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Weekend Photo Fun 11/16/07 to 11/18/07

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  • Member since
    June 2007
  • From: Mankato MN
  • 1,358 posts
Weekend Photo Fun 11/16/07 to 11/18/07
Posted by secondhandmodeler on Friday, November 16, 2007 1:53 PM

 I havn't started this thread in a while.   It's not to often that I have something to show.  As usual, these are progress shots. 

 Here are a few pictures with my newly improved lighting.  Now, if I could learn to take better pictures I'd be in business!

A shot with my newly laid, concrete sidewalks.  The floating building on the right will receive a side walk shortly.

A shot of the only ballasted area of the layout.

Coming round the upper level to the  bridge.

Last but not least, the new, old sidewalk.  This is still in progress to get the right coloring.

Corey
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Posted by MAbruce on Friday, November 16, 2007 2:06 PM

Nice work Corey.  The lighting in your pictures is good, but the focus needs some work.  Maybe a higher aperture setting will help (which will require a tripod as the shutter speed will slow down)?

I also use Helicon software which allows several pictures (of the exact same scene at different focus points) to be merged into one picture.  It makes a big difference as I have a hard time with depth of field in N-scale.

Here's a shot of a pair of boxcars I weathered a while back:

 

  • Member since
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Posted by secondhandmodeler on Friday, November 16, 2007 2:16 PM
Thanks Bruce. I snapped these pictures quick before I left the house yesterday morning.  I was taking pictures to see the lighting difference  between older pictures and now.  I have had a hard time getting a good depth of field picture.  My camera has only preset  settings for adjustments.  It does have a macro setting, but I didn't  use it for these pictures.  Any idea what auto settings I should try to use? It has auto, shakey hand, landscape, portrait,self portrait, and movie.
Corey
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Posted by MAbruce on Friday, November 16, 2007 2:30 PM

 secondhandmodeler wrote:
Thanks Bruce. I snapped these pictures quick before I left the house yesterday morning.  I was taking pictures to see the lighting difference  between older pictures and now.  I have had a hard time getting a good depth of field picture.  My camera has only preset  settings for adjustments.  It does have a macro setting, but I didn't  use it for these pictures.  Any idea what auto settings I should try to use? It has auto, shakey hand, landscape, portrait,self portrait, and movie.

It's going to be tough without manual settings.  I'd put the camera on a tripod (to eliminate any blur that might come from camera movement) and try all the auto settings on the same scene.   That way you can compare and see which works best.

Ideally, you want to be able to set a camera into an aperture priority setting.  This allows you to manually set the aperture and the camera will set the shutter speed accordingly.  The higher the aperature setting (which translates to a smaller lens opening) the better depth of field you will get.  Trouble is, the shutter speed will slow down which requires a tripod to prevent the camera from moving during the shot.

I'm sure others with more photo experince than me can chime in and give you more specific advice.  But your work is nice.  Thumbs Up [tup]  

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Posted by jktrains on Friday, November 16, 2007 2:49 PM

Corey,

Two other things to remember: 1) Use plenty of light and turn off the flash; 2) Use the shutter timer so you do not move the camera while pressing/releasing the shutter button.

jktrains

 

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Posted by SilverSpike on Friday, November 16, 2007 2:57 PM

This is my latest layout work, the roundhouse project styrene concrete flooring is now finished:

And started my first scenery foundation base on the layout too:

 

Ryan Boudreaux
The Piedmont Division
Modeling The Southern Railway, Norfolk & Western & Norfolk Southern in HO during the merger era
Cajun Chef Ryan

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  • From: Texas
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Posted by C&O Fan on Friday, November 16, 2007 3:05 PM

Corey i like the buildings

MA Bruce Great weathering !

We had a painting party and my friend Art painted and weathered My 2-6-6-2 H5

He also applied the decals

Before

An undecorated Bachman 2-6-6-2 With a Tsunami Heavy Steam decoder

After Painting Decals and Weathering

I was very pleased

TerryinTexas

See my Web Site Here

http://conewriversubdivision.yolasite.com/

 

 

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Posted by rs2mike on Friday, November 16, 2007 3:41 PM
Nice work C&O fan.  I love the weathering job you have on that steam.

alco's forever!!!!! Majoring in HO scale Minorig in O scale:)

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Posted by Heartland Division CB&Q on Friday, November 16, 2007 3:49 PM

Hello.  I certainly am impressed with all the photos ahead of this post. Great stuff, everybody! C&O 2-6-6-2 is really nice.

Here's my scene with my newly comleted shed for the track department. The Prairie type engine behind my shed would look small next to that C&O engine!  The boxcar between the caboose and the 2-6-2 had been the previous shed in this location without trucks and couplers. Now it's back in revenue service.   

 

 

GARRY

HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR

EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU

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Posted by MilwaukeeRoad on Friday, November 16, 2007 3:52 PM

Take it easy on me.. This is thee SECOND kit I have EVER built.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket" border="0" />

Thanks for the time.

