The new Missouri Valley Western

[MVW]

A little closer to what I was thinking.

Jim

[MVW]

And a few more, fer good measure:









Jim

[MVW]

Just a quick experiment on enhancing depth of field by merging three photos with different focal points.



Not too bad for a quick attempt. Used my phone camera (hand held), then spliced the shots together with GIMP. Would obviously have to do something slightly different regarding the foreground lower right. But that's an easy fix.

For the sake of comparison, here's the untouched "foreground focus" shot:



Jim

[milw12]

Looks good Jim! Should have guessed that focus stacking was possible in GIMP. I've been holding out on Helicon Focus and the fancy new phones that can do it by themselves- now I have something new to try out 

Thanks
Lucas

[MVW]

Thanks, Lucas! My modeling budget is always tight, so I wanted to see what could be done without investing any resources in something like Helicon. I can't recall for certain, but I think it may have been Bob Gilmore who mentioned this technique in another thread a while back. This is my personal test run, but it appears that with just a tiny amount of more work it can provide some very passable results.

Also 'shopped in a sky to take out the variation in color on the wall.



Not gonna play around with this shot anymore, but will definitely revisit this technique.

JTG

[MVW]

Well, it's apparently been about 14 months since I've done any substantial work on the layout.  That's primarily the result of uncertainty regarding our living arrangements. My wife has faced a 50-minute drive to work every morning for the last six years, so we debated moving (even though we love this place), then put the house up for sale ... and eventually pulled it off the market when the pandemic took off.

While it appears we'll stay put for the immediate future, the layout was designed with the knowledge that a move be necessary. The layout's peninsula consists of two HCD-sized tables. (One is an actual HCD, but the other is 3/4" plywood, cut into a slight teardrop shape to allow a 15"-radius on the turnback.) The stumbling block has been the third table, which joins the peninsula to the wall. It's highly likely this table would be reconfigured to fit a new space, so I was in no hurry to work on it while a move seemed imminent.

The table in question happens to be located directly in front of the yardmaster's operating position. So yeah, it's been an eyesore.





Until recently. I've been slowly building steam for what I hope is a big push to propel the layout towards a more "completed" state. First step is making the yardmaster's habitat a bit more ... habitable.







More touchup to do, but I'm more concerned with broad strokes, at this point.

To that end, I'm at various stages of three other projects. More on those in coming weeks.

Jim

[CRL]

You appear to have a rather sharp “S” curve at the top left where you have a diverting route turnout immediately after a curve in the opposite direction with no straight track in between the opposing curves.

[MVW]

You appear to have a rather sharp “S” curve at the top left where you have a diverting route turnout immediately after a curve in the opposite direction with no straight track in between the opposing curves.

Man, you got sharp eyes! 

Fact is, the track beyond the turnout isn't glued down (although it is powered). To this point, all I've needed it for is to back an engine and a car or two out of the yard and onto the mainline -- which I rarely need to do, at this point, because the operational part of the layout is in the other direction.

When that track goes down for good, there's room for about 5" of straight between the turnout's points and the start of the transition curve in the opposite direction. That should be more than enough for my era.

But that's a great catch, and would have saved a world of hurt. Fortunately, I've read my copy of John Armstrong's "Track Planning for Realistic Operation" to tatters. 

Jim

[CRL]

Fortunately, I've read my copy of John Armstrong's "Track Planning for Realistic Operation" to tatters. 

Jim

Me too, brother.

It’s amazing how many people haven’t, then they wonder why their layout doesn’t work as well it should.

[LIRR]

For my last job on Long Island (NY) before I escaped I had a 45 minute drive each way. I worked 9 miles from home.

[MVW]

Yikes! I enjoy driving if I'm actually moving. Sitting in traffic is something else entirely. Raises my blood pressure just thinking about it. 

This is about a 40-mile jaunt, and it wouldn't be so bad if there weren't so many lunatics on the road. Remember the George Carlin line? "Did you ever notice how everyone who drives slower than you is an idiot and everyone who drives faster is an  ."

Or words to that effect. 

Jim

[MK]

For my last job on Long Island (NY) before I escaped I had a 45 minute drive each way. I worked 9 miles from home.

I can relate.  Many years ago I used to work in Melville.  Luckily that gig only lasted a year.  And to think I was thinking about buying a place on LI.   

[davefoxx]

Yikes! I enjoy driving if I'm actually moving. Sitting in traffic is something else entirely. Raises my blood pressure just thinking about it. 

This is about a 40-mile jaunt, and it wouldn't be so bad if there weren't so many lunatics on the road. Remember the George Carlin line? "Did you ever notice how everyone who drives slower than you is an idiot and everyone who drives faster is an  ."

Or words to that effect. 

Jim

I remember seeing one of those motivational-type posters one time that read: "PATIENCE: What everyone driving in front of you has too much of and what everyone driving behind you has too little of."  Truer words have never been spoken.

DFF

[CRL]

Don’t forget about that ******** that is driving right next to you, at exactly the same speed... won’t get on past you, and won’t keep his speed constant so you can finish passing him. Also likes crowding your lane.

[MVW]

BTW, did anybody notice this was an extremely "quick and dirty" composite of three images from a sub-par, hand-held phone camera?



For comparison, the foreground image:



I just cut a couple rectangles from the images using GIMP. Pretty obvious when you look for it. Just wondering if anybody noticed?

Jim