Well everyone it’s that time again…Weekend photo fun. Let’s see the good stuff again. Well from myself, I have two projects worth showing off (Besides decal work that I might post later), first off, we have my first ever scratch built HO scale rolling stock flat car, under construction. Styrene base and scale lumber floor-pre stained.
Obviously not attached yet.
Second, I present an update on the Shire Oaks Project I’ve been working off and on at for over a year- OVER HALF OF IT IS FINALLY SITTING IN THE GROUND!
Looks like more than a couple of parts came loose when you bumped the roundhouse. I can imagine how difficult it is to handle. Nice work on the flat car.
I did a little scratch building this week for my Galloping Goose 3 in 1 Roundhouse kit. I’m going to use a NWSL Stanton drive in the rear to power it. The problem is that the prototype was powered from the front and had a simple arch bar truck in the rear. The Stanton drive’s wheelbase is too long to use the sideframes from a regular arch bar truck. The prototype trucks had a 6 ft. wheelbase whereas my Stanton drive has an 8 ft. wheelbase. It is one I picked up on eBay on spec so it wasn’t ordered specifically for the Goose.
My solution was to scratch my own ‘extended’ sideframes. I made them a bit too long even though I measured several times[D)][banghead], but they will look fine. It was quite hard to place things exactly when doing the soldering.
Another weekend here already! Seems like they’re coming sooner than I’m ready [:D]
Thanks for getting things in gear, Jimmy. I don’t know how you find the time for all the projects you have going there!
That is some very intricate work, Dave! [Y] My experience with scratch-brass can be put into an HO thimble. Well done…
I was fortunate to have a few days off this week and I turned my attention to the long neglected blast furnace area of the layout. I had a tiny triangle of real estate and decided I wanted to have a building there.
This will have to do for a “Blower Engine House” since the large and nondescript Walthers structure by that name is currently in unobtanium land. Any resemblance mine has to the Red Wing Flour Mill is strictly coincidental.
Jimmy it is great to see somebody scratchbuilding for a change, have not done much of that, but a lot of kitbashing for me.
Dave, I do not ever want to have to do that kind of work, good job on it!
Ed, beautiful work on the steel manufacturing process models. Would like to see it sometime.
Rich, very convincing downtown scene, love the station!
I managed to finish a couple of cars this week!
Exactrail PS 4427 Kit, painted with Scalecoat II Reefer White and lettered with Oddballs Decals.
Con-Cor Greenville 60’ Boxcar Kit, changed the wheelbase from 41’ to 46’ to match the prototype, added A-Line Sill Steps, and extended Couple Boxes for the end of Car Cushioning. Painted the car with Scalecoat II Boxcar Red and lettered with Mark Vaughn Decals. The D&TS used these cars to haul bumpers from a plant in Monroe, MI or glass from Toledo, OH to various Ford Assembly plants.
Did a little more work on my New Haven C-425:
Installed most of the lift rings and the air intake rain shields, have to install the grabs where there is no decal interference and then off to the paint shop!
What a beautiful scene! Being a “born & raised” Chicagoan, the area is readily recognized. Dearborn station is especially nice, and the covered platforms look great. You really did a nice job on this… Now all you need to do is add trains to the new station.
It dawned on me that I’ve had trains running for over a year. Time to hold off on scenery and stuff and get the incline working! I built the structure out of styrene. You can see one piece of a girder bridge that was purchased. Due to layout changes, I couldn’t use it on the river crossings so they’re being used here.
A closer look with a piece of flex track down just for the visual. There will be two tracks. I’ll probably weather the ties pretty light to stand out from the dark steel and to differentiate these from the regular train tracks. This is not prototypical (this is “inspired” by the Duquesne Incline in Pittsburgh) but it’s easy.
Closer look. I’ll probably do more detailed weathering later, but this is good for now.
This is what a one minute weathering job looks like.
Dave, Those sideframes came out really well. Can’t imagine doing that myself…errr, I actually can imagine it, but it wouldn’t be pretty.
Ed, Wierdly enough, I was also hacking on another version of the Walthers loading rack (see below).
Rich, Beautiful panorama of the city scene. Great!
