Carey TeaRose posted:Five coats of polyurethane on my Art Deco style Std. Gauge layout table top are done. I love the high gloss look of the Emerald and Onyx colors with the wood grain showing through.
Tomorrow the Blk/Wht marble corners will be glued down.
Set the initial track loop down for a looksee.
WOW. woof.
Wow indeed. It's like the track is circling a reflecting pool or something of that sort...
Mitch
M. Mitchell Marmel posted:Carey TeaRose posted:Five coats of polyurethane on my Art Deco style Std. Gauge layout table top are done. I love the high gloss look of the Emerald and Onyx colors with the wood grain showing through.
Tomorrow the Blk/Wht marble corners will be glued down.
Set the initial track loop down for a looksee.
WOW. woof.
Wow indeed. It's like the track is circling a reflecting pool or something of that sort...
Mitch
I know, way cool
I was thinking that too. Like a smooth, calm lake. The OAK wooden viaduct I found for this layout will look great over the "water".
laid out some of the pieces I already have, just for fun.
Big updates coming soon. I spent several hours today putting down ground cover and completing roads and parking areas. I only have a small portion to complete tomorrow, which I hope to have all that done and the backdrops all covered and in place by the end of the day.
I'm very exited as it won't be looking like a "Plywood Pacific" anymore!
Next come the trees...
Carey, great job on the table. Those choices work very well together and whatever you place on top will be enhanced by that sheen . When done it is going to look good in the room. Well done.............Paul
Bought the Vanderbilt heavyweight 4 car set at the Raleigh train show. Also snagged so Plasticville houses.
Lot of great work posted since the last time I looked. Carey your Art Deco layout is coming along real nice. Look forward to the finished project.
As for me, Been repairing a few engines. The big one was incorporating my AF S Gauge PE set into the layout. Now I need to find some S Gauge BN engines. 
Anyway made a video of the off season excursion run.
Well not every day things go like gang busters. I finished sweeping up the area where the table is going. I placed it in there to see what I will have to do for blocks for leveling under the legs. I thought once I passed the drain the floor would return to normal. I was wrong. At the short end of the table I have to add a couple of boards to screw the Masonite into. I get that done I can paint the Masonite and get the table into place. I still have to open up the wall to put another table up. Pic of table 4..............Paul
Finished up my cardboard weave for my mountain, under the supervision of one of the cats (he's taken up residence in the basement in hiding from the new puppy!).
Ran two trains the whole time, and did a little switching as well.
Ran a little bit of O gauge but hooked up the three big, Standard gauge cars that i painted and ran them behind several different engines. The 380 that I just remotored and my 1835 steamer did the best. My 318 is going in to the shop to be checked over,
Introduced CNJ 832 to 835.
The Blk/Wht marble corner pieces got glued to the layout table top. Very cool
The more I look at the Emerald green stain with the grain showing through on the layout table, the more it makes me think of cool, green river WATER. Thinking, (I'm thinking
), that maybe it should be a large water area... By adding a thin wooden base under the structures done in an earth colored stain, the pieces would sit upon them, i.e., at the water's edge. This is of course perfect with having a 'concrete' viaduct that can be "standing"in the water.
hm... to pull off this hat trick, I may have to get at the very least, a few 9-10" trees.
A rainy and dreary day here in Maryland. I ran trains and did some scenery work ... redoing some of the area on the " seedy" side of town. The local freight dropped off a tank car on the siding adjacent to Ginny's Gentlmens Club. I thought it best to install a broken down chain link fence between the club and the grown over rail siding.... adding more bushes and also some male customers ( I mean gentleman ) getting out of a nice red Caddy��
I also removed some trailers so the above scene can open up for improved viewing. 
I also worked over the area around the Western Maryland switch tower Placing a shed just north of the tower and a gentleman name Otto stands next to his BMW motorcycle with side car as a very dapper dude standing next to his Corvette looks on.
I installed a sidewalk which now runs down the southwest side of Berthas restaurant.... and placing some folks walking on that sidewalk.
