Memorial Day Weekend Photo Fun - May 22nd to May 26th, 2020

[Water Level Route]

Mel, outstanding Peterbilt! 

[mlehman]

Heartland Division CB&Q

Mike L .... It is interesting to read about your experinces with keep alive technology. Glad it is working well for you. Also, you posted nice layout pictures.

Even once I added wipers to all the Shay's 8 wheels, it could still be defeated if it rocked just right, it could lose contact. The "keep alive" acts more like a source of contsant power or one of those dead-rail locos with an onboarde battery.

RR_Mel,

The thing the wrecker needs is to have the rear of the boom lowered, assuming it's in travel position. Based on my experience working in a heavy truck garage, wreckers based on heavy duty truck chassis would have a light bar across the front of the wrecking boom apparatus that is just below the 13'6" clearance limit. Thus, unless you pose the model at a scene where the boom has been raised from the travel position to work the wreck, having the top end of the boom higher than the light bar is the wrong visual cue if the boom is in travel position.

[RR_Mel]

Thanks Kevin

I have a mold for tanks, I’ll cast a few and go from there.



I think I’ll try to come up with a wrecking crane too.  I have plans for having the wrecker helping a big rig on my highway.


Mel



 
My Model Railroad  
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
 
Bakersfield, California
 
I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
 

[SeeYou190]

Mel: The fiber optic lit clearance/marker lights are the ultimate!

If I can make a suggestion... the boom does not look correct for a towing/recovery vehicle, but it does look spot-on for a welding service truck.

If you added a couple of oxygen/acetelyne tanks and a gas powered welding rig I think you would have a remarkable model of an industrial service vehicle.

Welder's trucks are kitted out with home-made tool chests and material racks. It could be a real eye-popper.

Amazing work... you are remarkable.

-Kevin

[RR_Mel]

GREAT STUFF Guys!!!!

Keep the pictures coming!!!

I haven’t even touched my diorama yet, I was so deep into a couple of Peterbilts that I wanted to finish one of them before they finished me and that took up the entire week.

This little bugger ended up with four 0603 LEDs for headlights one 1206 for the upper amber lights (and some fiber optics) and three 1206 for the wrecker body, all using a bit of fiber optics.

 

I bought the wrecker off eBay and it didn’t have the wrecker boom so that is a Mel scratch build.

Before it was finished I think I must have disassembled and reassembled it 25 times, it fought me something terrible but I won!

I had to redo the fiber optics on the overhead four times because of the tight bend in the fiber.


Mel


 
My Model Railroad  
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
 
Bakersfield, California
 
I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
 

["JaBear"]

SeeYou190

Bear: You "tooned" the new guy... what an honor.

 

To be fair, Bills Golden Spike photo gave me cause for a big smile, as is. Though it was pretty easy to see how the Bear would, sadly, make a complete pigs ear of the occasion.

 

A Big thanks to everyone for sharing their really Good Stuff.

 

Cheers, the Bear.

 

Birds by Bear, on Flickr

[NVSRR]

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49932684701_a8a42bdfb0_h.jpg

A project that finally got pulled off the half finished shelf.  It also gave me an answer to a long standing decal issue.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49932996342_0028852a9c_h.jpg

Other side in better light

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49932172838_a04da52785_b.jpg

Paint is still wet on the inside

Shane

 

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Howdy .... I see a lot more activity today. Great stuff, everybody. 

....... 

Tim Capn Crunch .... It is good to see the layout is started. 

Michael .... The SP SD40 is nicely weathered. 

Mike L .... It is interesting to read about your experinces with keep alive technology. Glad it is working well for you. Also, you posted nice layout pictures. 

Little Timmy .... Your TCC gondola looks great. 

Peter .... Love the waterfront scene with switcher. Also, thanks for your kind remark pertaining to my county park scene. 

George .... The 70 ton switcher looks great. 

Paul .... The Big Boy looks good on the curve. 

 

 

[Little Timmy]

Had to help the wife in the garden today...... ( I have to . otherwise she will stop feeding me.)

