WPF: Oct 1-4

[ChadLRyan]

Just A couple of build shots.
I've been (away/offline) building lately, & have a big platefull!!!!! Hopefully I will post in another week or two, a few more neat things.
Here are a pair of Athearn 8K NACC HO scale tank cars. These were undecorated units & once I saw the nice details I took it further. Being undecorated, it allowed me to clean up the plastic, metal castings & photoetch. Once all the edges were 'broken' & cleaned, I added all of the (nice!) factory details & began adding in other aftermarket details. Details I added are; coupler cut levers, air line hoses, airline tap to triple-valve, & safety placard holders. Not too much, as they are really nice right out of the box.
I wanted to do these cars in a two tone paint scheme, I had a bit of forethought & decided to paint the ends of the tank tubes before assembling the details, -as to avoid an near impossible masking task, if it were painted after assembly.

Here are the almost finished products, I forgot to add the air line hoses in these shots, & there are a couple touch-up spots that need a little paint. Now they look a lot different with all the details covered up. I kind of intend these as food product tanks, so I did not populate the placard holders with any hazardous placards. I would like to put a partially husked corn on the yellow & black car, but I do not know of any decals of that. I am a fan of yellow & black (& loud) paint schemes, & think the Yellow one sort of blows away the Blue one. Once the decals were added the Blue one really livened up though.
The decals are not correct for these custom cars, but look good, so to speak.
Also these are not weathered at this point, left them as you see them, for now..
If you have not checked out the 'new' Athearn Tank tooling, I hope this may give you some information & ideas of what can be done with them. I have added other ATH models/styles into my stock for future use. 

[SD60M]

Hello everyone no photos this week but here is a link to my newest layout update.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DMFN7CaTBk

-Kade

[Margaritaman]

There are some pretty cool shots in this months "online extras" section of the website.  I'm sort of partial to this one. 

[Packers#1]

Nice work all!

Ah, the productivity that comes with being bored in school. sketched these in class today.

The top one focuses on a birds-eye view of the left end of the interchange yard, and also the cement plant.

The small strip is a dead-on view of the right portion of the layout.

The bottom-left sketch is of a hopper in the cement plant.

The bottom right is a view from behind our GP35 switcher as it sits in an empty yard.

[Motley]

Holy moly batman, we're off to a great start. Awesome pics from everybody!

I recently added some yard lights, and still need to build the intermodal crane. Also got a new autorack train with a couple of Dash 8-40CWs (Atlas Gold series).

[ns3010]

Very nice stuff everyone!

For once, I have something to contribute. Over the past week, I've been working on my PL42AC shell. It is a Island Model Works craftsman kit, and will become NJ Transit 4007. I messed up some of the decals, and there's no spares, so I'll have to buy another set. The side seen below, along with the nose and back end are almost completely done.

Enjoy!

[RedLeader]

Motley

RedLeader:

Almost done with the Ethanol Plant.

 

 

Wow! Nice ethanol plant. May I ask how you built the loading racks? What kits did you use? Also are those the Walthers ethanol kits too?

 

Thank you Motley!  The loading racks are Walthers part # 933-3104, three of them with a few extra details from the scrap box.  From Walthers are the cooling tower, the water tank and the big tanks.  The concrete silos are kitbashed using PVC tubing, Rix elevators and Tichy details such as ladders and railings. I used lots of Walthers' piping kits and kits from others like  Rix, Tichy, Great West Models, Herpa, Plastruct and scrap.  Still missing a few details such as more piping, chain link fence, security shanty, pavement,  figures, trucks and stuff.

[howmus]

selector

Seriously, guys, I am blown away by the quality of your products, images and modeling.  Really, really, impressive...and I say that for all contributors to this point.  What a huge step up we have taken recently!!!

 

-Crandell

Crandell, I agree wholeheartedly!  I always look forward to seeing what other have been doing and lately the bar certainly has been raised a bit....

I have started a small module for judging for a merit award for the NMRA Civil Engineer Certificate.  All the trackage has to be hand laid and scratch built.  It will have a turnout, a crossover, and a 19° crossing (the merit award requires 3 different types of trackwork from a published list).  Here are a few photos of the beginnings of the module:

The module will be 2' X 4'.  Here is the completed frame for it:

Plywood top being glued to the frame:

And the frame then received a couple coats of urethane varnish:

More later!

