Weekend Update 7/28/13

[chuck geiger]

Been working on ARR blog

http://alaskarail.blogspot.com/

[davidgray1974]

This is looking really great. As you go forward, you might consider adding debris/branches, etc.. on the inside bend of the river, where the water flows slower. I went back and looked at some of your older posts, and found the lower photo. I hope you don't mind me reposting it, but it is very inspirational to see how far you have come with this project. You have created a great scene in a very modest space and have really taken advantage of the possibilities in N scale.
Best wishes, Dave

No worries Dave.  I don't mind at all.  Haven't looked at that pic in a while.  Seems like ages ago since I was cutting into the foam.  Really does put into perspective how far I've come, but I still have a ways to go.  Will definitely add debris to give it more of a realistic look and feel.  Thanks for the suggestion and the great comments!

Using photos of 1:1 scenes in the modeling thread is not fair.

The shale rock creekbed is as close to perfect as I think possible.

Thanks SkipGear!  I always wish I could be on the same modeling level as many of you here on Railwire.  I'm always so impressed by the realism achieved by everyone here that sometimes I get a bit discouraged that what I'm doing isn't up to par.  Not that I don't feel like what I'm doing is good, just that I want to be a lot better at it.  I have to say though, talking and observing on here has been a big help in my progress.  Everyone here has been awesome and a huge help.

Thanks again Mike for the rocks!  So far so good, but I'll definitely let you know if I need more.  Also, thank you for sharing the close ups of your scene.  That and your insight has been a huge help! 

David:  I LIKE that riverbed.  Nothing beats real rock for something like that, and you've matched the color in the banks perfectly.  Is that modeled after a real place?

Thanks nkalanaga!  No, this isn't based on any particular scene, just ideas from different locals I've seen online pieced together.  I imagine trying to replicate a scene may have been easier to do instead of flying by the seat of my pants.  No real direction except for the base concept.  (Kentucky / W. VA coal country)  Basically I just cut into the foam and go with what feels/ looks right.  I have to say though, it can be frustrating at times, but I've tried to adapt and overcome.

David, that's amazing, can't wait to see the "finished" product....if this is "unfinished"....Otto K.

Thanks Otto!  Yes, it is still unfinished.  Still have a ways to go and a lot more details before this scene will be complete.

Thanks again everyone!

[randgust]

About a year ago I got Jim Hinds to make me a lighting package for my CMW police cruiser.   Went for the 70's gumball and alternating headlights.  Little did I know just how much of a job it is to grind and drill that out to fit the surface-mounted golden-white LED's in the grille and drill out the roof for the gumball.  But it was worth it.....





So yeah, WELCOME TO WINSLOW and Rt. 66!   PS:  Here's your sign:  http://www.cardcow.com/images/set67/card00652_fr.jpg

[SAH]

The AC&Y is running to Spencer again!  More photos in the LE section.

[chicken45]

So much win this week.
Great job with those rocks! Awesome!

Lots of Pennsy Steam love there. Great work, all!

[nkalanaga]

Andrew:  Looking at that passenger car reminded me of comments in the 1960s and 70s modeling magazines.  "N scale will never be more than a runner's scale, because it's too small to do real modeling in."  Then go back and compare your car to many of the HO and O pictures of the time...  I think some of the pundits would be very surprised, and probably a little embarrassed.

David:  It looks like the deep dark depths of Appalachia.  We live on the western edges, and most of the stream banks here are mud.  The rivers are the same mud color, except in dry weather, when they turn more of a manure-pond greenish brown.  The local coal isn't the best either.

[dougnelson]

Andrew:
Beautiful work on this solarium car.  I would love to see more on how you built this car.

This is a car I am hoping Microtrain will add to its heavyweight series.  Although they already did an observation car, the use of open platform observation cars mostly faded away during the Depression years.  For the 1940s and into the 1950s, solarium-buffet-sleeper cars had largely replaced open platform cars on trains with heavyweight equipment.

Doug Nelson

[Specter3]

No modeling time for me this weekend. Had an actual job to finish. But it is a transition era vehicle. Worked on this:





Sunrise on the Swamp



Polishing aluminum is not my favorite thing to do, but I now have credible confirmation that I am good at it...

[sizemore]

No modeling time for me this weekend. Had an actual job to finish. But it is a transition era vehicle. Worked on this:

Polishing aluminum is not my favorite thing to do, but I now have credible confirmation that I am good at it...

That is one sexy machine. Makes me want to go play in my workshop on my transition era toys....

The S.

[cv_acr]

Been working on ARR blog

http://alaskarail.blogspot.com/

Looks like a neat railway. The only ARR I've seen in person is some of the SD70MACs when they were being shipped out of the EMD factory in London.

I just started up a new blog on my personal site for my Algoma Central Railway modeling:

http://vanderheide.ca/blog/

It's brand-new, so there's not a lot there yet, but I have a few "then-and-now" type posts planned over the next couple weeks based on a trip I took to the area a couple weeks ago. What's there today is quite a bit different than the era I plan to model (~1985).

[jnevis]

No modeling time for me this weekend. Had an actual job to finish. But it is a transition era vehicle. Worked on this:

Polishing aluminum is not my favorite thing to do, but I now have credible confirmation that I am good at it...

Getting ready for Reno?  Been a few times as a spectator and once with a static aircraft. We're trying to justify a trip to Fallon for race week with a LOT of free time during the day (probably not happeneing )

[Philip H]

Making some slow but steady progress on the BQ23-7 Build:

[seusscaboose]

Phil, that looks like Elkins.

As for me, bouncing around the basement, avoiding electrical work, bashing forward on scenery on the Beastie, as well as in Wobegon.  Here, i finished off cutting a foamboard template for the gatorfoam base  to be used.



you can see the express track (with the caboose) as well as the three station tracks (varying in length).
the PRR car is on one of 2 long sidings (12+ cars each) and the Main is squeezed between the PRR car and the express track.

EP

[Philip H]

it might be . . . . or it might be North Baton Rouge . . . . only time will tell . . . .

[C855B]

Mine was not a good N-scaling weekend. Club had our layout at a show, and I brought four working steamers to run. Three died. Brand-new Athearn Big-Boy threw a traction tire, and that was after nearly an hour un-glitching its decoder (I hate sound decoders) - it required JMRI to reset. Then I had to intervene when a well-meaning member of the public "helped" the loco along when it stalled, and I think it was her pushing it that killed the tire. It won't pull crap now. The rear driver axle of the rear engine on my older Athearn Challenger spun out of the wheels, so it's now on the bench.

I thought going simple would get my head right, but my new Bachmann connie's decoder decided to lose its mind for no good reason. Fortunately it took the factory reset CV, but at that point I was tired and ill-tempered (just ask Robyn), put the J on the remaining cars, ran a couple of laps, and then put it all away. Some days you get the bear, some days the bear gets you.

It must have been some manner of N scale karma - in making up a period-approximate train for the Big Boy, I broke the seal on probably 20 "blue label" Kadee/Micro-Trains cars I bought back in the '70s that had never been touched other than moving the jewel cases from one box to another.