Alex Czajkowski
  • Member since
    January 2007
  • From: Kentucky
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Posted by Heartland Division CB&Q on Friday, November 16, 2007 4:08 PM
Bravo.  Thumbs up to Milwaukee Road for the second kit he built!  No visible messy glue spills. No visible broken parts. Neat lettering. Great!

GARRY

HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR

EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU

  • Member since
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Posted by secondhandmodeler on Friday, November 16, 2007 4:11 PM
Nice work Milwaukee road.  Does anyone know what the large opening on the left of that building is?  I goes through to the back.  I have this model and was wondering why it is open all the way through.
Corey
  • Member since
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  • From: Vancouver Island, BC
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Posted by selector on Friday, November 16, 2007 4:15 PM

Corey, I am happy for you that our lighting is working out as well as you had hoped.  I have fiddled with photography a lot, taken many photos over the past 10 months.  I figure my ratio of those suitable for WPF to the number actually set up and shot must be close to 15/1 in favour of the junk.  As jktrains is asking you to find out how to do, setting your camera so that you compose the image, and then depress the shutter release, allowing the internal timer to release the shutter once you hands are removed and the camera is dead still, is what means success for me if my idea of an image is going to work at all.  As soon as I forget that darned timer, I am back to junk....AGAIN!

Big improvement in that before and after series.  Wow, and congrats.

Love the Chessie steamer.  I also like the stenciled/decaled bridge...very cool.

-Crandell

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Posted by MilwaukeeRoad on Friday, November 16, 2007 4:21 PM
Thank you guys. Very nice.
Alex Czajkowski
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    June 2007
  • From: Mankato MN
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Posted by secondhandmodeler on Friday, November 16, 2007 4:21 PM
Crandell, I have had better success with the timer than without.  I'll have to make sure I use it every time.  I need to figure out how to make the camera focus where I want it to.  Thanks for the compliments, I'm trying. 
Corey
  • Member since
    February 2005
  • From: Vancouver Island, BC
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Posted by selector on Friday, November 16, 2007 4:38 PM

If your camera is like mine, Corey, it may have a setting on your mode dial for auto shutter control, or auto shutter timer.  I use the setting called Av by Canon, but you may have something that fits.  Then, what I do is to get as much light on the subject as I can, even plugging lights into the walls and shining them onto the scene.  The camera meters the light and shuts down the iris, which has the effect of increasing the overall focal length of the viewing system.  In turn, really bright lights leading to automatically stopped down iris resulting in longer focal length, your depth of field and focus will improve....usually.  At least, that has led to some improvement in my own attempts to minimize the "also-rans".

MilwaukeeRoad, I had meant to compliment you on your model...very nicely done.  I hope to see it in place sometime soon.

-Crandell

  • Member since
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  • From: Apache Junction, Arizona It's a dry heat!
  • 351 posts
Posted by perry1060 on Friday, November 16, 2007 4:42 PM

Last photos of T-Rex

 

The New Haven never saw her coming !!

 

One last step on the high voltage center rail --- and she meets her fate !

 

 

 

Castle Canyon RR Web Site - T-Rex Page

http://home.mchsi.com/~ironmaster1961/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html

 

Enjoy the hobby Perry
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Posted by mr moto on Friday, November 16, 2007 5:37 PM
Oh Perry, Perry, Perry.  When I first saw those photos of the T-Rex on fire I thought this must be another desert dweller like myself and then I saw Apache Junction in your sign-on.  Yup, just down the 60 from me.
  • Member since
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  • From: Apache Junction, Arizona It's a dry heat!
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Posted by perry1060 on Friday, November 16, 2007 6:28 PM

That's great mr moto!  My wife and I always enjoy visitors so if you're ever in the area --- stop in.  Cool [8D]

 

 

Enjoy the hobby Perry
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Posted by SOU Fan on Friday, November 16, 2007 8:17 PM

FiNally fiNished this moNster.

-Smoke

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Posted by graphitehemi on Friday, November 16, 2007 8:36 PM

 secondhandmodeler wrote:
Does anyone know what the large opening on the left of that building is?  I goes through to the back.  I have this model and was wondering why it is open all the way through.

 

It looks to be about the right height for a truck dock maybe?

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Posted by jacon12 on Friday, November 16, 2007 9:11 PM

Not much from me this week, just my little 4-4-0 and a string of passenger cars that are in need of me getting their hand rails replaced.

JaRRell

 HO Scale DCC Modeler of 1950, give or take 30 years.
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Posted by Driline on Friday, November 16, 2007 9:24 PM

Here's a Laser-Art HO Drayton house I built just this week. I love these wooden structures. They look so much more realistic than the plastic structures. I haven't "weathered" it too heavily yet though.

