Weekend Update 12/15/19

[Tom L]

Nice project Tom, M&St.L is my all time favorite road.  I don't have access to my books right now, but I'm not remembering a time when these would be numbered 113, 114.  I thought these units got renumbered from the 150, 250 and 350 series directly to the 400 series when painted red/white.  Do you have a picture of these as 113 or 114?

Jason

Whoops, I hosed that up completely in several different ways. I meant I was doing  412 and 413 which were originally 151A and 151C.

Here is a pic of 412 in the old scheme. I have pics of it in Red/White by the late 50s.

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Thanks for pointing that out, total brain/typing error on my part.

Tom L

[freedj]

I got the backdrop is ready for sky and picked up a few samples of blue and a quart of white to experiment with.

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[wcfn100]

Whoops, I hosed that up completely in several different ways. I meant I was doing  412 and 413 which were originally 151A and 151C.

Okay, glad I wasn't losing it.   

I went through what I have on the computer and I found several of 412 in the yellow/green but none of 413.  I do have one of 413 in the red/white in the late 60's (black numbers on white number boards).

Jason

[jjb62556]

Do you know where the M&StL picture on the bridge was taken?

[Tom L]

Okay, glad I wasn't losing it.   

I went through what I have on the computer and I found several of 412 in the yellow/green but none of 413.  I do have one of 413 in the red/white in the late 60's (black numbers on white number boards).

Jason

No, I’m the one losing it 😔.

Yeah, I couldn’t find any of 413 in yellow/green, as well. I’m assuming that what/when they did 412 they did with 413. I’ve got (probably) the same one of 413 by Merrill Price dated 12/9/67. I’m surprised it lasted that long in Red/white!

FWIW I’ve got pics of 410 (dated 9/58) and 406 in yellow/green (no date, from eBay). Merrill Price photos also, so I imagine you’ve seen those. I think there is a different photo of 410 in green/yellow in Gene Greens book also.

It’s going to take me a little while to work up the courage to attempt the painting of these.

Tom L

[Tom L]

Do you know where the M&StL picture on the bridge was taken?

I am not sure of the exact location but it is from a series of photos of a Passenger special run on the former Minnesota Western. This link has some info and looks like the same train, same bridge.

https://mcleodhistory.pastperfectonline.com/photo/CFD3FD9A-03CB-4192-929A-017504901239

Tom L

[Jim Starbuck]

I made a little progress on the Davenport 45 tonner today.

I cut the powered truck ends off of two Kato powered chassis and fit them up through the styrene sill.
This allows stock mounting and pivot of the trucks. The ride height will get lowered a bit as I remove a little material when the motor is fit up but so far looks like it could work.

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[Mark W]

And two "rafters" of @Mark W's turkeys showed up so these needed to be placed on the layout immediately!



Have a great weekend!

md

Awesome!  That's about exactly where you'd find them; on a gravel road picking out some tummy pebbles. 

[Tom L]

Okay, glad I wasn't losing it.   

I went through what I have on the computer and I found several of 412 in the yellow/green but none of 413.  I do have one of 413 in the red/white in the late 60's (black numbers on white number boards).

Jason

Not to bog down Weekend update with the minutiae of MStL F7 numbering but I did find a, likely, photo of 413 in yellow/green. The key being the number board color. As Jason mentioned, the number boards on the 1960s pic of 413 were white w/black numbers. All the pics of 412 in either green/yellow or red/white show black number boards with white numbers (which seems to be common practice) Only two F7s had winterization hatches, so based on that, the second unit in the first two photos below should be 413. 413 apparently had these “oddball” number boards from renumbering on. I guess my model 413 should have white boards/black letters, as well.

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412 after repainting, same black/white number,  number boards as with prior scheme
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Sorry, too much time on my hands tonight

Tom L
Wellington CO

[narrowminded]

Decided to post this progress here for those not digging down in all of the threads.  There's more in the 3D printing thread. 

These pics show progress on my Code 40 flex tie bed efforts including concrete ties and regular wooden branch line ties.  This will ultimately be flushed out with variations for HOn30, Nn3, and N scale, whatever might be desired.  The design features tie plates with rail guides for very accurate rail gauging, scale specific dimensions in tie size and spacing, and tie plate and spike details to render a complete and cosmetically accurate representation of the real thing. 

These are only test prints, functionally correct but detail adjustments to be made (like excessive tie plate height).  Finally, code 40 for the masses!

Here's the code 40 with 22" branch track spacing.
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And here's the code 40 concrete tie version:
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Full thread here: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=48446.msg642319#msg642319

[rochsub]

[Lemosteam]

I've been continuing my ongoing effort to make Bluford Craig a very wealthy man 





-Mark

Mark, definitely nit-picking in what is an absolutely incredible scene on my part.  Have you considered laying down a light coat of dullcote on those corn patches?  Eliminating the sheen on those would go a long way IMHO.

[Maletrain]

I'm  not so sure about using Dullcote on that plastic corn. 

I don't have any standing green cornfields to look at around here at this time of year, but my memory is that there is a lot of sky reflection from corn leaves when viewed from ground level, making them somewhat shiny, in effect.  When we view models from what is basically an areal photograph perspective, our brain wants to interpret them in the context of how we usually see the real thing from "street level", so sometimes our expectations are not in line with reality, anyway.

So, maybe Mark should wait for a summer day and take a really good look at a real cornfield before spraying $bazillion of plastic corn stalks with Dullcote.  There might be a way to "mist" those plastic leaves with appropriate green color(s) to diminish the plastic sheen without completely eliminating it, and at the same time make them less monochromatic.

Mark is such an excellent modeler that I am really looking forward to see what he does.

[Now, don't get us started on "silk"  ]

[mu26aeh]

I'm  not so sure about using Dullcote on that plastic corn. 

I don't have any standing green cornfields to look at around here at this time of year, but my memory is that there is a lot of sky reflection from corn leaves when viewed from ground level, making them somewhat shiny, in effect.  When we view models from what is basically an areal photograph perspective, our brain wants to interpret them in the context of how we usually see the real thing from "street level", so sometimes our expectations are not in line with reality, anyway.

So, maybe Mark should wait for a summer day and take a really good look at a real cornfield before spraying $bazillion of plastic corn stalks with Dullcote.  There might be a way to "mist" those plastic leaves with appropriate green color(s) to diminish the plastic sheen without completely eliminating it, and at the same time make them less monochromatic.

Mark is such an excellent modeler that I am really looking forward to see what he does.

[Now, don't get us started on "silk"  ]

Why wait until summer ?  Look up overhead shots of corn fields, get drone footage of corn fields

https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-31919569-aerial-drone-shot-corn-maize-field-agricultural

[spookshow]

Thanks for the suggestions, much appreciated. FYI, what I started out with was autumn corn, which I then sprayed green. This gave me (very) slight variations in overall coloring along with light tan "sort of" tassels on top (where the tops of the plants slice off of the sprues). And yes, I did finish things off with a coating of flat finish. However, given that there are something like 1200 plants in that field (1 of 5 such fields on my layout), that was pretty much the extent of my ambitions 

Also, you're right, depending on where and when you look at it, corn plants can look a little shiny. Vis -



-Mark