Little People

The final check before heading out on the road for a day's work on the Great Northeastern Railway.

Cooking a "dog" and enjoying a beverage on break...tree sales remain brisk...

Joe the tree guy has had a busy weekend selling trees, and by closing time Saturday night, he seemed oblivious to the night folks coming and going.  Tree sales had dwindled to a crawl by 10:00 pm, so Joe was ready to call it a night and retire to his Airstream...he's close buddy's with the mayor of Wilburville, so he gets a special permit every year to open his tree stand at the busy corner of North Main and Main streets...

Little people for today.  

Officer Luke Willinger on his mortorcycle.

Hogger Woody Larkins inspects the running gear of his locomotive.

Men in uniform who work for Uncle Sam and ones who work for the railroad.

Patient fireman.

The conductor advises Santa that the California Zephyr will be arriving shortly...

Tree sales this year were slightly down from last year...inflation took it's toll!  In spite of a lackluster sales year, as Santa sometimes does on Christmas Eve afternoon, he's gives away the  remaining trees to local city folks in need  Joe the tree guy, standing by the '55 Nomad, is on board 100%...!

Some Hobos along with a Hobo chick, and a friendly pup stopping by. Having some hotdogs and some famous Utica Club Beer they took of the delivery truck. Note the smoke is off our female Husky Sitka.

The 6000s arrive at work today:

We shoved them into the old interurban yard for temporary storage:

Within minutes, the cops show up, the union shows up, two guys from the mob show up, and a subway fan (where did he come from) show up:

The cop, union, and mob guys run the subway fan off and start a discussion:

The discussion continues:

It was fun setting this up and figuring out captions for each photo. BTW, the figures are Homies from the Palermos set. There are more photos in this series but have no figures so I am leaving them out.

Western Maryland engineer Harry Huffnagle leans out of his BL2 cab for a little fresh air ( mixed with diesel fumes ) as he waits on a red signal.  

Some kids camping and telling ghost stories.

I recently posted this O Scale figure before, but I love it so I'm sharing him again.

Let me, once again, introduce to you the famous artist, Bob Ross. I acquired him in O scale from a Cracker Barrell gift shop in the Albany, NY area:

As Bob Ross used to say when painting the trunks and branches of several trees on his canvas with his palette knife in a few seconds: "Now let's put this little tree here, and this one there, and another one there."

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

I recently posted this O Scale figure before, but I love it so I'm sharing him again.

Let me, once again, introduce to you the famous artist, Bob Ross, acquired from a Cracker Barrell gift shop in the Albany, NY area:

As Bob Ross used to say when painting the trunks and branches of several trees on his canvas with his palette knife in a few seconds: "Now let's put this little tree here, and this one there, and another one there."

Got a chuckle on that one! Not only does that look like him, but you captured the essence of his spirit in your observation of his 'quick strokes' with the pallet knife! I struggle to write my name anymore, much less issue a few 'quick strokes.'

George

Well, this has to go under little people, well what's left of him, this man eating bear is at it again.  Has a leg in his mouth looks juicy?

@Sitka posted:

Well, this has to go under little people, well what's left of him, this man eating bear is at it again.  Has a leg in his mouth looks juicy?

I suppose that's one way to make Little People even little-er . . .

Men at work!

A new Heroclix release I thought I would share, Scooby-Doo and friends!

Here is a couple hanging out on some rock watching trains, We have a young lady spying, Is she the wife or girl friend?     HAGD support your Troops

It's break time for these guys who are unloading trees. O'd Duke the hound dog catches a few zeez.  

Young man fishing and having a case of cold Schlitz Beer.

That Schlitz case is cool. Did you make it, or where did you buy it? JohnA

These fellers are finishing work early this Friday afternoon.

@John A posted:

That Schlitz case is cool. Did you make it, or where did you buy it? JohnA

John came across on ebay has a good selection DAVESDECALS.COM hope that helps. Mark

Thanks Mark- will check it out. JohnA

Busy day for the Pennsylvania Passenger system as people wait to board.

Recent experiment...a pre-painted Arttista given an ink wash and a dry-brush (before and after):

Better or worse...not sure.

PD

More men at work - note the linesman in the first pic ...

@pd posted:

Recent experiment...a pre-painted Arttista given an ink wash and a dry-brush (before and after):

Better or worse...not sure.

PD

@pd

I love Arttista figures! Your enhancement made the engine mechanic really sparkle with realism. I have a question. Did you use India Ink in a solvent for your ink wash? If so, what solvent did you use and what is the optimal proportion of ink to solvent?

