Weekend Update 12/10/17

[up1950s]

[johnb]

Merry Christmas from Playa Desnuda.

[Mike the Modeler]

With respects to SPWolf who posted an image last week of his fine rendition of SP SW1 1004.
The NWP leased SP 1004 in early 1951.
It is shown here after picking up some loads of lumber at a mill near Hopland California.

After decaling two of these, I now know why the prototype gave up on painting tiger stripes.
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[Mark W]

Getting ready for the arrival of Nebraska Central SD40-2s from Intermountain any day now!  Yesterday I wired up my Nebraska Central caboose to have an operational marker light.
 
I had to cut an opening under the roof.  A weight covers the entire floor, held in by two screws. so I simply removed one screw and fed the wires down through that hole.




For now, it's yucky power pickup.  I just folded the resistor leads around the axles; each truck picks up the opposite rail.  Ugly, but it works!  I have some split-axle pickup trucks on the way though, and will also add keep-alive and function decoder. 



I also added True-Scale couplers, cut levers, and the friendly local crew.

[johnb]

With respects to SPWolf who posted an image last week of his fine rendition of SP SW1 1004.
The NWP leased SP 1004 in early 1951.
It is shown here after picking up some loads of lumber at a mill near Hopland California.

After decaling two of these, I now know why the prototype gave up on painting tiger stripes.
(Attachment Link)
(Attachment Link)

I totally get it. You did better than I did on my Pacific Electric 1011....

[SP-Wolf]

Outstanding, Mike!!

A pair of 44 tonners - laying over:



Thanks,
Wolf

[coosvalley]

Great stuff already this weekend!

Sorry, didn't know it was going to be tiger stripe weekend!

This week I finished up these two EMD's, more in my layout thread.

[Dave V]

“The house at the end of the trestle.” This house sat at the end of bridge 45A at Ophir, Colorado, on the Rio Grande Southern. I scratchbuilt this house sometime between 1990 and 1992 while I was still in high school. I had no plans and relied solely on pictures from Silver San Juan by Mallory Hope Ferrell. The window arrangement is a bit off, but it still looks the part. I made the corrugated metal roof from aluminum foil impressed against a plastic master using balsa wood. It may not be as accurate as the Banta kit but I plan to use it anyway out of nostalgia.



RGS #25. Class T-19 by D&RGW reckoning, she was built by Schenectady Locomotive Works in 1899 for the Florence & Cripple Creek Railway. When Phantom Canyon flooded out one too many times, the F&CC went under and the 25 and two of her sisters were sold to the Rio Grande Southern. #25 served until 1940 when she was cannibalized to keep her sisters running. #22 was scrapped during the war but #20 survived (with #25’s tender) and is today being restored for operation by the Colorado Railroad Museum and the Strasbourg Rail Road of Pennsylvania. My father bought this fine brass model of #25 two and a half decades ago...he and I were semi-seriously planning an HOn3 layout based on the RGS and the D&RGW Silverton Branch at the time. She’s a little tarnished but still beautiful. My parents just sent her to me and I think she’ll finally get a chance to go to work...after painting and DCC conversion of course.

[tehachapifan]

With respects to SPWolf who posted an image last week of his fine rendition of SP SW1 1004.
The NWP leased SP 1004 in early 1951.
It is shown here after picking up some loads of lumber at a mill near Hopland California.

After decaling two of these, I now know why the prototype gave up on painting tiger stripes.
(Attachment Link)
(Attachment Link)

Wow! Your really captured the look of the area! Looks spot on! Really like the backdrop too! What did you do there?

Nice 44 tonners, Wolf!

[Mike the Modeler]

Wow! Your really captured the look of the area! Looks spot on! Really like the backdrop too! What did you do there?

Nice 44 tonners, Wolf!

Tehachapifan,
Thank you for the kind comments. The northern CA landscape is part of what lead me to model the NWP. I am glad you think it looks the part. The backdrop is painted with acrylics.

