Weekend Update 1/27/2008

[wm3798]

Ed, I have a huge hi-capacity fork lift you might be able to use...  I'll snap a piccy tonight when I get home... maybe it's worth one of them circus cabeese you have in your stash...

Lee

[chuck geiger]

Will look when I get home. Bought it from a local LHS that was closing. It was from his
personal collection. I think it's one they quit making. It's the white lead casting, that
was painted. Viking, JL Innovations and others make the current ones.

[seusscaboose]

Where is that excavator from?

looks like a GHQ (???) one.... does that sound right?

i have one... can't remember the exact initials..... 

[justTRAINcRaZy]

Chuck G. - That's a terrific scene!

KB

[SAH]

This is the whole scene:

Very well done Ed.  Subtle track elevation changes.  Different ballast grades and colors from mainline to dirt, all blended and transitioned just right.  I think you nailed it! 

Steve

[POVC]

This is the whole scene:

Very well done Ed.  Subtle track elevation changes.  Different ballast grades and colors from mainline to dirt, all blended and transitioned just right.  I think you nailed it! 

Steve

Guess this means I need to refit some of my MT scrap gondola's with Lo-Pro's by Saturday so I can switch the scrap yard when I run OneTrak this weekend.

Tim

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Yep it does Tim!

Thanks Steve, I've always been impressed with your work, it's nice to hear you approve. I'm still not in love with the ballast work, but I think I can work on that over time.

Believe it or not, there's only one elevation change in that shot. I faked it on the yard tracks, as they double as NTRAK mains if we ever need to use the module as an interface, or to create a yard.

[Wlal13again]

Ed, is that a PB&NE gon in your scrapyard?

[Norm P]

Working on the Walthers ADM Grain Elevator. The parts are a little shaky in the N scale version. I built the HO kit with no problems on my last layout. I think this thing sat around on a shelf at the hobby shop forever, some of the styrene castings are warped. I bend them back. Adding detail parts and will had platform, railings and ladders from Plastruct.

Ditto almost word for word.  My walls looked like the hull of a boat, but they straightened out when I got all four glued and clamped.  I've been trying to paint and weather it as I go, so the actual process of putting the pieces together is just now happening.  Any suggestions for the silos re: the seams?  I assume squadron putty and sanding, but if there are any other ideas I'm all ears.

[chuck geiger]

Been sanding and smoothing the corners and points where the peices come together. Good idea
on the Squadron Putty Norm, gonna pick some up-tonight. I have the Plastruct railings up and working on the doors to nowhere (with platforms, railings and steps with rails). It just didn't go together as well as it's HO counterpart. I will weather it this weekend with Bragdon and airbrush (alcohol and rust paint). The silos were much easier to glue and looked way better on the HO kit. I am going to putty and sand those seams too. Thanks for the tip!

Oh BTW, sand the corners and seams where you will glue (using Tenax 7R or other) The adhesive will work better with the paint gone and the bare plastic matching. And those windows and doors will pop out on you (after it's complete if not glued good, or taped with clear tape). Then you have to take a small pin head of CA on a nail and stick it in the window of door opening and pull it back into place (with CA on the opening). These kits were out of stock and then shipped again this last Fall. The one I ordered from Internet Trains in Brea, CA was probably on the shelf from the last pressing or there was a bad pressing on the Fall shipment. Still the best grain elevator kit on the market. I could kick myself, I saw one at a show in Southern Calfornia for $5 and didn't buy it (pre-built).

UPDATE

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ed, is that a PB&NE gon in your scrapyard?

Good catch!

Yep!

I found one in someone's (Tex-n-rails maybe?) box at a Timonium show. It was an MDC kit.

I know having it hauling scrap is probably inacurate, as most of the time I stick a structural steel or tarped load in it and using it in through trains figuring it's a move from Bethlehem to Sparrows Point. Maybe this way it's hauling it's keep moving back to PA, not that it'd be THAT profitable of a haul though.

I'm figuring most of the gons never left the plant, but I couldn't pass it up when I saw it. If I see another one, I'll probably get it too.

[Wlal13again]

I found one at the Chantilly show in 2004. Mine has a bit of a lean to it, so I have to do some work on it.

They left the mill quite a bit, so you`re on the money. Picking up some steel scrap to feed the BOF and EAF in South Bethlehem.

[chuck geiger]

UPDATE



I lost one of the vents and (there are 4) so I used....plastic hex nuts...do they suck?, I have
some CAL FRIEGHT vents I could use...Gonna put some railings and ladders on the doors too.

[Norm P]

I like the detail parts you've added.

[bsoplinger]

I lost one of the vents and (there are 4) so I used....plastic hex nuts...do they suck?

Just the way I was browsing, I had to scroll down to see your text under the photo. They looked OK to me, until I read that they were hex nuts. Now its very obvious to me they are. So just don't tell folks and then nobody will notice