[:)] Well, I have just commissioned a string of 12 x H21 coal hoppers from Bowser and lined 'em up on the test track, hooked up a Spectrum K4 and let 'em roll.
Hey, they do look good. I ordered and have fitted 30-45 Coal Loads (ordered from English’s in Pa at t he same time I bought the hopper kits) and that makes them look really good. The K4 (probably not quite the right motive power for a coal drag, but I’m the Traffic Manager on my Division) and I was impressed with it’s pulling power - there have been some questions posed about Bachmann pulling power…no problems here, so I am a happy MRRer.
Now the next part will be the hard part…judicious weathering…just how bashed around would a 30 year old hopper get ? I’m telling you…on my railroad, not too badly…but now for the rust & grime…it’s not easy being a vandal to your brand spanking fleet !
What have you guys been building lately ?
Currently I am working on an almond processing plant based fairly loosely on a prototype in Sacramento, CA. It’s a kitbash, based on the Walthers “Lakeside Shipping” kit. The kit includes two buildings, a long, broad freight house and a two-story office. To more closely resemble the prototype, I mounted the two-story building on top of the single-story one, after cutting off the tops of each side of the freight house and remounting them on one end of the building with a new roof. The wooden loading dock will be replaced with a concrete dock.
It sounds a little confusing but hopefully I’ll have some photos when it is a little closer to being done.
Just finished respraying a Bachmann G-scale passenger car - bought it as a kit a few years ago, made a bit of a mess of painting it (a valuable lesson - never use automotive spray paints on plastic!), then rediscovered it while clearing out a cupboard. I’ve resprayed it in an approximation of C&NW green and yellow using Tamiya paint, and I’m planning to use the “Turtle Creek Central” decals from MR to letter it. I’m also working on an old 4-wheel G scale diesel switcher in similar condition - think this one’s an MDC Hustler though I’m not sure. It’ll be repainted in similar fashion and will then be passed for service as part of my large scale collection.
Just finished turning a 650 ton coaling tower into one that matches the prototype in Green River during the 40’s and 50’s. turned out pretty good
a few pieces of balsa wood some pieces from an old building.
I’m currently finishing up a couple of Walther’s Cornerstone kits, the wood water tank and the tower. The tank is pretty much out of the box, but the tower is actually two kits combined to make a longer building. Both are done in L&N colors. The tank is being pretty heavily weathered with the tower much less so. I had to build a new roof assembly for the tower and cover it with Cambell Scale Models roll shingles. That was the first time I’d used them. They work well.
The next model building project will be three Branchline heavyweight coaches in Southern Rwy. paint. All the information that has been posted on these kits should be very helpful.
Have Fun,
Tom Watkins
Everything right now it seems.
But I’m concentrating on my BB AC4400, finally got it back from the paint shop & I’m in the process of assembling it as well as the finishing touches ie, decaling & putting the railings on.
Next on the assembly line is my newly aquired BB AMD103.
It now has to go to the paint shop, I have to order the decals & then finish building it.
After that, hopefully find enough time to continue to lay more track.
Gordon
Working on drawing plans for a few buildings I’m scratchbuilding, hope to start on them in the next few weeks.
Also need to finnish up my new control pannel and wireing, and then finnish rebalasting the track. Hew boy, this list is longer than I thought!
Noah
Just about finished on the Yuba River Viaduct, which is two Microscale tall viaducts joined together, only on a 34" radius curve. Never built a viaduct before, so it was VERY time-consuming, but luckly, those Microscale kits are designed to go together extremely well. Now I have to cut in a Mircroscale 50" girder section at the east end of the viaduct to span two lower-level track sections (sure, plan ahead, right?) then get the viaduct into place and start running the trains over it. After that, I’m thinking of getting one of the new Yardmaster 80’ pullman kits and putting that together. Saw a completed one at my LHS last week and talk about drool-inducing!
I started my adult life in the Air Force. And now am integrating a military
training area into my layout. It does not take up alot of space but makes
a point. I model what I know and this is one of those things.
I build very cheap structures and kitbashed here and there to achieve my
look. I also found a set of people ( 100 to be exact ) all in the same pose.
Standing at attention in formation in front of the barracks and being yelled at
by several Training Instructors(the Army refers to them as Drill Sergeants)
as they wait to march. When all is done with that I plan on constructing a
yard scene.
i just finished a couple of non-dynamic C&NW SD45’s, a C&EI E7, and a BN GP39E (ex SOU high nose GP30 with new cab)
next on the list is 3 UP and 1 NS flared radiator SD70M’s with the phase 2 cabs, and 3 SP GP39’s.
one of these days i will actually get more work done on my layout, but i am having too much fun building diesels[:D]
finish detailing my NS Athearn GP-38, had a problem with Microscale decals,they only give you 2 numberboard decals,boy that torqued my flute!
