Newport & Rock Falls: Another Retro Micro-Layout

[DKS]

Continuing my affront to good modeling with work on these old first-gen kits. First up, the crane.



Working on this little beastie, I found myself facing a flood of 50-year-old memories about just how poorly some of the parts fit, and the need to do a fair bit of trimming and sanding to make things work. Also, this time around I faced the fact that some styrene gets quite brittle over time, and the crane boom parts practically disintegrated as I assembled them. Worse, MEK made the parts even more brittle and unwilling to bond, and I wound up slathering the whole boom in cyanoacrylate to keep it together. A good heavy coat of paint and a very liberal application of rust and weathering were needed to make it halfway presentable.

Next, the L-shaped stone enginehouse is close to completion.



My goal was basically to make this kit look the way I'd always wanted it to look, and now finally had the skills and the wherewithal to make that happen. I used this kit as a kind of guinea pig to test a stone coloration idea I had. Hit random stones with a magic marker before painting—the marker ink bleeds through the paint, staining it a darker color. And in fact the trick worked quite well indeed; faster and much easier than brush-painting individual stones. And natural-looking, too, especially after a liberal application of black weathering wash. This must be applied before assembling the walls; otherwise, gravity will cause the wash to drain away.

Finally we arrive at the machine factory, now done.





I confess I've had to fight the urge—really hard—to modify the roof of the tall building, as the top edges of the walls look really bad. I just hit everything with dark grey paint and hoped for the best.

[milw12]

Continuing my affront to good modeling with work on these old first-gen kits. First up, the crane.

And here I was thinking that with a proper modeling some of these kits are actually decent. A few months ago I bashed the Pola factory into a foundry type building and it ...wasn't terrible?

I really like the brickwork on the machine factory, that's what got me thinking. Like the trackplan too.

Thanks for sharing,
Lucas

[muktown128]

David,
The factory looks good.  Nice contrast with the mortar lines.  Do you have any other pics of the stone engine house showing the magic marker bleed thru paint technique.  That seems very interesting. 

[DKS]

I really like the brickwork on the machine factory, that's what got me thinking. Like the trackplan too.

Thanks! The brickwork is done with a simple process. After spraying it with a couple of brick color paints for a slight variegated effect, I apply a wash consisting of white artist's gouache, with just a touch of yellow ochre gouache, thinned with water (approx. 4:1 water to gouache). After one or two applications of wash, I gently wipe the surfaces with a damp paper towel. The nice thing about gouache is that it's impossible to over-do an effect, as is the case with acrylic or especially India ink; it will not harm the paint under it; it dries absolutely dead flat; and, if you're not satisfied with an effect, you can just wash it all off and try again.

[DKS]

David,
The factory looks good.  Nice contrast with the mortar lines.  Do you have any other pics of the stone engine house showing the magic marker bleed thru paint technique.  That seems very interesting.

Thanks! Here's a shot of the walls after painting and weathering.

[muktown128]

David,

Thanks for providing the details on how you painted the factory walls and pic of the engine house walls. 

Scott

[DKS]

Enginehouse is done.

[DKS]

Taking a break from the retro layout to work on yet another one--but before you flip out, this one was commissioned by a Postage Stamp Trains collector. I'm actually being paid to do more of the same!

The layout is as simple as it gets: a twice-around loop on a flat base:



It may seem seriously simple, but it meets the client's needs and his budget, so it's hard to argue with success. He's happy, so I'm happy.

The base is under construction, beginning with the same lauan plywood on 1x2 box frame as my other retro layouts--the only difference being that I'm taking the time to finish the frame with stain and sealer:



And it's being populated by a bunch of Postage Stamp's American-styled structure kits (links lead to detail pages on these kits):

Ramsey Junction -- http://davidksmith.com/postage-stamp-trains/pst_4154.htm
farm house set -- http://davidksmith.com/postage-stamp-trains/pst_4155.htm
two-story home with pool -- http://davidksmith.com/postage-stamp-trains/pst_4157.htm
New England church -- http://davidksmith.com/postage-stamp-trains/pst_4156.htm

 

[OldEastRR]

As a retro layout, does this mean some of those "box of sticks" wood craftsmen kits (Like Campbell's) will appear on it? Certainly they count as "retro N". I remember building the water tank kit way back when.

[MichaelT]

Taking a break from the retro layout to work on yet another one--but before you flip out, this one was commissioned by a Postage Stamp Trains collector. I'm actually being paid to do more of the same!

The layout is as simple as it gets: a twice-around loop on a flat base:



It may seem seriously simple, but it meets the client's needs and his budget, so it's hard to argue with success. He's happy, so I'm happy.

The base is under construction, beginning with the same lauan plywood on 1x2 box frame as my other retro layouts--the only difference being that I'm taking the time to finish the frame with stain and sealer:



And it's being populated by a bunch of Postage Stamp's American-styled structure kits (links lead to detail pages on these kits):

Nice simple plan.
Question: Would the outer run after it goes past the crossing top left, be able to elevate and cross over and then back down on the inner loop and still keep the twice around look?
Maybe extend the inner loop bottom before it does the 180?

[DKS]

As a retro layout, does this mean some of those "box of sticks" wood craftsmen kits (Like Campbell's) will appear on it? Certainly they count as "retro N". I remember building the water tank kit way back when.

In theory one could, but I don't want to, mainly because I think a craftsman kit would clash with the plastic ones.

Nice simple plan.
Question: Would the outer run after it goes past the crossing top left, be able to elevate and cross over and then back down on the inner loop and still keep the twice around look?
Maybe extend the inner loop bottom before it does the 180?

Sure, one could do that. I can't, because it would blow the budget.

 

[MichaelT]

Sure, one could do that. I can't, because it would blow the budget.

Understandable, I've been following yours and Lee's small layouts, and something like this would give me some stuff to work on my skills, try some new things I've read/watched, etc.

[DKS]

Understandable, I've been following yours and Lee's small layouts, and something like this would give me some stuff to work on my skills, try some new things I've read/watched, etc.

I'd start with the plan for the N&RF, and just leave out most of the sidings to simplify it.

Or, consider out one of these:

http://davidksmith.com/track-planning/plan_46.htm

http://davidksmith.com/track-planning/plan_18.htm

http://davidksmith.com/track-planning/plan_31.htm

 

[MichaelT]

I'd start with the plan for the N&RF, and just leave out most of the sidings to simplify it.

Or, consider out one of these:

http://davidksmith.com/track-planning/plan_46.htm

http://davidksmith.com/track-planning/plan_18.htm

http://davidksmith.com/track-planning/plan_31.htm

Thanks!

[wm3798]

Glad to see you're still lurking, @MichaelT ...  I hope all is well with you!
Lee