Here is an opportunity to showcase any recent project or layout progress or to simply post a photo or two of your favorite railroad-related subject.
Hello, Again!
I’m guessing many of us have turned some of our time and attention to fair-weather activities. Still, there’s always room for plenty of photos here, even something from the past.
I have finally jumped back in to the roundhouse project after getting distracted by some other quite unrelated model railroad projects.
Thanks for starting us out Ed and thanks for the humor this morning Bear!
I managed to get a couple of cars done this week.
Accurail 40’ Plug Door Boxcar kit, removed the cast on grabs and sill steps and replaced them with wire grabs and A-Line Sill Steps. Painted with Scalecoat II Reefer Orange and Oxide Red then lettered with Herald King Decals. Car was owned by MDT (NYC Reefer Arm) and leased to the Reading in the mid 50’s. It’s primary use was for the hauling of banannas from Port Richmond to points inland.
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Kadee 50’ PS1 with Hydroframe Cushioning Kit, painted with Floquil C&NW Green and lettered with Dan Kohlberg’s Decals. Car built in 1963 and used in General Freight Service.
Still working on the Railyard Models PC G47 Gon, have installed all the rod quides, rods, and slack adjuster to the underframe, will be moving to the grabs and ladders next.
Casey, Great Photoshopping, looks real. I’ve got no talent at all using Photoshop.
Larry, nice switcher!
I finally broke down and went with round two on my Heavy Weight Coach interiors. I had made molds of an IHC coach interior many years ago and the seat spacing didn’t match the windows in the Athearns. I cut them up and spaced them correctly and they look much better.
Fantastic photos, everyone! I really look forward to this thread every week.
Mel, those wires behind the diaphragms remind me that I had a set of Athearn heavyweights that I lit the same way a few years ago. The baggage car had wheel wipers and a supercapacitor, then all the coaches were connected in series. Didn’t think to add pots to adjust the brightness, that’s a really nice touch-- but then I never got around to the interiors besides lights, anyway.
I’ve spent the past month ballasting and laying foundations for scenery. Here’s a shot of Nell crossing the creek trestle, spotting boxcars.
Ed, Thanks for opening the WPF, to say your roundhouse is illuminating would be an understatement in more ways than one.
RDG Casey and Allan’s shots have me thinking “Heavy Metal Thunder.”
Ed guessed correctly, at least in my case as out-door activities and home maint. tasks have taken the forefront. But regardless, my streets and sidewalks are nearer fruition by following L. Mindheim and other’s advice of trying to spend some time on the layout each day, even if a small amount.
Thanks to all the contributors, Happy Springtime and Regards, Peter
I love WEEKEND PHOTO FUN! Thanks for a great start. It was a little slow last week, but this week is looking muck more promising.
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Ed: Those roundhouse lights look great. When I finally get around to building mine I am going to need to do something like that to help with the “through the backdrop” illusion I am going for.
Bear: Funny, too funny! When are you going to add captions to one of my photos? I am feeling left out. [:)]
Rick: I love that GM&O boxcar. The lettering on GM&O equipment has always been among my favorites. Arched lettering alwayts looks so good.
Casey: That action shot looks very good.
Larry: It is astounding how such a simple paint scheme looks right on a switcher.
Mel: Nice work on the coach interior. I have a string of Rivarossi Heavyweights with lighting and interiors, but one of the three coaches has the wrong interior in it. I hope I can find one somewhere.
Phil: That locomotive sure has a lot of character. The doghouse looks almost out of place being so large. I love it!
Terry: Lighted drumheads sure add a lot to passenger cars. The STRATTON & GILLETTE has a “name train” called the COMET EXPRESS. Maybe one day I will get a custom lighted drumhead made for it.
Allan: The picture of the PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD passenger train looks good.
Peter: That station wagon brings back memories. When I was young my dad had an Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser that looked a lot like that.
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I only finished a couple of Athearn Blue Box cars this week. The kind of project you can take with you to hotel rooms and work on with a portable paint and tool kit. These will find new homes on display layouts somewhere.
A few other fellows here have built the same kit. It is very well engineered and the parts fit exceptionally well.
I had an existing Heljan roundhouse which this Walthers structure will be replacing. At the time I built the Heljan the Walthers was not yet available.
Below is a photo of the assembled floor with the additional parts scattered about.
I was indeed looking at this model wondering if it would fit my Jouef turntable which has 9 degree spacing. I plan for 9 or 12 stalls. Is the Walthers model easy to modify ? The pits I have with the turntable are very nice but I don’t want to get involved in heavy kitbashing… especially when I consider your results.
The Walthers and the Heljan are both 10° track centers.
The one degree discrepancy would certainly be difficult to correct. You would have to shave off a small amount of the edges of the floor, roof, back walls and door frames. The door frames would be especially tricky as there’s not much material there.
Perhaps someone has an idea of how to modify this or suggest an appropriate roundhouse with 9° spacing.
Thanks for getting this going plus all the interesting examples.
I can show some progress on preparing 2 cabooses for UP service. I think one was a Roundhouse kit and the other an Athearn where someone had drilled 2 lantern holes in the sides.
The real story on these is learning how to properly airbrush, how to fill imperfections (Squadron putty), how to make sanding sticks, the better kinds of masking tape, etc. The end result will not be as important as how far I can come up the learning curve. With enough progress I will return to my IHC Pacific project, where I paused when the gloss coat for decalling revealed that I definitely needed to learn proper airbrushing before continuing.
This is so exciting. I finally have something for wpf.
I’m working on a scratch-built frieght house and crane for my team track. It is loosely based on this kit, but as you can see, this is clearly a European design.
Since my layout is set in Northern California in the 1890’s, I can rationalize that the immigrant contractor that built it built it the way he knew. But I got semi-bullied into scratch building something that both geographically and era prototypical for my layout.
So I got out my popcycle sticks, mini table saw, and Chopper and built this platform.
It has the same foot print as the kit because I designed the layout with the kit in mind. I did modify it in three ways. I combined the platforms. I made the platform taller so that it lines up with the door of a box car sitting on roadbed and track. And I changed the height of the recieving docks so that they work for freight wagons instead of 1930’s Lorrries.
From the kit I plan on using the crane itself, the doors and the roof. I haven’t checked the detail pieces carefully, so I may salvage some of those as well. I have windows from another project.
This is still in a rough state. It still needs to be filled, sanded, painted and weathered. I got the styrene I’m using for the freight house this afternoon and hopefully, I’ll have a completed model by the end of next week.
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on Flickr
