Killashandra - Irish Nn3

[GimpLizard]

Auto corrected dirt

Oh. Duh. 

[VonRyan]

Ordered some Highball fine soil.
Other than that, no physical progress.

However, there is progress on a virtual front.
I'm working with someone who does that 3D voodoo stuff who was looking for ideas for things to make, and I suggested an Irish-looking Nn3 locomotive shell to fit on the Märklin 0-6-0 chassis. Only a few minor revisions left to make before it's ready to be tested out.
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[Chris333]

Since your cattle tunnel is plastic, why not:

[VonRyan]

Since your cattle tunnel is plastic, why not:

That's precisely what I was going to do, but the archway is too large. I need something with more like a 20mm opening.

[packers#1]

It might not be exactly the right size, but why not try to see if there's a way to modify it and the scenery to work. It doesn't need to be 110% prototypically strict, it just has to look right. Without seeing it and where it's going firsthand, I realize there are factors which I may not be aware of, but can't you at least try to make it work? I realize the thing is expensive, but you've got it and you haven't resold it yet, so why not go ahead and see if it'll work. I'm sure you can pull it off!

[VonRyan]

Time to think about the facia of the layout...

I want to have as clean of an edge as possible, but I also want the facia to look nice.
I like the idea of the layout being as if it was sliced out of the earth with a knife with the scenery being right up to the edge, but I also see the benefits of a more solid facia even if it means a "frame" around the layout.

Home Depot sells 1/4" thick "hobby boards" of Red Oak, which would make a nice facia, but would result in that "frame" aspect around the layout.

The other idea I had was to wrap the edge of the layout in a veneer. That way I get the clean "knife-cut" scenery edge of the layout as well as quality looking facia.

Thoughts?

[Chris333]

If you want to stain it I would wait till last. If your gonna paint it do it now and blend the edge. The glue and stuff from scenery will run down the edge. Paint can hide that.

[Philip H]

Red oak either requires fine tooth saw blades to cut it or a willingness to sand. Me, I'd do good old Masonite sand paint it to matche the stone work on your cattle dock.

[VonRyan]

Red oak either requires fine tooth saw blades to cut it or a willingness to sand. Me, I'd do good old Masonite sand paint it to matche the stone work on your cattle dock.

Do you mean just paint it the base grey colour, or with the intermixed stones as well?

[Lemosteam]

Cody, would one of these work? I could make a special one with an arched opening instead of a hole.  This one is meant to be buried.  I will edit in the dimensions for you later.

[Philip H]

Do you mean just paint it the base grey colour, or with the intermixed stones as well?

I was thinking about paint to represent the stones - similar to how Tim Warris of Fast Tracks has his NY harboe themed layout painted to look like rusty ship metal sitting on a shipping crate

[VonRyan]

Highball Products #171 "Earth" "fine light brown" clearly isn't any form of soil whatsoever.
It obviously looks like a sack of tiny sawdust rather than a fine soil.
It's also a cream color. Not light-brown.
This stuff FLUFFS when I shake the packaging. And when I grip it, it holds it's shape.
The biggest giveaway is it's size in relation to weight. The bag is the size of a 4x6" notecard, yet it only weighs 3oz.
I can even see a sliver of wood inside the packaging.

I'm extremely displeased. I expect this kind of nonsense from Woodland Scenics, but not from a company like Highball.

Now I have to figure out how to do the returns process.

Highball Products shall be hearing about my displeasure.

[Dave V]

Highball Products #171 "Earth" "fine light brown" clearly isn't any form of soil whatsoever.
It obviously looks like a sack of tiny sawdust rather than a fine soil.
It's also a cream color. Not light-brown.
This stuff FLUFFS when I shake the packaging. And when I grip it, it holds it's its shape.
The biggest giveaway is it's its size in relation to weight. The bag is the size of a 4x6" notecard, yet it only weighs 3oz.
I can even see a sliver of wood inside the packaging.

I'm extremely displeased. I expect this kind of nonsense from Woodland Scenics, but not from a company like Highball.

Now I have to figure out how to do the returns process.

Highball Products shall be hearing about my displeasure.

Sorry...punctuation is kinda my thing.

I though Highball was ballast?   

[VonRyan]

Sorry...punctuation is kinda my thing.

I though Highball was ballast?   

Usually I catch my phone when it makes that mistake. Whoops.

Highball does indeed make ballast, and I'd say they do it quite well seeing as how it's made from real rock, so the fact that a product of theirs that is marketed as a fine "earth" turns out to be fine sawdust is quite a letdown to say the least.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

In my best pool-side The Graduate voice:

"Just one word... Grout."

"Sir?"

"There's a great future in Grout."