Weekend Update 8/16/15

[Jesse6669]

After looking it over, I'd say it looks like a rather convincing wreck.  Better than what I could do.  It's been stuck in primer for over nine years.  Might actually be worth finishing now.

Make sure you decorate with this: [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[mu26aeh]

Finished my CEFX AC44CW. It's not perfect but I'm happy with it.

Looks great to me !  If you find you don't like it, I have a couple NS units available for trade possibly 

[strummer]

Also arrived...a killer deal on a pair of IM tunnel motors.
-Ryan
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Wow...those are really nice...good close-up shots, too.

Mark in Oregon

[strummer]

Finished my CEFX AC44CW. It's not perfect but I'm happy with it.

Whattamean not perfect?! It looks fabulous.

Mark in Oregon

[bnsfdash8]

Thanks guys, I'm probably my worst critic. A trade? I don't think that'll happen, it looks pretty good next to my NS stuff. 

[SP-Wolf]

Another project finally done. SP DF-200 GE 70 Ton #5107 ready for service:





Thanks,
Wolf

[davefoxx]

No finish work for me this weekend; I'm out of paint.  That, however, led to me back to a project I started a few years ago.  Bye bye cardboard stand-in.



More on the Seaboard Central 2.0 thread in the Layout Engineering Forum.

DFF

[chicken45]

Chopped a whole 2 feet off this flat car. I'm amazed how well it turned out. It's seemless. I sanded off the sides and stake holes and will use archer transfers for rivets. Also you see a completed DD1 container in FUD.

[Roger Holmes]

Here is the 1972 built Quality Craft Grain Elevator that was the subject of my Props to GOO thread as the building existed three days ago.



Here it is today after stripping the rolled roofing, installing Monroe Models cedar shingles, finally glazing the windows and taking the shine off of the cast metal chimney.  This grain elevator will take its place on the Feed Mill module that I am building on the workbench as soon as the new spur line on the layout is done.





The Monroe Models shingles are tan self-adhesive material--no more GOO (they probably won't stick for 43 years like the old ones),  I colored them with green Pan Pastels applied with a small sponge and a brush for the more tricky parts.



I also installed my Bluford corn this week.  It is a great product but as it comes from the box it is too neon green and spaced too far apart for Illinois corn.  I painted the base of each row with burnt umber craft paint.  I got to where I could paint a piece in 45 seconds--there were a lot of rows to practice on.



I solved the spacing problem and doubled the density by staggering each piece so the only two of the locating pins go into two of the three locating holes on each piece.  I had to cut off one cornstalk from every other piece.  Since they are not aligned as they were designed to align I held them in place with GOO   I painted 1,035 tassels with straw colored paint and misted on Model Master Olive Drab to tone down the shine.



Out of one box I got a 1 1/2 inch by 16 inch unit that fits between the mainline and the walls.  I added Woodland Scenics dirt in front to cover up the plastic carrier strips.  The corn in the foreground is the old brass corn I planted long ago.



Here's a shot of the Amish farm which is down the road from the modern farm where the new, dense corn is growing.  Note the scale sized horse droppings behind the buggy.

[VonRyan]

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

What's this, you ask? Why, it's a bin of copper wire.
I call it my "Bedford Budget" since I've been stripping any copper wire I can get my hands on so as to put some spending money in my pocket for Bedford.
I've officially run out of wire to strip, so a trip to the junkyard is on the agenda for Tuesday.

[chessie system fan]

The flat car idea is a good one.  I think I've found some decent decals for it.  I'll see what I can cook up for next weekend.

A gulf coast FreeMo?  @arbomambo, how do I include myself in this conversation? 

[Chris333]

The price of copper is way down...

[C855B]

...as are pretty much all metals. I hauled a boatload - ~300# - of scrap steel and aluminum from the layout building project to the recycler six weeks ago, and got just enough to pay for the fuel to truck it there. A year ago it would have bought a nice dinner for the three of us. Scraps go into the dumpster now, the clutter, mess and space it takes is not worth the poor return.

I think this might be one of the signs of production downturns in China.

[ChrisKLAS]

After flying almost 70,000 miles over the past two months, it feels good to be planted back in the desert with some time to work on the layout!

I've been working on the bridge representing the 5th crossing of Tehachapi Creek (just below the loop).



Also, I spent yesterday afternoon and this morning making an improvement that's been on my mind since I expanded the layout into the house last year. With the expansion allowing a greatly extended run between Walong and Cable (4.5 scale miles vs. about 1.5 scale miles before), I shifted Marcel siding to the east. This accomplished three things:

- lengthened the siding to 24ft
- extended the single track distance between W Marcel and E Walong (also allowing the inclusion of the set of intermediate signals between the two sidings)
- moved both control points out of the corners, where seeing the signal going into either end of the siding was nearly impossible

Here's the revised alignment, with the locations of the old control points very crudely circled in red for some perspective.

[screeh]

Nice work, everyone!

I actually got something done this weekend, which makes it 2 in a row: built a couple of benchwork sections for my new* around-the-walls shelf layout (I'm making it modular so I can pull bits down to work on them at the desk)

* very tempted to call this my 'first' layout because I abandoned my little 30"x48" roundy-rounder, which was just too small for what I have in mind - it didn't get much further than what I posted to the w/e update in April last year, although it taught me a fair bit about benchwork!