East Tennessee & Western North Carolina RR ("The Tweetsie") branchline in On30

[p51]

Last night I was working on a small structure for the layout, a place where the Army railroaders can have all their tools out, and I can show all the small little detail items that don't really fit Outdoors.
The roof, on one side, will be supported a frame of wood timbers, which will be done soon enough.



I think I did a lot of progress considering that just a couple of hours before this photo was taken, this was just plastic still in the containers.

[p51]

I finished the shed in the Army compound and put lighting into it tonight after placing it on the layout with all the detail stuff I'd gotten ready for it.
Now it's DONE.

[p51]

Ever since the pandemic forced us all indoors, I’ve been mostly either working from home, doing whatever house cleaning chores my wife comes up with, or working on these.



They’re laser kits made by On30IMA. They’re quite challenging to work on as a lot of it you just have to figure out on your own, so I built only one at first, to use as a guide to building the rest. I’m glad I did that. The remaining 4 I have (two more shorties and two ‘normal’ length) were done in an assembly line manner, all repetitive tasks for each type of part for each car. Now, the subassemblies are done and I need to put them all together into the shape of ET&WNC hopper cars. I’ll be happy when these are done, as I’ve always wanted some of the Tweetsie’s ubiquitous wood hoppers but before recently nobody made them in O scale. There are at least two people I know who’ll make them as 3D prints, but only in O scale. Heck, I’d have paid a premium price for these as one piece, but nobody wanted to take the money. The kits aren’t exactly cheap, but once they’re done, I think they’ll be worth it. Only one (the near on in this photo) will not be carrying a load. They need weights and there’s NO place to put them but inside without being seen. So I did the detailed interior bottoms of the one, and the rest will permanently carry coal loads.

[Hawghead]

Lee,

The hoppers look great.  One of the downsides of O scale is that you are almost forced to add a lot of detail that smaller scales can get away without adding.  Am I correct that you live in Washington state?

Scott

[VonRyan]

As part of the Army presence, I finished several 55-gallon drums, and dozens of Jerry cans.

This Tamaiya kit included several German cans, so I glued them in rows together, with American cans on each end, so it wasn't obvious.
The empty drums are made by Tichy Train Group.
I added some hand crank pumps to a couple of the barrels, but I don't remember who made those.
I also designed a small open sided structure, which will sit roughly where all these drums are sitting. It will provide cover for a workbench, and several loose items on the layout, including most of these drums and cans...

Depending on what time-frame you’re modeling, some of those Jerry cans should be plain galvanized metal.

Also the pump coming out of that drum doesn’t match any mil-spec pumps that I’ve seen. The ones you used are modern pumps.

You’ll want this style pump, but in OD 319:

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And since you’ve got the Jerry cans, you ought to mark the drums for lube oil.
But you’ll want to ditch the drums with the bigger bands, as those are German.

2nd echelon maintenance is a staple feature in my living history group.

[pjm20]

You need some Joes smoking next to the highly flammable POL, that's an Army staple

[p51]

Today, I finally finished the five ET&WNC wood hopper kits from On30IMA.
While testing how they handle on a train, I couldn't resist taking video:

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[p51]

Here are some more shots of the new hoppers. They were not easy builds but now they're here, I am glad I handled the expense and effort!

[p51]

Yesterday, I finished painting these two figures. I used white oil paint for parts of them, so that took a few days to dry. I have not painted many figures in my lifetime, and it's hardly the best figure paint job ever, but I like how they turned out. They are both 3D prints from "ScaleHumans" at Shapeways, something I had never painted before. The scan work is amazing, as they really do look like Cy Crumley (the conductor) and Sherman Pippin (the engineer), two beloved employees on the ET&WNC RR. I have no idea how these were made from simple 2D photos.



Right now, I'm in the middle of scratch building a new country store with gas pump out of styrene and wood, which will replace the Woodland Scenics structure at Sadie, TN. It'll be a little but shorter from back to front and a little bit narrower, but now by a great deal. I'm currently waiting for some interior stuff I have on order to finish the interior as the roof is done already.

