Weekend Update 12/13/15

[chuck geiger]

I cut the tree size down to a scale 35-50'. Trimmed the branches, spread out and
stretched the poly fiber more. I need to Durham water putty up the trunk and trunk
branches on the bottom. Sprayed adhesive, sprinkled with ground foam and then
yellow foam on the top. The poly fiber leaves stringy fiber bands, which need to be
trimmed. Next project and going to lighten up some of the fiber on certain trees.



Back to the drawing board with these...They suck.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Yeah. Bear in mind that SP ran mostly through deserts. Lots of dust, very little rain. So there's not going to be much rust, but a lot of quickly accumulated grunge that is rarely rinsed away.

With the exception of the cars routed through SP's freight car wash facility. 

That's a good point. Looks like the car has an appointment with a layer of grime.

[Blazeman]

Yeah. Bear in mind that SP ran mostly through deserts. Lots of dust, very little rain. So there's not going to be much rust, but a lot of quickly accumulated grunge that is rarely rinsed away.

Now on the latest segment of his weathering series with Christenson from The Weathering Shop, Joe Fugate  mentions the SP had a lot of tunnels that filled with smoke and such from steam days, then when the diesels commenced running, the hot blasted exhaust would loosen years of carbon and such that would settle on cars and start the weathering process.

[sp org div]

This might give a little clue to why SP's fleet got so grungy:

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Gotta Love It!   

Jeff
http://espeeoregondivision.blogspot.com/

[R L Smith]

No modeling for me but I have a great excuse - on Saturday my girlfriend of 6 years and I walked down the aisle! We've been engaged for a year and a half and since she hasn't tossed me or my trains out in all that time, I think she is a keeper!   

[eric220]

Congratulations! I also have a wife that is quite tolerant of my hobby, and I can attest that that's worth her weight in gold! May you have many happy years together!

[peteski]

No modeling for me but I have a great excuse - on Saturday my girlfriend of 6 years and I walked down the aisle! We've been engaged for a year and a half and since she hasn't tossed me or my trains out in all that time, I think she is a keeper!   

Congratulation on your coupling with a nice caboose! She does sound like a keeper. 

[Joetrain59]

As always, so much good work!
Really need to step up my weathering game to run with the Big Boys here 

Posted this on my Layout Engineering thread https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=24399.msg453224#msg453224  but forgot to stick it up here.
Finally was able to finish a "How To" on replacing Caboose ground throws with SparkFun slide switches:

Yeay super-powered frogs!

I have 2'' foam over 1/2" particle board. Where would I find a long enough drill bit that would also fit between ties. HD and Lowes don't seem to have them.
 Thanks,
 Joe D

[Hamaker]

Chuck:  NICE trees !!  I gotta try that.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

I have 2'' foam over 1/2" particle board. Where would I find a long enough drill bit that would also fit between ties. HD and Lowes don't seem to have them.
 Thanks,
 Joe D

A 1/16" x 12" bit will work fine for 20-22 gauge feeder wire:
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=long+1%2F16+drill+bit

I made this video installing the slide switch directly into the 3/4" MDF baseboard.
With a foam top, you'll want to cut out a slim port for the slide switch in a 1/2" x 3/4" styrene plate (0.03 or 0.004 is enough) to fit around and then caulk that plate on top of the foam to secure the slide switch.
Or, if the turnout is up on a cork roadbed, cut out a rectangle in a piece of cork to secure the slide switch next to the roadbeded rails.

Hope this helps.

[Joetrain59]

Thanks, M.C.
 Joe D

[chuck geiger]

Thanks Ham, not happy with them. I re-read the exceptional post on trees in the scenery section here.
Poly fiber stretched, still look like poly fiber. Sprinkled with ground foam, they still don't look right. I am
trying the poly fiber cut and stretched into smaller sections and slowly applied to the armatures. I am trimming
the branches and positioning them in the stalk of branches that make the tree armature.

Ed is right, I might just keep them bare and model winter with some evergreen trees. But I am back at it
after work today.

[craigolio1]

No modeling for me but I have a great excuse - on Saturday my girlfriend of 6 years and I walked down the aisle! We've been engaged for a year and a half and since she hasn't tossed me or my trains out in all that time, I think she is a keeper!   

Congratulations !!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

No modeling for me but I have a great excuse - on Saturday my girlfriend of 6 years and I walked down the aisle! We've been engaged for a year and a half and since she hasn't tossed me or my trains out in all that time, I think she is a keeper!   

Congratulations!

[mu26aeh]

No modeling for me but I have a great excuse - on Saturday my girlfriend of 6 years and I walked down the aisle! We've been engaged for a year and a half and since she hasn't tossed me or my trains out in all that time, I think she is a keeper!   

Congratulations Ron !  I would have said something this morning when I saw you, but I didn't check TRW this morning before I left the house.  Now I need to get you a wedding present