Additionally I reworked the shotgun wedding scene making sure Pappy's gun was pointed at the groom and not the priest . Sister Breunhilda has planted herself in front of the doors to Out Lady of Locomotion. She will not allow "this" wedding to take place inside the church. An accordion player provides the music ��
Well, that's the latest from Patsburg!
Working on a K-line whistling station for the layout. The PO installed a light, meaning the wiring is rather Chic Sale.
Will be dubbed "Clarksville", so that I can park a Monkeemobile next to it waiting for the last train...
Incidentally, anybody got a source for K-Line/Marx doors and windows? If not, I'll bodge something from sheet styrene... 
Mitch
Fixed a Fastrack series 1 crossing with gates and flashers that my son Mason bought at a show while we were in the States.
Typically enough the gates did not work when we got back home and tested it. However we got it for under half the cost of a new one.
Found that the worm gears and nylon toothed gears in the gate mechanism were not meshing. Amazingly a little brute force on the toothed gear shaft bending it just slightly provided enough moment to mesh the gears correctly and a spray of plastic friendly grease fixed the problem.
Now works great and I have a happy little lad
Nick
trumptrain posted:A rainy and dreary day here in Maryland. I ran trains and did some scenery work ... redoing some of the area on the " seedy" side of town. The local freight dropped off a tank car on the siding adjacent to Ginny's Gentlmens Club. I thought it best to install a broken down chain link fence between the club and the grown over rail siding.... adding more bushes and also some male customers ( I mean gentleman ) getting out of a nice red Caddy��
I also removed some trailers so the above scene can open up for improved viewing.
I also worked over the area around the Western Maryland switch tower Placing a shed just north of the tower and a gentleman name Otto stands next to his BMW motorcycle with side car as a very dapper dude standing next to his Corvette looks on.
I installed a sidewalk which now runs down the southwest side of Berthas restaurant.... and placing some folks walking on that sidewalk.
Additionally I reworked the shotgun wedding scene making sure Pappy's gun was pointed at the groom and not the priest . Sister Breunhilda has planted herself in front of the doors to Out Lady of Locomotion. She will not allow "this" wedding to take place inside the church. An accordion player provides the music ��
Well, that's the latest from Patsburg!
Pat:
These photos are GREAT! I first saw them last evening when you sent me them individually by E-Mail. The stories that go with them really enhance the visual scene. Thank you for sharing them.
p51 posted:Big updates coming soon.
I didn't get to the backdrops, and a lift-out section of scenery in the back corner didn't get done, but I'm very close to having all the initial scenery done now. Next, comes the backdrops, then trees/bushes and scenery details, as well as completing the ballast (which I did most of the sidings already).
And, a panoramic of most of what I have done:
HMorgan125 posted:Began laying out the "city" portion of my layout in order to determine location of roads, crossings, buildings, etc. before starting on ballast application.
The photos attached indicate the passenger station in place and an additional platform that I built that will have benches and pole lights. I am trying to decide whether to stain the platform with a wood finish or colored stain or to paint the platform a weathered gray, green to match the station platform roof, or a brown......suggestions are welcome.
The rulers in place indicate sidewalks.
I had an issue with everything on my SCARM plan fitting on the layout until I noticed that the "road" symbols that I used in SCARM are only 4.9 inches wide instead of the 6 inch roads that I am planning to use.
I decided on a green for the platform and completed the painting this morning. I was a bit surprised that the "soap stir sticks" used for the planking took the acrylic paints so well...'Next step, get a few weathering powders for the station, add the lights and benches to the new platform and continue buying and placing the remaining buildings prior to ballasting and landscaping...
Today I broke through the wall to run the next table through it. Took all the old lumber outside for garbage day. Need to measure how long I want to make the short table. Once I get that done and run a table along the wall on this side I can lay in my Masonite. Pic of the tunnel burrowing...................Paul
Randy Harrison posted:trumptrain posted:A rainy and dreary day here in Maryland. I ran trains and did some scenery work ... redoing some of the area on the " seedy" side of town. The local freight dropped off a tank car on the siding adjacent to Ginny's Gentlmens Club. I thought it best to install a broken down chain link fence between the club and the grown over rail siding.... adding more bushes and also some male customers ( I mean gentleman ) getting out of a nice red Caddy��
I also removed some trailers so the above scene can open up for improved viewing.
