HOn3 Rio Grande Southern First District 1938-1945

[Dave V]

I think Ryan's drop leaf is a good idea. 

Jason

Actually, that is a good idea.  That way it only intrudes into the air hockey space when I'm operating.

[Dave V]

Building Rico station. This is the old IHC kit modified with extra trim, Campbell shingles, and Grandt Line castings. I've added the different colored shingles to represent how the depot looked after the 1936 fire per discussion above.

I modified the base by cutting away the "ground" and adding some additional platform with scribed styrene.



There are a few departures from prototype in this kit.  The baggage/freight section is shorter than the prototype and the trim between the wainscoting and the clapboard is wonky (it's like some kind of indented thing) and about half the windows are too small.  But those features don't bother me.  The trim that comes with the kit is wrong as well, but that's easy to remedy with Grandt Line parts.  Note the gable trim to the lower right with the curved beam...that's wrong.  The correct straight-beam gable is seen toward the center.  I have enough of those and the correct eave trim to do the station correctly.

[Chris333]

How do you get the craft paint to cover so well?

[Dave V]

How do you get the craft paint to cover so well?

I primed everything first.  And yet that craft paint still doesn't cover plastic all that well.  But, the colors were dead-on for what I needed.  So, priming and patience.

I used craft paints like these with those Wild West Models and they covered better.

[Chris333]

There is a guy named Sam Swanson who models in HOn3 and HOn30. He paints everything with craft paint. I use it to, but not like he does.

[johnb]

I primed everything first.  And yet that craft paint still doesn't cover plastic all that well.  But, the colors were dead-on for what I needed.  So, priming and patience.

I used craft paints like these with those Wild West Models and they covered better.

floquil mud is a perfect match for Rio Grande building yellow....and I think that they have an acrylic version

[Dave V]

floquil mud is a perfect match for Rio Grande building yellow....and I think that they have an acrylic version

Two thoughts on that...

1) I've found throughout my RGS Story books that the RGS station color just seems to be a little more yellow than the D&RGW color.  Could just be my imagination, though, because it would make sense that they'd use the exact same paint from the same source.  The modern day Durango and Silverton stations are more of a pale cream color than what I see in older color photos...knowing of course that colors in old photos can't always be trusted.

2) Since the demise of Floquil and most of PolyScale, I've been on a personal crusade to find craft paints that match the old railroad colors I used to use.  Still haven't found satisfactory replacements for Roof Brown and Railroad Tie Brown.

The color in my photo may not do it justice but I'm pretty happy with these two colors for RGS structures.

[SSW7771]

The depot is looking good. I would have never thought of using craft paint.

[pdx1955]

The depot is looking good. I would have never thought of using craft paint.

Craft paints are my primary go-to for structures. The large craft stores have a very good selection of reds, browns, grays, khakis, etc that that will get very close to typical RR colors as Dave has used. They work best when the wall has some texture - brick, wood siding etc. Use on white styrene is harder to get good coverage unless the surface is sanded or primed first. I've generally found that a single coat with touchups here and there to two coats is what is necessary for most applications.

[Dave V]

I was having a heckuva time trying to make the plastic roof that comes with the Rico station kit look like shingles...but eventually I realized it wasn't a color problem but rather a texture problem. The molded shingles look more like slates than shingles so I decided to roll it old school with Campbell shingles glued directly on top.



The small roof piece has some stain on it...but not sure it's the final color yet.  The big piece has no stain yet.

[Dave V]

Thinking about that cockpit design was giving me fits, between the mechanics of the liftout section and the fact that it walls off part of the basement.

This is my current thinking.  It has some decent "negative space" while allowing me to model some cool non-railroad buildings in Placerville.  Also gives First District locals more to do.  Not a huge fan of reversing loops, but there it is.

Will need some sort of automatic switch throw for when the train is in the reverse loop so I can hands-free roundy round.

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[wcfn100]

So the constants are Lizarhead, Ophir, Rico and Placerville?

Any design should have those?

Jason

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I like it. I've made my peace with loops...

Is it possible to stretch that track out any so it doesn't seem quite as "ballooney"?

[Dave V]

Hey @Ed Kapuscinski, how about this?

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So the constants are Lizarhead, Ophir, Rico and Placerville?

Any design should have those?

Jason

Rico and Ophir yes...  I have some of the structure kits on hand for these scenes.

[wcfn100]

For heaven's sake Dave, if you're going to draw 1/2" = 1', get some Quad Ruled paper. 


Jason