Weekend Update 1/20/2008

[UP_Phill]

Nearly completed all my Tortoise installs as well as the installation of my Soundtraxx programing booster.

Behind panel.


NCE Switch-8 decoders.


Underneath the rear of the layout.


Finally have my home made curved turnout installed.

[TrainCat2]

Very neat and professional job on the wiring. I like the use of junction blocks to isolate the wiring sections in the first photo.

[Dave V]

Very nice, Phill!  Looks very neat and professional.  That's the way to do it.  Oh, and that turnout looks awesome!

Here's another shot of my PRR H10sb I reboilered last weekend:



Here's another look at the mods required to fit a decoder (in this case, a TCS M1 under the electrical tape) and to fit the narrow modified Minitrix K4 a boiler/firebox/smokebox:



This weekend we actually had some snow in North Carolina (no, this ain't Pennsylvania so it actually makes the news!) so I had lots of modeling time.

I took a new Walthers GSC flat lettered as a Pennsy F41 (front, nice little car, so I can forgive the incorrect deck for the PRR F41) and painted up and weathered the deck to look like wood.  I also made a load of pipes from styrene tubes. 

The other flat (rear) is an Athearn flat also representing a PRR F41.  The load next to it is a slightly modified Hay Borthers Garage load.



Two obviously different cars representing the same car class and number series?  The proto police are probably speeding to my house with a warrant right now...!

[John]

I have been fidling with some bridges all weekend and last .. This is an area I cut the temporary benchwork out, and when Lee visited last week, he brought me the bridge girders, so could finish ..

Still lots of work to do, but there is some progress.

Just a hint, you only need to use the girders on the front side. On the back side, cut some styrene from a House For Sale sign, the same size, and hit them with black paint

[img width= height=]http://lh5.google.com/acsxfan1/R5N-j3tiN5I/AAAAAAAACnI/PvLMGwHAiEo/s400/IMG_2621.jpg[/img]

[img width= height=]http://lh4.google.com/acsxfan1/R5N-rntiN6I/AAAAAAAACnQ/7B7xheudzsI/s800/IMG_2628.jpg[/img]

[img width= height=]http://lh3.google.com/acsxfan1/R5N-vXtiN7I/AAAAAAAACnY/T1tGkm48Utg/s800/IMG_2631.jpg[/img]

Still lot of work to do in that area, including bridge piers, and sand / mud bottom, the pouring water

[up1950s]

Casey's get some steam

MP 2-6-0 modified with that  MP vandy tender


MP 4-4-0 stock


MDC 2-6-0 with a MP cab . I found out yesterday that Bob S on the invision board had already done the same thing , but I was unaware of it . He has some of his mods there for those interested .

[ljudice]

No photos, but I've almost finished subroadbed for the revised layout. I have also roughed in some of the major scenic foundations. I am very happy with the reduced benchwork (I took out about 20-30%) - this thing looks finish-able now!

Lou

[shark_jj]

Excellent work guys.  I'm always impressed by the work being done in N scale steam.  I have enough trouble working with diesels.  Further to my posting on the PRR Allegheny Division, I have been continuing to scenic in the Horseshoe Curve area.  Progress is slow but steady.  I have also been trying a few experiments which I illustrate here.

Here is an overview of the Curve area, if you compare it to the shots in the Allegheny Division thread you will see more trees.  Lots more to go, but as I said, progress is slow but steady.  On the right side of the curve you can see a black area.  I have tried mixing Plaster of Paris with Tempra paint and black ballast to allow me to stick cinders to the side of the hill.  I'm still not sure if this is a tecnique that I am enamored with.  I am going to plant some trees and shrubbery around it on a temporary basis and see what it looks like.



I have boxes and boxes of lichen from the previous layout and I am reusing it for the background trees.  Doing the usual cover it in hairspray, dust on woodland scenics, etc.  This has resulted in a lot of debris both from the lichen and the ground foam.  I started to sweep it up and as I did its texture caught my eye, so I decided to see what it would look like as overgrown weeds along the right of way.  Here is a sample.  Nothing is glued in place yet.