I also worked over the area around the Western Maryland switch tower Placing a shed just north of the tower and a gentleman name Otto stands next to his BMW motorcycle with side car as a very dapper dude standing next to his Corvette looks on.
I installed a sidewalk which now runs down the southwest side of Berthas restaurant.... and placing some folks walking on that sidewalk.
Additionally I reworked the shotgun wedding scene making sure Pappy's gun was pointed at the groom and not the priest . Sister Breunhilda has planted herself in front of the doors to Out Lady of Locomotion. She will not allow "this" wedding to take place inside the church. An accordion player provides the music ��
Well, that's the latest from Patsburg!
Pat:
These photos are GREAT! I first saw them last evening when you sent me them individually by E-Mail. The stories that go with them really enhance the visual scene. Thank you for sharing them.
Thank you so very much Randy!!! I also enjoyed seeing your layout progress this past Saturday night. Your new ( old ) Lionel J class is awesome!! I loved watching it run! And your building fronts are nothing short of spectacular!! Bravo!!!!
HMorgan125 posted:I decided on a green for the platform and completed the painting this morning. I was a bit surprised that the "soap stir sticks" used for the planking took the acrylic paints so well...'Next step, get a few weathering powders for the station, add the lights and benches to the new platform and continue buying and placing the remaining buildings prior to ballasting and landscaping...
Stirrers are the best. I bought a box of 1000 birch coffee stirrers from Amazon and I think it's the best ten buck value I've ever had in the hobby as I've used them for a lot of stuff, and scratchbuilt an entire structure from them a while back...
Ran trains this morning..... which made me run late for work. Whoops!!
p51 posted:p51 posted:Big updates coming soon.
I didn't get to the backdrops, and a lift-out section of scenery in the back corner didn't get done, but I'm very close to having all the initial scenery done now. Next, comes the backdrops, then trees/bushes and scenery details, as well as completing the ballast (which I did most of the sidings already).
And, a panoramic of most of what I have done:
The first word that came to mind when I looked at each photo in your whole array was authentic. Each area of concentrated work really looks good and promises a heck-of-a good ride ahead!
FrankM.
Moonson posted:p51 posted:I didn't get to the backdrops, and a lift-out section of scenery in the back corner didn't get done, but I'm very close to having all the initial scenery done now. Next, comes the backdrops, then trees/bushes and scenery details, as well as completing the ballast (which I did most of the sidings already).
The first word that came to mind when I looked at each photo in your whole array was authentic. Each area of concentrated work really looks good and promises a heck-of-a good ride ahead!
FrankM.
Thank you very much, Frank. It looks sort of bare right now as there are no undergrowth, bushes or trees, but those are coming about the same time as the ballast gets put into the main line.
But compared to how it looked the previous week, you can understand why I've walked in that room several times since Saturday, just stood there and took it all in. I've wanted this concept of a layout since I was in my teens (but nobody made the prototype locos back then), and I can honestly say this is a dream that was about 30 years in the making.
I have been able to run trains for several months, but there was a 'meh' factor to doing so on plywood. I had to wait for the weather to get good as I needed to vent the room while working with some glues and other things to avoid stinking up the house.
A couple of structures, I'm still trying to see where they'd best fit in. You'll notice that a factor structure is totally gone now. It took of a crazy amount of room and just didn't look right for the extremely rural nature of where I'm modeling...
Compare to what it looked like only a few months ago:
This morning:
Oh, and if anyone is curious, no, those monolith formations in each corner aren't common to Eastern TN. They're to hide the corners for the backdrops. Once those are in place, they should be less obvious.
This is the general area I'm looking to recreate:
I have four containers of static grass I'm going to hit this layout with when I have the time!