Anyways,  the paint is "Dry enough" that I got a little bit done on the Turtle Creek gon.

if all go's "according to plan" , I should have the side's ready for paint this evening.

[peahrens]

I will add another two major projects completed just now.  I installed 6 mileposts and 2 whistle posts, all before the live golf starts!  It took extraordinary effort. 

The mileposts are Tichy, and I think painting the lower ends black improves them and distracts from the tendency to focus on them being plastic.  The whistle posts are CMA.  

I determined that the correct spacing of the mileposts for HO is 60.7'.  On my 5-1/2' x 9-1/2' layout, I'm not sure whether that means I should have only one, or none!  So I added six.  Only two whistle posts, due to only one road crossing area.

I just added them about a thumbnail out from the tie ends, but checked clearances with some equipment.  My Genesis Big Boy cab is what I think extends the most outside of curves, and a Walthers 85' streamline car seems to define the most inside curve overhang at the middle of the car.

IMG_7375 (2) by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr

[SeeYou190]

George: Your picnic scene really makes me yearn for the days of getting together with my in-laws for cookouts. I hope we will do it again soon.

Ed: That crane sure looks nice. I looked at the two joints closely where the boom sections fasten together, and the model is the best I have ever seen.

Tankertoad: The PICKENS boxcar sure looks like you did a good job applying the decals.

Garry: Thank you for commenting on the TURTLE CREEK CENTRAL cars. I completed these over a year ago. The I believe the TCC is the ficticious railroad that has the best prepared decal set.

Tim: It is nice to see another train layout has been started. I am literally counting the days until mine begins.

Michael: The SD40 looks like you did a fine job on the weathering.

Mike: Those flat cars are looking nice. Glad to hear that other cars will now be released for rervenue service.

Timmy: Sorry I ruined your construction schedule. My TCC gondola was built from a resin kit. It originally was going to have a different roadname, but the TCC decals were on my workbench. I measured them and saw they would fit between the side stakes perfectly. It was a moment of good luck.

Peter & George: Both of your custom painted switchers have simple and handsome paint schemes. Very nice!

-Kevin

[G Paine]

A Belfast and Moosehead Lake RR 70 tonner that I custom painted

Show me another diesel that is not EMD or GE

[HO-Velo]

Rick,  Thanks for starting the WPF, your GBW boxcar is extra interesting in both sight and story.

Garry and George, I really like how your swell holiday picnic scenes convey a comforting sense of fun and normalcy.

Ed, The H-10's show of massive machinery gets me to thinking about the 'heavy hitters' who maintained them.

Tim,  Good to see the start of a fun journey and great memories being made.

Ol' 2002 back in service after some weathering and axle work.

Thanks to all the contributors and viewers.  Have a good holiday weekend as we remember those who have fallen for our freedom.  Regards, Peter

[Little Timmy]

SeeYou190

And also... since we both love gondola cars:

Ok....... now you've done it !!!

I saw your gon and just HAD to build one just like it. So I dug this out of my "junkyard" and it will be in my paint booth in about 15 minutes.

I know , ... I have a short attention span. I have at least 8 other project's on the table right now. But, I just have to build a gon to match your's .

....... Hope your happy now ......

"Look what you MADE me do"  

 

 

[Little Timmy]

Motley

I just got done weathering the SP SD40. (using powders)

Nice job on the SD40 ! I "LOVE" anything SP, but I tend to weather my SP stuff a bit on the dirty side. ( not as rusty / crusty as my old timer stuff.)

I have heard people say that SP locomotives look like "Cinder Block's" after a few month's on the road, and I have some pictures ... somewhere , to prove it.

[mlehman]

Whoa, lots of great modeling and congrats to Tim and his dad for getting down on getting the new layout underway.

I've been away because there's been a lot of weeks where the work looked pretty much like this for too long...

Now that project's done.

Putting five idler cars in service allowing me to shift 5 6000-series flat cars back into the general freight pool, mostly hauling lumber from the mill at Rockwood. The idlers work mainly with the pole flats hauling extra length poles to the treating facility in Alamosa.

