I have never initiated this thread, so I will take the opportunity now. I have one photo that is acceptably clear, but I definitely need to get down to some serious photos to do my layout justice.
Looks great! The thread is a wee bit early though, but it should work out fine. Hopefully I will get some pics in, but they will have to be fashionably late!
beegle55
Well it’s already Saturday here[swg] That gorge looks very good!
Mike
Nice work, Crandell! [:)][tup] Can’t wait to see more pics…
Tom
Well I am just totally impressed! Are those background mountains painted on or did you build them? And the rocks over on the right look great also, how did you do them?. You’ve been holding out, haven’t you! Your photo looks like it only needs a little more light on it, perhaps a couple of those el cheapo work lights with the ‘clamp to anything’ thingys would work just fine. I like to clamp them onto the back of a chair so I can move them around freely.
JaRRell
Wow – gorge-ous! [:-^] Nice work, Selector.
The bridge is awsome Selector! Here are a couple of shots of what I’ve been working on. It’s an Atlas C40-8W in Conrail paint that I am weathering and “patching” to a NS road number. So far, I have blackened all the grills, faded the blue paint, replaced all the stock pilot details with Details West parts, and added the decals for the number patch. Next comes weathering the frame and trucks and then she will be ready for reassembly.
Keep those pics coming guys!
Gee, guys,…[:I][:)]…yer makin’ me blush! Thank-you for your kind comments.
Yes, I manufactured everything you see except for the tracks, the few pines and the train items. The trestle is cedar stripwood “dyed” with creosote oil because it was something I wanted on the layout…a given. Close examination of it, if it can be seen in the photo, will show that it is not fully prototypical because the bents have single posts in the upper layer. I thought the whole would look a bit busy to have the usual frame construction in such a low trestle. I enjoyed making it, and would recommend that every modeler take a crack at a scratchbuilt trestle.
JaRRel, you are quite right, the picture needs more light, and a learned hand on the only camera I had at the time. It is an aged Pentax SP-1000 on which you may have tripped once or twice in a camera shop. It has the standard lens, and a rudimentary light meter which I used to get the needle framed between the lines with the aperture stopped fully and the timing near 1/16 second. I hand-held the camera while leaning over the yard, and the rest you see… [%-)]
I painted the backdrop with el cheapo acrylics and a half-inch wide artist’s brush. First came the sky, which I tried to lighten toward the horizon…let’s just say you had to be there. Then, I merely free-handed the brush to create the horizon/mountain tops and filled in below with different mixes of greens/blue/yellow, etc. If you can detect what appear to be individual tree “spots” they were purely serendipitous. I had not bothered to wipe the gyproc after pouring/blowing ground foam onto the very steep hillsides in the foreground (a necessary feature for compression/perspective and getting wider curves and more mainline). Some of it stuck where it had blown and my spray gluing merely
Here is my entry for the weekend. This is what my roundhouse complex looked like back in November:
Here it is as of Thursday. I just need to detail the turntable pit:
[:D]Keep up the good work Selector!! Excellent Roundhouse
I was hoping to have my whole industrial area done so I could post a lot of pictures but these are two of my brewery complex:
The structure sitting on the coach yard tracks in the second photo is Walthers Sterling Consolidated Dairy which will be position on the inside of the curved tracks in the foreground. When that is done and the pavement and ground cover put in, the whole industrial district of my layout will be read for photos. Those of you with keen eyesight might notice that the coaches in the yard are lettered for the Santa Fe. I haven’t gotten around to relettering them for my New York, Binghamton, and Western Railroad.
Excellent work on the engine terminal, ezielinski. It looks well thought out. I’m guessing that is the Walthers 90’ turntable. I have the 130’ TT. You’ll want to keep that pit very clean because even a small bit of ballast can stop the bridge from rotating if it gets in the cog teeth. I see you have the same sanding and diesel fueling facilities I have on my layout. Great minds think alike.
As a newbie to this site and the forums I have to say that the “weekend photo fun” is my favorite thread! It is really fun seeing what everyone is working on.
Thanks for sharing!
MO
tonight i finished up (for now [:D]) the p&le sw1500 i’ve been working on…
roster shot:
p&le 1585 pulls three empty hoppers from the edge of the layout towards the mine:
I didn’t know you were so far ahead, last I saw was the benchwork and splines I think. I guess I spend more time across the street[:D]
Looks great Crandell!!
Ken
Crandell, that is nice painting on the backdrop. I also thought it was “real”.
ezielinski, nice job on the roundhouse. I have the same old style one so yours will be inspiration to me.
jecorbett, that creamery is real nice too. Again, I have same one but not yet started … so many things to do and not enough time.
I have been busy laying cork and track on my new benchwork. This temp bridge put in place to finish the first mainline. Yeah, I know. Egads! It’s 3 ft to the concrete and no safety rail !
Regards,
Hey Kevin
How did you fade the paint on the Conrail? Is it just a lighter overspray??? Kevin
A heads up when you get around to the main building. The two long bases that are laid end-to-end have to be trimmed to match the length of the long walls. That is in the generic directions for the Walthers modulars but not in the plans for the dairy building. Those instructions do show you where to trim the base and the roof to fit the annex, but rely on you reading the generic Walthers modular instructions for trimming to fit the long walls. My advice is to measure the base and long walls carefully before cutting to make sure you trim the correct amount. The old advice of measure twice, cut once is certainly appropriate when you build this kit.
One other thing. There are three double wall sections on the sprue with the large loading dock door. They appear to be the same as the other double wall sections used all around the building but if you look carefully, there is no center pilaster. The double windows do not fit in those walls either. You have to use single windows. I’m not sure where they intended for these to go. It may show in the instructions some where but if it does, I missed it. I put two of them above the loading dock door and the third around the corner where the single third story wall is above the roof of the main section.
Some very fine work on display already. I love seeing the before and after shots, the roundhouse is really great. Selector, the bridge looks superb in its sceniked location.
I have been working on a problem area. I have a narrow layout section that has the entrance to the mine area. I have been really struggling with how to cover the backdrop join. So here is the effort. A slag pile hand drawn with pastels, various photos to give some distance and a scratch built fence. Toothpicks, bridal veil and wire. 36" of fence cost pennies.
That, sir, is awesome! I love the faded blue paint! Did you do it with an airbrush, or some other technique?