I am also working on the area around Slope Tower.  Here is a scan of a photo taken by William Clynes and shown on page 32 of Volume One of Pennsylvania Railroad Color Pictorial by David Sweetland.  It shows the interesting texture found in these cuts.  The second photo shows the beginnings of scenery which will try to replicate this.  Again, I'm not yet sure if I like the outcome.  It is black paint, tan paint, plaster of paris mixed with tempra paint blown onto the black to give it texture, tan rocks, and tan ballast.  I saw in a thread by Tom Mann the outcome of using Highball Dirt, so I have ordered some along with some Brown Z Scale Ballast to try that and compare the looks. 

[GonzoCRFan]

I'm having a painting bonanza today. Already hit a pair of MT auto parts boxcars with brown that are destined to become CR X78s, and am applying the black walkways and pilots to a pair of HO CR SD80MACs and a N scale GP 38 and 38-2 that will go into the CR Quality scheme.

[RDG_Rich]

I am also working on the area around Slope Tower.  Here is a scan of a photo taken by William Clynes and shown on page 32 of Volume One of Pennsylvania Railroad Color Pictorial by David Sweetland.  It shows the interesting texture found in these cuts.  The second photo shows the beginnings of scenery which will try to replicate this.  Again, I'm not yet sure if I like the outcome.  It is black paint, tan paint, plaster of paris mixed with tempra paint blown onto the black to give it texture, tan rocks, and tan ballast.  I saw in a thread by Tom Mann the outcome of using Highball Dirt, so I have ordered some along with some Brown Z Scale Ballast to try that and compare the looks. 

You could try toning the browns down with a wash of black. On the scanned image, everything has the same tonal range which leads me to think that everything should be relatively the same color.

[central.vermont]

Well I am finally on my way to building my layout!!!!! With lots of help from my friends John Newick (aka Mec_Fan) Peter Speliotis and Carl Vankampen they made it happen. The last nine days my wife has been to Florida to see our new Grandson. This was the perfect opportunity too do most of the loud noises while the misses was out. Hope she wont mind some of the holes in the walls we made. ;D This layout has been in the planning stages for eight years, hope I got it right!!!

Below is just a couple of shots but there is a link also to all the shots.
Thanks, Jon

http://www.n-scaler.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=75

[biker_ray_pa]

I got the lumber today to start the next phase of benchwork. I haven't done much MRR this winter, my last few months have been eaten up by overtime, home projects and Halo 3.  ;D  I went to the Greenberg show in Monroeville (Pittsburgh) yesterday and picked up some scenery stuff and an N Scale Architect "Somerville Junction" kit, so I can continue scenicking the existing third of the layout while I start building the next third.

No pics today. This place is a mess!!


Ray

[MEC_FAN]

Helped Central Vermont for the last week or so on his new long awaited layout. It was fun and felt good to see him get going and to also pay back horsepower hours I owe him for the help he's given me over the past few years, stay tuned.
As for me I've been working on the papermill section of the layout for the past five or six weeks, put in 30 tortises and wired it all up in the past week or so.

[RockGp40]

Lee and I attended the Open House at the Delmarva Model Railroad Club in Delmar, MD, today. Here are a couple of my shots:



I wish I could get my hands on those unprototypical MDDE ACF covered hoppers!



I still haven't gotten to work on the CF7s the MDDE owns, but I for one like the way these things look. I wish an N scale manufacturer, ahem Atlas , would make some of these!

[tom mann]

I'm having a painting bonanza today. Already hit a pair of MT auto parts boxcars with brown that are destined to become CR X78s, and am applying the black walkways and pilots to a pair of HO CR SD80MACs and a N scale GP 38 and 38-2 that will go into the CR Quality scheme.

something is wrong...I don't see any photos ;D

How do you like working with HO after being in N for so long?

[wendell camp]

HI Jon  (Central vemont) what is the radius on your helix I see you use unitrack Wendell