Thanks for the kind offer of help Laos. It is nice to hear from you. I would like to say that the SW1 kit was one of the most enjoyable things I've put together in ages! Did you ever get anywhere with the proposed 70 tonner? For those who asked to se more of the layout here are 4 more I took this afternoon. If the decent weather keeps up I will photograph the other board next weekend and post some pics of the docks and lifting bridges etc. As you can tell I like using natural light to photograph the models. I haven't tried to mask out the bits of garden showing around the edges it takes too long! The concreted area at the rear of the layout is multipurpose, when I run the layout with steam it is a servicing yard for the passenger coaches and when I get it built will have the workshops that were at Calumet. however when I want to give the 89 footers and spine cars (Alan Curtis kits) a run by putting on the converted N scale container crane (Vollmer) and the Amtrak stock it looks like this Note that the coaling tower has gone! hope you like it will post more soon By the way I am going to convert another Peco turntable to have as a spare so I will take pictures as I go along showing how it is done and post them as soon as poss
Thats a mighty nice NPR collection. I really like your steam collection. Looks like you have a slope backed 0-6-0 in there. Ive been working on a church from Micro-Structures. I still need to finish the cemetery, but that wont happen until its final placement on the layout. I made a bunch of stained glass windows for it by finding a collection of photots on flickr that had the right shape for the kits windows. Lighting the kit was a bit of an after though after seeing the thread about using old light boards for lighting. Since I didnt build the kit for lighting it, I now have a lot of holes to plug, so thats what will be on my workbench.
Those stained glass windows are spot on, like them a lot The 0-6-0 switcher is a heavily modified BR89 tank loco with one of Graham Jone's Z-club GB cast resin slope back tender body it does not fare too well when photographed too closely but if you are interested I will post a pic to show what I did to it. cheers
Kev. You're killing me ! That looks great. I love the curves. This is one of the things that I like about layouts that are not as easy to do on modules. Using the Z-Bend Track 2' interface and a 12" absolute minimum (for spurs) and 15" for mainlines, doesn't let get as creative, even if the module has three to four feet of width somewhere. Curn, see you this weekend at the Great Train Expo in San Jose ?? (SC County Fairgrounds @ Tully and Monterey Hwy). Lajos Thek, David Lancaster and Don Fedjor from ZoCal will be up. If so, bring it along for showing on the BYOZ tables. That church is a GREAT idea. If you are not going to build a module for the BAZ BoyZ, I think I'll use that idea on one of my module reworks. .
Albion almost off the launch pad Here's what I've been working on lately... the Albion, a 1926 Honor-Bilt kit house Any comments or thoughts would be a help. Cheers, \
wow, mike. that house has such an authentic look -- the fencing, the stone retaining around the fence, the differently sided garage. this will be a great addition, no doubt. well done. (... and that foundation wall -- it all looks great ... ) dave f.
Mike: After building one of your kits, this one, the Albion, a 1926 Honor-Bilt kit house, appears to be in a new "Craftsman Kit" class -- Museum Quality. ...don
Nice work on the church Curn! Love those stained glass windows! Really cool house Michael! What are you using for the foundation? It really looks like scale bricks!
Robert, Thank you. The foundation on this model is a layer of Paper Creek brick. I've since laser cut scale brick. I'm not sure which I like better. I'll have photos of the laser cut brick shortly. Cheers
David, Don, Thank you for the kind words. I am quite pleased with the picket fencing. It takes a bit of time to make, but I think that I've set it up so that it will be easy if tedious. I do need to know. What do you guys think of the roof. On the MRR Forum the only comment I got was that the roofing"looks bad". The roofing is foil from a wine bottle scribed and painted. Cheers,
I think the roof looks good. I tried something like this using foil with some wine bottle or pill bottle cap or some soup can cap imprints. I also tried using extremely thin and narrow styrene strips and in both situations with lots of painting, rust and weathering. Something other modelers may not consider is that these photos are Z SCALE and enlarged about 3 times on the screen. In HO they might not look as good good on the screen. Place an HO and Z model side-by-side and I'll bet there will be no bad comments about the Z roof. ...don
That fencing is MUCH better than the plastic Kibri makes. (they have both "new" and reckity versions). The roof looks a bit heavy to me. And normally, rolled roofing is layered across, not down. Take a look at this month's Railroad Model Craftsmen for an early era Boston box car with tin roofing. It is done in panels not clear an how he made the edging. Otherwise, that is the kind of house I am looking for. More of similar styles (and single story ones too please). .
I'm curious about "the normal layered across". I can get you a number of photos on buildings around here that have roofing that looks exactly like this with the major ridge running vertically. Are you are referring to rectangular panels with the major ridge running vertically and the minor -- i.e. panel thickness running horizontally as opposed to a panel that is rolled and runs the whole length of the roof from top to bottom, which is what I think Michael is depicting. Possibly it varies from region to region of the country. ...don
Naw, all the rolled stuff I've seen is horizontal lapped as it doesn't allow water to run back. The vertical stuff would be harder to keep sealed. And I'm from Ohia but don't remember seeing that vertical way. Maybe in a few years when I get back again or to our Syracuse office 2-3x a year. Must be an East Coast thing .
Anyone Remember This? Seems I have more time than I had hoped for away from work. Thanks to Ike I have lots more time to work on getting projects out!!! Ugh!!! Here is project #1 These photos show shell #2 that I have been working on. I hope to make 10+ of these shells. I have 10 cabs, 10 main bodies, and 5 walkways so far. I will attempt to cast 5+ more cabs and main bodies and hoping 10 more walkways before the RTV molds give out. I had one bad walkway so I have actually cast 6. I will soon etch the handrails and side panels to cover the Faulhaber motors. Somewhere their is a thread asking for serious SD70ACe shell Desirees!!! That is the list I will go by, if you would like one of these shells and have not yet placed your name on it, you need to do so. Limit one per person at this time. But, time will tell. I think their was 11 names on the list so far. At present I am completely cleaning all parts and glueing the walkways to the main bodies. The castings are perfect replicas of the master that was lendt to me for molding. I have set aside one each of the first castings in case I need to make another set of RTV molds. Pricing has never been set for this project. Due to all work required to create and assemble the pieces to make a complete SD70ACe shell, I am setting the price at $40 per shell undecorated. This includes the main body/walkway, cab w/fiber optics for lighting, and the 6 etched brass handrails/panels. I will pre-bend all brass handrails and attach the panels to the casting. You will need to glue the handrails to the casting after painting. It is suggested that you paint these shells using an airbrush. I suggest using enamel paints, but that is my suggestion and acrylic paints will work just as good. I gauge my suggestion of past experiences with airbrushing and hand painting! I am not considering doing any paint scheme projects with any of these shells other than the one I keep for myself. David Freehling is the master when it comes to loco shell painting!!! David, this is your Que!!!! Ok, more info and photos to come!! Hobo Tim
Jeff, I was aiming to replicate standing seam roofing like this .... http://www.copproofing.com/samples/assets/img/sample_03.jpg or this https://www.sheeleyroofing.com/images/p9210001_g2x9.jpg Not quite there but close I think. Cheers,