Thanks to some help from Larry Puckett's Oct 2019 MR DCC column, I managed to stuff keepalives into two of my smallest locos, including hacking the decoder on one to wire it. My Shay and little GE not only run over small faults in connectivity, they run better in general. Being small and light, I added wipers on all wheels and they generally ran well with some slight hesitancy at times. Adding keepalive changed all that, taking almost all the slight jerkiness away so they just run more confidently in general.

Some investments in technology have brought containerization to the narrowgauge, helping extend the life of this system by reducing shipping times while improving convenience and loss control.

 

[Motley]

I got another one for you all.

I just got done weathering the SP SD40. (using powders)

[CapnCrunch]

Dad and I get started building our layout.

Sorry, no model pics from me but there is already quite an array of excellent projects posted this Memorial Day weekend.  Great work everyone!

Tim

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

It's great to  see so much activity in this thread. I'll add comments to my earlier posts. 

Bear ...... LOL .... Thant is funny. 

Paul .... THanks for commenting. I like the village scene you posted.

Michael .... It is good to see you progress with your layout.

Little Timmy ... I liek the Turtle Creek Central boxcar.

Henry .... Thanks for sharing the video.

Kevin .... I like your TCC freight cars. 

George ... The park scene in your post is terrific. 

Ed .... The crane is imprssive. Thanks for the photos of some Good Humor trucks. I looked up the company's history, and they do have a picture of one like on my layout. 

Tanker Toad .... The Pickens boxcar looks great. 

 

I'm using a cell phone for most of my photos here. The picture I posted with the good humor truck was not well focused. 

Below is another picture of the Good Humor Ice Cream Truck, and it is more in focus. You can also see the picnic for celebrating a child's birthday. 

 

 

[tankertoad135]

My contribution: I had these Herald King decals forever and found a McKean PS boxcar in my collection and so - - - - - -

[Track fiddler]

Spike by Bear, on Flickr

 

Humour by Bear, on Flickr

 

Quote by the Bear.  "Quality ice cream is no laughing matter"

No it isn't.  The hardest thing was giving up my Blue Bunny pistachio almond after I lost my Nestle's Quik spoon the day I cracked my ribs jumping up leaning over the recycling bin trying to reclaim it. 

I never did get that almost 50 year old spoon back, that's why It was such a bad day.

Now Judy has got me on frozen yogurt in lieu of ice cream.  She says it's better for me and I don't argue.  It actually tastes pretty good.

 

 

TF

[gmpullman]

Hello folks,

Michael, I've been a Canon camera fan since '79. Always had good luck with their products. I'm sure you'll figure out the focus preferences pretty soon. I have several big SLRs but for most layout photos I like to grab the little Elph 340 that I got for my wife. It is compact enough to sit right into the layout without disturbing much scenery. As Paul points out, sometimes the focus points get confused and I have to put slight pressure on the shutter button and re-aim the view until I trick the focus point to "look" at something else in the scene. The camera gives two quick chirps when it thinks it is in focus.

The nice thing about digital photography is that you can shoot fifty frames and throw away 49 of them.

Timmy and Kevin have Turtle Creek covered  I like your colors on the box car, Kevin. Reminds me of a Burlington express car scheme I recall seeing.

Excellent picnic scenes, George.

Thanks, all, for the compliments on the NYC Mikado. Your feedback keeps me motivated 

Here's a new arrival I thought I'd share. 

Bucket1 by Edmund, on Flickr

I haven't found much information on the basis of this "Dolberg" bucket crane from Artitec.

Bucket by Edmund, on Flickr

Although following more of a European design I'm going to justify having one for use in North America just because it looks so neat.

Bucket2 by Edmund, on Flickr

Good Humor...

 

ACF9766-Humor by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr

ACF9764-Humor by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr

Fun Stuff!

Thanks to all for the great contributions this weekend 

Cheers, Ed

[G Paine]

Time for a cookout at the Fisherman's Memorial Park on the Boothbay Railway Village Layout

Getting the fire started, maybe too many cooks

Good eats and family time

Even the crows get a snack

[SeeYou190]

Allan: I think neatness in wiring is important, but not asd important as building it rugged from the onset. Mine has never been completely neat, but problems have been extremely rare.

