I made my elevator signs on the computer and just cut them out of printer paper. I seen some farming magazine at supercuts the other day, and it had logo's for seed and grain companies that would be perfect for the grain elevators, and in glossy smooth magazine color finish. The car was weathered with Rustall brushed on, but I am going to go over it with light ash colored Bragdon's chalk powders today, now that I finally finished my work week. I stopped by the train shop on the way home from work and bought a bunch of paints so I can paint up some MRL boxcars out of the old MTL ribside cars I have. The pickup truck is a pre-production sample from Dan Stirpe's Lay-Z-Way models, but a resin attempt. There is a bit too much work involved in the resin models so Dan is looking into spin cast metal for his line of cars.
Here's my last progress report of the CN car. Weathered only with Rustall, it needed chalking to get that just right look. Looking at the first photos I did not like the look of the trucks, and the body sitting so high. A combination of trimming 1/64" of material off the bolster and above the coupler box, and darker Bragdons chalk powders fixed the too high looks. The best place to see the height difference is look under the car, and notice the space between the dump shutes and the top of the rails between the UP car and the CN car. I'm now happy with the most recent addition to my grain car fleet. Thanks again Tim for the great artwork!
That car is great. Even with the weathering it is still nice and colorful. The lowering job helps too, makes people wonder what scale it really is. I'm also liking the pick-up.
''Looking at the first photos I did not like the look of the trucks, and the body sitting so high. A combination of trimming 1/64" of material off the bolster and above the coupler box, and darker Bragdons chalk powders fixed the too high looks.'' Robert, I been meaning to lower my cylindrical hoppers too. Not because of how it looks, but Because I think the height contributes the derailment of the hopper. It feels a little top heavy.
Jeff bought a bunch of the Silflor product and we tested them out. I like the 2mm tufts best, because the look like tall weed clumps. I don't know that the lowered hoppers would perform any different, but lower looks a bit better. They are top heavy, so maybe it helps around turns?
I like the Silflor. I have 2mm & 4mm for my last N scale layout. I though they were gonna be a rip off ($19 for some weeds), but now that I have them in my hands and see just how much you get I think they are great. I need to get more colors of 2mm to get a more varied look like yours. Oh, plus I like how they are self sticking to the scenery.
How about making uncle Will a offer he can't refuse, we will buy all his canadian cylindrycal hoppers. That is a simple solution.
