Weekend Photo Fun! - March 13-15, 2020 Edition.

[SeeYou190]

Welcome to Weekend Photo Fun

 

March 13, 2020 through March 15, 2020

 

All Are Welcome! 

 

Here is an opportunity to showcase any recent project or layout progress. 

 

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Please feel free to post any model railroad related photos here — past or present. This is a place to share photos of your layout, equipment or current project.

 

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This week I have something kind of exciting to share. A bit of a milestone actually. Over a year ago I started a project building a segment of my future layout to test the idea I had for building the benchwork.

Over the past few days, progress has made it to the point that I can take pictures on the layout segment.

So, I can present some of my train cars in scenery that I built myself, and not on the 30 inch square prop photo board.

Please share pictures of whatever you are working on, have completed, or are just proud of. I love this thread, and it is open for you to share in.

-Kevin

[gmpullman]

Thanks for starting off WPF this Friday the 13th, and sharing your milestone, Kevin !

I sure like the combination of open rock-work, the trees and shrubs. 

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I had occasion to dust off what is my first Life-Like locomotive. Was it back in 1993? Well this old EMD E8 Demonstrator is still running smooth as silk and it has been given new life with a sound decoder:

EMD_Demo by Edmund, on Flickr

This was one of those deals where all the other road names of the first run were sold out so I settled on the demonstrator. Glad I did at the time 

On to more great stuff, folks!

Regards, Ed

[dti406]

Good morning from cloudy and cold Northeast Ohio!

Kevin, thanks for starting us out. a good start on the layout, I hope to be doing that in the next several months.

Ed, good find in the attic, since I am not into sound and DCC I am glad yours is doing well.  I have a couple of NYC's I need to work on.

Moving into more a more modern era,

 

Atlas FMC 5077CF Boxcar kit, painted with Scalecoat II Silver and Black, and Floquil SP Daylight Red paints, they lettered with Herald King Decals for the Hartford and Slocum Railroad.  One of the early IPD Boxcars, which were free runners and brought in small railroads substantial revenue until the Staggers Railroad Act killed the Incentive Per Diem rate structure.

 

 

Athearn ACF 4600CF Covered Hopper Kit, painted with Scalecoat II UP Covered Hopper Gray paint and lettered with Herald King Decals. The DT&I had a hundred of these cars that replaced leased PS 4427CF Covered Hoppers and were used to service the grain elevators on the south end of the railroad. This is the fourth car I have completed and have 3 more to do.

 

 

My favorite pair of engines, Athearn GP38-2's with a train of coil steel flats heading to the stamping plant. Picture taken on the Strongsville Club layout.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Rick Jesionowski

 

 

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Kevin .... Thanks for starting Weekend Photo Fun..... Your new layout segment looks very good. I built my layout one small segmnt at a time, and I think that is the best approach to building layouts. 

Ed .... Your LL EMD E8 looks good as new. I actaully have three LL E8's and they just keep on going. 

Rick .... Your IPD boxcar looks great. and so does your DT&I covered hopper. I always like seeing your DT&I GP38's. 

..

Below is my CB&Q # 100. It was the first of many Burlington F-units. In 1944, CB&Q purchased 15 FT ABBA locomotive sets. The model started as Stewart undecorated FT's which I painted and lettered. 

 

Below is a three units consist with an Athearn Genesis F3 AB. The third unit was an undecorated Athearn blue box unpowered F7B which I painted and lettered.

 

 

[York1]

Week after week, I am really impressed with the skills you guys have in modeling (or modelling for some of you).

Each week this thread encourages me to keep working at this hobby.

Several weeks ago, a boxcar showed up in my part of the country from the Stratton & Gillette Railroad.  It is parked on a siding by the chemical plant with some other empty cars, waiting for a factory to be finished.  It is by far the best-looking car on the railroad.

Kevin, Ed, Rick, Garry -- I can see how important a backdrop is to the entire scene.  That is another project in store for me.  Thanks for all your pictures.

