Well, if everyone is going to suggest cars.. I like the 70's lancia beta coupe. The layout is looking really good. I am curious about your structures as I have decided to build a small industrial switching area for my little 214 to run around in. All the research I have done on Italian structure models, is that the selection is limited, and the prices are high. Where did you get the design for the freight house? I've scoured the internet for a kit, but the closest one to what I liked was beyond my price range. Here is one on ebay, trust me I'm not advertising for anyone. Price + shipping and I could pay someone to build me one cheaper. https://www.ebay.com/itm/312DM-HO-D...=item58eb303d19:g:Em4AAOSwCbtZwhBZ:rk:11:pf:0 Also, Italians are funny in that dilettantism is frowned upon. When I visit model train sites a lot of the work I see is on a par with museum work. I am not that talented, my layouts look like toy train sets. Also, what time period are you doing? And, since it's a minor line you are modellig I suppose I won't be seeing the freccia rossa in your station.
Thank you Geeky, The selection and price is why i scratchuild quite some things. The freight house and the loco shed are two resin kits I bought years ago (at an outrageous price), the station building will follow, but since it is half relief, I am joining the two facades to have a longer building. After that the kits are over, but I have two old Rivarossi station buildings that will live again. Tou can get a lot of drawing on rotaie.it and on the ACAF Montesilvano site, what I would have been doing was it not for these kits would be to print the drawings and tack them on a 1/4 inch foam board, so I could cut it decently. (My bigger kid is glueing these prints, so all he has to do is assemble the walls and cut out some doors and windows). You know that on THAT italian forum I always castigated the frowners as nobody is born with the full mastering of any art. My layout will span the late sixties to the early nineties and NO, you will not see any frecciarossa there, but on the timetable there is an intercity train as the place is a tourist town and the line is electrified. So you WILL see a pair or a 4 lashup of ALe 601, or my favourite: the original Pendolino ETR 401 that I got from dad in the 70s (very hard LIMA set, ran @almost 400kph scale speed). Moreover, every one in a while, the replica Orient Express (Rivarossi set with the 691 Pacific and 4/5 CIWL carriages) will bring back the memory of the Savoia real family coming there to hunt deers in the 20s.
just out of curiosity, which mine sweeper were you on? My mother was the madrina of of an Italian mine sweeper, but not likely yours as it was 60 years ago or more. I have an already assembled Rivarossi station kit. It is unpainted and poorly assembled, but it was cheap. Limas always look best going 4000 miles per hour. It is why I am sort of a collector of them.
Ciao Geek, I am sorry i was not in the navy, I am actually a flight controller in the Italian Air Force, the nickname comes from the fact that when i registered in the italian model trains forum i was reading "The Caine's mutiny", where THAT ship was actually a minesweeper. I liked the sound, and there it is. I think the old rivarossi kits can be a good start to be detailed and kitbashed a little (not too much beacuse I like them to be easily recognized as old Rivarossi), just add these nice details that were not available at the time. When I was a kid, my 401 and E444 Tartaruga were maintained like racecars as one of my favourite pastime as a kid with my friends was to race our trains (well, not just trains, also slot cars, normal model cars.... bikes....). The LIMA motor could coast a lot if you gave a good lubrication to the gearing. These trains were able to bust a "red signal" with a 4ft isolated section, especially the tartaruga which usually pulled a 6 car consist that helped build inertia.
Ok, This is an interesting idea. Train Racing! I want to race my train against other people. I think I stand a really good chance of doing well with my old Lima locos too. That's right, you had told me before you were aeronautica. My dad was at Aviano in the 50's. He was good friends with general Fea (spelling?)
Got something done during the weekend, besides buying an Austrian sleeper and a Spanish freight for a total of 22$ at a second hand market. The water tower is finished, together with the garden (I added the small lamp), now it is just the signature tree, and I have to close a gap between the two sections of the platform as the tower one "creeped" 1mm to the left (still can not realize how it happened as I put weights everywhere to ensure a good seal) leaving a gap in full view (the small line in front of the toilets). @ Geeky, no idea of ITAF people in the 50s, sorry.
The first module is COMPLETE!!!, with just two weeks of delay from the plan (3 modules in 3 years...). I got all the annoying wiring done, now all the lamps shine so this time night views. First two views from the two sides from the north side from the south side The RIP shed with a steam generator wagon in repair (the shed has full internal layout, was not in place at the time). View of the shed area with the diesel refuelling pad views of platform one from the shed Some details (overhead wires and littering, grass sprouts ) will be added when all modules are finished.
during a pause in modeling I just thought I could improve the module by doing a (almost) zero cost backdrop I tried tampering with pictures on photoshop with dire results, then turned to powerpoint and managed to paste a mountain profile from central italy to a grey sky. Reflect and paste, i managed to get out four or five A3 prints that can be put next to each other without really visible seams So i bought a MDF board, just put the pictures together (one seam was closed with matt scotchtape, but did not really work, the other was simply left as is. We,, nothing is perfect, this one very far from it, but until I get back to Italy, maybe it is an improvement. It can't get higher than this because of the roof. What do you think of this temporary solution?
Starting work on the second module, first set the tracks the correct way..... to avoid derailments And then check with the test car.... Yes, there is still something to fix
Will try to hide the gap somehow, as you can see on the right side there are the wooden sleepers for walkers on the tracks to hide the PCB and hopefully the seam between modules.
Got a long break due to family issues, but in the meanwhile the big task of getting the main station done is progressing. It will be a low profile building due to the module being not deep enough for a full depth. It is scratchbuilt from a resin kit: i took the two facades and joined them to make a "bigger" building, i also opened some doors to make space for the bay window cabin. The interiors are made with some pieces from Faller, or scratchbuilt, in the back I put some printed backgrounds to mask the reduced depth. A full view of the building The interiors: right to left Bar, waiting room, station control room station control room, dispatcher room and station master room, cloakroom and baggage room (blind - used for passing cables) From the outside Bar Waiting Station control, the bay window is needed beacuse of the electric block system (the two red boxes), and the relative need to watch the tail signals of the trains Dispatcher and station master Comments, critiques very well welcome
The ends of the track where the modules meet look very secure and strong with the PC Board there -- well done.
Hi guys, it is not that I did not do anything on the layout, just that it was all wiring and connecting turnouts to the decoders, looking for electrical gremlins everywhere and the like. So nothing to show for a while, but hours spent to make sure trains would roll to a good standard. In the meantime I was able to almost finish the station, getting an electrical cab done from a kit and scratch building a small hut (that in real world was built to house additional electrical equipment due to the station being equipped with an electric system to control turnouts and signals, and that is why is just attached to the cab). here it is the current state of works, I expect to work on the scenery for the most part of the holiday season and finish the module not later than January. It is really mostly a matter of getting the platforms done, and do the lighting (gosh, wiring again!). ciao
Weekend is gone and work is progressing on the station building, and on the small buildings. I decided to show the electric cabin under refurbishment, so with a very discolored vanilla color, and the rigging for the painters. Here the cabin, with a flat concrete roof (not fixed yet, just placed there to give a feeling of the final effect), aged to simulate the patches of moss and lichen that usually sticks there after a few years. The cabin is a FALLER kit, i got the idea since the model shows some patches where the suttco fell off due to the age. The light is very strong, but the paint already looks discolored, I will put some grey washes to further dull the color.
Cabin weathered with grey washes, and roof redone to simulate the texture of tar paper covering using blue painter's tape (still on the door and windows) cut to measure, painted and weathered. Does it look like it badly needs painting? The idae is to put some scaffolding to simulate painters @ work.
