Gosh, MC... I didn't post clearly... can live with shiny tops, its that about midway through video seemed the sides of the rails were shown and didn't appear like all other rail so far shown (and that stuff is a clinic example to me for great track appearance.) I'll look at video again... can't say enough about this piece.
Sorry, Bill: thought you were referring to the rail tops. There are sections of rail where the paint came off or were masked (like around the throwbar) when I painted: On the far rail between the groundthrow and the second window is a good example. In that case I masked the points and then haven't gotten back to touch up the rails yet. Good call! And thanks for reminding me (that's something I can probably knock out today!) In other cases the paint is actually peeling off. I made the beginning's error of painting the rail & ties with the same latex "tuxedo" paint I used as the base coat (since the fascia is removed, you can see it on the bottom left edge of the picture above). Thinned slightly with water, the paint smoothly covered all the rails and ties and made a nice dark grey base that helps "tie" everything together. Here it is freshly dried on my 3-way turnout: What I didn't realize, however, is that the latex paint doesn't stick very well to the metal rails, and while running my fingernail along the inner rails to remove ballast, some largish chunks actually peeled off. D'oh! And it's only gotten worse over time: So I need to go back and take a micro brush with some Floquil Grimy Black and touch up a lot of rail. When I replaced a section of track around where the cannery is now I spray painted the track with Floquil Grimy Black, then scraped the tops. The paint seems to hold much better. So when my daughter & I painted the track on our "Alameda-Belt-in-a-Box" layout, I masked off everything around the track and then we spray painted it Floquil Grimy Black as well: It's turned out much better (and faster) than using latex house paint. Thank goodness for learning from experience. But thanks again for pointing it out. I'm on it! Cheers!
If best of my trackage looked like the worst of yours I could RIP... HaHa... Very well done, MC... cheers to your daughter, also.
Dang. MC, what happened? For the last few days I was following this thread, and now - no post after Feb 10th, no indication what happened - please, let us know, what did happen?BTW, very inspirin. And talking about inspiration, I also recently read an article you wrote involving your kids - very inspirational too. Forgot where I read it, though - MHR or MRC or somesuch would be my guess.So, greetings and a big thank you from Germany - and please, let us know whatever became of the layout.Sven
Hi Sven! Thanks for slogging through many pages of ramble. (Much talk, not much meaning ) The Mt. Coffin & Columbia River layout is currently in "pause" mode. Er, I mean I'm "weathering" the layout with natural layers of dust while I work on some other projects. Mainly some Free-moN modules since I joined a Free-moN club this year at the end of February (hence the last MC&CR RR post at that point). So here's the update: My Daughter & I got our "Alameda-Belt-in-a-Box" (Summer Shunting Shelf Project) pretty much done around March or April of this year. Still have a lot of little details, but it's pretty much a "done" layout that we enjoy playing with and taking to shows (it's under the cloth in the photo above) When I got into Free-moN in February, I started with a "Shoofly" 2'x6' module set in Sonoma, California (mainly because I didn't want to build another bridge ) and am still working on that. When I took that to week-long show in April, I realized we didn't have many passing sidings / yard so: I built a basic staging yard (The "Effett Yard Free-moN Module) in a week, and have been working on that since, installing more tracks, Bullfrog turnout controls, and especially figuring out the turntable. During that time I've also built some detachable extensions for the modules, as well as spent some time with my kids and have done some "real" work My plan is to finish the Effett Staging Yard and the Sonoma Shoofly modules before the Great Train Expo show in September, and then turn my full attention back to the Mt. Coffin & Columbia River layout and finish that around November, when hopefully I can sell it and get it out of my garage so I can start the next 42 projects But Life, it seems, keeps interrupting my Train Time So, we'll see. Thanks for your interest, and hope I can update things soon!
