Weekend Update 6/17/18

[thomasjmdavis]

Nice stuff so far!..Both turnouts make me envious. 

I weathered a caboose, my most photo worthy project for the week, more can be found in my layout thread...



Thanks for looking and have a great Father's Day weekend!

I can only upvote once, but consider yourself as having additional upvotes for the grass, and the muddy ballast, and the track weathering, and the look of the scene generally.

[davefoxx]

Nope! That 0-6-0 is a lot fatter than the Bachmann engine.

She's a real hottie though!  Not quite as hot as their 4-4-0, but hot none the less.

Also, she's right around the corner from Señor Fox!

Ed's right; I live less than one hour from Strasburg RR and less than ten minutes from the Wilmington & Western RR!  Railroading mecca.

Here's when my daughter and I went on the Easter Bunny Express earlier this year behind No. 58:



Good times.

DFF

[coosvalley]

I can only upvote once, but consider yourself as having additional upvotes for the grass, and the muddy ballast, and the track weathering, and the look of the scene generally.

Thanks!.. There's a write-up about the weeds in the scenery section if you're interested in learning more..

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=44732.0

[randgust]

Finally got to couple of the scenery breakthroughs I've been hoping would turn out OK.

Here's a general view of the module now.   This is a draft test shot of the backdrop - not the final one -  held up with tape.  But you can see how this works.

The dense background trees over the ground-up leaf cover are next.  The foreground foliage is pretty close to done.   Michael Winicki coached me through the static grass on the left side, around the abandoned stone foundations and this side of the road.  I've never been successful with static grass before.  I consider Michael the expert on this stuff, and he identified what I had been doing wrong.



Second major breakthrough is that this is the first time I've tried MOVING water.  This is a layer of Woodland Scenics deep water clear, with water effects stippled over top to get a typical mountain stream.   I'm really happy with this.  The scratchbuilt bridge is in the background - see the Trunkeyville module thread for more on that one



The view from the river is also what I wanted, particularly the water under the bridge and how that looks.

[bnsfdash8]

I got out another one of my C39-8 shells to work on. I think this one will be painted into my freelance RR's scheme.

[chuck geiger]

Trunk is awesome.

[carlso]

My new refinery unit, coker, is finished and installed on club layout. following are two images that I made today. I am quite pleased with the results and now look for something else to work on.

As always, thanks for looking,
Carl

[Jbub]

My new refinery unit, coker, is finished and installed on club layout. following are two images that I made today. I am quite pleased with the results and now look for something else to work on.

As always, thanks for looking,
Carl

Carl, that is a thing of beauty! I'm wanting to do a refinery module with some storage tracks near by. Do you have a write up on your progression of the scene? I'm curios on what kits you used and what you had to scratch build. The lights are off the hook also.
You did any awesome job on this!
Jason

[cbroughton67]

I started this crossing today. Building a crossing by-hand is a bit like playing whack-a-mole with trying to keep the rails in gauge, while simultaneously keeping the flangeways in-spec... This is the most tedious project I've done in a while, but I'm really enjoying the challenge.

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[MK]

Randy, that water is amazing!!!!   

[carlso]

Jason,

Thanks for the great comments. Unfortunately, I did not make any progression reports or records. I now wish that I had.

Having said that, I will tell you that I originally built and placed it on NTrak modules, 20 years ago, with the exception of the "new" coker unit. I was a member and traveled to shows with the New Mexico Railrunners for several years and was fortunate to learn a great deal from Buzz Lenander and others in that club. A real great group of guys and gals. So, here goes, everything you see are kits except for the new coker and the FCC unit sitting at the rear of the refinery. Everything  else are kits such as Walther's refinery, I have used parts and pieces from 3 kits, a Plastruct chemical refinery kit, any oil related businesses like propane dealers that I incorporated the LPG sausages into my plan. The key is just about anything that is oil related and looks reasonable. Oh, I forgot to mention that the tankcar loading rack and the cooling tower are both scratched as well as the Ewing Oil headquarters building. BTW all total there are approx 100 LED's on the refinery parts.

Don't hesitate to build one and keep in mind: Do not make it too neat or clean but always put some red piping in your pipeways to indicate fire lines, a must have. I used to chuckle to myself when viewers would ask how I knew where to run the pipes for/to. I have no clue and if you have ever been close enough to a real refinery you will see more pipes going in all direction including up/down, so just have fun and let the juices flow.

If you have a question, pm me and I will attempt to give you a reasonable answer, if I know the answer.

Carl

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Checked out Don Richard's very cool HO PRR NEC layout with @EdKap2 (happy father's day dad) and swung by the Wilmington & Western to catch their 3:00 departure (ironic, given the headline image this week).





This gem was circulating while we were there.

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We stopped here on the way for lunch: Philippine Smoked BBQ and Grill (https://goo.gl/maps/Pewu3U4oeoC2). It was awesome and for those of you in the area, you gotta check it out (I'm looking at you Foxx). For a culture known for their talents with pork, their brisket was incredible.



And, of course, when Omy Fingers are an option, ya gotta get em. They're essentially bbq spring rolls.



Of course nothing can be perfect. Had to miss @CodyO's housewarming due to an under the weather pup. Hope it went well homie!

[Dave V]

This gem was circulating while we were there.

This is f**king gold right here.

[mighalpern]

Chris:
Man I can relate
I tried one a few months ago, since my Atlas code 55 crossing seem to give my trains trouble.  The center diamond was my fail.  i think if I tried this again i would build from one side down to the other.
 I did like you, and placed the outside rails, but started having issues as I started going inward.  Don't know why since just like you I am using track gauges ???   and overlaid on a paper template ???    But..  i guess a small error will just magnify as you proceed.
good luck.  love your posts
Miguel

[Point353]

I started this crossing today. ... but I'm really enjoying the challenge.

Will you still be saying that after you finish making and testing all the insulating gaps?