[Mike the Modeler]

Outstanding, Mike!!

A pair of 44 tonners - laying over:



Thanks,
Wolf

Appreciate your comments Wolf, as well as your models. The NWP leased 44 ton 1902 in the late 40's and it worked the Tiburon yard for years after. It is next in line on my loco repaint list along with one that the Petaluma & Santa Rosa had that was painted in tiger stripes but lettered as P&SR #1. Thanks for the inspiration.

[Mike the Modeler]

Great stuff already this weekend!

Sorry, didn't know it was going to be tiger stripe weekend!

This week I finished up these two EMD's, more in my layout thread.

Big fan of the powder blue. (your SW-1 is outstanding) Having lived on New England for a time in the 80's, I must say your technique for the split granite canal walls is spot on.

[BCR 570]

The final phase of track-laying on my layout is now underway as Chetwynd Yard begins to take shape.

The Fort St. John and Dawson Creek Subdivisions are now connected to the first turnouts for Chetwynd Yard:




Roadbed and track for the first half of the yard are down, with feeders attached and dropped:




Tim

[tehachapifan]

Tehachapifan,
Thank you for the kind comments. The northern CA landscape is part of what lead me to model the NWP. I am glad you think it looks the part. The backdrop is painted with acrylics.

Thanks for the info! That has to be one of the most realistic looking, hand-painted backdrops I've ever seen! The colors used for the sky and hills blend extremely well and give a sense of distance through hazy air. I can't tell if you painted-in such things as trees but, whatever you did, it's the perfect balance as it appears perfect given what you would see or, more importantly, not see at that distance. I think the mind also sort of fills-in details when they're only suggested, or not even suggested at all, with backdrops. I tried to achieve something similar but I went with more purple hues, which did not come out near as well as yours. May I ask what specific colors you used for the sky and hills along with any other techniques you used?

...also, regarding the 44 tonners, I have one that I plan on painting into scarlet and grey with P&SR lettering...if I can find decals for the actual P&SR stencil. That said, you guys doing all these awesome tiger-stripe units has me really wanting to do one of those!

Thanks!

[Mike the Modeler]

Thanks for the info! That has to be one of the most realistic looking, hand-painted backdrops I've ever seen! The colors used for the sky and hills blend extremely well and give a sense of distance through hazy air. I can't tell if you painted-in such things as trees but, whatever you did, it's the perfect balance as it appears perfect given what you would see or, more importantly, not see at that distance. I think the mind also sort of fills-in details when they're only suggested, or not even suggested at all, with backdrops. I tried to achieve something similar but I went with more purple hues, which did not come out near as well as yours. May I ask what specific colors you used for the sky and hills along with any other techniques you used?

...also, regarding the 44 tonners, I have one that I plan on painting into scarlet and grey with P&SR lettering...if I can find decals for the actual P&SR stencil. That said, you guys doing all these awesome tiger-stripe units has me really wanting to do one of those!

Thanks!

Russ,
Sorry to say I have kept no records of the paint colors used. The sky blue was mixed to get as close I as I could to photos taken in the area using some store bought latex wall paint as a starter and tuned it with white. Once the blue was on the back drop I used an air brush and sprayed on a mist of white: denser at the bottom up to none at the upper parts. I recall it came is small bottles as hobby paint its not flat. I have some scenes on and near SF bay and the white sparkles a bit which reminds me of the misty air in Marin County.

With the sky color in place I mixed too eye colors for the distant hills. (I have another large section of back drop to paint for areas out of the forested north and close to SF Bay, and want to modify the distant hill colors toward something with a bit more blue/gray.) For foreground I mixed colors that were close to the tree foliage colors that I was using for the trees and under growth. I recall I used a green, yellow green, black, and white. I will try to find time to pull out the tubes of paint used and send along the specific color info. for that area.

I would like to see some photos of your back drop. I have always associated the tinge of purple you mention with the hills of southern CA. I recall it showing up in landscape paintings through the years.