Weekly Photo Fun 7-9/7-15

ianacole · Jul 12, 2010

jeffrey-wimberly said:
Thank you. I just ordered one.

You're welcome. Here's some pictures of mine recently completed and painted in D&RGW Gold. I now just need to figure out how to lash it down. I have chain, but I'd like to find some turn-buckles.

AyTrane · Jul 12, 2010

Beautiful! Were the RG units really painted yellow?

ianacole · Jul 12, 2010

AyTrane said:
Beautiful! Were the RG units really painted yellow?

I doubt it

I'm not beholden to prototypical though

Jon NFL · Jul 12, 2010

ianacole "--. I have chain, but I'd like to find some turn-buckles."--

Grandtline has a couple different sizes of turnbuckles - both plastic and brass

Motley · Jul 12, 2010

Nice job on that Ian!! That looks really cool. I love that D&RGW yellow and black.

What is that passenger train in the background? Is that D&RGW also? Let's see some pics of that.

jeffrey-wimberly · Jul 12, 2010

ianacole said:
You're welcome. Here's some pictures of mine recently completed and painted in D&RGW Gold. I now just need to figure out how to lash it down. I have chain, but I'd like to find some turn-buckles.

Went to have a look at Walther's and let there be turnbuckles.
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/300-5039

ho/ttothemoss · Jul 12, 2010

looks good janacole.....

ianacole · Jul 12, 2010

jeffrey-wimberly said:
Went to have a look at Walther's and let there be turnbuckles.
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/300-5039

Awesome! DRGW to boot!! Thanks!

ianacole · Jul 12, 2010

Motley said:
Nice job on that Ian!! That looks really cool. I love that D&RGW yellow and black.

What is that passenger train in the background? Is that D&RGW also? Let's see some pics of that.

It's my Walthers P2K F3 A/D (DCC&Sound) pulling 1 BLI California Zephyr RPO (the financier is disallowing the purchase of more) and 3 Athearn BB California Zephyr cars. Yah, there's two RPO cars (see above post about prototypical), and will probably be like that until I can get the other 10 BLI editions (I sure hope they produce a third run - if they're reading

). Here's a pic:

zoegraf · Jul 12, 2010

John P said:
Jon NFL--it's HO.

Zoegraf, nowadays it's not at all clear that handlaid track looks the best. There's still the issue that plastic ties are hard to paint to look like realistic wood, but honestly there's not much to choose. If our club didn't have a long history of hand construction, I doubt if we'd start now.

Edited to answer a question that Jon NFL hasn't asked yet--no, typically we'll put in spikes every inch or so. That generally works out to every 5th tie.

John, I agree, I have seen some non realistic and sloppy looking handlaid track due to the lack of practice or skill on the part of the layer. However, wood looks like wood as long as one doesn't over do the painting/staining of the ties, which I did once. Keeping the spikes looking real and applied right is a challenge for me, which is why I'm considering trying out the Central Valley product on a diorama in the near future to see what I can do with it.
My layout is just above the height of my chin so I really can only see the ends of my ties and the sides of the rails so I tend to put more into the ends of the ties to look more realistic. (I really like seeing the details of undercarriage). The track that is closet to the edge of my layout gets more attention to detail than the track farther away.
This shot is the height of my POV looking at my layout. Notice that I can't see between the rails.

jeffrey-wimberly · Jul 14, 2010

mdcustom · Jul 14, 2010

Here are some shots of the progress on the Cranberry Iron Works. Piece is in S scale, the entire complex measures 41" deep and 69" long. Complex is entirely scratch built, what was added on this delivery is the 175' tall stack along with the compressor building (large brick building on left) and the boiler house (open sided building right in front). Cranberry is and 1890's blast furnace on the ET&WNC Railroad. This layout is one of the tour layouts for the 30th National Narrow Gauge Convention in St. Louis this September. Only remaining large pieces are the blast furnace itself (sits on the pink foam in front of the elevator tower) and the cast house (which extends out in front of the blast furnace). Client on this project is having his background repainted higher and more muted this week.