Weekend Update 9/21/14

[Scottl]

Jeff, the clouds look good in terms of colouring and some shapes.  Overall, they seem a bit too elongate, I would break them up a bit and maybe a little more vertical to them.  I found when I did this that I went over my clouds with the sky colour to "erase" things and it worked well for changes. 

[Miles]

Did a miniature version of "This old house" turning a VERY tired IHC victorian into one befitting my Oakland industrial neighborhood prototypes. The Green one behind it will also be kitbashed/scratchbashed into a more accurate model once this one is complete. The prototype for this house is at 13th & E18th street in Oakland.

[peteski]

Did a miniature version of "This old house" turning a VERY tired IHC victorian into one befitting my Oakland industrial neighborhood prototypes. The Green one behind it will also be kitbashed/scratchbashed into a more accurate model once this one is complete. The prototype for this house is at 13th & E18th street in Oakland.

Very nice Miles!  Are these N or H0 scale?  The level of detail seems like H0 to me.

[Scottl]

Mark, that layout looks fantastic and it is great you were able to save the day with the battery fix. 

I'm making progress with scenery and benchwork.  I installed the fascia and finessed the foam of the peninsula where the Cisco bridge is, and also cleaned up the opposite side of layout so I will be able to close the gap with a duck under.

[Mike Madonna]

Put a little more time into a project from earlier this year. Installed sound in these IM F-units back in February. Finally got around to adding a few details that almost complete the project. All that's needed is a little weathering.......









Now, onto a "special" steam project 

[Iain]

Spent the weekend up at my dad's place, helped him with some benchwork.



Alas, it's HO 

[nkalanaga]

Miles:  That house with the plastic roof looks like some of them here in Appalachia...

[C855B]

Miles:  That house with the plastic roof looks like some of them here in Appalachia...

Close. The tarps are usually held down with tires.

[nkalanaga]

I've seen those too.

Where I grew up, in southeast Washington state (Pasco), nearly everyone had tires on their trailer roof.  That was to keep the roof from coming loose in the wind storms - literally.  Back then most mobile home roofs were curved, rather than peaked, and made of sheet metal.  In the 60+ mph winds the Tri-Cities had they acted like airplane wings, and could peel right off.  The tires held them down.  Most people didn't tie the trailers down, like most areas require today, and they never seemed to blow over.  Just the roofs came off.  Every so often one would have to get a ladder and reposition the tires, as the vibration would cause them to slide off after a while.

During World War II these winds were named "Termination Winds", because the first time many of the Hanford Project workers encountered them, they'd quit, sometimes hundreds of workers at once.   The wind still blows there, but between irrigated farming, changing tillage practices, and spreading subdivisions, the dust seldom blows like it used to.  The first memory I have of one of the storms was when I was in kindergarten, 50+ years ago, and the storm stripped the paint off our car, right down to shiny metal.  Needed to be repainted and have the windows replaced, but only on one side and the front.  The other side and rear looked fine!

[PGE-N°2]

Only a crazy person would attempt to take on such a project!

That looks GREAT!!

Only a crazy person would try and take on a project like doing an MP15AC the old fashioned way, but cutting and splicing, instead of trying to design a shell for Shapeways instead.

I wish someone would do a 3D MP15AC, though. It would be a great help to modellers of the Milwaukee.

Actually just read that Skytop models is doing the MP15AC. Woo-hoo!. Now I just need to learn how to paint and decal  .

[seusscaboose]

Most of the hobby time this week was spent preparing for last night's op sessions.  I thought I was all ready to go when disaster struck: As the first people arrived I fired up the layout and promptly learned that there was no power for the Tortoise switch machines which power 1/3rd of all switches (all of deck two and vital switches on the other decks).  I was faced with having to cancel the session I was fable to quickly determine the problem was likely the bridge rectifier in the home built power supply or less likely the step down transformer.  I scrounged up 2 6V lantern batteries and wired these in...the switches ran at about half speed (and more quietly!) but the jury rigged solution held for the whole session and a good time was had by all.  Wow...dodged a bullet there!  30 tense minutes from disaster to salvage.

been there....

13 people standing in your basement ready to race the Fast Clock... and all you can ask yourself in your head is WTF!!!

fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your slant) ...  troubleshooting has become an art form at my place and I got 4 or 5 good artists who participate



thank goodness for Friends with Patience !!!

EP

[tehachapifan]

Only a crazy person would try and take on a project like doing an MP15AC the old fashioned way, but cutting and splicing, instead of trying to design a shell for Shapeways instead...

I figure it will be a couple more years before I try going the 3D printing route. Until then, cutting and splicing will have to do and it does come with a certain sense of accomplishment when finished (along with a few more grey hairs!)...



...not that creating something via 3D printing isn't an accomplishment (when the technology advances just a bit more I will probably become an addict), there's just something cool about doing an old school kitbash. To me, this is one of the best parts of the hobby.

[carlso]

I figure it will be a couple more years before I try going the 3D printing route. Until then, cutting and splicing will have to do and it does come with a certain sense of accomplishment when finished (along with a few more grey hairs!)...

Me thinks the grey hairs are from overspray from that beautiful SP switcher. Very nice work!

Carl

[Mark W]

Only a crazy person would try and take on a project like doing an MP15AC the old fashioned way, but cutting and splicing, OR trying to design THE WHOLE shell for Shapeways instead.

Fixed that for ya. 
My philosophy is that modeling is not a one stop shop, nor is 3D printing.  All modeling techniques, old and new, supplement each other.  Those who can pull a little from each bag will have the greatest success.  Though there are always exceptions to the rule, as Russ just proved.

[JanesCustomTrain]

...not that creating something via 3D printing isn't an accomplishment (when the technology advances just a bit more I will probably become an addict)

The technology did advance already many years ago, Shapeways is just not using it. I remember that a company in NewZealand sold 3D printed N scale shells in high quality already 10 years ago.

Jane