Randy Harrison - What a fabulous water scene. I have never seen water look so realistic...will you share your secret?
GP7 # 63 - You as well continue to show us how to blend scenery and background and your pictures are so absolutely realistic.
You guys give us all something to shoot for !
Very Respectfully
Don McErlean
Lee:
Thank you VERY much.
Don McErlean posted:Randy Harrison - What a fabulous water scene. I have never seen water look so realistic...will you share your secret?
GP7 # 63 - You as well continue to show us how to blend scenery and background and your pictures are so absolutely realistic.
You guys give us all something to shoot for !
Very Respectfully
Don McErlean
Don. Thank you very much. 🤝
Johan
The grand kids, Mason and Mackenzie helped work on the layout, so I named some of the items on the layout after them.
Junkyard "Mason's Junkyard" and the town "Mackenzieville".
Randy! Best water ever apart from the real stuff... which never looks real on a model railroad.
Troy
Don McErlean posted:Randy Harrison - What a fabulous water scene. I have never seen water look so realistic...will you share your secret?
Very Respectfully
Don McErlean
Don:
Thanks for the compliment. The water is quite easy to do. I learned this from a friend that worked in an architectural model shop.
The underlayment is a piece of Luan plywood that is painted the color/s you want your water to be. I work with spray paints starting with the lightest color (a pale bluish green) for the shallow area around the edge of the lake. Then I follow with a slightly darker green color and shoot over the area to create a "haze" of the color leaving some of the original light color fully visible around the perimeter. Once you have created a haze of the second color, use a more direct spray of the second color. Finally, as water is to appear at its greatest depth, haze on a very dark green followed by a More direct shot of dark green for the deepest water. The color of the water gets progressively darker as it gets closer to the center of the lake. Once the paint dries, take a sheet of randomly rippled acrylic (1/8" thick if you can get it. 1/4" thick is more prevalent) and lay it on the painted plywood. there you have your water.
The rippled acrylic is used for simulated glass table tops or replacement inserts for shower stall doors. I get my acrylic from a commercial plastics store store here in East Baltimore. I can buy a 4' x 8' piece and have the store cut it down to either 4' x 4' or 2'x 4' sections for me upon delivery. It depends on how large your project is.
The lake in Trumptrain's layout was made using the above method. We installed Trumptrain's lake so that he could remove it and use it for an access hatch to the center of his layout and mountain.
I took off this week to play it safe and to get some of my early spring stuff done. I took this a couple weeks ago in Shrewsbury.
For today: " The end of a long work day calls for a little celebratory libation." 
Here’s some refurbished cars I took in De Soto the other day
The wife wanted me to use her Easter grass to decorate
part of my layout
Bullfrogs, those are great lift up bridges! The layout looks neat too!
thank you all for the comments and everything else.
Wonderful photos everyone!
Ray, where did you get the Harley in your photo?
Bullfrog I see you went with a couple of lift actuators! I have the same set up and just love it!
sidehack posted:
Ray. Looks like another great pic for SWSAT. If that a original Lionel that’s what my was a Santa Fe the paint was bad so I repainted it and decaled it very nice pic
Took this in down St. Louis one day
This is a photo from several years ago with me, my beautiful wife Terry and my son Chris in front of our layout. Chris is holding our cat, Chaz, the chairman of the "Bored" of the Great Northeastern Railway. Chris is now 25 years old and Chaz is no longer with us.
For today: " Pennsy A5 switch job." 
The Road Forman is along for the ride on a S.P. 4-8-2.
mike g. posted:Wonderful photos everyone!
Ray, where did you get the Harley in your photo?
Bullfrog I see you went with a couple of lift actuators! I have the same set up and just love it!
Mike those are Indians (I am not sure where I got those, I'll see if I can find) but do have some Harleys from MTH
lee drennen posted:sidehack posted:
Ray. Looks like another great pic for SWSAT. If that a original Lionel that’s what my was a Santa Fe the paint was bad so I repainted it and decaled it very nice pic
Thanks Lee, I'll try to remember, it's getting tougher
I Like that last shot Bar!
Mr. Romano... I hope the engineer likes that road forman. Wouldn't take but the right move on the loco for that forman to have a "lost time work accident"! Whooooop!
Crazy J RR posted:I Like that last shot Bar!
Troy. Thanks.
Johan
Crazy J RR posted:Mr. Romano... I hope the engineer likes that road forman. Wouldn't take but the right move on the loco for that forman to have a "lost time work accident"! Whooooop!
He's safe because the train hasn't started moving yet.......... 
sidehack posted:mike g. posted:Wonderful photos everyone!
Ray, where did you get the Harley in your photo?
Bullfrog I see you went with a couple of lift actuators! I have the same set up and just love it!
Mike those are Indians (I am not sure where I got those, I'll see if I can find) but do have some Harleys from MTH
Ray, Great collection of Bikes! They fit right in next to that panel truck!
For today: A WM crew caboose and drover caboose bring up the rear of Train 116, whose consist today is loaded cattle cars, as it trundles through Patsburg just before sundown. 
Union machine shop
Steaming past Richardson Farms.
Fellas. Attached is a youtube I put together for my O "Scage" (scale and gauge... never cared for the Hi Rail term). I created a post where I will update the build with Youtube links. For now... here ya go.
Troy
The old SLSF car shops are long gone, yet out rolls another boxcar for subsidiary QA&P.
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