I spent the early morning setting up my radial arm saw, then cut 4 legs for the new additon to the layout return loop. Unfortunately the batree went dead so I had to plug it in the recharge but I did get 1 attached on one end, tomorrow the batree should be full charged and I can move forward! I work the overnight/ midnite shift so I work on the layout after everyone is at work/ school.
oh, and also I was moving some boxes around to make room to work and I opened a box and found all my old O gauge railroading issues! All in pristeen condition!
Also found some other magazines like O scale 1/48th, Classic toy trains , all in excellent condition, I forgot I had this extensive library! All from the 1980's!
Mo985 posted:mike g. posted:Hi All,
Mike, that looks fantastic!! Great job! As far as what you need for power, I haven't the foggiest. Sorry.
wow, cool!
Hey there Lee, Its looking great! I really like how its progressing.
p51 posted:Added some ballast last night...
The ballast and ground cover looks great. I was wondering whether to ballast first and then add the ground cover or to put the ground cover down and then add the ballast.
Since my layout is all Lionel Fastrack I am assuming that I should ballast first and then follow up with grass, etc.
Your layout is really shaping up nicely.
p51 posted:Added some ballast last night...
Great! Looks very nice! I've been doing the same thing, and every little thing you add makes it so much nicer.
John
HMorgan125 posted:The ballast and ground cover looks great. I was wondering whether to ballast first and then add the ground cover or to put the ground cover down and then add the ballast.
Since my layout is all Lionel Fastrack I am assuming that I should ballast first and then follow up with grass, etc.
Thanks!
I did ground cover first and left the right of way bare until I was done. I then did the ballast over that, then a little ground cover to hide those edges. I put some ground cover over the ballast to make it look like short grass growing through, and limited that mostly to the sidings. At the ends of spurs, I painted even the tops of the rails right at the very end of the rails with rust paint as freight cars won't likely be there and never locomotives that close to the end.
Can't wait to get the back corners done after the ballast is done, so I can then break out the static grass applicator and start spreading high grass all over the place.
I also have a cornfield in progress with over 350 corn stalks. I think that'll be a real focal point on the layout, even though it'll be in a back corner.
Yard work and a package dropped off by Mr. Brown sort of kept me from working on the layout. 8 high cubes from the last catalog and two Kline vinegar cars. Tomorrow will be different. Weathermen is calling for rain.....Paul
Lee your layout is looking great. I like your oil tank car. When I worked for the DPW at Aberdeen Proving Ground we had a fleet of old riveted tank cars were used for used oil storage.
jmiller320 posted:Lee your layout is looking great. I like your oil tank car. When I worked for the DPW at Aberdeen Proving Ground we had a fleet of old riveted tank cars were used for used oil storage.
Ah, APG. I was there as a kay-det for my post-camp 'act like a LT for 3 weeks' insanity and then a year later going through Ordnance OBC as a real LT. The training stunk, but I loved living there for 6 months! So much to see and do, I don't think I spent a single weekend in the BOQ the entire time I was there.
As for the tank car, they were used for gas, and the ET&WNC had two on the property by 1943.
The Bachmann ones are similar but not exact. But I think they made for a good (and affordable) stand-in until the day I have time to scratchbuild two. I made my own decals on my computer. At the NMRA convention I showed photos of this to a Bachmann rep, who said he wanted to make his own model of it to show the company to see if they could start producing them commercially.
I also used one to experiment with powdered chalks for rust and liked the results...
The tanks we used had riveted panels and held 10,000 gallons. They were stored on an unused section of rail line, but because that line connected to a live line the Federal Rail Inspector would always want to write them up because of the trucks they were mounted on. Once the government purchased double walled tanks the riveted tanks were cut up at the scrap yard or taken down to the superpond for water storage.
Spent 26 hours rewiring the layout from something similar to this, I forgot to take before photos but nothing was there
To this, I'm only half done since labeling every single wire and connection is time consuming putzy work
I solved a TMCC problem by trying out some advice I read on this Forum. Although the advice, which made good sense to me, didn't work ... a fresh set of batteries did I will keep this advice, from Spark Chaser, in mind for future problems with my TMCC Cab 1 remote if/when a problem arises.
