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Teen Model Railroader Place- November 2009

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  • Member since
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  • From: Memphis, TN
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Posted by Packers#1 on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 9:02 PM

WCfan

PlanNsimple
So many great corny ideas presented!! How awful!

 

Thanks for supporting the hobby.

 

ditto to WCfan

Sawyer Berry

Clemson University c/o 2018

Building a protolanced industrial park layout

 

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Posted by WCfan on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 8:12 PM

PlanNsimple
So many great corny ideas presented!! How awful!

 

Thanks for supporting the hobby.

  • Member since
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  • From: North Jersey
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Posted by ns3010 on Tuesday, December 1, 2009 10:54 AM

New place

 Tyler, just signed it

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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 1, 2009 10:28 AM

Found this place back on Page 4...

I just finished adding a Guestbook to my website. It's got that "empty guestbook" smell...somebody sign it! Smile,Wink, & Grin

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Posted by Packers#1 on Sunday, November 29, 2009 12:00 PM

 Well, right now the demo crews are on the layout removing the perfectcast. That stuff is IMPOSSIBLE to get off. I'm chipping it off with pliers and a piece of crap testor's hobby knife.

Sawyer Berry

Clemson University c/o 2018

Building a protolanced industrial park layout

 

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Posted by WCfan on Sunday, November 29, 2009 11:24 AM

green_elite_cab

TrainManTy

Guilford Guy
Plaster roads are difficult to look right.

 

Whistling 

 

 

The trick to plaster roads is to do them in small sections at a time.  On my layout, i tried to "mass pour", and so my roads are lumpy if you look close enough.  I did a fairly good job grading and sanding as it set, but some spots were not completely even.   

 You really just have to take your time, maybe with only enough plaster made to fit a what you can smooth in about 1 minute down.  In reality, that is a VERY small amount (trust me, i thought i could get more done than what turned out to be the case). 

If using plaster, I'd try and make the plaster more thick, and less "soupy". This way you can form and shape it with ease. Dry wall compound (Pretty much the same thing as plaster) is usually fairly thick, and can be shaped with ease. All you need is a putty knife, and some patience. I'd still recommend styrene though. It seems like trains run better over styrene than over plaster or dry wall compound.

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Posted by green_elite_cab on Saturday, November 28, 2009 10:53 PM

TrainManTy

Guilford Guy
Plaster roads are difficult to look right.

 

Whistling 

 

 

The trick to plaster roads is to do them in small sections at a time.  On my layout, i tried to "mass pour", and so my roads are lumpy if you look close enough.  I did a fairly good job grading and sanding as it set, but some spots were not completely even.   

 You really just have to take your time, maybe with only enough plaster made to fit a what you can smooth in about 1 minute down.  In reality, that is a VERY small amount (trust me, i thought i could get more done than what turned out to be the case). 

ns3010

GEC, how old are you? As long as you're not like, 25, I don't see why you would have to leave, unless anyone else disagrees...

 

I'll be 20 on December 4th.

 

Modeling Conrail, Amtrak and NJ DOT under the wires in New Jersey, July 1979.  

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Posted by Packers#1 on Saturday, November 28, 2009 7:52 PM

WCfan

Packers#1

Guilford Guy
Thus you could have completed a styrene road in half the time and have it look better! Tongue

 

At probably three-five times the cost. 1 unit of Perfectcast: $5. 1 pack of 2 sheets of styrene from the LHS: $10. Guesstimation of amount of required styrene: 3-4 sheets. And I can't find any danged styrene (or Masonite, for that matter) in Lowes or Home Depot.

I'll be switching to smooth-it for roads though, we'll see how much that costs.

For Sale signs...Whistling...dang, that's expensive stryene, I can get a pack of 4 sheets for 2 bucks at my LHS. Depending on the thickness I can get 1-10 sheets for the same price...

Yeah we still use Skype...not that often though. We never know when Alex L *Cough Cough* is on...so yeah...

Same as Tyler, I'll be 16 in spring...

 

I did pick up some No trespassing signs at Lowes; I'll give them a whirl. Worst comes to worst I'll just end up using the smooth-it for the roads. Do need to get some sculptamold or w/e to make a gradual transition to the pad at the loco servicing though. I'll pull the perfectcast up and give it a whirl.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW0f7AB6pb0

Oh yeah, there's the link to my latest update video. Trolls be darned

Sawyer Berry

Clemson University c/o 2018

Building a protolanced industrial park layout

 

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Posted by Guilford Guy on Saturday, November 28, 2009 7:49 PM

For Sale signs, not evergreen...

