A quick work-in-progress shot of my small Silver City, Piños Altos, and Mogollon Railroad layout. The layout is Z scale 2’ narrow gauge or Zn2. I have the backdrop dummied up but the whole layout will fit inside of a shadow box that I constructed for the project. The layout will have both day and night lighting as well as sound. The SCPAM operated in the New Mexico Territory from 1903 to 1907. It served several precious metal mining operations near Silver City before it’s parent company went bankrupt. The railroad was actually quite well-built all thing considered, but maybe only 40 photos of the whole railroad exist today. The locomotive, SCPAM Shay #2 and boxcar are built from scratch, and the train does operate. The ore cars are currently under construction and we should see them in the next month or so. The lattice bridge is a shortened version of a bridge on the prototype. The locomotive just has its primer and color coat on, quite a bit of detailing and weathering are still yet to be completed. Slow going, but steady. The corrugated boxcar also just has its primer and color coat, it’s not finished either.
Nice work. We have questions... Is the boxcar a T Gauge powered mechanism and the Shay an unpowered 3D printed shell mounted to T Gauge trucks? Is the track T Gauge 3mm or what is the actual rail spacing? Did you handlay it or is it flextrack? Are the wheels magnetic? Inquiring minds want to know..
More to come on how I did the locomotive once it’s finished. However, it is NOT 3D printed. It’s made from brass and styrene. A good friend is making the ore cars, he has a 3D printing company and wanted to do it. I was going to scratch build those too but his look great, I’m excited to see them, they look gorgeous. When it comes to modeling, I prefer the old ways. Have a look at my scratch built ship models, made mostly of boxwood and brass. www.josephlavender.com
I had some time this evening, so I was able to finish Shay 2. She’s a little faded, but since the SCPAM didn’t replace the destroyed cab on one of their locomotives, I doubt much painting was accomplished.
Wow. Very nice work. I thought my Nn3 stuff was fiddly but you take micro modeling to the next level.
I was able to get the display box mostly finished today. I went with a mahogany a beer which I finished with tung oil, which gives it a nice flat finish, and I dry fit the glass. The top will be on hinges so I can access derailments and the day/night lighting. I’ll post some photos soon once the tung oil has dried and I can handle it a bit better.
The shay is amazing, but after looking at what you are capable of with those ship models, why didn’t you go with a live steam shay? Those ships are tiny and super detailed.
As promised, a mock-up. Of course it’s all just sitting together, and the lid is open since the interior lighting isn’t installed. The glass is also dirty, but you get the idea. After this photo was taken I disassembled it so I can continue building the mine and start wiring the electronics.
Wow is right! Nice display and train. Looked at your site, very impressive. What type of lathe do you use?