The Very Last White River and Northern Railroad

[craigolio1]

I was waiting for the school bus to drop my son off today and I had an idea for your kite tail. You need something so light and wispy that it defies physics. Beside me was a rather poorly made spiders web. I started messing with one single strand of silk and once I had handled it a bit, it was no longer sticky. I snapped a piece about 1” long off and pinched it between my fingers. It wiggled and danced like worm in air that barely had a breeze.

It might just work for the kite tail.

Craig.

[pjm20]

You have been quite busy good sir!

[peteski]

I was waiting for the school bus to drop my son off today and I had an idea for your kite tail. You need something so light and wispy that it defies physics. Beside me was a rather poorly made spiders web. I started messing with one single strand of silk and once I had handled it a bit, it was no longer sticky. I snapped a piece about 1” long off and pinched it between my fingers. It wiggled and danced like worm in air that barely had a breeze.

It might just work for the kite tail.

Craig.

While probably not as flexible as spider web, how about a cotton fiber pulled out of a Q-tip?  I used that type of fiber once to rig a miniature sailing ship.

[DKS]

With animation pretty much out of my system for the time being, I went back to doing plain old regular modeling. I decided to have some fun with the Davis Inn. After I'd only gotten the foundation built and the four main walls assembled, I was already working on details. I've had a massive collection of etched metal fences for many years, and I've been itching to use some of them. So I assembled the fence along the sidewalk, based loosely on the reference image below.



It started with strip styrene: 0.060" x 0.200", 0.020" x 0.080", and 0.060" x 0.060". I capped the  0.060" x 0.200" stock with 0.020" x 0.080", and in the sides of the 0.060" square stock I scored a pair of slits to hold the etched brass parts (below left). Then I cut parts to form fence sections (below right).

   

I assembled the L-shaped sections to make the whole fence on a ⅛-inch thick sheet styrene base (below) and then painted it Floquil Concrete.



I "painted" the etched brass fence parts with a Magic Marker so that there was no heavy build-up of paint (below); it also made easy work of any touchups.



After I pressed the parts down into the slots in the posts, I capped the posts with squares of 0.020" x 0.080" strip stock, followed by tiny steel balls from a thrust bearing I sacrificed for the project. Concrete paint on the post caps finished the fence.

[Chris333]

plain old regular modeling

[DKS]

I'm in JFBSM mode...

(Just F**king Build Sh!t Man)

[Philip H]

That gate seems a tab high off the ground . . . .

[DKS]

That gate seems a tab high off the ground . . . .

A brick sidewalk will go under it.

[CRL]

My great aunt’s house had a little low gate in a wall/fence across the front of her house in Globe, AZ. There were 2 or 3 steps leading up to it from the sidewalk, and as a kid, I thought it was really neat. Most houses had some kind of fence or wall around the front yard... probably a Spanish/Mexican tradition because it still quite common in that area.

[DKS]

Six years ago I made a video about an animated service station car lift I'd just built for the second time. This morning I finally found the video.

[DKS]

That gate seems a tab high off the ground . . . .

Better?

[Philip H]

always

[wm3798]

What, the gate doesn't open and close by itself?  Halloween's just around the corner, ya slacker.

H. Munster

[DKS]

H. Munster

Puh-lease! "J. Addams."

[nickelplate759]

Since we are talking about the Addams', and DKS seems to be able to animate just about anything, how about the following enhancement (tongue FIRMLY in cheek)?
 
Add an animated figure of Fester or Gomez Addams sharpening spikes on top of the fence (Gomez did it in the TV show, Fester did it in the Charles Addams cartoon).

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