Weekend Update - 9/5/2010

[David K. Smith]

Awesome work David, but isn't #56 an F3?

Yes, you're right. My bad.

I'd started out building a different loco, which really was an F7, then switched to this one because of the paint scheme, but forgot to change all of the captions.

[atsf_arizona]

Hi, all,

I have two contributions this week.

A)  A photo was published today by Model Railroad Hobbyist, of the continuing
recovery from serious illness, of famous model railroader Gil Freitag of Houston, TX:

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/3216

As a tribute to Gil and his tremendous contributions to our hobby, I wanted to share
a photo I took of his back yard from a layout visit while there in June 2010:



More about his layout and others, can be seen at:  http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/nsc2010thurs


B)  My 2nd contribution is a friendly invite to those of you living in San Francisco Bay area.

There are some superb free model railroad clinics at the September 12, 2010
NMRA Pacific Coast Region - Coast Division meet in Santa Clara, California.

-------------

The lineup will be:

#1 ==> 10-11 AM - RoHS for Model Railroaders 


#2 ==> 11-12 noon - Model Railroad Roundtable 


#3 ==> 130-230PM - Model Railroad Electronics - Intro to Arduino Open Source hardware controller



Two of the preeminent local electronics wizards, Dave Falkenburg ( http://railnerd.blogspot.com )
and John Plocher ( http://spcoast.com ) are your hosts for this clinic.  Don't miss it!

See more about these clinics at this web page:

http://www.pcrnmra.org/coast/meet_clinics.shtml

Note that guests are always welcome at the NMRA Coast Division Meets,
there's no charge to come as a guest.  I really recommend that if these topics
are of interest to you, come on out and enjoy these clinics!

--------------

The location and info about the September 2010 NMRA Coast Division Meet is at this web page:

http://www.pcrnmra.org/coast/

You will get to check out the Model Contest, Show and Tell, Photo Contest,
and Switching Contest.   See more about what happens at all the Coast Division Meets at:

http://www.pcrnmra.org/coast/contest.shtml

Including this N scale shot of a freelanced superdetailed SD40-2:



(here's the builder of that model.... there are young people in our hobby)!




The Meet starts at 930am, come whenever you can, more info on the meet:

http://www.pcrnmra.org/coast/dispatcher/Dispatcher201009.pdf

And the address is:

Buchser Middle School
1111 Bellomy Street
Santa Clara, California 95050

It's a great opportunity to come and hear some of the best known
and highly active model railroad experts around.  And the price is right!


In model railroading public service to all,

[mark dance]

Well I did got more done this week then I expected - which is good because work is backing up so it is back to the grindstone starting tomorrow.

I reinstalled Farron and put in all the lattice.


Then I was able to cover Farron and McRae Canyon areas with plaster cloth and Sculptamold.  The areas without Sculptamold will have the rockwork added shortly - a combination of castings and carvings.  Then the rock will be painted, the snow added everywhere and the conifers to complete scenicing the scene.  I hope to have it all done save the structures by end of October.

Here are a few "before" and "current" shots.








All that snow certainly is throwing the white balance off on the digital camera.

md

[BCRail_FSJ]

I have been putting time in on benchwork.. that minor thing that is required to hold up all those detailed freight cars and locomotives.    I have completed some of the supporting benchwork for the lower staging area including the curve at the south end of the Peace River bridge.  



Also in progress is the 19" radius curve at the north end of the bridge which transitions into a climbing section of track leading towards a planned helix.   A short trestle is required to connect this bridge to the curve before I can run trains.









Also fitting backdrop and lighting supports to the upper deck...

[Ian MacMillan]

I installed 10 more servo controls, and had 2 pursuits. Nothin much.

[up1950s]

I installed 10 more servo controls, and had 2 pursuits. Nothin much.

Well if it winds up a pursuit , nothin' much is the best outcome .

[BCR 570]

Mark:

You have been busy!  I look forward to seeing the snow in place.