Bill: It is great to see a new face in Weekend Photo Fun. Your switching layout looks like it will be a lot of fun.

Ed: Now THAT is a Mikado! It looks great. That thing looks like it is a true workhorse.

Garry: Thank you for the Good Humor explanation. I have never seen an ice cream truck made from a truck. All the ones when I was a kid were made from vans.

Bear: You "tooned" the new guy... what an honor. The way you lighten up Weekend Photo Fun is awesome. Thanks for the chuckle!

Paul: The little feed store really finishes off your scene nicely. You did a great job fitting it in.

Michael: Your new Canon Camera sure looks to be taking good pictures.

Timmy: The TURTLE CREEK CENTRAL is a true modern classic. All Model Railroaders should have at least one on their layout.

Here is my TCC 50 foot boxcar:

And also... since we both love gondola cars:

The weekend is just beginning... and Weekend Photo Fun is going great... plenty of time for more people to join in.

-Kevin

[BigDaddy]

Depth of field.  The pros use photo stacking software. Ken Patterson discusses how to do it and how it works at 13:30 into the vid.

I think Adobe photoshop also has photo stacking, probably worthy of starting a separate thread.

[Motley]

peahrens

 Motley

I just got a new Camera, its on Canon Powershot SX620, just trying to get familiar with all the settings. I'm having a bit of trouble trying to get everything in focus. The distant box cars are blurry, I read the manual and have it in Program AE mode with "infinity" for distant objects.

 Michael, I'm trying to get the focus issue refined myself, and have limited success so far.  Perhaps others can chime in who do well routinely.  I downloaded the manual for your camera to understand your options:

http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/2/0300023632/01/pssx620hs-cu-en.pdf

I think you may want to try something other than the "infinity" setting.  That is meant to have the back of the scene in focus (such as distant mountains outdoors) at the expense of the middle and front features.  I can't explain why the back of the train is not in focus (but the loco is).

You might experiment with a couple of things.  First, note on pg. 61 how "center" focus can be set, but you can use that to center on what you want focused, press the shutter 1/2 way to freeze the settings (focus, exposure), then recompose the picture and shoot.  That should hold the focus on the main part you want focused.  Try that with focus on the middle of the train and see how the loco and end of the train come out. 

If that helps, you may still be unsatisfied.  "Depth of field" limits the distance range of what is in focus.  So with focus on train middle, the loco may be unsatisfactory.  The depth of field varies with lens focal length, aperature (lens f/stop used with that photo), and ISO "film" speed.  You might note the ISO setting that was used with the prior photo, and f/stop.  You can change the ISO speed from automatic to a specific setting (pg. 55) when in AE Program ("P") mode.  If you double the ISO rating, the camera will choose a smaller aperature (higher f/stop number), which directionally helps the depth of field.  If you quadruple the ISO number, it will choose an even smaller aperature, again helping depth of field.  There is a tradeoff, however, in that as ISO number is increased, the pic will have more digital "noise".  So there is a compromise.  On your camera, if you double the ISO number, it may change the aperature (f/stop) and/or the shutter speed.  You may want to try that and note the camera chooses to adjust those 2 variables.  On my camera, I can set 2 of the 3 variables and see how the remaining will be chosen when I depress the shutter button 1/2 way and note the settings.

These things are more easily handled on a camera with more settings.  On my Canon mirrorless M50, I can use "aperature priority" mode to choose an f/stop, choose an ISO and see what that does to the automatically chosen shutter speed (lens opening timing).  If it gets below 1/30 second, I use the tripod.  I think I understand the theory, but am struggling to get the results that give me good depth of field and non-blurry pics.  Perhaps others can clarify.  There are lots of youtube videos on depth of field, but most are oriented to cameras with manual or aperature priority or shutter speed priority modes. 

 

 

Thanks Paul, I really appreciate the help. I will keep messing with all the settings you suggested.

[Little Timmy]

Great stuff so far guy's ! We have 4 day's to fill up this thread so, keep those picture's coming !