I also ran trains today for a brief while. Always fun and entertaining!
Matt your wiring looks great! just like a pro would do. I bet it will make things easier to track down any problem that might come up.
Thanks Carey, Just a little paint, and about 79 LED's all wired to one switch. Plug it in and there you go!
I've wired a thing or two in my day. The initial wiring was always temporary as I did not know how my layout was going to evolve and that rats nest of wiring always drive my nuts when I looked at it. This way should be quite slick should any issues arise
Nicer and nicer, minute-by-minute, Lee! Take your time - you may be sorry when it's completed.
FrankM.
Yikes! Looking at all the recent wiring descriptions and pics - scare me good! Sooo completely out of my realm of understanding... good thing Tom is a master electrician, too.
Moonson posted:Nicer and nicer, minute-by-minute, Lee! Take your time - you may be sorry when it's completed.
Maybe, Frank, but I kind of doubt it.
I had planned on this layout for a very long time before I started construction and once the benchwork was done, I started learning what I could about scenery. Still, not bad for a pile of lumber and track less than 2 years ago, huh? I hadn't cut the first 1X4 until August, 2014.
While I have found myself enjoying this scenery work, far more than I thought I would, I am really looking forward to the day where I can walk into the room and for the most part, it looks 'complete'. I will enjoy all the tweaking with things and adding details slowly after that's done.
Very cool Lee! It looks great. I hope I can do that good when the time comes!
p51 posted:Moonson posted:Nicer and nicer, minute-by-minute, Lee! Take your time - you may be sorry when it's completed.
Maybe, Frank, but I kind of doubt it.
I had planned on this layout for a very long time before I started construction and once the benchwork was done, I started learning what I could about scenery. Still, not bad for a pile of lumber and track less than 2 years ago, huh? I hadn't cut the first 1X4 until August, 2014.
While I have found myself enjoying this scenery work, far more than I thought I would, I am really looking forward to the day where I can walk into the room and for the most part, it looks 'complete'. I will enjoy all the tweaking with things and adding details slowly after that's done.
Good attitude and philosophy! However, if you look at Run285, you see that once mine was allegedly "done," complete with a fair amount of detailing, I walk by its finished-self and still get ideas. Would you believe me if I said it was done?
FrankM.
paul 2 posted:Yard work and a package dropped off by Mr. Brown sort of kept me from working on the layout. 8 high cubes from the last catalog and two Kline vinegar cars. Tomorrow will be different. Weathermen is calling for rain.....Paul
I don't care if its raining or not.... get back to work since I am stopping by tomorrow to see the layout.
As for me got the door moved and the wall patched where the old door went. Benchwork starts going up next week.
Moonson posted:However, if you look at Run285, you see once mine was allegedly "done," complete with a fair amount bit of detailing, I walk by its finished-self and still get ideas. Would you believe me if I said it was done?
Yeah, I get what you mean. That's why in most cases, I'm referring to it as "the initial" version of whatever I'm doing. I know that plenty of tweaking will occur. For example, last night after the ballast was done, I looked at an open area of grass and thought it'd be the perfect spot for a flag stop I already had (I'd placed it on the opposite side of the track for the time being). I immediately laid in a gravel path, parking area and road that goes off the layout. I placed the flag stop directly where it now sits and graded the area around that. When I was done, I realized it was a perfect spot.
Heck, right before the scenery started, I got rid of a large factory structure that had been a dominant focal point. It just didn't look 'right' for an extremely rural Eastern Tennessee in the 40s. That's now an open gravel area with a big patch of prefab steel matting from WW2 that I intend on representing a military presence.
I have large amounts of small detail stuff as well that will be added soon enough (to include an exact scale civil war cannon barrel my Dad made on a lathe for me that'll be mounted on a display pedestal). Those are the kind of things that I'm really looking forward to.