Darn, typing a reply on my mobile phone is a real pain in the - thumbs, mostly. Should have waited till I'm back in front of a real computer... Thank you for ramb - ahem - writing. It was a real pleasure reading about your exploits. But much entertainment value - certainly while you were having fun too. Well, I hope it will fall into loving hands. An update on those last stages (if you can stand that idea) would be much appreciated.Good luck with your other 42 projects, and looking forward to reading about those SvenPS: no idea who's mangeling my paragraphs...
Thanks, Ratonman & Chris! It's fun to see the article in print and with the groovy MR artwork. And it's great to see MR offer more N scale stuff. I hope others find the article an N-gauging read Cheers!
Today I braved the 100+ deg. heat of my garage to build a flatcar tanker using a fab casting from Republic Locomotive Works ($4: no picture in the catalogue but worth the chance!): The flat car is a 35' log flat from N Scale Kits. The tank load is a little short for a flat load (in my artistic composition estimation), so I added a strip of 0.08" styrene underneath before painting. Built the cradle with HO 2'x4' stripwood painted the same boxcar red as the flatcar: Added a brakewheel on some wire, weathered with powders, and: Need to do a better job weathering. Maybe some drybrushing. Definitely need to get Tom Mann's The Weathering Book - great techniques that look amazing. Should have also added some railing/pipes, perhaps. But with a great $4 tank casting, have plenty of opportunity to practice. Thanks for looking!
I've had a couple of those tanks-to-go-on-a-flatcar in my resource box for several years; I think mine were sold as Fine N Scale #2104. I got them with the idea of building a transition-era shorty framed tankcar. Good to see your project.
"Because its Mt. Coffin and every coffin needs a lid!" MC, PLEASE, no more puns! Funny, but....;-) Jim
weathering certainly makes more prototypical and Thomas Mann seems like one of the experts in doing so i just cannot get myself to take the cars and locos i have and make them look so "weathered" is it just me? respectfully, Gary L Lake Dillensnyder
Thanks for all the kind words on the layout. I'm really looking forward to finishing this thing soon, just as soon as I finish the couple Free-moN modules I got on the workbench. That said, I took a break from all the Free-moN scenery and finally finished Randgust's fab 18-ton Climax kit I started about a year and a half ago. I hauled the Mt. Coffin & Columbia River layout outside, vacuumed off all the dust & cobwebs that had accumulated, cleaned the track (not enough, as it turned out), and set up in the sun for some photos: It was a lot of fun chopping N-scale lumber (from a toothpick) to pile around the boiler. Yes, those workers are from the WS "Hobo" pack: seems to be the only figures in early 1900s clothing around. And, of course, a video: [video=youtube_share;zsamXrOL3g4]http://youtu.be/zsamXrOL3g4[/video] The Climax ran great on the test track, but stalled a lot on the layout. Really need to clean the track better, as the Kato 11-105 is a bit finicky (especially since I probably tweeked the contact strips more than I should have)(again). But it can creep along at scale 9-10 mph, as it should. And it looks great pulling Chris Schmuck's 20-ton wood hoppers from Republic Locomotive Works. Cheers to Randy for a great Climax kit! It was so hot in the sun that my iPhone kept shutting down with temp warnings. Ended up putting an icepack in my back pocket to cool the phone off between takes. Sorry about the blue tape and exposed wiring: didn't have the time to put on the fascia. See if you can see the harmonica player at the end. Thanks for looking.
Forgot to include a shot of the other side of the Climax, showing a dude blowing his harp as they chug along: The WS Hobo people pack seems to be the only ones with 1900's clothing. If anyone has any other sources, I'm all ears! Thanks for looking.
wow! Another hit on the wish list! Randy's climax and your building ability combined to produce an exceptional model. Wow! Keep it up MC, I don't get much time to get to trnboard in summer, but always want to see what you are up to. Thanx for setting the bar up a notch!
I am very impressed with this super detailed N scale layout. It shows just what can be done in N. I've rarely seen a layout in N from this era. Most seem to be HO scale or On30.
