In a standard gauge mood

[rrswede]

Stunning, Becky. The 129/124 came out absolutely beautiful! This post is another one from you to put store in my favorites. Your imagination is awesome. Since you got me started on "fake tintypes" a couple weeks ago, I've modified offerings from bigindoortrains, also, including  a staircase like yours on the station tower. I'll never approach your ability, but I'm satisfied with some of my results and I continue to learn.

Thanks, Swede 

[Penny Trains]

Well, here I go again! 

Since it doesn't look like I'm going to have the funds to rebuild my permanent layout the way I'd like to any time soon, I figure I might as well put the table to use.  At the moment it acts as a summer storage spot for the largest Disneyland modules.  However I'd like to trade off the standard gauge trains and the shelving they occupy 9 months out of the year for the Disneyland stuff.

So with all that in mind, I started building some of those "wish I had's" I never had the space to tackle before.  Up first was a 129 terrace and 124 station.

The light fixtures are (from the bottom up) a grommet from an old belt, a piece of brass tubing, another grommet, a piece of plastic tubing and a brass washer ton top.  Inside one wire is twisted around the base of the bulb and thd the other is attached to a bent nail in the center of the tubing to make the other contact.  Goofy, but it works! 

The "urn" started life (believe it or not) as a king from a chess set I purchased in ChonBuri Thailand.  I cut the top off and hot glued rope into it to create the flowers.  The unraveled rope is coated with glue and then dipped in groung foam.  The flowers themselves are bits of loofah.

After completing such a large project, I went on to smaller jobs:

A villa Lionel never made.

A firehouse based on the villa.

This Hornby style signal tower and the 2 bungalows below are available at bigindoortrains.com.  However I modified them a bit.  On the Hornby tower, the original version was just a rectangular box with the stairway drawn on one end.  I separated the top and bottom sections of the tower and made the base smaller than the top.  I also took athe stairs off the wall and rendered them fully.

Also, the villas as downloaded lacked the "fachwerk" (exposed wood beams) many lithographed Lionel villas had.  So I decided to add them back.

I also printed the front porch piece a bit larger.

Up next, a Lionel factory based on the 6-32905 from the 1999 v3 catalog.  I decided to go with white walls, blue windows and orange trim.  (gee, wonder why? )  My plans also include the 840 power station, 300 Hellgate, 444 Roundhouse, 140 Tunnel, 189 and 191 Villas, 440 Signal Bridge, 438 Signal Tower, 104 Bridge, 436 Power Station, 437 Switch Tower and a Diner based on the 442.  I've done several of these before, most of them back in the 90's.

But it's time to redo them.  Thanks to the internet, and Ebay more than anything else, I've accumulated a good database of photos of originals up for sale.  Since many of the items on my list are high value collectables, many sellers provided close up photography of scratches and dents on the items which gives someone like me a great view of details that I might otherwise overlook in most photos.  I also have a lot of colors of cardstock at my disposal that weren't so available when I got into standard gauge.  Plus I have about 20 years worth of experience under my belt that makes things go a lot faster!

Well, that's what I'm up to! 

Becky