Bryan as per your request or command I got back to cleaning up so when you get here you can squeeze through the debris field to see the trains. Glad you got back to work too. Getting tired of you taking so long to get a layout up LOL.............Paul
Some months ago I bought a box of Lionel engines from a forum member and there were two seemingly derelict tenders in the box. I looked at them,decided to throw them away then thought of Mitch's motto of "Scrounge". Have had them in a box so today I got them all fixed up with some wheels, a truck repaired, rust cleaned off and one whistle working great. THe other whistle is rusted tight so will look for a replacement. Fun project and always feels good to save this stuff !!
I spent tonight straightening up the attic so when Bryan comes over to see it he won't have to step over stuff up there. But while I spent time doing that I ran trains. I let some conventional engines get some running time..........Paul
Not that often I show my Leg to everyone,
jim pastorius posted:Some months ago I bought a box of Lionel engines from a forum member and there were two seemingly derelict tenders in the box. I looked at them,decided to throw them away then thought of Mitch's motto of "Scrounge". Have had them in a box so today I got them all fixed up with some wheels, a truck repaired, rust cleaned off and one whistle working great. THe other whistle is rusted tight so will look for a replacement. Fun project and always feels good to save this stuff !!
Attaboy! 
As for the other whistle, it might be saved! Try this:
https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/t...29#40989965973303029
Good luck!
Mitch
Crossing my last chasm, closing in on 220 linear feet of around the wall, point to point benchwork.
This is one of two sheets of Plexiglas I installed to protect locomotives on the turntables, as well as a view of a flag stop, complete with scale readable train bulletin chalkboard.
Looking good Lee. I bet the corn is taking awhile to make? It should really make it stound out!
Because I have been cutting wood for tables in the basement I have a small pile of lumber from cutting. So I decided to head for the attic layout and measure for a shelve on the control panel to place my Z4000's under the top so I can use the top area for a panel for switch and uncoupling controls.............Paul
I was playing around with my cell.
I put some 1/50 scale early WW2 era 2 1/2 ton trucks into the back corner for minor forced perspective.
Can't wait to see this scene with the cornfield in place, even though you won't then be able to see those trucks from this angle...
Fixed a turnout where the point rails were popping out where it meets the rest of the turnout. There are brass connectors there and they'd loosened up. With a little work with some needle nose pliers, and a little prayer I didn't break something, I think I got that fixed.
If I had to do it over, I wouldn't use micro engineering track. The stuff looks great but it's so fragile and finicky...
i
c. lee colbert posted:
That's probably the purest model train photo I've seen in a long time.
Thanks, it runs real good, I also have a post war 2025 that runs great too!
p51 posted:Just had an op session, a good time was had by all.
Handsome vista, there, including the trains element, becoming a unified whole very nicely, sir!
FrankM.
Here's a Corgi Monkeemobile I restored this weekend. The car, new tires and new stickers were all sourced on eBay. Krylon White primer and Cherry Red gloss paint. Engine resprayed with Rustoleum American Accents metallic silver.
To be done: minor touchups, coat of gloss to protect the paint and stickers, source a Micky figure (who, I assume, is inside the Clarksville station at the moment waiting for the Last Train...)
Now to finish wiring the Clarksville station, glaze the windows and get it on the layout! ;-)
DONE! Hallelujah. Tom and I had struggled with trying to assemble this the other night for an hour and a half, and finally gave up. I'd even set all the pieces in a big box and taken up and placed it in my storage area- as I did not want to see it!
Today with both of my kids (ds 19, dd 21) here for Mother's Day, I purposely decided to step out of the mix and let Tom work with them on it. Still not good. Then, finally my son (who really should perhaps get a college degree in Mechanical Engineering, not Physics as he wants) sorted the directions out properly and with me holding pieces, got it assembled.
Track ordered for the center of this, need to get a switch for leading it off the mainline loop.
Takes a man to git her done !!
Looks great Carey!
Cary.. The station looks great. I understand the instruction thing. We all been there.
Lee, the layout looks great. Like the idea of the forced perspective idea. It looks good.
