him being featured in those little kite safety booklets handed out in grammar school.
Well, flubbed the paint job on my first Stoney Mountain resin kit with the dreaded clear coat 'frost'. Not that I don't know about drying time between coats, sometimes it seems that the toughest skill to maintain is patients. At least sanding the windows with 1500 paper and applying liquid Super Mask was a success. The car can be a good test bed for trying out a Molotow Liquid Chrome pen.
Don't have much experience shooting gloss paints, but I've seen some nice results using Testors gloss enamels from the 1/4oz bottles thinned 50/50 with lacquer thinner.
Thanks to all the contributors and viewers. Have a safe and good MLK holiday weekend. Regards, Peter
John-NYBWSometimes when I post a link it is clickable and sometimes it is not and I've never understood why.
For whatever reason this forum architecture seems to require tapping the <Enter> key immediately after pasting a link into the text area. That seems to "wake it up" and make it an active link.
Regards, Ed
Thanks to John and Kevin for the pic in Harrisburg. My grandparents moved there from Indiana in the early 1950s, following grandpa's work for Peabody Coal as they opened and expanded pits in the Harrisburg area. I think one was called the Old Sahara or something? Down towards Carrier Mills and Stonefort anyway.
My other kin lived around Terre Haute, so we followed the Egyptian line, as it was called like the train, when visiting back home. By the time I started paying attention to RRs, I'm sure the passenger was gone, but I remember lots and lots of hoppers as we drove north on parallel US45 during the 60s.
The only other thing I remember distinctly was the tank car terminal at Norris City IIRC. It was the northern terminus for a pipeline from Texas that saw heavy use in WWII.
Thanks, Peter
The best gloss paint I've used are the ones offered by Scalecoat through Minuteman Models. YMMV — especially on resin.
I used the Molitow liquid chrome as a test on this brass PRR 21 roomette car:
PRR_Inn_SS-paint by Edmund, on Flickr
Excellent results. I bought the "refill" size and used an airbrush to apply it:
Dan: Thanks for the kind compliment on my figure I posted.
David: The fog effect in your scene looks good and sets a mood.
Ed: You are right about the toekick on the railings. It should glue better and make the whole thing more durable. If I ever built anything with snorkel-vents like that, I would need to add Indiana Jones inside of one of them. Thank you for the comment on my figure.
Peter: I have used the heraldic glossy colours (white, yellow, blue, black, red, and green) from the 1/4 ounce jars with excellent results. Their "dark red" and "light brown" are two of my favorite freight car colors.
Here is something new...
I never really considered having semaphore signals on my layout, but it is amazing how a good deal on eBay can change how you feel about that. I picked up these two at a great price, so I guess there will be a couple of semaphores on the next layout.
They arrived in the mail today.
Let's all keep the good stuff coming. There is still some weekend left.
SeeYou190 If I ever built anything with snorkel-vents like that, I would need to add Indiana Jones inside of one of them.
Or maybe these two?
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is actually quite trippy by waldopepper, on Flickr
Great Stuff this weekend, Folks!
That's funny, Ed!
But seriously folks. Now, I have a ship gonna need railings, I'm interested in those ones you show there. Googled circus city, couldn't find anything. Got a link? Dan
Southgate 2Got a link?
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Southgate 2Got a link? Dan
I thought I already included one? Maybe I missed it?? Or its not working???
Circus City.
Well, for whatever reason I can't see Imgur photos from other members and when I try to insert them they show as broken files.
I can see flickr photos from others, but when I try to insert my own they're also broken. I'm stuck with regular links if anyone is interested enough. This is some of the stuff I've been working on.
I removed the Paragon3 decoder from my BLI 4-12-2, wired up a Decoder Buddy and installed an ESU Loksound 5. In the boiler, I drilled out two holes in the chassis at the firebox for some orange LEDs for a firebox flicker, and then I drilled out the classification lamps for some surface mount LEDs. The firebox flicker and lamps are controlled by a separate TCS FL4 decoder mounted on the gearbox tower. The flicker is set to F8, so when you start the sound you also 'fire up the locomotive'. Speakers are a Scale Sound System Full Force square baffle under the coal bunker, and a Boiler Barker where the smoke unit used to be, wired in parallel for the Loksound. It's been fun enhancing my favorite model!
https://flic.kr/p/2mXA8c8
On the other end of the locomotive motive power spectrum, I finally started working on my first-run Bachmann Acela train set from 20 years ago. I removed the old motherboard and the lightbulbs, attached the track power and motor leads to a Decoder Buddy Mini, and replaced the bulbs with 0805 LEDs. I decided to try an iPhone 4 speaker in this setup. Now I'm just waiting on a Soundtraxx electric profile decoder and an ice blue surface mount LED that will be run up and hidden in the pantograph arm. The Soundtraxx decoder has an arcing pantograph funtion that I think will be a lot of fun to see and add visual interest.
https://flic.kr/p/2mXrATq
The Backshops - A blog dedicated to modeling projects
Micktropolis's photos...
"The railroad is coming! The railroad is coming!"
Rails have finally been laid over the first span of the upper Priest River bridge, which has to cross the mainline AND the river on its way to join up with tracks being laid in town AND is hampered by the limited carpentry and vector analysis skills of its chief engineering officer. Here several townspeople including the portly mayor and, inexplicably, Santa Claus, are among a party of excited burghers who have rushed out to the edge of town (for this little photo session, a few buildings I mostly scratchbuilt when I was a kid) to see a lantern signal hailing them from across the valley. The railroad will be reaching them soon!
[For full resolution, click to open, close, then click to open again]
And here's the view from the other end:
I know these are not at the level of most of the amazing photography on this website, but someone has to represent the newby and the less skilled, so they feel welcome as well :D
-Matt
Returning to model railroading after 40 years and taking unconscionable liberties with the SP&S, Northern Pacific and Great Northern roads in the '40s and '50s.