currently, I have a dis-assembled Bachmann 2-8-0 with a pilot being cut apart for a MT 905, man, I am shocked that no one has made a replacement pilot for the 2-8-0 yet....also, a friend in the UK sent me an older Life-like (1998 split frame) GP20...SP 4077...this is a GREAT gift. Only real issue is the fact that he added a winterization hatch to it, only 4084-4087 had them.....and it WILL get a nose job!
Finished up the USCG station and lighthouse for the harbor point by adding the final scenery items, flagpoles and flags. Flags flying are the US, USCG, and a rear Admirals' flag on the one pole. The other carries a storm warning flag for a storm brewing off the mouth of the Columbia River. Still have to install the beacon circuit for the lighthouse. And the 2nd part of the Kibri kit is the NUMA structure underway. I have fabricated a flagpole and the flags displayed are the US and NUMA flags. Added fencing and gates except for the backdock gate that Deekus the Cat chewed up. And a large NUMA emblem is at the front entrance. Slope outside of the fence gets white stone landscaping and details have yet to be added to the dock.
Thanks for the comment. This was my first use of a product known as Silflor for the bushes and flowers and the rest is Woodland Scenics fine mixed turf and a white talus broken up a little smaller in a mortar and pestle. The house has been weathered using both an India Ink wash and a Polyscale Dust wash for dried salt spray. Rain gutters are copper with some weathering. The bollards on the dock are supposed to be N scale. I cut off about two scale feet and still think they are oversized so after a bit of thought they are going to be replaced by another brand that are better scale sized. Straightened the leaning flag pole and noticed that I have some touch up to do at the end of the pier around the pilings. Beside replacing the bollards and the touch up I will be applying a little bit of Bragdon weathering powered, mostly green, around the rain gutter and to the dock. For whatever reason the photo was poor so here is a better one still with some warts showing. .
Spent a few hours on my SOU SD45. The shell is basically complete except for the rear number boards - those are a pain! Snapped a shot before I started working on the pilot chevrons
Got rid of the supposedly N scale but oversized dock bollards and installed something much better in size. So now other than the installation of the lighting circuit for the lighthouse beacon all is done. And added the stone landscaping outside and inside the fence around the NUMA building, and the rear dock access gate and guard shack. This will finish up with some dock details and cleaning up the excess landscape material.
I finally got the used car lot done , now I need to get out and put it on the layout and blend it in. Mike
Thanks so much George , I think once I get it in it will get me past one of those layout stumbling blocks. Mike
If I told you a 610' Great Lakes bulk freighter (yes, that is 46" long), with open cargo holds, was almost ready for photographs, except it needed to go back to the paint booth (which, at this size, is my whole basement), would anyone be interested? It's the William A. Irvin, flagship of the US Steel fleet from 1938-1978, and now a museum ship in Duluth, MN. Going to try to bring it to the mid-Ohio meet in two weeks, along with other smaller ships.
This is one of those situations where I thought, "I've built a Z-scale 735-footer (Edmund Fitzgerald class), so scaling it up (or down) to a 610' N scale Laker should take only a week or so." Five weeks later . . . Man, the two classes of ships are totally different! I guess the positive here is that I now have both a 735' and 610' Laker that I can scale up (or down) between the scales. I will eventually build a 735' long by 90' beam Laker in N scale This 610' N scale ship is so huge I had to find a new place in my workshop to build it--and still find a place to photo it. For photos, maybe just on the dining room table, and Photoshop the table out. I don't know what I'll do for the next bigger class. The kit, with everything included, is going to be about $600--there are 16 cut styrene sheets (most 12 x 36", a few 12 x 48" for the hull), plus a gazillion parts. The built-up is going to be at least $1800. A good photo will be the 735' Z scale Laker along with the 610' N scale Laker. Patience, my friends. Building these hulls with open holds and removable hatches has been pushing my envelope of design. BUT--they can be made as shorties, which are prototypical: just keep subtracting 54' from the length (one hold) until you get the one you want. Perfectly prototypical. OK, I'm back to forming 18 hatches with the same camber. . . see you later. Actually, I'm having a second round of hand surgery on Monday, so it may be a while.
Trees ala Fujiwara Used the tutorial on youtube. They are turning out pretty good, although I didn't use sawdust, and painted the trunks instead. Not sure if I will use the big'un its going to end up being 75 scale feet.