For me I have been doing Kadee installs on my Lionel NP GP9s and MTH(3040)/ Lionel(2519) GN GP35s. I had used the GP9 kadee mounts that Mario sells on Shapeways. This was a rather straight forward install. For the GP35 on the other hand required modification to Mario's GP9 mounts and not so minor surgery on the trucks of the lionel GP35. Same for the GP30 mounts I used for the MTH GP35. Not so minor surgery on the mounts, but minor surgery on the trucks. The mounts are already shimmed for the right height and will work with the MTH pilots with out any additional shimming. Next are my CBQ GP30s
suzukovich posted:Lee, the layout looks great. Like the idea of the forced perspective idea. It looks good.
Thanks! I loved the work you did on your GN and NP units, especially as I live very close to the mainlines of each RR (now BNSF everywhere, of course)...
P51 your layout is just looking great! I bet you had fun on ops night!, Mitchell the car looks like brand new, must of taken some time to get that engine out and replace the tires. Not to mention repainting the car. But then again it seams everything you redo turns out looking wonderful.
Suzukovich the Kadee couplers look great, not to many 3 rail people do Kadee's, IMO I think they look a lot better. I change everything I get to Kadee couplers, it takes some time but I feel it's well worth it.
mike g. posted:Mitchell the car looks like brand new, must of taken some time to get that engine out and replace the tires. Not to mention repainting the car. But then again it seams everything you redo turns out looking wonderful.
Thankee! Believe it or not, the stickers arrived on Wednesday, and the tires and car on Friday. This was all done over Friday night and Saturday. The process was actually fairly simple:
1) I drilled out the rivets and dismantled the car Friday night, then sprayed the body and chassis with paint stripper and let it sit for a couple hours before rinsing and scrubbing with dish soap to remove residue.
2) Saturday morning, I sprayed the body, seats and dash with white primer and allowed to dry for a few hours; in the meantime, I sprayed the engine with silver.
3) Saturday night, I masked off the roof and drag chute and sprayed the body and chassis red.
4) Sunday morning, I baked the enamel on the body and chassis in an old toaster oven at 250° for an hour, then let cool for an hour while I cleaned off the windshield and put the tires on the wheels.
5) Then I assembled the car, admired its magnificence for a few minutes, dashed off a happy snap and put together the before-and-after pic, doing a bit of research online for an appropos font to use.
Right now, the car is back on its painting stand (made from an old box from the Train Tender and some 1/4" stripwood stuck through the cardboard) for touchups and gloss clearcoat...
After I drilled the rivets out, I drilled 1/16" holes in the bosses; eventually, the car will be put back together with small brass screws. 
Mitch
I Love the step by step detail. Again looks great.
p51 posted:suzukovich posted:Lee, the layout looks great. Like the idea of the forced perspective idea. It looks good.
Thanks! I loved the work you did on your GN and NP units, especially as I live very close to the mainlines of each RR (now BNSF everywhere, of course)...
Lee and Mike thanks. The GP35s were some work but well worth it. I am finally starting convert my engines to Kadees which had been a long stalled project. Interesting thing about the Lionel GP35, road number is incorrect. It would be correct if it were a BN patch job. (BN2519 was GN3036) but road number on the side should be white number with small font BN underneath and no herald under the window of the cab. Or it a printing error and should be 3019. Not sure how I going to fix it.
This morning I took care of cutting the grass and getting it out of the way. Calling for rain later today and for that matter the rest of the week. This is going to turn out to be a good week working on the layouts. Hit the Home Depot this afternoon for more lumber, nuts and bolts. Going to try to knock off a lot things, hopefully............Paul
Test fitting a set of power poles. Going to weather them a little and string strings between them to suggest the lines continue in each direction, then run a line to the gas station on the left, as it already has a meter installed.
These are Wiseman cross arms castings on dowels.
Lee - try a product called EZ Line from Berkshire Junction Model Railroad Supplies. It's much more realistic than thread or string and very forgiving. I'd suggest the green color for that aged copper wire look.
Thanks for the info on thar power line stuff, will look it up.