Andy:

Great to see your layout expanding.  The backdrop looks fabulous - having driven along the Peace River, I can say that you have captured the look of the area brilliantly.


You have both reminded me that I should be working on the layout instead of spending too much time on rolling stock projects . . .


Tim

[Sokramiketes]

Thanks to my shrinking brain and arcane survival skills, I completed CNJ F3 #56 in T (1:450).

This is so awesome.  I was making good progress on N scale E9's, and now am going to go pull out the T gauge and waste time.  Doh.

[GaryHinshaw]

Plenty of awesomeness this week!  The mill is going to look just right in that space John; very nice.  The CNJ F in T gauge is great!  Photos have to be the way to go for detailing in T.

Nothing much for me this week.  I've been working on some more body-mounted couplers: centerbeams and tankers, but nothing worth a photo yet.  Mostly I've working on the house getting it ready for sale, since I signed up for a new job in Vancouver BC this week and will be moving at the end of the year.  Seeing all the posts from the many talented Vancouverites on this board eases the pain of having to leave my finished-basement/dream-Tehachapi-track-plan behind (to say nothing of the DC area asshats!).  But I'm more than a little excited to be returning to the west coast.

-gfh



Oh, and I also saw this awesome hopper on a southbound CSX freight through Riverdale today:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=732594

Looked just the same today as it did 10 years ago when the photo was taken.

[wm3798]

Weekend update update:
Last night I started making with the mud...  I started by scabbing some scraps of foam in to fill in the gaps left by the reconstruction...



This view brings to mind the oil rig term "Junk Shot"... Then I started schmearing it with Sculptamold, using my pre-tinted blend with some black and nutmeg brown mixed into the mud.



The fork I used to spread it gives a nice texture, and before the trees go on, it looks sort of like Wasatch Canyon, so I had Henry's UP Erie Built pose for a western-flavored shot...



Then I had enough mud leftover that I could dress up the shelf section with the approach to Elkins:




And, a final look at Casselman Gorge, overlooked by the Shaw train order office on it's new improved real estate...


Next, I have to clean up the river, then it's tree plantin' time!
Lee

[Philip H]

WIth this being a three day weekend for most of us, I'm still plugging away.  None the less, here's a report on the (mostly) completed activities:

First, I finished putting down the first layer of ground cover.  This is Polyblend Sanded Grout in Nutmeg:



Close-up, we see while so many Railwire-ians use the technique:



Turns out you can vary the grain size/courseness by varrying the amount of water you spray on to get it to set.  Once that was done, it was time to haul out the tools of the ground foam trade:



And get to work on something green (using Woodland Scenics Fine Green Blended Turf)



And lest you think all I did was slave alone, Sunday I hauled some spare benchwork pieces to Eric's (Seusscaboose) place, and spent a delightful hour or so in the basement running NKP and solving the world's problems:

[diezmon]

Nothing RR for me.. just had to share my grief. 

I built a guitar MANY moons ago in HS.. I've been repainting it the last couple weeks.   Well, it failed the gravity test 

good thing I have a dowel jig, pipe clamps, and mucho glue..

[Denver Road Doug]

Wow, that is just an outstanding scene.  

[esa123]

Philip,

What is the ployblend sanded grout in nutmeg mix? The name sort of says it all and I love the texture from pictures, is there a previous thread that discusses this?

Thanks,
Erik

[Philip H]

Philip,

What is the ployblend sanded grout in nutmeg mix? The name sort of says it all and I love the texture from pictures, is there a previous thread that discusses this?

Thanks,
Erik

Polyblend is the brand name of a sanded tile grout (available at most big box home improvement stores and tile sellers), that comes in about two dozen colors.  I matched Nutmeg to photos of the area I'm modeling, as well as to the soil survey available from the Department of agriculture's Natural resources Conservation Service.

as to threads . . . type "sanded grout" into the search box (upper right on the banner) and you'll get the flavor.