Hi Mark, Good weathering on the crossings. How about some lightly applied dark chalk on them to simulated oil droppings caused by autos? ALSO I sent you an important private message. Jim
Got a chance to take some railfan video, yesterday, along Thunder Ridge, with my brand new Kodak Zi8 HD video camera. Unfortunately, my video adapter on the PC is acting up, so can't get them posted before heading out of town for weekend (no not following the Giants to Arlington, though I wish). Will see if I can get them uploaded when I return. Thunder Ridge is simply amazing. Of course, the typical visitor jinx occurred. After completing about 8 flawless circuits, the excursion train's passenger cars managed to jump the rails and ended at the bottom of the canyon, for no apparent reason.
Yep, Rick stopped by yesterday and we exchanged some items each of us will benefit from borrowing. The last time he visited, I had Thunder Ridge in a mess of plaster cloth. It's actually thanks to Rick that I was able to acquire the extruded foam, so I was glad to be able to show him new results. Yep, they were the first ever cars to leave the tracks and, go figure, they take the deepest plunge of the layout! We had my Burlington O-4 pulling the Bachmann "Old Timer's" cars. Thank god the cars uncoupled from the loco as they fell! The steamer kept right on chuggin without a hitch. *whew*
Video of Thunder Ridge Here's the video I took of Mark's fantastic layout. Took me a bit longer than anticipated to get going, since I had to get a new video card for my PC. I also apologize, in advance for the couple of choppy cuts, and the out of focus at some points. This was, literally, the first day using my new little video recorder. Sound effects were added by me. If you listen to the real sound, you hear Mark and me talking, and the fire engines across the street.
The trees look great, Mark! Some of the best I've seen! BTW when are you going to build the bridges? I suggest a Grand Central Gems wooden trestle kit for at least one of them. They're pre-weathered!:tb-wink: Keep us posted with your progress
Thanks Tom. At the moment, I have no schedule planned for starting the bridges, but I know they'll both be scratch built. If I could afford it, (and if the center arch was slightly shorter) I'd pick up this piece of artwork from TrainCat (actually, I dont even know if they've produced it yet.. or still plan to). I saw this article a while back of the construction of a Z Scale deck truss which I fell in love with. I'm going to follow the same technique and attempt spike detail for my own trestle on the Ridge line. I'll definitely keep posting progress here. Only problem is that there just hasnt been much progress lately other than making a few more trees and casting many many more rock faces. Nothing worth a photo yet. But I've sure been running and running and running the trains!
Well I just went through and updated the Quick Nav on post #1. In doing that, I realized I never posted this video from back in November! BN Freight Enters McKibben I've also had some new progress!! It's small and not worth a picture yet, but during my trip to Nebraska I was able to pick up two Red Caboose ground throws for the mainline crossover. I got them installed last night. While back in the Midwest, I also purchased 3 Atlas C55 curved turnouts! I'll be using them to add a second mainline crossover. And finally, I also added another DPM building to the town of McKibben. If all goes to plan, I hope to get some more rock work done on the river valley in this next week before the new semester starts!
Not at the moment. For now, I think I need to figure out how to get things onto the layout in a seamless manner. :/ I've planned some layout time later tonight... we'll see how it goes then.
hey Mark, here is an Idea for bridges for you. http://www.hack-bruecken.eu/index1.html I found that a TT scale bridge was perfect for what I needed.
Oh man. NOBODY wants to see what I just did. Lets just say, there's no easy way out of creating rock molds. At this point, it looks like Thunder Ridge is going to remain in it's current state for quite a while, until I can get the resources/time/location to do this..
Wow, thanks! I dont think I'll use their bridge specifically, but these two gave me great inspiration! http://www.hack-bruecken.eu/contents/media/l_h60.jpg http://www.hack-bruecken.eu/contents/media/l_hk60.jpg
Here's a shot of the few extra rocks I added to the cliff. I also secured them all into place by painting joint compound onto the back and sticking them into the painted foam. I also mushed jc into the gaps and carved when dried. I think it came out pretty well. Now I just have to get some castings above the track and this framed shot would be complete. Early Virginia & Truckee Freight on Thunder Ridge:
