Weekend Update 9/30/2012

[SAH]

I really like the NP flat car wazzou.  Fine job with the weathering Mark.  You guys make me want to dig into some freight car projects I've been thinking on recently.  Mark:  What media and application technique are you using?  Very subtle and effective.  I need to weather the batch of cars I modified (couplers, trucks & weight) for the upcoming rail run event.

Speaking of NC Rail Run, I'm counting down to my little part on Friday.  I printed and applied labels to the fascia to help visiting operators.  I also finished up a few loose ends in the detail category on the layout.  Here's 207 & 208 crossing River Corners Road.  Pay no attention to the cracking sky in the background.  One of the pitfalls of building in sections.

Have a good week all.

Steve

[Cajonpassfan]

Love the split rail fence, forget the skies."...

[mark dance]

Mark:  What media and application technique are you using?  Very subtle and effective. 

Steve

Thank you Steve. I have been experimenting a lot as I need to come up with a mass production system of weathering if I want all the rolling stock for one session weathered in a year on top of the other two projects I have before me.  I haven’t settled on a standard technique yet.

The rolling stock in the pictures were weathered with a combination or air brushing, Pan Pastels and Bragdon chalks all then dull coated.  For air brushing, I use Polly S paint cut with Windex sprayed through an Iwata Eclipse double action brush with air pressure throttled down by an external MAC valve.   I just purchased the MAC valve and it makes a huge difference to what I am able to do with the brush.

thx for asking!

md

[UP4-8-8-4]

      Finally got my brass sided 1938 Milwaukee Road Hiawatha passenger set painted this weekend.
Built and painted GHQ's pewter F-7 Hiawatha Hudson quite a while back. Bought the brass car sides from GHQ and then got the American Limited Core Kits for them.
The cars shown are three Coachs, Diner, Express Tap, Parlor, Express Baggage, RPO and the Parlor-Observation Beavertail.
Had the chassies built and painted a couple months back as already also had all nine cars built.
Now to bend and make all grag irons and airbrush black to install on each car, as well as painting all window frames silver.








All colors used are auto base-coat solid colors that I tinted for the Hiawatha.
Paints were thinned with base-coat reducer for airbrushing.
After painting I applyed a couple coats of clear lacquer, after a couple hours drying time I decaled them, followed by three final coats of clear lacquer.



Ernie

[Dave V]

Dave,
Rather different background music  We usually hear "City  of New Orleans".

I'm actually bending history a bit...  The scene would be summer 1971, but Led Zeppelin IV came out in November of that year.  And yeah, I'm not a fan of the cliche train-related songs.   

[sizemore]

I did more tear down in the BYR basement:





All the crap left by the previous tenant...one of the reasons for the next picture post...


And I bought a "dump truck", which will become a future resto-mod project.

[packers#1]

And I bought a "dump truck", which will become a future resto-mod project.

Decently old Chevy, that'll be a niceeeeee project.

I finally got around to using some woodland scenics plaster cloth...I forgot how nice that stuff can be to work with. I just need to use some sculptamold for a few more bends.

[btsnyder27]

Tim (sizemore) - If you're starting into a restomod of the Chevy Pickup, does that mean the Jeep is at a reasonable point of completion??

Ran some trains over at Ed's Saturday night, got some inspiration to start working on my layout, but plans of that happening today got derailed by the age old question of "where did I put that" which turned into a thorough reorganization and tidying up of the first floor of the townhome...a few hours later and it's dinner time...      Hopefully progress will ensue in the coming week(s)...

[skytop35]

Ernie,

Nice job on the Hiawatha!  The GHQ kits really make up into a great looking train but you don't often see the full train built up and running.

[davidgray1974]

Secured track, ballasted, added talus and put down a little base layer of grass.  Added some fine grey ballast near the bridge and along the front to represent walkways/paths.  Not secured down as of yet.  Wanted to get your guys opinions of if I should keep it or use something else.  Will try my hand at weathering the track this coming week.  Let me know if you guys have any suggestions or ideas.

Also built a Northeastern Scale Models office shed for the coal mine.  Not sure if I will keep it in its current place or use it somewhere else on the layout.  Pretty easy build though.  Here are some pics of my work this week.

Before grey gravel was added:

After




No Office Shed

Office Shed

And now some trains




Thanks for looking.

David

[nkalanaga]

The BN's Fs didn't have diaphragms by the early 70s.  I don't know when the GN and NP removed them, but they seem to have been gone by the mid 60s.

It's very hard to find a picture of the rear of an A unit, or either end of a B unit!

[Dave V]

David, that is looking really good!  I really like it.  The ballast looks great.  I would recommend adding some spilled coal around the tipple.  The mine is suitably filthy, but the ground around it looks too clean for a coal mine.  The gravel paths look very good too.

[sizemore]

(sizemore) - If you're starting into a restomod of the Chevy Pickup, does that mean the Jeep is at a reasonable point of completion??

Well the "play" Jeep is "done" but there are always details to add things to fix, the "show" jeep is waiting on me to finish outfitting the garage. This truck will be a dump runner until the shop is ready. The C/K series trucks are the easiest to restomod, and parts are super cheap compared to the jeeps.

The S.

[milw12]

Wow, lots of great stuff this week!

Dave Schneider,

Good looking train shrubs! Looks accurate for many of the Milwaukee branch line trains. Five guys to move one boxcar. Please consider starting a layout engineering thread. I would like to learn more about the prototype. This is Minnesota, correct?

First, thank you for the kind words, I appreciate it. That's the secret behind my choice of prototype, less to invest in rolling stock to accurately model the real deal 

To answer your question, the Cannon River valley is in the south central/southeastern part of Minnesota, depending how you look at it. Lots of bluffs and rolling terrain, it's quite the landscape and I always enjoy it when I'm visiting the area. With a lot of luck I hope to get a small flavor of the area on my layout, it will definitely be a learning exercise.

Also, great looking benchwork so far- I wish my hack job looked as nice.

Avel,

shrubs, you are a smart, smart man. I wish I had your will power.  I also think you should start a Layout Engineering thread. As to the will power part, I mean that you aren't buying everything in sight and planning a huge overly complicated layout. Looking forward for the progress updates.

Thanks, but I don't know about being smart or having will power, it's more like the lack of funds and space keeping me in check! 
I'm doing my best to stay within my time frame and location this time around, hopefully I'll be able to keep this up. But then there's Z scale, and Z SD40-2's, and so much more... gah I need to stay focused!

I'll work on getting an Engineering Report up within the week so I have a place to share my my research and progress, plus I'd like a place where I can go more into the gritty details. I'm hoping by sharing my progress online will keep me motivated, because I can usually finish track laying before I give up on a layout. Scenery is a huge hurdle for me, so I hope to overcome that this time around- I'm more of a builder than an artist.

-Lucas

[bc6]

Well it's been a while since I have done any custom painting but one of our members bc6 talked me into
doing this fictitious paint scheme for a leasing company. I'm sure he will be able to give more info once
he decals them for this leasing company completed with decals. Pay no attention to the way the cabs sit, this is because there is no
glazing in them to snap them down.

Jon

Jon you must have been reading my mind as I was thinking about posting pics of your work.I didnt want you to get bombbarded with requests for work after I posted your pics. Just to let others know the paint scheme is based on the R.J Corman Railroad Group based in Nicholasville K.Y.