Weekend Update 1/23/11

[mcjaco]

My sister searched high and low for a Cinderella's Castle cake topper for their wedding in March.  Cheapest they could find, was $200 made of white chocolate that requires dry ice shipping and even more dollars.

So I jumped in and said I'd do it for her. This is my first ever scratch build, and I'm making a ton of mistakes, and learning along the way, but here it is so far:



Forgot to say, it's only 4 1/2 inches across and about 4 inches tall.

[up1950s]

The looks of the cake topper says you're a natural at scratch building , very well done .

[SAH]

VERY well done GP20s Steve!

The cake topper reminds me of my wedding cake adventure.  I did one for our wedding many (many, many) years ago.  Two Bachmann F units painted as a bride and groom under a B'mann signal bridge.  It was a big hit.  I'm sure the castle will be too.

One of my co-workers bought a train set for her son this Christmas past.  It didn't get off to a good start and was set to languish in it's box.  Given what I know about their situation at home I decided to at least try to give the thing a fighting chance.  I guess time will tell if a spark for the hobby was struck. 


After several weeks of no hobby activity I finally wired the curved turnout section and made it operational.  It look ugly but it works.

[John]

No modeling . finally started to read a fiction book for the first time in a few years ..

http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Choices-Larry-Bond/dp/076531875X#reader_076531875X

[chuck geiger]

I'm laying out the US Gypsum plant track at Plaster City. I am having
a tough time figuring out how to model this massive plant. Should most
of it go on the backdrop, some on the backdrop or do the best I can
kit bashing like crazy. Any ideas on how I can do this:








into this....



This plant has many types of structures, from warehouses to tanks to piping to
conveyors for the material. US 80 (now County S80) goes down the center of
the plant. I could model it and make it disappear on the backdrop. Not much
of the plant is on the North side of the highway, most of it is between the
mainline and the highway.

http://maps.google.com/maps?rlz=1C1CHMR_enUS331US331&q=plaster+city,+ca&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Plaster+City,+CA&gl=us&ei=XZE8TbyyA43CsAOZrYD-Ag&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBQQ8gEwAA

HELP RW ASSHATS

[up1950s]

Looks like Walther's has all or most of what would make that complex , but it won't be without cost to buy so many kits to get the parts .


http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?category=Structure&scale=N&manu=Walthers&item=&keywords=Cornerstone&words=restrict&instock=Q&split=30&Submit=Search

Some if these for example

Cornerstone Series(R) Built-ups -- Steel Water Tank

Cornerstone Series(R) North Island Refinery -- 8-1/16 X 5"

Cornerstone Series(R) Glacier Gravel -- 5-5/8 x 6-5/8 x 6-1/8"

Cornerstone Series (R) Western Flood Loader -- 19 x 2-11/16 x 9-5/8" 48.3 x 6.8 x 24.4cm - Conveyor Sections 4-1/4" 10.8cm

[DKS]

Given the space, you will almost certainly have to put some/most of it on the backdrop.

One idea: set up a camera on a tripod and take some good photos of it square-on from a distance, then print them out in large format at Kinkos or some such. Instant backdrop. Then flesh it out with some kitbashing in the foreground.

[chuck geiger]

Obe Won thank u

[TiVoPrince]

Alternativey
beg or borrow a PC projector to sketch the plant 'backdrop' portion to the skyboard.  A mockup or final built 3D portion will help with scaling.  Same methodology as we used to do back in the day with a carousel slide projector.  Lets you paint the skyboard with similar paints as the 3D foreground portion.  Easier to get a match going 'paint by numbers' rather than trying to get a match to a printed background. 

Tracing and painting would certainly be a test of your artistic abilities, and exactly why I use my trade show resources to get mine printed.  Be certain to get samples, printing from large commercial printers is far more rich, deep and vibrant than what comes out of your laser/ink printer...

[wm3798]

Not much for me so far.  Was hoping to get a lot done today, but never made it off the sofa. 

I did spend some time cleaning up some stale information on my website.

Mostly in the construction and operations pages.
http://www.wmrywesternlines.net/layoutconstruction.php

Maybe something will get done on Mondurday...

Lee

[chuck geiger]

Alternativey
beg or borrow a PC projector to sketch the plant 'backdrop' portion to the skyboard.  A mockup or final built 3D portion will help with scaling.  Same methodology as we used to do back in the day with a carousel slide projector.  Lets you paint the skyboard with similar paints as the 3D foreground portion.  Easier to get a match going 'paint by numbers' rather than trying to get a match to a printed background. 

Tracing and painting would certainly be a test of your artistic abilities, and exactly why I use my trade show resources to get mine printed.  Be certain to get samples, printing from large commercial printers is far more rich, deep and vibrant than what comes out of your laser/ink printer...

JJ good idea - I might call US Gypsum and ask them what they have photo wise too.

[brokemoto]

[BCRail_FSJ]

Put some time in on the peninsula benchwork.    Peninsula consists of two parallel free standing sections approximately 6ft in length and 20inches wide.   A separate helix support will be located at the end of these sections.  Section across the aisle from the bridge will be the lower deck scene for Teko gravel pit.  Section nearest the camera will be the lower deck scene for East Taylor pulp mill and refinery sidings.

[BCR 570]

Chuck:

May I suggest trying to obtain an aerial view of the site or perhaps a site map?  This might help you determine exactly what is where.  The site map might identify the various buildings, which would help you to retain a prototypical arrangement as you undertake the required compression.


Andy:

That is serious progress - well done.  What are the benchwork heights for the lower and upper decks? 


Tim

[BCRail_FSJ]

Hi Tim..

Not a fan of benchwork construction so I wanted to get it out of the way.  I may reward myself with some freight car modelling in Feb.

Benchwork heights are 35" for the lower deck and approx 45" for upper.   "Controversially Low" - given the preference for high narrow benchwork these days, but the free-standing benchwork is nice and stable on wide low legs.  Plus you can always pull up a chair for lower deck operations.  I also wanted to preserve the light from and access to that large window.  A 9 to 12" tall backdrop on the upper deck only blocks the bottom 1/3rd of the window.



Andy:

That is serious progress - well done.  What are the benchwork heights for the lower and upper decks?  


Tim

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