Erie Railroad Mahoning division HCD

[wm3798]

I'm almost beginning to think that there should be a separate forum for HCD layouts!
Lee

[Chris333]

Looks like I can fit 3 cars easy:


With a feed mill and team track on this side, the interchange might end up being the busiest.


BTW if I a hit the pin button somewhere I have no idea how to un-do it.

[Philip H]

Chris,
I don't think there will be an objection to pinning this thread.

[Chris333]

I've been under the layout doing wiring for 2 days 

Time to cruse the Railwire ads for a masseuse 

[MichaelWinicki]

Luv that junction Chris.

[Rich_S]

Chris, that interchange with those hand laid turnouts is pure hotness 

[Chris333]

Installed the backdrop on my door layout and mocked-up the buildings.

[Chris333]

Tested a bunch of the track work today and it seems fine. So i moved to the fiddle yard.

It is an 18" wide HCD with a 12x3/4" melamine board on it. At one end I put a 1/2" dowel for a pivot:


At the other end it will side back-n-forth to select tracks:



Will have seven 80" long tracks on it.

And I painted the backdrop.

If I tried to fade it down with white I KNOW I'd never be happy with the brush strokes and I'm not spraying it 

[txronharris]

Tested a bunch of the track work today and it seems fine. So i moved to the fiddle yard.

It is an 18" wide HCD with a 12x3/4" melamine board on it. At one end I put a 1/2" dowel for a pivot:


At the other end it will side back-n-forth to select tracks:



Will have seven 80" long tracks on it.

And I painted the backdrop.

If I tried to fade it down with white I KNOW I'd never be happy with the brush strokes and I'm not spraying it 

Great job on the fiddle yard. Simple and effective idea. I've been looking for a simple solution for my switching layout and this is the one. Thanks for sharing the pics.   

[Chris333]

The backdrop is drying and newsflash... I hate it 

Cut the sky from a scenic backdrop and compared:


My old sky looked too purple in the store so I kept the same darkness, but went more blue. Will be going back to the store today. I guess greyish-purplish color is better. In the photos above the grey primer looks better than the blue (to me). One of these isn't enough 

[Scottl]

I find eastern skies are rarely the blue that many try to portray due to humidity and ambient pollution.  Especially if you go back a few decades to when air quality controls from coal combustion and vehicle emissions were more "visible".   A gray-blue often does the trick, almost to the point of being whitish.  It is worth getting it right, however you prefer the final color.

[Chris333]

Here is a photo probably from the 1960's


And a few years ago

[DKS]

It's tricky to go by images like that. A quick analysis of the first one finds that it has an overall reddish/purple cast; when this is corrected, it becomes more vaguely cyannish-blue, a little closer to the second image, which looks a bit more natural.

As for spraying, can't you take the background outside? A light mist of a lighter color, concentrated along the bottom, could really turn it around.

Alternatively, you could try a trick I did: pour a little bit of two colors in a rolling pan, roll the roller back and forth a little to get the colors to blend just a little, and roll the paint on horizontally. Keep rolling back and forth until the paint makes a nice transition on the backdrop.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I must agree with DKS.

Don't base your sky color on photos (if you're trying to make the layout look good in person). Base it on what looks "right" to your eyes and brain.

Colors in photos can vary from so many factors. Being a print man, you know what I'm talking about...

[Chris333]

I just picked the wrong color to start. In person it was almost hurting my eyes, just too bright.

Might be better now. I found an old can of lighter blue and that was way too light. Next I mixed to two together and it was a little bit better. Then I found my original blue color and saw it had red as part of the mix so I added some Applebarrel red, almost perfect. Last I added a little bit of primer grey. So I have Behr matte with Gidden flat, some craft store red, and Rustoleum primer. Did a little test behind a building and I like it.

There is no way to get the backdrop out without messing up the seams. I will lay some paper down and do some flat white spray toward the bottom and maybe a lighter less version of these clouds:
https://picasaweb.google.com/ErieChris333/NewLayoutSpace#5559271046375365138