Alex

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Posted by WCfan on Saturday, November 28, 2009 7:34 PM

Packers#1

Guilford Guy
Thus you could have completed a styrene road in half the time and have it look better! Tongue

 

At probably three-five times the cost. 1 unit of Perfectcast: $5. 1 pack of 2 sheets of styrene from the LHS: $10. Guesstimation of amount of required styrene: 3-4 sheets. And I can't find any danged styrene (or Masonite, for that matter) in Lowes or Home Depot.

I'll be switching to smooth-it for roads though, we'll see how much that costs.

For Sale signs...Whistling...dang, that's expensive stryene, I can get a pack of 4 sheets for 2 bucks at my LHS. Depending on the thickness I can get 1-10 sheets for the same price...

Yeah we still use Skype...not that often though. We never know when Alex L *Cough Cough* is on...so yeah...

Same as Tyler, I'll be 16 in spring...

  • Member since
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Posted by Packers#1 on Saturday, November 28, 2009 7:07 PM

Guilford Guy
Thus you could have completed a styrene road in half the time and have it look better! Tongue

 

At probably three-five times the cost. 1 unit of Perfectcast: $5. 1 pack of 2 sheets of styrene from the LHS: $10. Guesstimation of amount of required styrene: 3-4 sheets. And I can't find any danged styrene (or Masonite, for that matter) in Lowes or Home Depot.

I'll be switching to smooth-it for roads though, we'll see how much that costs.

Sawyer Berry

Clemson University c/o 2018

Building a protolanced industrial park layout

 

  • Member since
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Posted by Guilford Guy on Saturday, November 28, 2009 6:37 PM
Thus you could have completed a styrene road in half the time and have it look better! Tongue

Alex

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Posted by Packers#1 on Saturday, November 28, 2009 3:24 PM

TrainManTy

Guilford Guy
Plaster roads are difficult to look right.

 

Whistling 

 

GG, depends if you've got the right sandpaper or not. The Perfectcast stuff I'm using is a PAIN to sand, lol.

Sawyer Berry

Clemson University c/o 2018

Building a protolanced industrial park layout

 

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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, November 28, 2009 1:50 PM

Guilford Guy
Plaster roads are difficult to look right.

 

Whistling 

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Posted by Guilford Guy on Saturday, November 28, 2009 1:02 PM

Smooth it is just lightweight plaster. Plaster roads are difficult to look right. Something like Chip Board or Styrene painted looks fine!

The portion between the rail is styrene and everything else is a white high density cardboard product. I lightly airbrushed them with engine black so it turned a gray color. I then used AIM (Bragdon works too) Medium Gray Weathering Powder and liberally brushed it on. I used a rag to work it into the road way and brush excess off. This is a pre-dullcote picture, and as you can see there are no white lines or anything.

Alex

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Posted by modelbnsfer on Saturday, November 28, 2009 12:31 PM

Hey everyone

Haven't been on here in forever. Internet went down. Sigh Hope everyone has had a good Thanksgiving. I did. WRS is looking good tyler

Taylor

Bear Down! 

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Posted by ns3010 on Saturday, November 28, 2009 12:13 PM

That's what I used for my roads. But make sure you use the foam tape with it, or it'll be nothing but a mess.

And I'd reccomend trying it out on a piece of scrap foam before going ahead on the layout. My first section was awful, but by the third (and last) section, it wasn't bad.

My Model Railroad: Tri State Rail
My Photos on Flickr: Flickr
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Posted by Packers#1 on Saturday, November 28, 2009 12:05 PM

 Tyler, it looks great.

I'm going to use smooth-it to try to upgrade my concrete lot. Worst comes to worst I'll rip it up and redo it.

Sawyer Berry

Clemson University c/o 2018

Building a protolanced industrial park layout

 

  • Member since
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Posted by ns3010 on Saturday, November 28, 2009 10:57 AM

Nice! The only out of focus things that stick out to me are the plow and front coupler, and the WRS thingy on the rear of the long hood.

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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, November 28, 2009 10:45 AM

Yes, I built the bill boxes myself, using 1" square wood rods and 1/8" plywood.

-------------------------------------------

Also, I got my new camera, a Canon SX1! It takes DSLR-quality photos for half the price (although you can't change lenses) plus HD video, but only goes up to F/8. I'm still deciding whether this is the right camera for me (it was over $500 and I've been saving up for it for almost a year, so it's not a light decision...) so one of the requirements I've been testing is if the camera is able to take model photos with a deep depth of field.

