Weekend Update 10/7/2012

[Dave Schneider]

Got my first section of the Beer Line built and hung on the wall to evaluate layout height. It is currently set at 56 inches.



Details are here: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=24044.60

Best wishes, Dave

[central.vermont]

Those look cool!!   
Don't forget to put the small handrails on the -9 and 80mac on the nose.
I left them on their spru when I painted them.

Jon

As usual there are some great contributions this weekend, I didnt think I'd have anything to contribute but I just finished up my project tonight. Jon aka Central Vermont recently hooked me up with some custom painted shells and I wanted to decal them with my leasing company logo. There is a SD50, Dash 9 and SD90MAC that I decaled and numbered, I hit it a couple of times with some dullcote to get rid of that new look. One loco took me 3 different tries to number it & another took me two tries to number it lol.

[James Costello]

And, I finally found some suitable pantographs for a New Haven EP3.  Tomix makes a few different designs, but they are available only in Japan.  A friend picked some up and sent them to me.  This will give me some incentive to build an EP3.

Sweet - hope Jim Costello read that.

[jereising]

Building has picked up with the better economy and solid trains of lumber are on the Sub once again:

[randgust]

My demo model for the early ATSF CF7 program - round roof and open frame (1972) got finished from my kit parts.   I'm working on a new master for the earliest cab - the one with the original F7 cab windows, as several people want that version as well.

[Ian MacMillan]

I had vacation this week so I was able to do some scenery work and other stuff, so that I have some progress to show on the layout for its next show on November 4 in Bedford, NH. Dupsey came over on Sunday and we ran some of his locomotoves roundy roundy as well.

Sorry for the grab shots... I was setting the camera and lighting up last night and then I got called for a detail so I had to take a few quick shots and they are not exposed properly!

[Iain]

Richmond, VA:


My first C&O car, ever.


Richmond yard tower.


This weekend was filled with more SCA stuff, so no model railroading done.  However, I took the Amtrak up from NC and am currently waiting for my train in the Colonial Tavern, the former RF&P mail station (from what I am told).  I have a nice view of the main, so it's a good railfanning spot for Fredericksburg.

[milw12]

I decided to be financially responsible this week and bought a new toy:



The good news is that this finishes the roster for my layout. Now to figure out what to do about a CGW NE-5 caboose... 

-Lucas

[mmagliaro]

On the heels of my bridge scene from last week, I completed the overgrowth under the trestle all the way to the truss bridge,
ballasted the lower track up to there, and carved in some small drainage ditches near that lower track and a
bigger one near and under the bridge.  I added a few trees across the lower tracks, but I have really taken
Tony's remarks from last week, about the meadow, to heart.  I don't think I'm going to clutter up that
area with too many trees; I think some open space will look better.

Oh, and obviously I've photoshopped the fascia (black in one photo, gray in another).  I still have no idea what color
I want to really paint it (it's white now).  I'm open to suggestions



ewwwww... I really need to ballast that turnout under the bridge!


Looking back toward the tunnels (trees still have to go on the upper hill above the tunnels)

[mmagliaro]

I've been working on adding the water to my rivers. Here are some shots of the final product.

...
...




The water was done with many coats of Acrylic Gloss Medium brushed on to the riverbed. It took quite a bit of time, but I am pleased with the results.

Thanks,
Bart

Love your scene.... love the rocks and the water!

[MichaelWinicki]

Max, I was equally puzzled about what color to paint my fascia.

Lots of suggestions in forum... Good and well intended suggestions.

Do you pick a color that is totally different than the dominant scenery color that you've used?

Do you pick the same color (or a very similar color) as the dominant scenery color?

Do you pick a color somewhere in between?

Then you have the whole, gloss, semi-gloss, egg or flat question.

My wife suggested I do what we do when we do any painting project, i.e. go down to the paint store and get paint sample swatches.

That helped- a lot.

Much of my scenery is green... late summer grass green.

I grabbed greens along with some grays, blacks and even a couple browns and tans.

I shifted away from greens that were too close, it made the fascia color "too bright" and too much of an extension of the scenery itself.  I didn't want the scenery extended.  I wanted the fascia to stop the eye from looking for "more" scenery if that makes any sense.

But I didn't want an abrupt stop.  And that's what the grays and the blacks did.   

I finally picked up a can of semi-gloss black and tried it.  There were so many folks that used black on their fascia, I wondered what was I missing?  And that's why I bought the can of black paint.

I painted a section of the fascia with the black paint, then stood back and looked at it... The black fascia stopped the eye way too hard and abrupt.  It wasn't comfortable.

I then started looked at something that had some green but wasn't close to being a grass green or tree green.

I finally settled on pewter green, which is a grayish-green.  It stopped the eye without it being an abrupt stop and it didn't clash with the scenery.

Get some color swatches max and do some testing... That's the best method IMO in selecting a fascia color.

[jereising]

Max,

That meadow just makes the scene. 

I favor a black fascia because it makes the eye focus on the scenery...just pops the scenery at you.

And Bart, your water makes me wish I had modeled at least one creek - but it would probably be dry, and that takes the fun out of it.  Well done!

[Ian MacMillan]

I am a fan of the black fascia boards. I have used this color on all of my layouts as I want an abrupt stop to where your eye is looking. At my old house only the layout was lit in the layout room, so everything else was black, giving you this "stage" feel. When the final upper fascia boards were installed, it allowed only 18" of vertical viewing...it looked awesome.

[wmcbride]

I also used black and it does make the scenery "pop." Actually mine was an eggshell finish from Ace Hardware called Navy Wool. Like Navy Blue it was, in essence, black.

Bill McBride

[kalbert]

I decided to be financially responsible this week and bought a new toy:



The good news is that this finishes the roster for my layout. Now to figure out what to do about a CGW NE-5 caboose... 

-Lucas

She's a real beauty, can't wait to see it lumbering through the prairie with a string of 40' grain door box cars!