73

[selector]

Seriously, guys, I am blown away by the quality of your products, images and modeling.  Really, really, impressive...and I say that for all contributors to this point.  What a huge step up we have taken recently!!!

Here is my own offering.  An NYC Mikado pauses in Seneca Yard to take on water.

 

-Crandell

[Motley]

RedLeader

Almost done with the Ethanol Plant.

 

Wow! Nice ethanol plant. May I ask how you built the loading racks? What kits did you use? Also are those the Walthers ethanol kits too?

[RedLeader]

Almost done with the Ethanol Plant.

...and almost done with the grain elevator too...

 

[jecorbett]

MAbruce

What, starting off WPF with no pictures?  There ought to be a penalty for that... 

Here's a mountainside view of my layout.  The backdrop was digitally added:

Excellent job of photo editting. The 3-D scenery blends well with the digitized backdrop. It also gives a good lesson on how to paint such backdrops. As the mountains become more distant, they appear lighter and bluer and have less texture. The sky transitions from whitish near the horizon to blue higher up. All the effects of a summer haze. If I didn't already have my backdrops done, I might be tempted to give that a try.

[Grampys Trains]

Nice work, everyone, esp. Bruce, Wolfgang, Will, Greg, and Robby.

An SW7 pulls an empty from C.D. Smoker. DJ.

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Just for fun, I am running my 55 year old Tenshodo brass NYC Hudson. The old gal still runs very well. It can pull a good sized train with no problems.

Here it is with old Tenshodo F units.

Here's a side view of the Hudson passing my flour mill.

In the following photo, the Hudson is highballing fast enough to blur its image.

 

[Robby P.]

 Outstanding shots !!!  From models to real life.   They are all GREAT!!

 I guess I will add a shot....

[View:http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/trc/utility/:550:0]

[jeffrey-wimberly]

[mountaingoatgreg]

Playing around with my camera and a section of my Free-Mo. I still have a bunch of work to do on the Free-Mo section but I kind of like the picture.

The section gnag replaces ties in the Whitter Moulding Spur track.

I need to fix the substation and add the chainlink fence...but it is getting there.

[NeO6874]

Nothing new from me this week.  But I found an old one that I like.  Took this at the Chicago Museum of Industry a few years ago.  the orig is in colour, though I was playing with some of the B&W filter options and came up with this...

 

[willjayna]

I guess I will lead off this weekend. I have had a ton of projects building up and recently got three of them done. The first project was quite an undertaking with kitbashing this C39-8.

I used an Atlas U33B Chassis and a rail power C32-8 shell and several detail parts. I think it really turned out well. Can't wait for it to hit the track this weekend.

 

The next project I completed was an Atlas Dash 8. I used a combination of MicroScale and ShellScale decals for this Conrail Quality loco that looks anything but these days.

This is how she looked when I started.

Here is another pic of her weathered

 

My last project was a RailGon gondola. First question was what to make for the load. I finally decided on railroad ties. I used cut up outdoor match sticks. I also built a grid into the bed of the car to raise the load. I then painted with a dark earth wash solution I mixed up.

Of course it had to be weathered. I had to fight the urge to really grunge it up as I am aware that not everything has to be completely worn and beat.

Sorry for the poor photos the glare makes it seem that the front is more weathered than the rest of the car. Just the glare from my hobby lamp.

Two more of each side.

 

Will

 

[wedudler]

This is my latest picture. And here's the "rocking train" in motion.

Wolfgang

[secondhandmodeler]

I don't have much in the way of modeling pictures, but I do have something to share.  We've had massive flooding in the region after a ten inch rain a week ago.  One of the possible casualties is the bridge that I've modeled.  Apparently a huge tree came down like a battering ram and took out a chunk of the pier.  The rushing water has done rest.  The county engineers are hoping rebuild the pier since the trestle is part of a very popular bike trail for the region.  It sure would be a shame if it came tumbling down after over 100 years.  Good thing I have a 1:87 scale model of it in my living room!

A photo from a year ago.

[MAbruce]

What, starting off WPF with no pictures?  There ought to be a penalty for that... 

Here's a mountainside view of my layout.  The backdrop was digitally added:

[j610]

It`s that time again.