PRR/Conrail Juniata Division Engineering Report

[Dave V]

Roof = Valspar faux stone spray paint with a little Walmart flat black spray to tone it down.

[MichaelWinicki]

Ah!

Thank you sir!

[conrailthomas519]

Love the look! Keep up the hard work Dave!!

[marzbarz]

Hello all,

I was hoping to get some info from your layout Dave, as your layout has been my inspiration for my own. I have two questions though that I cannot seem to figure out, maybe thinking way to deep when its really simple I bet. What tool did you use to carve your lake and river scene? What material did you use for your river/creek bed? I am referring to your website : http://www.thevollmerfamily.com/Pennsy/Construction/index.html

Photo 6 and 7

Your track plan caught my eye since day one. I have modified it though to suit my needs, as I am going to have one huge industry.

[Dave V]

I used an old kitchen knife and a hot wire cutter.  Nothing fancy.

As for the creek bed, I used very runny Hydrocal stained with earth-colored latex and sprinkled with talus.  Super easy and sloppy.

[Dave V]

It's done!  The factory is installed and the siding is ballasted.  The mountain has been glued back in place.  Now I just need to scenic the parking lot side of the factory.

[MichaelWinicki]

Wow!

Looks great Dave!

Really like the contrast between the two structures.


But most importantly... What do you think?

[Philip H]

Well done Dave!.  The architectural divide between the two sides clearly demarks differing construction; the stone foundation along the road crates scenic flair, and the parking lot looks just big enough to be fussy. 

[Dave V]

I guess it works.  Been staring at a coal mine there for 6 years so I have to adjust to the change.  I know this is much more appropriate for the area I'm modeling.

[eric220]

Overall, lookin' good! I do have to echo DKS's comments, though. Not the biggest fan of the color on the new construction part.

[Dave V]

Overall, lookin' good! I do have to echo DKS's comments, though. Not the biggest fan of the color on the new construction part.

Unusual, yes, but as mentioned before I was faced with modeling an iconic red brick building with no visible exposed concrete, so I went this route.  It's grown on me.

[MichaelWinicki]

Yeah I'm OK with the color of the "newer" structure– Hey, there's a proto... 

The challenge is when you have a few brick-red buildings on a layout, you need something to create contrast.

I've painted several of my buildings in colors that wouldn't have been my first choice if I were painting that building as a 1:1 structure, but drive up & down the streets and you'll see many of those "What were they thinking?" paint jobs.

[Bsklarski]

One thing to remember is that we are most likely all looking at a different color with that building. Between Dave's camera settings, everyone computer and monitor and depending on what browser they are using, I bet we are all looking at a different color. As crazy as it seems, IE 9 is the best one out there for viewing the colors the way they are meant to be viewed. Funny as I dont use IE9 so I wonder what they color really is lol.

[Dave V]

Done, save for a few more trees and underbrush.

[packers#1]

Dave, from a simple compositional perspective, I like the J.C. Blair Co. better than the coal mine. It seems to really give the mountain behind it more "weight" and also emphasizes the size of both itself and the small feed dealer in front. Also, versus the coal mine, the buildings add more of a cluttered, industrial/urban feel for Pennsylvania, versus the coal mine, which would presumably have been much more isolated.
Could we get an overall shot of the layout now, with the new industry?