 

[Harrison]

Although I have not made much progress on the layout, I was downstairs doing some trackwork tuning/wiring/cleaning and took some low level photos of some scenes my friend made.

There has been a bear sighting behind the paper mill:

Some junk in the trash. The door and the container is 3D printed, and the spool of wire is a bobbin that is (half) painted.

The policeman is still walking to his car, he hasn’t moved very far over the past year…

 

 

[BRVRR]

Kevin- Thanks for starting off WPF. The scenery looks really good!

Ed - I like the EMD Demo unit. Catchy livery.

Rick - Good looking cars as usual. DT&I is obviously close to your heart.

Garry - I never tire of your Burlington scenes.

John - The layout is coming along. A good scene.

Harrison - Careful of the BEAR!

Santa Fe FP-45 #5941 is the first (2002-3?) 6-axle loco on the BRVRR. An Athearn BB loco it has been weathered, a decoder installed, LED lighting and lastly sound equipped. I liked it so much I made its running mate from an Athearn loco in Milwaukee Road livery. Number 5945, in trail, was the subject of a brief "How To" on my website.

Keep the photos and ideas coming guys. Thanks to you WPF is always the best thread of the week.

[York1]

Allan, your photo is a good example of what I want to do with a background.  Your models fade into the backdrop.  Good work!

[tbdanny]

I've finished off the build of my new no. 3, an outside-frame 2-4-0.  The original no. 3 became no. 7.

[Little Timmy]

That's one pretty boxcar !

Now, onward...

Guess what I will be doing for the next 6 hour's ( besides cursing at little letter's ...)

That's right folk's ... One letter at a time.

I had a chance at getting custom made decal's many, many year's ago...... I should have done it. Now, I can't afford it. Microscale want's you to order 250 sheet's of decal's before they will even talk to you.

I "may" look into getting my own decal printer set-up, but that's down the road a bit.

[gmpullman]

Little Timmy

Microscale want's you to order 250 sheet's of decal's before they will even talk to you.

I've heard good things about Bill Brillinger's custom work:

https://www.pdc.ca/rr/custom_decals/

Tichy offers custom decals at about $35. for an 8½ x 11 sheet if you provide the artwork. Can be a Word file.

https://www.tichytraingroup.com/Portals/0/Instructions/2018_DECAL_CATALOG_VER_3_HIGH_QUALITY.pdf?ver=2018-09-07-110242-000

Scroll to page 58.

I do not have any experience with either of these. I have heard that the Tichy decals are slightly thicker than most.

I would go the custom-made route before trying to make my own. 

Hope that helps, Ed

["JaBear"]

Harrison by Bear, on Flickr

["JaBear"]

Harrison

The policeman is still walking to his car, he hasn’t moved very far over the past year…

Donut by Bear, on Flickr

[Harrison]

Thanks for the BearToons JaBear! 

[RR_Mel]

Kevin

 

I really like your John Allen Drovers Caboose!!!!  That made my entire weekend a great Weekend Photo Fun!

 

Sharp Blue and Silver E8 Ed!

 

The Red White & Blue GP really stands out Rick.

 

Goof looking scenery Garry, slick waterfall.

 

John, I like scenes with lighting.

 

Nice detailing Harrison and an opening for the Bear.

 

I like your SF FP-45 too but your backdrop is great Allan.

 

Very nice looking build TBDanny.

 

Great builds Timmy, check your Forum Mail.

 

I knew you couldn’t resist that one BEAR and don’t pick on the Cops.

 

I wanted to post some pictures of my diorama but it isn’t going as well as I would like so I piddled around with lighting up my Duce and a half with LEDs.  I really don’t like LEDs for vehicle headlights but I guess they have stopped making the 1½ volt 1mm micro bulbs.  I’ve been watching eBay for months for some without any luck so I gave it a shot.

 

 

As you can see it’s been awhile since I used my micro ampmeter.