I have a  terrible time keeping track of cheering on  everybody at once in my post's  so I will just mention a few, ( this does NOT mean I don't like everybody's work.... it just mean's I'm LAZY , and dont want to do a bunch of typing.)

DTI406: That Green Bay car is  one "bright " car ! I like it !

Seeyou190 : I also have a LOVE for any gondola, and your's is a BEAUTY !

Peahrens: That's a lot of building's in a small space.... hope they all get along together. Your new store look's good ! I'm gonna have to find / build something similar.

Motley: Your BN SD60M look's "lonely" in that bleak wastland of foamboard..... hurry up and "plant" some tree's .

 

As for me, I am positive my wife has a few "to -do" thing's for me to acomplish over the next few day's . But , if I fake an "injury", I may be able to build some stuff for me too. So far all I did was this Tyco sound car I found in a thrift store for $4. It had been repainted.... badly.... so I took a few "liberty's" with the new paintjob.

A small setback, ... the decal's didn't like the solv-a-set, and they melted in 2 place's ..... so I will send it back into the "paint shop"  for a bit of a re-do.

Everybody keep up the good work, and we will see what else I can get on and back off the workbench before tuesday.

 

 

 

 

[peahrens]

Motley

I just got a new Camera, its on Canon Powershot SX620, just trying to get familiar with all the settings. I'm having a bit of trouble trying to get everything in focus. The distant box cars are blurry, I read the manual and have it in Program AE mode with "infinity" for distant objects.

Michael, I'm trying to get the focus issue refined myself, and have limited success so far.  Perhaps others can chime in who do well routinely.  I downloaded the manual for your camera to understand your options:

http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/2/0300023632/01/pssx620hs-cu-en.pdf

I think you may want to try something other than the "infinity" setting.  That is meant to have the back of the scene in focus (such as distant mountains outdoors) at the expense of the middle and front features.  I can't explain why the back of the train is not in focus (but the loco is).

You might experiment with a couple of things.  First, note on pg. 61 how "center" focus can be set, but you can use that to center on what you want focused, press the shutter 1/2 way to freeze the settings (focus, exposure), then recompose the picture and shoot.  That should hold the focus on the main part you want focused.  Try that with focus on the middle of the train and see how the loco and end of the train come out. 

If that helps, you may still be unsatisfied.  "Depth of field" limits the distance range of what is in focus.  So with focus on train middle, the loco may be unsatisfactory.  The depth of field varies with lens focal length, aperature (lens f/stop used with that photo), and ISO "film" speed.  You might note the ISO setting that was used with the prior photo, and f/stop and shutter speed.  You can change the ISO speed from automatic to a specific setting (pg. 55) when in AE Program ("P") mode.  If you double the ISO rating, the camera may choose a smaller aperature (higher f/stop number), which directionally helps the depth of field.  If you quadruple the ISO number, it may choose an even smaller aperature, again helping depth of field.  There is a tradeoff, however, in that as ISO number is increased, the pic will have more digital "noise".  So there is a compromise.  On your camera, if you double the ISO number, it may change the aperature (f/stop) AND/OR the shutter speed.  You may want to try increasing ISO and noting how the camera chooses to adjust those 2 variables.  Note: If you are using flash, the above gets a bit more complicated, as the camera may behave differently regarding shutter speed chosen, etc.  

These things are more easily handled on a camera with more settings.  On my Canon mirrorless M50, I can use "aperature priority" mode to choose an f/stop, choose an ISO and see what that does to the automatically chosen shutter speed.  If it gets below 1/30 second, I use the tripod.  I think I understand the theory, but am struggling to get the results that give me good depth of field and non-blurry pics.  Perhaps others can clarify.  There are lots of youtube videos on depth of field, but most are oriented to cameras with manual, aperature priority and  shutter speed priority modes. 

[Motley]

Wow there are some AWESOME looking modeling this Memorial weekend. 

Paul Ahrens that is an outstanding looking scene! Well done sir...

I just got a new Camera, its on Canon Powershot SX620, just trying to get familiar with all the settings. 

Here is a Walthers BNSF SD60M.

 

And finally made some time to install some switches, this is the left side where the Excel power plant will be.