This is the weekend thread where modelers can show their completed models, work under construction and layout pictures new and old. Let's have a lot of participation this weekend! 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!
Good morning from cloudy, warm and wet Northeast Ohio!
Here is what I finished this last week!
A Bowser 1958CF Covered Hopper Kit, painted with Scalecoat II UP Covered Hopper Gray paint and lettered with Highball Graphics Decals. The Ann Arbor had many covered hoppers first to supply the Dundee Cement plant and later the sand pits of Yuma,MI that supplied casting sand to the Ford Brookpark, OH engine plant.
Next up a Robbins Rails Greenville 60' Boxcar kit, where I carved off the plug doors and replaced with a pair of Superior doors from an Intermountain kit, removed the rivits and fabricated a new side sill along with adding the details for a Hydra Cushion underframe. Painted with Scalecoat II Hunter Green paint and lettered with a mixture of Dan Kohlbergs and Highball Graphics decals. The GM&O purchased 4 cars from Evans to supply cars to the LOF Glass plant in Ottawa, IL for auto glass.
Continued work on a Tangent 4740CF Covered Hopper kit addings all the myriad grabs and detail parts to each end of the car.
Last week I took my Rapido FA's to the club to haul a coal drag.
Have a great weekend.
Rick Jesionowski
Thanks for starting another weekend, Rick! You've shown more photos of my favorite type of car -- covered hoppers. Thanks for showing us your great work on painting, decals, and the wonderful details.
I posted a view of this building before, but this week I finally finished the cigar sign above the cafe, and I cleaned up some of the building trim. It's funny that when I looked at my finished product, I didn't see some of the mistakes that show up in the photo. Selective viewing, I guess. My issue now is if I try to fix some of the crooked bar stools. Those stools were probably the most work on this whole project. I agonized a long time on how to make them in N. I finally bought some Evergreen styrene tube and styrene rod, and cobbled them together. My old fingers made it difficult. Thankfully I have a large magnifying light and some good, very fine tweezers. Now, if I try to fix some of them that are crooked, I will probably mess things up worse. For right now, I won't attempt it.
York1 John
York1 Thanks for starting another weekend, Rick! You've shown more photos of my favorite type of car -- covered hoppers. Thanks for showing us your great work on painting, decals, and the wonderful details. I posted a view of this building before, but this week I finally finished the cigar sign above the cafe, and I cleaned up some of the building trim. It's funny that when I looked at my finished product, I didn't see some of the mistakes that show up in the photo. Selective viewing, I guess. My issue now is if I try to fix some of the crooked bar stools. Those stools were probably the most work on this whole project. I agonized a long time on how to make them in N. I finally bought some Evergreen styrene tube and styrene rod, and cobbled them together. My old fingers made it difficult. Thankfully I have a large magnifying light and some good, very fine tweezers. Now, if I try to fix some of them that are crooked, I will probably mess things up worse. For right now, I won't attempt it.
The camera is often our worst enemy. It sees things that no one else sees.
Great job, very well done.
Edward Hopper would be quite pleased.
Rich
Alton Junction
Well, with Ray passing, maybe I'll dig through the forum and post some of his work to help us remember his contributions to the forum.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Rick, Thanks for getting the WPF back in business with some nice modeling and layout view.
John, Love your amazing 'Nighthawks' scene, even more amazing is it being in N scale. Our own eye and the camera's are indeed harsh critics. The drive for perfection can create superb modeling, but often at the expense of anxiety.
Brent, A really nice looking and well composed shop scene. Ray passing?
Gosh, A summer weekend without WPF is like a hot dog without relish. On my computer the forum is creeping along, but at least it's moving.
Well, fabbing stanchions and handrails for my Stewart AS16 makeover is fun, but not when it adds to my scrap pile.
Thanks to all the contributors and viewers. Have a good weekend. Regards, Peter
HO-VeloBrent, A really nice looking and well composed shop scene. Ray passing?