 

The used a 510Ω resistor in series to give the LED 18ma current at 12 volts.  I went with an Arduino male connector to plug into a female mounted in the roadway.

 

I’ll post more pictures showing the construction on my blog, it actually worked out very nice but not as realistic as incandescent bulbs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mel

 

 

 

My Model Railroad   

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

 

Bakersfield, California

 

I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

 

 

 

 

[middleman]

Thanks for starting WPF,Kevin,and nice work on your layout segment!

Terrific contributions + humor provided by the Bear = another great WPF.

With my passenger fleet now at a whopping two coaches,it's time to find a head end car or two.

This combine from PSC was a steal,but it's filthy,and needs a few pieces replaced.

I gave it a good soak in acetone,with no effect at all.If any of you have any suggestions,I'd love to hear 'em.

Have a great weekend,

Mike

[ROBERT PETRICK]

As it has done every day for the past forty years, a sturdy FMC boxcar earns revenue for the Stratton & Gillette Railroad by hauling 50-pound bags of sugar from the beet processing plant in Lovell, Wyoming to the Craft Candy Company in Billings, Montana. Dentists in five states have put their kids through college thanks to the efforts of Craft and S&G. Keep up the good work fellas.

Robert

[Wolf359]

Nice photos everyone. Kevin, it's nice to see the progress you've made on your layout. I'm happy for you. That Gorre & Daphetid drover's caboose reminds me of a Colorado Midland caboose. tbdanny, that outside-frame 2-4-0 is beautiful! Is it a scratch-build, or a kit-bash? Either way you do great work!

tbdanny

I've finished off the build of my new no. 3, an outside-frame 2-4-0.  The original no. 3 became no. 7.

 

[HO-Velo]

Kevin, Thanks for the WPF start-up and views of the action taking place upon your stage.

Nowadays I'm even more appreciative of the delightful diversion that WPF always provides.  Thanks to all the contributors and viewers, wishing everyone a safe and happy weekend, regards, Peter

["JaBear"]

Skip by Bear, on Flickr

[tankertoad135]

Say L'il Timmy, per Ed's message, Bill Brillenger did decals for that Mt Hood lokey I showed last week, and he did a very nice job on it.

Again, lots of top notch items and I love those "Q" greybacks and that Hartford and Slocum IPD boxcar surely is bright!  I loved standing trackside during the IPD era.  Many colorful schemes rolled by.

Here is my contribution for the week; a Front Range boxcar (sure do miss that company) done up with Champ decals.  When I saw this decal set, I hadda order one as it was so well done!

And here is a second one done back during the Bicentenneal celebration in '76.

[SeeYou190]

Thank you to everyone for the positive comments on my scenery progress. I will be posting another update on the layout segment project over in the layout construction forums this afternoon.

Ed: The dusted off EMD Demo unit sure is an eye-catcher. Your link for those custom decals has been bookmarked, and might come in handy.

Rick: Two more Great Looking freight cars as usual.

Garry: I will never get tired of seeing the scenes on your layout.

John: Nice to see even more progress on the layout. I love seeing the latest N scale STRATTON AND GILLETTE boxcar working for a living.

Harrison: Awesome to have another contribution from your layout. Just be careful, I hear there are bears about.

Allan: Those FP45s sure are handsome. When the STRATTON AND GILLETTE was N scale and set in 1968 I was really hoping Kato would release those models for me. Then I switched to HO before they did.

Danny: That small locomotive is gorgeous. It looks right at home on the turntable. Great picture and modeling work.

Timmy: Have fun with the decals. I used to hate "one-letter-at-a-time" jobs, but now I find them quite relaxing.

Bear: As always, I love the toons. Weekend Photo Fun always seems incomplete if they are absent. Thank you.

Mel: I agree about the LED lighting in your duece and a half. The micro bulbs look more pleasing in the photographs.

Mike: The repairs on the Brass Combination Car should not be too difficult. I have been resurecting a few older brass models with good results.

