Where's Waldo?

[randgust]

I have a daughter-in-law, bless her heart, that rather enjoys the detail model work I do, to the extent that she's not afraid to even rib me gently about certain aspects of my ATSF 70's layout.    The prior comment that made me make some changes was 'you know, your passenger service must really suck, as your passenger trains are completely empty'.   Uh, yeah.  True.   So the domes and diners with visible windows got populated.   Well, she was right.

Last trip two years ago (at Christmas) was equally fun, but I got ribbed again.   "You know what you need?   Waldo!".   She's spent WAY more time studying the detail on the layout than most, and takes great enjoyment on spotting stuff that other people miss; one of a handful that found the N bald eagle in the trees, and that the Woodland Scenics policeman is holding a donut.   So, she's coming this year.    I haven't forgotten, rats, I need a Waldo.

While these things exist in HO scale, if anybody has been crazy enough to do one in N, I can't find it.   And if they did, I don't want to know how much Prieser or WS would charge.   Hand-painting the red stripes over white seemed impossible, equally daunting was applying individual red stripes over white on something this tiny, but I'd give it a shot.    Digging through the decal drawer.....  AH-HAAAAA! 

The solution was to hack up a couple of the MicroScale N scale American flags, wonderful red stripes over white, hold them down with a needle, and soak it with Solvaset.   Unbelievable.   It actually worked.   I just grabbed a junk figure out of my junkbox, not really expecting much or a total fail, for that matter.

So if you have kids, grandkids, relatives, friends... and want to have some non-tech fun to get them to really study your layout, there you go.   I haven't had so much fun since I came up with N scale mice.



I'll be securing him with some light, removable glue, and he's now got future employment popping up all over Winslow and Flagstaff.

I'm awaiting the DKS version where he waves and shakes a cane.

[Maletrain]

Thank your daughter-in-law for adding a new item to our club's future "treasure hunts" during our open house events.

[davefoxx]

Haha!  That's great, Randy!

Have a Merry Christmas,
DFF

[Mark5]

That's just precious!

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(grab posted for any others that can't see it in Rand's post)

Nice job!  That really would be a good thing for maybe Woodland Scenics to do.

Mark

[peteski]

Wick'd awesome!  I love it!

[randgust]

Somehow I sense tiny N scale lawyers with a 'cease and desist' order appearing to WS without paying a licensing fee.   So I highly recommend home brew attempts here for individual use, as they say.

Professionally, I bumped into Warner Bros. just once, and was stunned just how threatening they were for even ASKING permission, let alone actually doing anything.  (And don't ever ask permission again, either, and we'll watch you)

I was actually alongside a Disney retail lawyer when they stumbled across a counterfeit Disney store in a shopping center.   She inspected the inventory like a shopper,  BS'd the owner into confessing it on a recording, then produced her business card, and shut them down on the spot.  Never broke a sweat, let alone character.

[u18b]

   I haven't had so much fun since I came up with N scale mice.

Surely N scale mice can't compete with your powered dog sled you posted on the old Atlas board!

[PRB]

Great Job, but you need to add the glasses!

[randgust]

Well, I did manage to add the cane.  And I put in the white eye areas first dipping white with a .010 piece of wire, wow, that was hard enough.  If there's a way to do the glasses edge with any precision I don't know that part yet. 

She's coming in tonight, so this was a rush job anyway.   Done for now, shhh, don't give it away, I made the first spot kind of easy.

[randgust]

Great Job, but you need to add the glasses!

Aw, geez.   It's challenges like that that got me in this to begin with.....

[nickelplate759]

Aw, geez.   It's challenges like that that got me in this to begin with.....

What if you get a small black numeral 8 decal and use that for glasses?

[MK]

Brass etch eyeglasses?

[BuddyBorders]

What an awesome idea! Well executed. Maybe some black thread for the glasses?

-Buddy

[OldEastRR]

Doesn't he also have a striped cap? (wicked grin) Seriously, the things model RRers do to impress people -- or' mostly other model rails.