Free-moN: At Home & On The Road

Well, if BerNd's is #1, this is definitely #2:

And the award for the Crappiest Turnout Control (CTC) goes to....



Decided to use the best room in the out of the house to cover the one slide switch on the Wye Knot module.
(Cross-support directly under throwbar)
The outhouse has styrene shims inside to snug-fit the slideswitch knob and then is CA'ed to a grey-painted styrene "plate" that slides with it over the switch top.
With some weathering and more ground cover it shouldn't look too much like "The Throne"
(Just like "Thrown")

Works pretty well, though I pity the dude inside when a train is switching the siding

 

Well, you know where the best thinking is done

This past week I've been building a set of shacks for the Company Town, which means another opportunity to try out the focus stacking in the sunshine:





Really need some peoples but really don't want to pony up the money for WS figures.
Guess I'll have to find the unpainted bulk pack and get painting.

It was so hot today out in the sunshine that it started warping the tarpaper roof:



So will need to fix that.

Since I was scratchin' with styrene, thought I'd make a couple videos while I was at it.

Here's the 5-minute Abridged version:

[video=youtube_share;72IMW9IGT4I]http://youtu.be/72IMW9IGT4I[/video]

And if you're just starting out scratchbuilding with styrene, there's a two-part step-by-tippy-toe-step tutorial on my website.

And now back to March Madness.
Go UCLA Bruins.

Thanks for looking.

 

It was Elmer's spray adhesive.
Usually works fine with the shingles, especially when I put some white glue or Aileen's tacky on the edges to prevent the peeling.

But the computer paper / spray paint on spray adhesive with no other glue didn't work in the heat so well.
Will either patch with more "tar paper" or throw some corrugated sheets on the "holes" or pull the whole roof off and redo the sucker right.


It was really hot in direct sunlight today.
Was sweating many places while taking all the photos for the focus stacking. :frustrated:

 

So I ripped off the roof of the Company freight & store & am in the process of redoing it.
Remember this isn't my module and after early April it'll go "home" so I don't want anything that's fussy or fuzzy or flakey for the dude.

Started experimenting with adding bark / trunk to my floral-wire twirled trees:



Dipping the trunks in stucco paste seems to do the trick by adding texture and thickness:



And on the module:





Looks moocho better than just the thin twisted wire, so methinks I'll be doing this with all foreground trees from now on.

So basically done with the Company Town module (except for the roof issue), now moving on to the mine tipple module.
(Only have enough room to work on one module at a time, so working through them in order)

Finally installed the Eggle River Mining Co. office I built last week:



Added some trees and so another opportunity to stack some foci:



Need many more trees, so will be twisting wire & twine today in between March Madness (Go UCLA!) and World Cup qualifying matches (Go USA!).

Thanks for looking.

 

Dries in about 20-30 minutes.

If you want it for bark for larger trees I'd try dropping in some fine-sifted sawdust.
(Or wait until I make some more oaks and try it myself )

 

I just watched your oak tree series. Those look really good when they're done. In my club we often take even commercial trees, give them a bit of a haircut to randomize them a little more and make them seem a little more realistic, and then hit 'em with hair-spray or spray adhesive and then roll them around in some ground foam. They look so much better when you're done than the beginning product.

 

yes please!

 

I have made many trees using the wire twine method. Mostly pine trees. I would like to know what glue you use to hold the twine. The hot glue works. But its a bit thick in spots... As for my other trees. I am working with yaro and liking the results..

 

Glue to hold the twine?
Not sure I understand what you mean.

The twine is held between the two strands of floral wire that are spun in a drill.
After spray painting, I shoot some hair spray on the twine to hold the ground foam.
And I plant the trees into the foam with a little CA.
The whole tutorial is here.
Except for the addition of dipping it in stucco paste for trunk thickening & hiding the twisted wires.
That's the latest from R&D

 

I found another tutorial somewhere that suggested hot glue to keep the twine between the wires before you twist it. It works well, until you get a blob of glue. The rest is exactly the way you say. I have not tried to make any other trees this way yet. I am still working on the rebuild and then I will try your method... Without the hot glue. There maybe some other photos in my previous started threads...

 

Just fold the wire over, stick it in the drill, shove the twine between the wire, twist the end to tamp it down, then spin the drill.
No need for hot glue!
(Which gets spindles and threads EVERYWHERE!)


Okie dokie:

As the modules will disappear to their real home soon, I thought it'd be prudent to take a few more sunlit stacking shots:





On to the rockslide shed & quarry scene modules!

 

It looks like great railfanning weather!

 

Moved on to the Mountain/Gorge seciton of the Wye Knot module.
Added more trees, took more stacked shots:





Nothing like working on trains to procrastinate making the presentations for the Iron Horse Express clinics
Back to work.

 

On the less-glamorous side of things, I removed all the Bullfrog control rods from the Effett Yard modules.
It looked like this mess:



Which was messy and the rods got in the way of clamping.
And, really, when you have only a 16"-wide module, you can easily reach under and finger-flip the Bullfrogs from either side.

So to aid in the fingering, I glued the wooden sprocket "wrenches" (that come with the Bullfrog kits) onto the throwing plate itself to add some grippiness:





So now the whole thing looks much cleaner:



And the modules should be a little lighter and easier to clamp.
We'll see how it works next week at the Iron Horse Express convention.