Just got done putting the frame work for table 5. It's 2' X 5'. It will be going through the opening I cut ion the wall. before I can put it in place I have to take down some old shelving on the other side of the wall. Breaking to go to a TCA lunch get together this afternoon. When I get back I'll cut the wood for table 6 getting that out of the way. Pic of the frame. It will go through that hole in the wall...............Paul
yesterday: my orange/blue 342E R-T-R set arrived. Put together the Realtrax circle, set up the 318E engine with two of my Blue&Silver 300 series cars, and fired it up. What fun. This set has a hand held remote- have never had that before. Easy operation! This track and electric engine will be used on the Wedding Cake Table diorama on Sunday.
added a z-4000 to the store layout, getting ready to setup the tiu/handheld and have some DCS action in the store!
540 868 0025
joe@mariostrains.com - (email)
Tom is swapping out the USATrack for the MTH Realtrax that came with the 342E R-T-R set on the Wedding Cake train diorama board. Having the roadbed will look better for that purpose. I don't want to use it on the "real" layout. The USATrack 42 8-piece circle will go on the layout, possibly morphing into a small loop (straights are on the way). It will be up on Tom-built piers with a center display platform.
The Detroit Model Railroad Club / Tuesday work day. Working on the staging area. In the basement drilling holes for the controls for switch machines. My other layout.
This evening, we wired up the MTH/Lionel Realtrax 42 circle after having screwed the track down to the diorama board, just to make sure the 318E would be operational on it. Fires up fine and dandy
I tried my hand at repainting the skintone on a few vintage Barclay figures, using recommended to me Testor "Cream" enamel paint. A better color than Delta Ceramacoat "Fleshtone" acrylic paint.
p51 posted:Working on my corn field.
Should be complete by tomorrow night as I only have to run a fence around it and put scenery in place around the furrows.
Anthony isn't around, is he?
Mitch
Looking good lee, don't forget the scare crow!
M. Mitchell Marmel posted:p51 posted:Working on my corn field.
Should be complete by tomorrow night as I only have to run a fence around it and put scenery in place around the furrows.
Anthony isn't around, is he?
Mitch
I couldn't stop laughing. Lee is in trouble now!!!!!!! Hate to see him turned into a Jack in the Box.
mike g. posted:Looking good lee, don't forget the scare crow!
I haven't seen a good scale scarecrow yet, but yeah, I want one for this field. I'll make my own if I have to.
As for the Twilight Zones reference, it didn't occur to me even though I'm a big fan of that show.
Frankly, I wanted to plant a large tobacco crop as that's the most common plant in the area I model, but nobody makes a useable set of plants in that scale and hand making my own would take a literal forever. So, I went with these. There are almost 400 plants in that field, and though it's small, I 'planted' them close together to get the right look for a cornfield. Besides, it's 1943 on my layout, so a small crop like that wouldn't be unusual at all.
The Art Deco style layout table: Last night was analysis.
1) Looking into what would be best for this table's design aesthetic and layout "style" to raise a circle or loop of track above the mainline.
2) Tossing about ideas of "extending" the ends, and possibly raising the height of the viaduct, and how best to do all of this.
I'm very fortunate in that Tom can build me anything, just a matter of what.
p51 posted:p51 posted:Big updates coming soon.
I didn't get to the backdrops, and a lift-out section of scenery in the back corner didn't get done, but I'm very close to having all the initial scenery done now. Next, comes the backdrops, then trees/bushes and scenery details, as well as completing the ballast (which I did most of the sidings already).
And, a panoramic of most of what I have done:
really nice. good work there.
Tom worked on the wiring for the Lionel whistle station and the Rail King RRXing light for the wedding cake diorama. My daughter did some face detail painting on a few of my vintage Barclay people. I started repainting a vintage Barclay lady with Testors enamel paints.
Great work Lee, Suzukovich, You guys make it look so easy!
Got the last of the table legs for the tables done. A lot of pieces of wood cut for finishing off tables. And back supports for the back drop screwed to the table at one end. Tomorrow will be a longer day of getting things done ..........Paul
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