Wow, 11:38 am est time and no one has started WPF? Well, I don’t exactly have any pretty shots, but I have been busy working on the layout this week, and weathering freight cars.
First off here’s a BC Rail. that green paint just refused to fade, but the third application of clear cracked the lettering (first time that’s ever happened), so I called uncle. I also weathered another boxcar, but don’t have any close ups, although both pose in the next series.
Alright, enough with the weathering stuff, let’s get down to the progress pics. I’ve been using paper towels soaked in joint compound, as my dad still has a lot of joint compound left over from when he scraped the popcorn finish off of the ceilings and repainted them.
Overview of North Branch:
Overview of Engine servicing/RIP (opposite side of layout)
Beginning of the transition scene (to the left is the lake bend)
Lake Bend:
Now to North Branch. Here’s a view of Main Street:
Here’s the team track, and a great view of the other boxcar:
I just noticed this too and I’m glad I checked back before starting it myself. Nice work on your layout!
Here’s some light switching:
An added contribution this week is my very first video tour of my layout. There’s still a good deal of scenery work to do and my backdrops look pretty shabby at times. I also used a cheap video editing package (MS Windows Movie Maker) which gave me a hard time rendering consistently smooth transitions between shots. So there will be a few rough cuts. Enjoy.
thanks you sir, and nice shot and video. I use windows movie maker for my own videos, and while it is limited the cut tool and video transitions available can work in symphony. Here’s an old video of mine. No sound (I’m hoping to try sound dubbing soon), and the trains are like supersonic rockets, but I did manage to cut the clips and line up transitions. Another trick is to use titles in between slides, like “Train X is approaching the first tunnel” or something.
Continuing scenery on the module. At some point I’ll be ripping up the mainline and replacing the track with flex track (minimize railjoints) and reballast as the prototype scene actually had ballast rather than the dirt that was employed on some branch lines.
Here are a few pictures: I finally was able to get to basement while still recovering from my hip replacement surgery. Everything going well.
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This is an Athearn Railbox style car I painted and lettered for the Sabine River & Northern. I substituted a Details West Cushion Underframe for the Athearn Frame (because I could not find it!!). Decals are from Herald King. This is one of the railroads owned by the Forest Products Division of the Owens-Illinois Co. of Toledo, Ohio. I already posted a picture of the Marinette Tomahawk and Western and have to finish the Valdosta Southern car (If I can find it!!). I did these cars as I was born and lived in Toledo for my first 32 years.
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I also used Windows Movie Maker for years until I upgraded to an HD video camera, the files from which MSWMM couldn’t process without conversion, and on my old laptop would export laggy video. I switched to CyberLink PowerDirector.
Hi folks. Trick back has had me virtually bed-ridden all week, so what I offer now is a shot I took a couple of weeks ago while I was more mobile. Nice work here as always. With luck this weekend I’ll weather that container mover and possibly the containers themselves. Cheers.
MAbruce - what did you use to form your rock ledges? My first attempts aren’t awful, but yours are more like what I had in mind. Also, son just got things hooked up so we are on satalite link, yours is one of the first videos I’ve been able to watch without waiting for an hour or so. Good going, like anything else in this hobby, your video quality will improve as your scenery skills already have.
Thanks. The larger rock walls were from plaster molds made from crumpled aluminum foil. The smaller ones were from woodland scenics plaster rock molds. There’s also some horizontal strata rock walls that were made from layers of Pergo whisperwalk (a type of pressed paperboard) which is similar to stacking acoustic ceiling tiles.
The plaster rock casts were painted by using various washes of acrylic paints (Gray, black, burnt umber, and forest green).
I bought a Panasonic ZS3 because of it being a very successful (and one of the first) still/video hybrid cameras. In addition to being a very solid still camera (with 12x zoom!), it shoots HD video with stereo sound.
While it shoots in both AVHCD Lite and Motion JPEG (.mov), I found the MJPEG (meant for computers) a pain to work with while AVHCD (for TVs and not handled by most computer editing software) was actually easier. PowerDirector 8 was a $70 download.
I picked up a Canon 10 - 22mm wide angle lens yesterday, and decided to see how it does with the layout…
2-6-6-2 #326 at the head end of a coal drag going through Hopewell Junction.
Couple shots of the Erie B3 Steamshovel with the coal drag behind it. This is not where she will normally be on the layout, just waiting to have the Limestone Quarry ready for her.
And finally a shot of the old wagon being loaded at the Freight House.
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. Regards Jon.