Robert: Thank you for sharing the picture of the SGRR Boxcar in service on your layout. These are my favorite pictures to see, and I got two in one week! How cool is that?

Wolf: The GORRE AND DAPHETID caboose is a box-stock model from Roundhouse way back in the day/ It is one of my favorites for certain.

Peter: Your alley scene looks like it has a thousand stories to tell.

Toad: I have to agree, that READING boxcar is 100% sharp.

I think I got everybody. There is plenty of weekend left... hop on the WPF train!

-Kevin

[L. Zhou]

I've been inactive for a while now due to life, but I finally got the time to take a picture of a crossover on my layout and stage a short train. A ol' Bachmann Santa Fe switcher crossing over the mainline with two boxcars. 

And that's my contribution for the weekend, folks. (Steel Alloy Ez-Trak isn't the best to work with, but if it gets the trains runnin', I'm all for it  )

[SeeYou190]

York1

Allan, your photo is a good example of what I want to do with a background. Your models fade into the backdrop. Good work!

I believe that is one of the Walthers Instant Horizons backdrops. A lot of people do not like these. I have used them on every layout I have built, including Randy's NORFOLK SOUTHERN, and two layouts for Scale Rails of Southwest Florida.

I love them, but it is a matter of taste. Many people are prefering the newer large format photo-realistic backdrops.

-Kevin

[Little Timmy]

SeeYou190

Timmy: Have fun with the decals. I used to hate "one-letter-at-a-time" jobs, but now I find them quite relaxing.

Yea, I usually find it to be "calming" ... no, really...... but then I did this .

Woops.

Of all the prosseses we go through  painting, gluing cutting, kit-bashing,weatherizing, ect ,.... I like decaling the best ! ( even when I stick my big- ol - thumb into the decal's before they set ...)

[Little Timmy]

tankertoad135

Say L'il Timmy, per Ed's message, Bill Brillenger did decals for that Mt Hood lokey I showed last week, and he did a very nice job on it.

I am looking into this .

I responded to your friend request...... no I didn't weatherize it....  L O L 

[tbdanny]

Wolf359

Nice photos everyone. Kevin, it's nice to see the progress you've made on your layout. I'm happy for you. That Gorre & Daphetid drover's caboose reminds me of a Colorado Midland caboose. tbdanny, that outside-frame 2-4-0 is beautiful! Is it a scratch-build, or a kit-bash? Either way you do great work!

 

 

tbdanny

I've finished off the build of my new no. 3, an outside-frame 2-4-0.  The original no. 3 became no. 7.

 

 

 

 

 

It's a scratchbuild, mostly.  I bought an outside-frame Forney chassis from the Bachmann spare parts department, and used it under the locomotive itself.  The rest was scratchbuilt, with spare parts and some 3D-printed details.

[Little Timmy]

RR_Mel

Great builds Timmy, check your Forum Mail

I did.

RR_Mel

I really don’t like LEDs for vehicle headlights but I guess they have stopped making the 1½ volt 1mm micro bulbs.

Yea, I don't like them either. Their too blue-ish to my eye. The older bulb's have that warm yellow-ish tone to them

[York1]

Little Timmy

Yea, I don't like them either. Their too blue-ish to my eye. The older bulb's have that warm yellow-ish tone to them

 

I just bought a bunch of 1mm warm white LEDs.  I really think they about as close to old regular bulbs that you can get.  Warm on the left, cool white on the right.

 

[RR_Mel]

I haven’t been able to find 1mm LEDs with a lens, could you post where you bought yours?.  I tried 3mm warm white LEDs and they were too orange.  I drilled a pair of 1mm holes in the 3mm LEDs and ran 1mm fiber to the headlights.

 

 

I plugged the 3mm LED into a micro connector with the fibers formed to line up with the headlights.

 

 

 

Mel

 

 

 

My Model Railroad   

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

 

Bakersfield, California

 

I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.