Obviously F/8 isn't enough, so I used Adobe Photoshop 6 to manually stitch three different photos with different focus points together. I'm still getting the hang of it, and I've learned that I need more than three photos, so there's a couple spots that are still out of focus, but I think it'll work! This only took me about 10 minutes to create, and yes, Photobucket mangled it when uploading so now the whole thing looks out of focus! Banged Head

The three focus points (I was using manual focus, so it's not exact) were the ballast in front of the train, the locomotive cab, and that building being torn down in the background. Check out the new ballast - I used over a gallon to ballast the entire seven track yard!


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Posted by ns3010 on Saturday, November 28, 2009 10:31 AM

Nice Tyler! I'm assuming you built the boxes, no?

My Model Railroad: Tri State Rail
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Posted by Packers#1 on Saturday, November 28, 2009 9:30 AM

 Sweet minifacias Tyler; I'm probably going to make a small shelf for the ayrd that can hold my powerpack and also a switchlist.

oh, and I now have Skype; y'all still using that?

Sawyer Berry

Clemson University c/o 2018

Building a protolanced industrial park layout

 

  • Member since
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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, November 28, 2009 9:28 AM

Railfan Alex

I'm 16. I never really thought about how old we all were. I guess it ends up being a weird question to ask over the internet at some times... Shock

 

Yeah...it does seem sort of weird, and could certainly scare away newcomers to the thread. I'll be 16 this Spring.

I've always assumed the unofficial age policy (of course this is Kalmbach's forum so we really don't have any say) here is much like on a teen-only forum which I cannot name here: Teens join, although we don't ask your age, and even when you turn 20, you can still participate. (I guess you're a teen at heart! Wink)

-------------------------------------------

Here's what's been keeping operating sessions on hold since early fall...fascia panels with bill boxes, throttle ports, and my sole reversing switch! This is the Enfield, NH, panel - industry labels on the bill boxes from left to right read LeBlanc Scrap, E&R Rail (an interchange with the Enfield & Rumney, which are both real towns), Enfield Transfer, and Agrawal Paper.

There's also panels in Lebanon (A/D 1 and 2, Class tracks 1-4, and Lebanon Cold Storage), Mascoma (Formanek Granite tracks 1 and 2), and West Canaan (Claflin Foods Inc. and Delery Pulpwood & Lumber.)

I'm trying to schedule an operating session for December 5...I'll post photos from it if I can get enough operators.

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Posted by Packers#1 on Saturday, November 28, 2009 9:25 AM

Railfan Alex

I'm 16. I never really thought about how old we all were. I guess it ends up being a weird question to ask over the internet at some times... Shock

 

True.

Yeah, I'm 15 like Joe. But I get to go take the permit test day we get out for Christmas break. Now to read that danged book we got from the DMV.

Sawyer Berry

Clemson University c/o 2018

Building a protolanced industrial park layout

 

  • Member since
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Posted by ns3010 on Friday, November 27, 2009 11:17 PM

Railfan Alex
I never really thought about how old we all were. I guess it ends up being a weird question to ask over the internet at some times

Yeah, same here. Hey, at least we're not like old people who don't want anyone to know how old they really are! Big Smile

Can't. Wait. Till. 16.
6 1/2. Months. Till. Permit. Aaaagh!
lol
So happy I passed the exam, so once I turn 16 in June (day after school gets out!), alls I need is 6 hours of instruction (and about $300...)! Ah, Driver's Ed. That class was such a joke. So glad I have gym now instead. But writing next quarter. Ugh...

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Posted by Railfan Alex on Friday, November 27, 2009 11:09 PM

I'm 16. I never really thought about how old we all were. I guess it ends up being a weird question to ask over the internet at some times... Shock

Alex

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Posted by ns3010 on Friday, November 27, 2009 10:00 PM

GEC, how old are you? As long as you're not like, 25, I don't see why you would have to leave, unless anyone else disagrees...

Sawyer, I believe you, Tyler, and I are all about the same (I'm 15, and a Sophomore). Like you, don't kno about anyone else, though...

My Model Railroad: Tri State Rail
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My Photos on RRPA: RR Picture Archives

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Posted by Packers#1 on Friday, November 27, 2009 9:19 PM

 You got a point there, lol. idk how old I am compared to the other psoters here; know Tyler's aroudn my age, but other than that, don't really know.

Sawyer Berry

Clemson University c/o 2018

Building a protolanced industrial park layout

 

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Posted by green_elite_cab on Friday, November 27, 2009 9:16 PM

 lol, i'm getting to old for the "teen Modelers".   I am a grizzled ancient compared to you!

Modeling Conrail, Amtrak and NJ DOT under the wires in New Jersey, July 1979.  

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