I just received some Bachmann cars today and they are just super for kit bashing.I am planning to detail them inside and out using mostly real wood and furnishing them with 1/24 parts and pieces.These cars are early Victorian so there should be lots of stuff out there to work with and what I can't find I will scratch.
Once Upon a time.........
My photobucket:
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
I am a man of few words but lots of pics
I quit drinking beer because the download was taking longer than the upload !
Depends on which ones you have but most of them are detailed for WW1 or later, a lot of them are detailed more for the 1930's or 1940's.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Hi Dave ! I am using the Bachmann large scale kits and will bash them from there doing whatever needs to be done,This is only a starting point,something to work with to do a static diorama.My cars will be Civil War era. Thank you for the info . Cheers! John.
I would suggest looking at BTS for ideas since they make models of Civil war era cars:
http://www.btsrr.com/btscar01.htm
Here's s site on Confederate RR's:
http://www.csa-railroads.com/
Does anyone know the real scale of the Bachmann large scale(G?) passenger car kits.Thanks.John.
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.The first step was to take it all apart and remove all the lighting fixtures.I have been very glad to find that this passenger car is built to 1/22.5 scale which is close enough for me to work with without having to change too much of the overall size.When I am finished very little of the plastic will be visible as I plan to use a lot of strip wood ,coffee stir stiks,tongue depressors and veneer and whatever else I can think off.I will next have to decide on just how much of this shell I will have to cut away.From one side it will look completely normal but from the movie set side it will be fake.1/24scale also opens up a whole new world of furniture ,parts and fitting supplies that are adaptable from other genres of modeling.My motto when making dioramas is "buy what I can and built what I must".I like to put lots of detail in my stuff so this may take years to complete the whole diorama.In the ten years that I have been building dioramas for the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa in 1/16th scale,I have so far completed only three and a half dioramas(the half is the one that I am completing now) and I work at this stuff just about every day.I am really looking forward to learning about railroading as it is completely new to me.
dehusmanI would suggest looking at BTS for ideas since they make models of Civil war era cars: http://www.btsrr.com/btscar01.htm Here's s site on Confederate RR's: http://www.csa-railroads.com/
Dave, I looked at this site, and I will definitely be ordering some of their kits. Looks like a great source of old cars and buildings for "railfanning" trips.
Thanks!
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
,As you know this diorama has two completely different sides to it. One side will be for outdoor shots of what looks like a real passenger car.The other side will be a movie set. In this pic you can see the beginnings of the set side.The smaller of the two openings is the door used in the opening scene, but the film was taken from inside of the car or on another set altogether.The other larger opening may only be temporary until I figure out how much of the passenger car(if any)was here.In the movie I cant recollect anything here at all just the shack built over top.The shack seems to take up about half of the scene.It is supposed to be a real early station that is for cattle and passengers,long before a more permanent structure could be built and it consists of anything that happened to be handy while they were pushing the railroad through the area. I have never seen a real film set so I will be using my imagination on how the various shots were taken. This sure is a lot of fun to do as all the reference I need(except the set itself) is right there in the movie which I can view frame by frame whenever I want to
.This door on the set is open so I cut it out with the Xacto knife and plastic cutter thingy.In this era did the doors open inward or outward ? I wonder....maybe I can find a frame from the movie that will tell me.....
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The fellow who owned "The General" kit many years ago had already painted up the base so I am using it here to sit the old coach on with the railway tracks running through the middle.Judging by the distance between the old coach's original floor and the rail ,there are no wheels at all on it but it is only resting on the track.Cool idea because right away you know that this flick is about a railway.I opened up another hole on prop side because there was a little room built off to the side next to a brick wall which is part of the shack.On the set side I will have to open another large hole and move the car's wall outward to become part of the shack's wall.Clear as mud right ! Well I hope to get this done tomorrow and a pic posted when finished.I temporarily put in the WC and wood stove to see how it looks.
.Some of my buds online have expressed an interest in seeing this Movie.If you do be sure to get the original 3 hour letterbox edition.Hollywood made a two hour version and hacked it to death.Better still see it on the wide screen to get the full impact of the cinematography.Don't even bother wasting time on the 2 hour Hollywood version,it is like viewing half a painting and then trying to understand whats going on.
I have put three G scale Bachmann cars on a 40" diameter table and it looks about the right size for my purposes.
The passenger car has been completely gutted to get it ready for its new(old) interior.I think that I will start with the cars curved ceiling in plywood for now,later I can add individual boards if I want. I am assuming here that the passenger car was not cut completely in two and the ceiling of the car extended the full length of the shack as well.There are over head drapes that roll down to presumably cut down on dust entering the passenger car half in a wind storm( in real life.)The shack was required to provide air and shade from the desert sun,rain of course would only be an occasional problem.The whole thing is heavily covered in dust,should be loads of fun weathering this.All that rough cut lumber will be quite a challenge to simulate in scale as well.
I thought that I would start with the ceiling and do something new for a change to see how it works out.Instead of plywood I used cardboard to cover the ceiling.I took an old box and measurements from the model and cut it to fit.An xacto knife with a #11 blade is best for this as it leaves a nice clean edge.I sealed the card using my standard 2/3 lacquer ,1/3 lacquer thinner mix and applied it with a soft brush.When dry I then used some burnt umber gesso as an undercoat.For those not familiar with gesso it is a medium that artist have used for centuries as a sealer for canvas,wood etc..and can be picked up in any art store usually in white, gray,burnt umber and black.I thin mine down with about 25% distilled water (although most tap water will do) I then apply this with a soft brush over the dried lacquer on the side to be painted.Usually about two coats will do and let air dry.Drying can be hastened up by using a hair dryer but don't hold it too close to the surface or you will fry your paint.Normally, gesso because it tends to be applied a little thicker, is best air dried as little cracks can form on the surface if dried too quickly.The great thing about gesso is that it sticks to about anything and anything sticks to it acrylics,oils whatever.It also dries flat with no shine,if you want a little shine you can add a little varnish medium.The trouble with most paints is that they dry too shiny,especially for figures but we will get into that later.I then glued it to the ceiling using two part epoxy.
Because this diorama could be years in the making,rather than me posting a bunch of pictures which just takes you to my photobucket anyway ,I will post my photobucket site address only ,the occasional pic I will post direct to the thread.In the text of my posts I will identify the picture number that I am talking about.This should make it easier for everybody including me.I plan to add a lot of "How to's......" to this thread as my way of doing things maybe a little different than most, which you may(or may not) find interesting.Thanks. Cheers! John.
.Weathering wood,everybody seems to have a different method here is mine. The woods I generally use for model making are basswood,pine , birch tongue depressors and various sizes of coffee stir stiks.In pic 024 in my G scale album you can see the different types that I have collected till now.They are very strong. The raw wood has only been highly polished. I like the barnsiding look and this is the way I do it. Mix up a thin wash of paint using flat acrylics. Why flat acrylics ? because there is no varnish in them, to make the paint shine and who wants shiny barnsiding.For this wash I use Nimbus Grey with a touch of Raw Umber added plus lots of water.I brush this on the wood letting it soak into the raw wood.Do not use a sealer at any time during this process.After 2 or 3 thin coats you should have a nice gray with some of the wood grain showing through.You want to take advantage of the transparency of acrylics for this technique.When happy let the wood dry or use a hair dryer to speed up the process.This wood is now ready for use and should have an aged look about it. To be cont....