Weekend Update 5/25/14

[jpec]

Propose we abandon the debate over who should be included in which chart or who we should be honoring this weekend. Let each of us reflect and honor as we chose.

Back to your regularly scheduled Weekend Update.

Amen...no debate needed.

Jeff

[arbomambo]

thank goodness for another beautiful weekend in coastal Alabama...heading into the last few laps on this one....

a quick airbrush coloring of the slope and vertical rock face over a cup of coffee...then some posing and final positioning of the 'mechanicals'...













and then...
quickly before we run out to do a few errands, the part that has the most effect apart from the ballast; the talus field....this is AZ Rock and Mineral Apache stone and Cajon Sandstone Rip Rap...
Alcohol to wet, and scenic cement to fix...






after a cookout of charbroiled oysters and lime-chili charbroiled Royal Reds....I'll tackle the ballast!
~Bruce

[mark dance]

That huge talus slope looks great! Nice job...

[CBQ Fan]

Amen...no debate needed.

Jeff

Not to mention the inaccuracies in the box of "facts".

I like and appreciate the intent of the original post however.

[peteski]

That is some mighty fine rock modeling Bruce!  Very realistic.  Nobody would suspect that there is just bunch of pink insulation foam just fraction of an inch from the wonderfully-executed surface.

[up1950s]

~Bruce

That would only look better if a Bigboy was on the rails . The best I've seen in any scale ........... even 1 x 1 .

[arbomambo]

Day half done and progress is going much quicker than expected....
talus slope is dry-my nature is to 'fiddle' with it a bit, but, truly, it looks better than I had all right to expect....












Sooooooo......
ballasting has proceeded....this is also going much quicker than expected (I guess it's like the 'bicycle' theory....you 'remember'...)
I use the "Kim Saign" method of ballasting....has NEVER failed to give me the best results....
the cork is trimmed to the width of the ties, or, just lay track on one HALF of the split roadbed...use a gravy seperator to apply the ballast-a few minutes and you get 'the hang of it' real quick...pretty soon, you're not even having to go back with a flat brush to 'manicure' the slope...because you're using only half the cork-the ballast forms its own slope...you end up using a tiny fraction more ballast than if using on a beveled piec of cork, but you don't have the 'Arrggghh' experience of ballast 'rolling down' the inclined bevel...also, especially if you're modelling transition period and/or secondary lines...the ballast is more prototypical than the width when using the whole 'split cork' thing...(I tend to believe that the whole split cork thing was meant to be able to model a roadbed by just painting the cork a 'ballast' color and laying track to it...)









now, for the double track main....I debated using basalt or the more 'modern' mauve....since I won't 'own' this module, and transition AND modern equipment will see time on it, Mauve it is...
Thanks for looking,
~Bruce

[u18b]

Took a break from my big EP-2 project
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=31042.0

And furthered my research into my Kumata book I'm writing.

Acquired a rare set of Silverliners in mint condition.



Added headlights and DCC, as well as flywheels and special tuning.



And a few other details that the original was missing.

[LIRR]

Nice work on the rocks! That's coming along beautifully, I think the color is perfect.

[Rich_S]

After reading through a article by David Popp on installing DCC decoders into various N scale locomotives, I was intrigued with the TCS CN decoder. I have hard wired a few decoders in locomotives that were created before frames became Plug-n-play and although the installs went quite well, the issue I had with them was the lack of room after the decoder was installed for a rear head light.

After reading through the above mentioned article, I found it was unique that the TCC CN decoder replaces both the front and rear light board. Sure it's still a semi hard wire as you have to attach the orange and gray wires to the motor and insulate the motor from the frame. Then it's just a matter of attaching the remaining wires to the rear light board and you are good to go.

So for my weekend update I decided to try the TCC CN decoders in my Walthers P&LE GP38-2 and my Atlas/Kato Western Maryland GP35. Except for the soldering, the GP38-2 was almost a drop in install. The GP35 on the other hand needed some minor frame modifications that was easily handled with my Dremel motor tool. Now thanks to the TCC decoders, these two locomotives have joined my growing rank of DCC equipped locomotives



Now maybe one of these days I can settle on just one prototype to model  This week my layout is a Southern branch, next week who knows
Maybe I should change my signature line to "Modeling in "N" scale" 

[unittrain]

thank goodness for another beautiful weekend in coastal Alabama...heading into the last few laps on this one....

a quick airbrush coloring of the slope and vertical rock face over a cup of coffee...then some posing and final positioning of the 'mechanicals'...













and then...
quickly before we run out to do a few errands, the part that has the most effect apart from the ballast; the talus field....this is AZ Rock and Mineral Apache stone and Cajon Sandstone Rip Rap...
Alcohol to wet, and scenic cement to fix...






after a cookout of charbroiled oysters and lime-chili charbroiled Royal Reds....I'll tackle the ballast!
~Bruce

This is some very outstanding work man! It looks so real in many ways the awesome scenery work and the right details to add that raw prototypical look. Are you going to add EZ line wire to the poles? Look forward to following your work thanks for sharing.

[BCRail_FSJ]

Andy, looking good! I remember spending a lot of time inspecting farm properties between Ft St John and Ft Nelson and your techniques are very representative of the foliage in that area. Can’t wait to see some of this on the layout.

Chris 

I found some scrap photo backdrop and  had some fun with the camera today.   Still need to ballast the track and add some trees, but it is a fairly viable photo diorama at this point.

Mosquitos and oilfield trucks would add to the scene..

[arbomambo]

done for the day...perhaps the weekend...progress went much more quickly and smoother that anticipated...perhaps old 'habits' die hard....
added some more scenic 'thingys' before alcohol misting and scenic cement misting...I'm really going to be hard pressed to find something that needs 'fiddling' now...(generally , when I 'fiddle' i end up making things 'less-than-desired')
going to check this in the morning, and see if any ballast needs re-visiting, but, apart from painting the skyboard with scenic landforms, and drilling the legs for t-nuts and adjustable bolts, and painting the fascia....I may end up calling this module 'done'....


















Thanks for looking,
~Bruce

[u18b]

That module is a butte.

[C855B]

[groan]