Sorry to start this early gang but I will be out all weekend and I actually have something to post for once.
This week was a busy week. It started off by working on stripping my b&o work caboose and repainting and slightly weathering it. It needs a road name and some numbers but here is what I have so far.
I also worked on my rotary plow. It is an athern like the work caboose and was painted in great northern brown colors. It has seperatly applied grab irons and some light weathering as well. I converted it to a diesel rig with the addition of an rs-3 fuel tank underneath. It still needs a road name and numbers.(If you haven’t already guessed I am still trying to find my freelance name).
I also am working on my caboose fleet. I had an old white metal kit caboose that I cleaned up from the previous owner and have primed it and added kadee trucks to it. The other 5 I am stripping and repainting to a orange color as well as retrucking and weathering.
I also worked on my mdc climax. I stripped it from its wringling brothers paint scheme and have repainted it black and am now in the process of detailing it. Hopefully soon I can upgrade the chasis to a bachman 44 ton like geared steam has done. I also stripped the paint off my shay and have taken it completly apart to rebuild. I found some drive shafts on sale at micro mark that I am going to see if i can get to work for my missing driveshafts. I will detail it out as well and try to add a can motor and decoder to it.
Hi all: Hey Mike, It’s never a bad thing to start a weekend early. Your caboose and rotary plow are looking good. Jeffrey, I, too have been following your park project, very nice. Here’s my pics for the weekend. The yard switcher, SW-7 8584 is getting ready to pull MTs from Musser Supply Co. Meanwhile, in the coal yard, the guys are preparing to shovel some coal into the delivery truck. Looks like they’ll be at it for a while. An East bound local is on the main, headed by Alco RS-27 2408.
Wow, guys–early or not, it’s a GREAT start to the weekend.
Mike: I really like what you’ve done with the MOW equipment. Just reminded me that my own Yuba Pass is supposedly over 6000 feet above sea level. I guess I’d better get a rotary, LOL! That one of yours sure looks inviting!
Jeff: After you told me how you built the fence, I’m still kind of blinking in admiration. I really LIKE that park scene of yours. Great work!
Grampys: As always, your modeling is just superb! I love those fuel distributor scenes–obviously Muesser’s has got the market cornered, LOL! Lovely work.
Thanks for the kind comments guys. This is my first real project. I have a gp-40 in the works as well. It is getting metal grab irons, lift rings, metal horn, bell, gps antenna, radio antenna, sunshades and possible a beacon light. It will get a custom paint job once I figure out what the pine river falls railroad paint scheme is. Thinking Green and yellow like the chiago north western.
Thanks Mike, Tom, DJ and Garry. The scene is slowly coming together. There are still several things I need to get for it, but they’ll have to wait until I have the money.
Just a thought. What era and what connecting railroads does the Pine Falls connect with? A complimentary color scheme with its largest connector wouldn’t be out of the way. Reason I say this is that the little narrow-gauge railroad that served my home town of Nevada City had its only connection with the Southern Pacific in Colfax, CA, and even though it was the steam era, the NCNGRR adopted SP paint and lettering schemes for the most part–silver boiler fronts, Roman lettering–they even sent their little locos down on flatcars to the SP Sacramento Shops for the occasional rebuild. If CNW is your biggest connection, green and yellow would sound like a natural color scheme.
Okay, no layout photos right now, but something to let you all know that I am SERIOUS about re-doing the Sierra Buttes. It arrived a couple of days ago–across the street, accidentally–but it’s here. The Topside Creeper, which is going to allow me to lean up and over and FINALLY get those darned rubber rocks on the Buttes.
Don Z, I hope you’re watching, buddy! Now I don’t have ANY excuses![:P]
She’s just MADE for the job, and half of the neighbors with big trucks are already drooling and wanting to know if they can ‘rent’ her. Pardon the mess under the front of the layout, but frankly, people, isn’t that why we BUILD them so high, LOL?
Believe it or not, it folds up into a kind of teeny-tiny thing so that I can manipulate it pretty much where I want. Wow, I had no idea I made my mountains so HIGH!
I was think the same thing when I saw your pix. It looks pretty shallow between the track and the backdrop. But you did a great job adding visual depth to the scene.
I bought a Union Pacific SD70M, which I then installed a DCC decoder (no sound), so know I can MU it to my AC4400CW (UP) with sound and run small manifests around the layout ( which I am just finishing the ballasting and mountain). Ill put a video on youtube of them when the SD70M has sound.
Colin
PS: Ill try to get some pics of it up this weekend. Its Athearn Genesis btw.
Hi Ron and NittanyLion: Thanks for the kind words. It’s 22 inches from the train to the backdrop. The backdrop photos are from “Realistic Backrounds” by DQCI. My local HS in Manheim, Pa. carries them, but they are available from Scenic Express, as well. They measure 38"x13", but I cut the sky part off and mount them spaced out from the backdrop 1/4" with hot glue. BTW, these photos are of Pittsburgh, Pa. and the surrounding terrain.
Haven’t thought about connecting railroads. The wife likes green but I will have a couple N&W c-630 locos but I want a western mountainous and wooded pine scene. So it is still up in the air.
No matter how much I try to force myself to only see 22" it still seems like a lot more. It gives me some hope for the 30" depth of my layout. Although it appears that the different levels of height on your layout helps fool the eye.
Thanks for the backdrop lead. I’m planning everything out in advance and was looking for good looking ones that had the right feel. Given that I’m planning on putting myself in the Mon Valley a few miles south of Pittsburgh…
Here’s what I’ve been working on for the past couple weeks. It’s for highway overpass crossing over some tracks. It’s for the club I belong to, here in Bound Brook, NJ.
This is the humble beginnings of the project. It is completely scratch built from styrene and brass rods.
This is the area it’s going to be installed at.
I just painted it in the past day or 2. Here’s how it looks so far.
I don’t want to be the bad guy who rains on your fun, I just thought I’d give you (rs2mike), and others, some helpful ideas. Your boom tender or work caboose is a good start. If I were you I’d replace the spare wheel sets you have on the deck with some more prototypical ones. Real wheel set axle ends aren’t pointed like most model axles are. I made some fairly prototypical looking spare wheel sets one time using some old Tyco or Mantua rib back plastic wheel sets mounted on metal axles. I twisted the wheels between some sandpaper to “turn” down the tall flanges, pulled the wheels off the axle, enlarged the hole with a 1/16" drill and used some 1/16" Plastruct or Evergreen styrene rod for a new axle (I did this quite some time ago, so I may be wrong on the diameter of the new axle). I approximated the new axle length by roughly measuring across a truck frame. I painted them with some rust color like Floquil rail brown and/or rust. They should be blocked in better than what you have them now. I would also add more “junk” to the deck (short lengths of ties (used for cribbing crane outriggers and coaxing a derailed wheel back on the rail), short lengths of code 70 & 85 rail, some chain and maybe some empty oil drums from Grandt Line (http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/300-5041 They look better than the drawing).
I am amazed at the quality of input, both visual and verbal in this thread.
Tom, go git 'em. I hope you have a whale of a time continuing to scenic your layout. It’s a beaut.
Jeff, the park is coming along very nicely.
Grampy, what else is there to say except you have it cold. Congratulations.
Lastly, Mike, I like what you have done so far. It is turning out well.
I have been fooling around with the engine servicing area. I built a water standpipe from scratch using sprue and leftover kit pieces. I also had to file the conical business end of the standpipe nozzle, and then paint the whole thing after adding a wooden pull handle.
I also painted up the railings and concrete pit of the turntable today, and rusted up the spare wheelsets. The pointy ends will have to do for now.