Thanks for any information.

Working hard getting ready to load the next arriving boxcar. The boss just showed up(in the dock doorway) to check in on things.

Gene

@Randy Harrison posted:

@pd

I love Arttista figures! Your enhancement made the engine mechanic really sparkle with realism. I have a question. Did you use India Ink in a solvent for your ink wash? If so, what solvent did you use and what is the optimal proportion of ink to solvent?

Thanks for any information.

Thanks, Randy. I started by giving the flat-painted figure an overspray of clear gloss lacquer. That will help the wash "move" while preventing it from darkening the underlying paint too much. The wash supplies I used are pictured at the bottom of the montage. All are by Vallejo, all water-based, with the ink wash pictured in the center. For 1-3 figures, I use two drops of the black ink model wash (76.518), one drop of matte medium (70.540) and two drops of plain water. Mix thoroughly, then, once the gloss overspray is dry, slather the wash on with a brush. Let it run down into all of the cracks and crevices. After a few minutes use a clean brush to remove any excess pools of wash, then let the figure dry completely. Once dry, I give the figure an overspray of clear matte lacquer, then a dry-brush treatment using off-white (70.820). Once that's dry, another overspray of clear matte lacquer for protection. That's it.

A friend of mine uses a similar process, but with Humbrol enamels instead. He makes a wash using black enamel and turpentine. The advantage of his method is the enamel wash takes longer to set, so there's more time to go back and work pigment down into the cracks and crevices while sopping up the excess. I've known him to rework things for up to 24 hours.

Here's Arttista's "running man", painted from scratch with a similar wash treatment:

You never know how they'll turn out.

PD

@pd posted:

Thanks, Randy. I started by giving the flat-painted figure an overspray of clear gloss lacquer. That will help the wash "move" while preventing it from darkening the underlying paint too much. The wash supplies I used are pictured at the bottom of the montage. All are by Vallejo, all water-based, with the ink wash pictured in the center. For 1-3 figures, I use two drops of the black ink model wash (76.518), one drop of matte medium (70.540) and two drops of plain water. Mix thoroughly, then, once the gloss overspray is dry, slather the wash on with a brush. Let it run down into all of the cracks and crevices. After a few minutes use a clean brush to remove any excess pools of wash, then let the figure dry completely. Once dry, I give the figure an overspray of clear matte lacquer, then a dry-brush treatment using off-white (70.820). Once that's dry, another overspray of clear matte lacquer for protection. That's it.

A friend of mine uses a similar process, but with Humbrol enamels instead. He makes a wash using black enamel and turpentine. The advantage of his method is the enamel wash takes longer to set, so there's more time to go back and work pigment down into the cracks and crevices while sopping up the excess. I've known him to rework things for up to 24 hours.

Here's Arttista's "running man", painted from scratch with a similar wash treatment:

You never know how they'll turn out.

PD

@pd

Thank you VERY much for your quick and informative reply. You have demystified the process for me and saved me much trial and error.

The Worcester* Suburban Electric Co line crew performs some maintenance on the service pole to Taft Bros Feed and Grain in Uxbridge MA. WSECo had an office, substation and crew facility in downtown Uxbridge. Their coal fired generating station was also located there just up the road from Taft Bros. 

*Pronounced "werster"...or if your from Massachusetts its "woostah".

Headend brakeman  Ralph Sprigg is on the ground after just having thrown the switch to allow the B&O Sw9 to enter the mainline.  He tells the young railfan to get over to the side of the other track and be safe.    

The rear end brakeman Lyle Tuttleson rides the rear step of the caboose.  

Another view of Ralph.

@Farmall-Joe posted:

The Worcester* Suburban Electric Co line crew performs some maintenance on the service pole to Taft Bros Feed and Grain in Uxbridge MA. WSECo had an office, substation and crew facility in downtown Uxbridge. Their coal fired generating station was also located there just up the road from Taft Bros.

*Pronounced "werster"...or if your from Massachusetts its "woostah".

nice truck

Hobo coming home from a day of work?

Close to the end of a Winter's workday!

These fellers love having out down at PB tower.

Hangin' out at Morrison's Doors Factory:

Arnold

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Hangin' out at Morrison's Doors Factory:

Arnold

Fast forward about 10 years and you go from Morrisons Door factory to CBGBs and the NYC punk rock scene, where Johnny Ramone is practicing a few licks outside before opening for the Talking Heads. Enlarge the photo and you can see the actual poster for the gig -

Some fellas waiting around the coal pile for some customers, looks like one joe has some moonshine.