Tony, Lighting is so very useful in setting the scene (a couple of examples of mine below, too.)
Rick, Nice cars…but didn’t notice before you are a New Haven fan, too.
CFalls, Love that funicular.
In the first of several lighting escapades this week, I needed a powerhouse that fit for the Outlaw Mine, so came up with this to fit the small plot of ground next to it I carved out last week on a bump-out.
Here’s a pic at night after the “boilers” were installed…
Did some railfanning on the branch to Red Mountain.
Caught this ol’ coot bringing in some results from prospecting at Animas Forks.
Did some work on my Gramps loading rack at Snowden, adding lights and a roof. It snows a lot up there.
Now it’s easier to get a view of Snowden since I took out the “stumbling block” below it while doing my best Jawn Henry imitation.
There are always such great photos of great work here. Thank you all for posting (and comments to me). Sharing is one of the awesome things of this hobby, I have learned so much over the years just by seeing picture alone. That is part of the reason I share… Maybe I can pay it back to inspire…
Mike, Your night/ lighting photos have inspired me to get back to layout lighting. With so many projects on my bench , I do need to get all those LED’s off any way…lol And for that I thank you! [:)]
Glad to hear that you’ve found something to inspire your own work. One nice thing about doing lighting projects is that, while sometimes there are big projects, like the Outlaw Mine itself, there are also smaller projects, like the Gramps rack and the Outlaw powerhouse, that make great one-evening or even one-hour projects. I was just looking at several more things that need lit in Snowden, now that the rack is done: a warehouse dock; the pumps that feed the Gramps rack; the control building next to that…all are small projects that will take less than an hour a piece.
Like the paint scheme, and I can theoratically run them with my PC stuff, saying they had not been repainted after the New Haven was absorbed into the Penn Central.
Thanks for the comments on the truck side frames. The piping is amazing!
Rich:
The stations look good. I’m sure they will keep you busy with operations.
Tony:
The lights look great! I’m planning on having tons of lighting effects on my layout. I’m an LED nut!
Rick J:
Thanks - building the frames was easier than I thought it would be, except for the difficulty I had getting the wheelbase right on. Nice work as always. The C-425 is too new for my era but I admire the detail work.
Carnegie Falls:
The detail on the incline is excellent!
Mike Lehman:
More nice work! What the heck was the ‘stumbling block’ there for??
Garry:
Thanks. I appreciate your comments.
Guy:
I love bears! Just not quite that close!! (although I have been in that situation many times[(-D]).
Good question. It was part of the pad that the heater/AC sits on. The original furnace was one of those old school 50s contraptions. The new one is much more efficient and compact. There was roughly a foot that stuck out from the rest usellessly , taking up roughly half the aisle below Snowden. I set a small bookcase on it to keep people from stumbling over it, given I have visiting ops who might not be familiar with it, but then you had to siddle down the aisle sideways. So annoying no matter what.
I thought about raising the other half of the space, but then I would always be hitting my head on a duct that was above. It was either me or it – one of us was going down once I broke out the hammer. I did have a cheap diamond blade in my circular saw to notch a fracture line in it, which helped a lot. Banged away until I got the chisel between the slab and the floor and finally was able to lever up the biggest part of it.
I think I bested it, but my back isn’t so sure today. But the view is vastly improved and I can get by it just strolling in now. Next up, relocating the gas supply line to get past the water heater to the far end of Crater lake where the tie mill is. Some of my operators are, err, larger than me, and I barely can slip through. It’s either a diet or move the line if I don’t mind what I eat…[pi][^][dinner]
Wow, superior examples. Great for the imagination and me seeking to enhance my vision for my modelling, plus skills. I particulary enjoyed the Galloping Goose powering, piperacks and fully detailed scenes.
I’ve not posted here lately so will add a couple of modest items:
It was a fun little project to glue, paint and weather a Woodland Scenics “container” office. I got to try the RustAll product I noticed in a recent MR article on making and painting flat car sheet steel loads.
After almost 18 months I started building my AMB LaserKit #182 UP depot. I’ve been procrastinating but its absence is preventing going ahead with finishing scenery in the area. I’m pretty impressed with how well the wall pieces assemble. I’ll be priming and painting as I go.