I’m currently working on a chassis from Hobbytown of Boston for a ATSF GP50
For my latest personal project, I am finishing my B&O coal drag (late 40s-50). The hoppers are P2K war emergency and steel rebuilds. I stopped @ 45 cars w/ some C&O mixed. Maybe not exactly a prototypical train, but I try to keep the motive power close. The hoppers give me a good reason to run the Stewart ABBA F-3s which will be numbered in B&Os origional insane numbering system. Additional power are P2K SD-7s and GP-7 and 9s. A fellow club member is quite an artist with his castings and loads(MotrakModels@beld.net) which the train is loaded with. I have just finished weathering all the hoppers some fairly heavy. I usually weather all my equipment but each time it comes to doing my engines, I cringe when that airbrush is pointing at some of my favorite engines- needless to say the Fs only have very light grime and streaking on sideframes and fuel tank/ skirts. I plan to end the train w/ a B&O wagontop caboose one from the BOHS store. Not decided which particular one of the many offered. Any suggestions out there?
Now for the club project I have been working on. One leg of the layout is in the scenery phase, and like some we have been looking at benchwork w/ safety screening for some time in these areas. Bridge abutments and basic contours are done using unical over wire screen w/ the top layer of plaster dyed with a dry masonry product. Various industries and the engine facility are being worked on also. I don’t even want to think about the Bowser turntable- many have already taken their shot at it- It is really a piece of#*!!# in my mind but the pit is installed, will just have to rebuild the bridge. Well at least the scenery at the end where we have a creamery surrounded by rolling hills and farm is about 90% complete. Really wanted to finish before our fall open house in 3 weeks. Maybe if I quit my day job and move in to the club, ya right. No sense rushing only to be unhappy with it later.
Bob K.
Right now the major projects I have going on are building and detailing an SD90 from a Railpower shell, and working on a modern grain elevator complex for a Free-Mo module that I plan on putting together.
well i haven’t been doing much with the trains as of late. my weeknights consist mainly of working out after school, going to work at 4, coming home at 9 and doing homework, going to bed at midnight. leaves no time for the railroad. my weekends are going out friday nights, sleeping till noon saturday, watching football, going out at night, sleeping till noon sunday, watching football and doing homework. again no time for the railroad.
half the money i make in tips at work each night go into my train show envelope and the other half goes to my extra ca***in. hopefully by the begining of november i’ll have over $100 to spend.
i’m looking at ebay to see if there are any good deals i should look into. also looking at Walthers, maybe going to buy a BNSF or NS GP40 loco. i have 3 kits that i need to get together and my grain elevator to build yet. hopefully i’ll be able to find some buildings as well that i can put on my layout. need the ADM elevators, also need some turnouts so i can make a mini yard on my layout.
If I ever have a layout large enough, I plan on modeling Castle Air Force Base (unfortunately closed).
Right now I am working on a concrete terminal, grain elevator, lumber mill, oil refinery, tomato processing plant, and mini-mill. I have been working on some for years while others I started today. The oil refinery has Walthers North Island Refining (out of production) as the starting point. Most of this will become the crude distillation unit (atmospheric). I plan on scratch building a hydrotreater, hydrocracker, fluid catalytic cracker, alkylation unit, delayed coker, and maybe a gas plant. The mini-mill is a Walthers Tri-State Power Authority with a scratchbuilt 30"x12"x6" (high) rolling mill. The lumber is a combination of Pikestuff buildings and Walthers Lumber Mill Outbuildings. The tomato processing plant is Pikestuff buildings and some scratch built process units (boiler, hot breaks, cold breaks, evaporators, and steam peelers).
I am also working on repairing an Athearn F7A that I have had since I was a kid that got damaged, years ago.
I’m working on a mold for some prototype tunnel portals.
I built three N scale IHC Victorian row houses last night, including kitbashing two of them with lover heights and more windows. Today I’ll probably start decalling a string of six HO freight cars and six N scale cabooses that I painted over the weekend. By the end of the week, I hope to get a start on drilling holes into the boiler of a Oriental Powerhouse USRA light 2-8-2, so I can start superdetailing it.
I’ve always got SOMETHING cooking on the modeling pile, especially now that the weather has turned south!
Reworking a P2K E6 into a Burlington E5. The fluting to match the Q’s streamlined cars looked like a problem until I looked through Evergreens’ product list. Found a corrugated siding that looks great if you sand the backside down almost to the see-through point. Am reworking the truck journals and adding grab irons then its off to the paint booth. More later!
I am building conifer trees. Skads and hordes of conifer trees. Some of them are tall, some are very short, most of them fall somewhere in between these extremes. My layout will no longer look like a logged over wasteland. The trees are coming. Soon. Maybe a little later. Maybe next year. But the trees are coming.
Tom