I spent four days last week in Houston, TX (but could not be there for the national N-scale convention--grrrrrrrrrrr!), but I did manage to finish the Old Allatoona Road grade crossing: A higher angle shot highlights the weathering a little better than the previous photo: Those new Atlas Ford Explorers are terrific models, by the way. The real rubber tires grip the road much better than the plastic ones on the F-150. Sounds like overkill, but sure does keep them from sliding around when setting up a photo shoot. Next up: static grass. Got all the parts for a homemade Grassinator and several packs of Silflor static grass on order. Jamie
Thanks guys! While browsing through old digital photos I found this one I took of the Old Allatoona Road grade crossing in Emerson, GA: I think I got the road alignment and general terrain profiles pretty close: In the top photo, you can see why I chose to model this crossing based on how the road quickly disappears into the trees. Jamie
Just 2 gates a signal box and about 100 more Tress and it will look like the real thing! I am really impressed by the road and how close it looks to the real thing!
This is a great looking layout you have going here! I love the highway scene with the rail bridge!! Great work Jamie, keep it up
Thanks for the compliments as always! My summer vacations just took a huge bite out of my crossing signal budget. Fortunately, I have lots of static grass and trees to keep me busy while I collect change from under the seat cushions of the sofa. Jamie
STATIC GRASS ROCKS!!! I just built a homemade static grass applicator using a hybrid blueprint I fashioned from the Ztrains Grassinator and Joe Fugate's applicator he describes in his scenery DVD series: I built this applicator for less than $50, which is impressive when you consider this total includes the $30 fancy schmancy power supply I bought from Radio Shack (hey, I was already in the store!). I posted a complete how-to article regarding construction of my static grass applicator on my blog; if anyone wants me to post a how-to thread on Trainboard let me know. I have started adding static grass to my layout and it looks GREAT so far. I'll be sure to post photos once I have a section completed and photographed. Jamie
Jamie, the layout is looking great. Thanks for all the info on the static grass applicator, it was looking for details on how to build one. JSL
Jamie, Great thread. I've thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog, and much of what you wrote solved several issues with my own layout project, not to mention the importance of proper room preparation. Thank you.
A question about the static grass applicator. What is the perpose of the clip on the black wire coming out of the side? What does it connect to?
The black wire clips to a nail that you stick into the wet glue where you are applying the static grass fibers. This causes the wet area to become grounded, and when the charged fibers exit the applicator, they are attracted to the grounded area and stand upright. I don't have any photos of this process yet, but Joe Fugate has an excellent two minute video on YouTube showing how the whole thing works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYSAK1ezou4 Jamie
Thx Jamie :thumbs_up::thumbs_up::thumbs_up: for the great tutorial on your blog. I'm in Australia so we don't have radio shack but I should be able to track down all the parts to make one myself.
Cork Roadbed Kudos Jamie- I used your cork how-to to make my roadbed. It is a great how-to. I made a modification to cutting the edges though. I am not using spline, rather laying directly on plywood. I found using a knife to cut the angled edges of the cork to be difficult so I have been using my Dremel to sand the edges. So far this is working nicely. I also use your tips on soldering and appreciate the help you have given me.