Ray Howard (Howmus) passed away in June, there is a link to his obituary in the diner. He was a terrific modeller and the shop scene is his.
Really great stuff, one and all!
I can't believe it was 12 weeks since I posted this pic, following a Luke Towan vid on making pine trees.
I made 5 more armatures, then proceeded, generally following his directions, but using spray bomb paint instead of an airbrush, and dirt for bark texture, as he suggested as an alternative to ground foam. I'm happy with these initial attempts at pine trees.
The top middle one was the first attempt, I didn't follow directions that well on it!
Mocked up, way up on the hill. (That rebar thing is a handle to lift that section of scenery, will be hidden.)
I took notes as to what I did right and wrong. These are small practice pines, the next batch will be much bigger. Dan
Good to see the WPF alive and well! Thanks for starting things off, Rick! Great job on the paint and lettering. You must have the patience of a watchmaker to handle those fragile Tangent parts. Bravo!
Your bar stools are fine, John. I do recall spending some time on bar stools that seem straight and upright but is seems like after an hour or two they're all caddy-wompus! (Technical term)
I quite agree, Rich...
Good Call to keep Ray's modeling legacy alive. Ray was to be admired for all his contributions, not only to modeling but in his community as well.
Love your loco mods, Peter. I've got some similar projects going on this week, too!
Great trees, Dan. Have you seen any of the videos from Boomer Diorama? I seem to recall he had a few tutorials on making similar trees. Search for him on YouTube.
A few days ago I decided to grab a couple of the several 'vintage' Life-Like Proto 2000 E8s sitting on a shelf in the shop. I have several odd chassis and a few various carbody shells and I thought what I was lacking was a pair of newer 'Cigar-Band' New York Central E8s. While I did have some with this paint scheme, they were older production runs with the separate pilot and I wanted to build a pair that were a little more up to date.
So what I had to work with was an ERIE unit and a Central one in the 'Zebra Stripe' paint. Time to get out the soaking pan!
NYC ERIE Life Like E8 Ugly by Edmund, on Flickr
After a while in the Super Clean the paint was coming off in sheets, almost like it was an old decal!
NYC Life Like E8 Paint Strip by Edmund, on Flickr
I still have a little cleanup in some of the crevices. With a clean shell I began to make holes for the added grab irons necessary to update these for the windshield access rule. NYC opted to use an angle iron 'ledge' below the engineer's window plus the ladder-rest grabs on the nose.
NYC Life Like E8 Cab Profile by Edmund, on Flickr
Another NYC detail I added was the flipped-up MU plug access door. These things never stayed latched and it was a Central trademark to see the door stuck open on the F and E units:
NYC Life Like E8 Nose MU by Edmund, on Flickr
A few more details are planned before going to the paint booth.
NYC Life Like E8 Nose by Edmund, on Flickr
On to more Fun Stuff!
Regards, Ed
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Since we could not post last week, here is what I had finished but not posted!
Intermountain 1937 AAR Modified kit, with a new side sill, 9' YSD all the side rivits removed to replicate the GM&O cars rebuilt into appliance carrying cars in 1963. Car was painted with Scalecoat II Oxide Red and Silver paints, then lettered with Dan Kohlbergs decals. I have the car assigned to the NYC at Evansville, IN across the river from Appliance Park in KY. Quicky build of a Bev-Bel PRR 2 bay hopper, dullcoated to remove the shine built to add as a filler on some of my PRR coal drags. Stewart 14 Panel Hopper car kit, painted with Scalecoat II Black paint and lettered with Herald King Decals, the DT&I hauled coal and coke from Southern Ohio to the steel making plants of Ford Motor and McClouth Steel in the Detroit area in these cars. Last Saturday I took my Rapido FL9's to the club to run a typical passenger train of the New Haven on the Strongsville club layout. The McGinnis painted FL9's were one of the classier paint schemes applied to F Units. Rick Jesionowski