Modeling the Davenport Rock Island & Northwestern 1995 in HO
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Posted by wm3798 on Friday, November 16, 2007 9:38 PM

Some visitors to the layout...

Lee 

Route of the Alpha Jets  www.wmrywesternlines.net

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Posted by Darth Santa Fe on Friday, November 16, 2007 9:44 PM

This week's photos from me are some progress pictures on my Royal Blue restoration.Smile [:)]


The whole set, plus some Marx cars that need an engine.


The engine and its new (to me, anyway) mechanism. I had to replace the cast front truck wheels with some stamped ones normally used on freight cars, since the originals crumbled.


The backside of the set. The tender is in pretty good shape, except for some scratches in the paint. It lights up!Big Smile [:D]

The engine, tender, and boxcar are all going to be repainted, and the engine and tender will be relettered. The engine works great for its age, and with its 4 or 5lbs of weight, it's got enough traction to pull a house down! The motor runs a little noisy, and it's also pretty weak, and it draws 3 amps running free, but oh well, I'm happy with it.Big Smile [:D] I'll post more pictures when its done in a couple weeks.Big Smile [:D]

BTW, nice pictures everyone!Big Smile [:D]

SilverSpike, I like that roundhouse!Big Smile [:D]

_________________________________________________________________

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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, November 16, 2007 9:54 PM

Some really great pics this week,

C&O and smoke, the weathering on your locos look great

 Well this week im going to start a new project, I want to weather and add sound to my Atlas D&H RS-3

now i just have to figure out where the heck to put the speaker!Confused [%-)]

(if anyone has any suggestions for me feel free to shoot me a PM) 

  • Member since
    January 2006
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Posted by NeO6874 on Friday, November 16, 2007 10:01 PM

some great shots as always guys Smile [:)]

 

These are from the Sebring and Youngstown MRR club open houses this past weekend (Nov. 10).  They were great to walk around and look at, if a little cramped.

This is a shot from the Sebring layout, two WM 2-8-2's are pulling a unit coal train out of staging, up what looked to have been a 1.5% (ish) grade.

These next two are from Youngstown, the first is a B&O 4-8-8-4, and then a PRR K-4 sitting in the passenger terminal.  These were on the O Scale layout. 

 

This last one is on the Youngstown HO scale layout.

 

The guys who made these layouts, adn detailed the engines did some amazing work.  The photos don't do them justice... 

-Dan

Builder of Bowser steam! Railimages Site

  • Member since
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  • From: San Diego
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Posted by stokesda on Friday, November 16, 2007 10:11 PM

Smoke, I love those photos of your loco - it looks like it's some kind of angelic being coming out of the "bright light." Kind of like the "spirit horse" from Young Guns II. Maybe that's the vision a model railroader sees as he's going to that great LHS in the sky Big Smile [:D]

Last week I was out of town and took a bunch of kits with me so I could build them in my hotel room at night. One of them was this half-finished Branchline reefer that I'd started and quit several months ago. I got my #11 blade in one hand and the sprue full of tiny plastic grab irons in the other, and went to work one night until it was done. This was my first Branchline reefer, and while it was very tedious to build, I think it went together really well, and I am really pleased with how it turned out. Now I'm itching to tackle another one!

Here's a couple of photos of it on one of my under-construction layout sections. The biggest goof I made was I accidentally smeared a glob of ACC on one side near the grab irons, which left a pinky-nail sized shiny spot on the siding. It doesn't show up in the photo, and it's nothing some weathering can't take care of (If I ever get that brave).

Dan Stokes

My other car is a tunnel motor

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Posted by SD60M on Friday, November 16, 2007 10:17 PM
 Darth Santa Fe wrote:

This week's photos from me are some progress pictures on my Royal Blue restoration.Smile [:)]


The whole set, plus some Marx cars that need an engine.


The engine and its new (to me, anyway) mechanism. I had to replace the cast front truck wheels with some stamped ones normally used on freight cars, since the originals crumbled.


The backside of the set. The tender is in pretty good shape, except for some scratches in the paint. It lights up!Big Smile [:D]

The engine, tender, and boxcar are all going to be repainted, and the engine and tender will be relettered. The engine works great for its age, and with its 4 or 5lbs of weight, it's got enough traction to pull a house down! The motor runs a little noisy, and it's also pretty weak, and it draws 3 amps running free, but oh well, I'm happy with it.Big Smile [:D] I'll post more pictures when its done in a couple weeks.Big Smile [:D]

BTW, nice pictures everyone!Big Smile [:D]

SilverSpike, I like that roundhouse!Big Smile [:D]

WOW!! That NYC caboose # 556 I have it in my room! I found it at an antique store in Verona, Mississippi for 15 dollars. Thats crazy i thought i was the only one who hade antique O scale items!
Long Live The Burlington Northern!
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Posted by spectratone on Friday, November 16, 2007 10:43 PM

Harley's, Hot Rods, and Trains.

 

Glenn

N Scale 

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