[LIRR]

I am not really a narrow-gauge fan, but this is nice work....

[p51]

I made a lot of progress on my ‘new’ country store/gas station for Sadie, TN on my layout. This is replace the Woodland Scenics pre-built model I had as I was building the layout. After I bought that, I decided to eventually replace it someday. Well, as most of the structures I have are scratch built and a couple of kits, I decided to build something similar, but not exactly the same structure. I also never liked the way WS finishes their products, they just have a ‘plasticy’ look to them even though they are painted.
Anyway, yesterday I only set out to complete the roof and originally I did almost everything but that. I completed the facing are at the top of the roof, painted it a metal color and did some weathering as well as drilling a hole for the pot belly stove chimney.
The interior walls are printed on paper and glued to the inside of the walls, something I found online. Same as the floor. Everything on the floor as glued into place with Gorilla white glue.







Sometime this week, I’ll weather the roof and build the supports for the front end. I also need to build and paint the gas pump kit I have, as well as putting some figures inside and running the lighting into the structure.

[CRL]

One thing about modeling in On3 is you better be really good at painting figures.

[p51]

Last night, I made a LOT of progress on the store structure. I finished the roof entirely, got the front supports cut, assembled and glued. The weathering went well, with a technique I figured out myself for a rusty metal roof. I’d figured it out with that shack I’d made a while back, and just did the same on a larger scale. I think it looks pretty good for a rusted metal roof. It’s easy to do, I dabbed Testor’s rust colored paint in splotches almost like a camouflage pattern, then dabbed dark rust weathering powders over top of that. It’s quick, easy, and I think very effective. The straw, I covered in rust powders as well, then slid it down to the correct height after this shot was taken.


I managed to fit my cell phone inside and take a few shots of the interior. Since this photo, I added some WW2 era posters to the inside, with a ‘don’t share secrets’ one right next to the phone.


The only things I really need to do now are to paint and weather the front roof supports, put a few figures inside and build and paint the gas pump. Oh, I also need to print out and make a Texaco sign to hang out front. I’d almost forgotten about that!
 

One thing about modeling in On3 is you better be really good at painting figures.

Yeah, I agree. I think I'm halfway decent but I'm not excellent at it. I haven't had much experience with them but the ones I have done so far, I guess, turned out okay.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I love the wall paper.

[p51]

The gas station/store was put into place last night on the layout. First, I had to remove the old structure, then change the ground around it. It was a much larger ‘footprint’ and I decided to change the gravel area around it, as previously I’d used much too coarse gravel. I stripped it down with a caulking knife, smeared white glue all over the area, then scattered small gravel around. It’s a clean surface right now, so eventually I’ll be adding little stuff here and there. Things like oil stains and the like. As the glue was drying, I created a set of ruts in the gravel, and it dried like that, alongside the store. I was happy with that result.
I needed to put down a base for the gas pump and the front roof supports, so I had painted a section of styrene, and scraped equal segments. With the paint already dried, I added small lines of glue along those seams/cracks and put ground foam on that to show grass popping up. Eventually, I’ll add ground foam around the edge. When I added the gravel base, I recessed the ‘concrete’ into that and now that it’s dried, it does not look like it was just sat in place.
I almost held my breath the entire time I drilled a hole through the floor, through which to run the wires for the interior lights. I used a large bit but drilled very slowly. It all worked out well, and I also added figures inside while I was waiting for the scenery glue to dry. The original structure was close to the road, and this one is much further back, leaving a larger area on which I can park wheeled vehicles.


One funny thing I noticed when I looked at the lighting on with the room dark, the roof is partially translucent! Two thick sheets of styrene and a layer of paint and weathering powers wasn’t enough. I guess I’ll have to paint in the inside of the ceiling black, but I don’t do night ops, so there’s no burning hurry for that…