Hello All!

While I'm traveling back and forth between Kelso and Spanaway, I decided I needed a project to take along to my temporary quarters. For now, my wife, the boys and I all travel up there on Saturday. They return home Sunday night or Monday morning while I keep working until sometime Wednesday. We're staying in a wonderful little mother-in-law apartment attached to a stand alone 3-car garage (read "woodshop").

For a few nights at least, I become a bored bachelor. The TV only gets a few channels (until June when the digital switch occurs) and most of it is mind-rotting crud anyway. No internet (believe me, the withdrawals are serious!) SO, I figured I'd pack up a few tools, my portable lap-desk, and work on a little project.

I had so much fun building the scalescenes.com freebie card structure that I decided I needed to make something [mostly] out of cardstock. I pulled a plastic drawer and stocked it with varying thicknesses of cardstock along with several tools, some white glue, and a few bottles of paint. Any other bits I may need like wire or window glass I'll have to find along the way or bring from home.

"Dollar Models" came to mind as a simple challenge. Looking back through my old MR's (back when the D.M. articles ran, and the magazine in general was more fun and less stuffy) I found a neat little grade crossing gate tower. The prototype is (was?) a Milwaukee Road structure. A couple pictures of the prototype and model as well as text and a couple three drawings are all you get.

So far I am most of the way through one wall - scribing 1/16" card to look like novelty siding using a dental tool, 'stripping' 1/8" card for corner posts and heavy trim, and building up windows in place using a 'Cappucino Coolers' box (1/32" or so). All that in about an hour. Many hours of fun to go!

I will eventually post a scan of the copy I made from the article. It has my notes and observations scribbled on there and will show the changes I made from the drawing. A few of these are to add character the picture shows but drawing does not.

Also I will post a few progress pictures at some point. The camera is up there while I am home for the president's day holiday...ergghh...so they'll have to wait.

Thanks for reading along!

Galen

I decided to start construction of my Micro Engineering 200ft Viaduct... the tall one. AND IT IS TALL!!! The bridge is about 8 inches tall unmodified... I had to get it down to 6 inches. So theres a slight kitbash here. Build time? 2.5 hours



The one PITA with this model? The barrels and bridge mtc. walk way is an ADD ON KIT!!! Thats not included... how frustrating.



Wow that is tall!

Tower assembly:








Bridge assembly:



Sprues are bigger than the actual MAJOR parts. So be careful with your pen knife... or....



and if your not careful with the file...









Now here's the pieces needed to assemble it all. Before this however I trimmed off the bottom section of the towers (2 inches) with my Dremel tool... No pic





I glued the main tower in with the bridge upside down... why you ask? To make sure there's no gaps



Assembled an in place! How nice!




All thats left is to paint, weather, and add track.

A lot easier than I thought it would be.

For others wanting to partake in this kit:

RESIST the urge to use super-glue to speed up construction. Super glue sets way to fast for this kit. I like using super glue for buildings...but in this case the brush on cement works just fine. But use a smaller applicator than the included brush, less is a LOT more for this kit.

On that note, when assembling the tower structures, don't let the glue cure all the way. Be sure to assemble it while the glue still has a little give so you can make sure the tower ends up being square and level.

Take your time. This is a general idea for all models, but I put emphasis on this kit. Why? Because it's VERY easy to mess up, and they can be very frustrating.

Paint it onces it's completed. I normally paint first while everything is on the sprues, then paint it after. But in this case a nice can of flat black spray paint will be working wonders.


Thanks for viewing!

After discussing my track plan on another thread, I thought I should post it, so here goes. :oops:
This is ho. The table is actually two levels, with seven inches of height difference. Each level being one foot wide. The yellow line is the divider. The tables will free standing. This was the best I could come up with to give me the longest mainline. Staging tracks are on the upper right, with a small yard also on the upper level. The three track siding after the curve would be an interchange.
Minimum radius is 22" and the grade coming down the curve should be 2.5%.
I envision a city back drop behind the upper level yard, going around the curve it would change to a rural scene with plenty of pine trees. I am also thinking about putting a stream before the swing back curve, a small waterfall, then the stream would curve to the left and go underneath a bridge or trestle on the curved track.
Starting behind the interchange, the backdrop would change to a seedy, run down industrial area, and then gradually change to a city scene again behind the lower staging tracks. The biggest drawback I see is that all the buildings would need to be flats, which means I cut the buildings I have in half or buy new ones.
Oh, and reach on the big table is no problem, the bottom area is open. Nothing here is set in stone and can be changed.
So what do you think? Any comments or ideas are definitely welcome and needed.

Loren

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I was wondering if perhaps the mods could possibly think about moving some "layout" threads into the Layout Forum. There are a number of layout threads in the HO modeling section which could probably find a new home in the Layout Forum.

If anything just to establish some form of consistency. The HO Modeling forum could be for example showcase the modeling of specific items such as structures or rolling stock in HO scale. While the Layout Forum could be more broader based and include Layouts from all scales.

Another alternative I guess would be to scrub the Layout Forum all together and move the layout threads into their respective scales.

Just a suggestion. ducks and runs for cover :oops:

Hi all,

Another background building with some added bits to enhance it ......

Walthers Tomaso's Market .. as usual an excellent kit crisply moulded good fitting parts, with some additions it can be even better,
6'' H x 4 1/8 W x 2 3/8 D ...... when adding the window linings i cut two top liners from 30 thou plasticard and another end liner for the left side to add to the kit parts.
80 thou floors were put in for a few reasons a little more strenth .... interior details can be added at a later date and they provide a surface to attach the LED's to for lighting.
I am hoping to source some 1:87 items for the window displays before fitting plasticard backs to them.



Extra plastic strips were added to give the impression of half open windows.



Plasticard floors and upper linings ....the floor undersides will have foil added to spread & reflect the light of the yellow LED's.

This project happened because I didn't want to pay a lot for scrap loads, in the end it was free. It doesn't seem right to buy a new athearn BB for $7 then to buy a load from chooch that would cost more. I am happy with the results.

I got some scrap metal from the bandsaw at work, making it my base scrap. Looks real from the get go. First thing I did was cut out two layers of cardboard for the gondola, that way the weight isn't too much for the train. The tape is for the crooked cutting I always do





Sprinkled the scrap in the gondola







and smoothed it around to almost flat.

To add different looks I took some household items like paperclips



The other items I found were in my parts bins, some furniture jewelry I got from a relative that did soldering with glass, nothing train related in there.

Strategically placing the parts in the scrap, covering part of them to make it look like it was all mixed together





Then sprinkling some more scrap to cover them a bit



It's almost done..





Then sprayed some 50/50 mixture of glue on (I used elmers and water mix, though isnt the best for adhearing plasticsd and metal, it still creates stick) and let it settle




And that's it for now...

Les has a post with a picture of an old Ford Hi-Rail truck and it got me wondering when the railroads started to use them. I would like to verify that there was a prototype for this model.
I'm referring to the ones that had the gear for running on the rail and highway both.
Fairmont was building motor cars (speeders) into the 80's. and I remember the Hi-rail trucks that PC had that were yellow, however I don't recall seeing any on the PRR. (That doesn't mean there weren't any, just I can't recall them.)
I found a photo of a 1948 Ford pick-up lettered PC with Hi-rail gear, but I don't know if it is original.
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If anyone can help pin this down it would be great. There has to be photos out there some where.
Charlie

Yep, Big Blue is now two months old and we have over 200 valid registered members... no spammers, we've been deleting them as they try to register.

Another milestone is that we hit our 10,000 post earlier this month, no prizes for the one that posted it since we couldn't find them if we tried, but that's a good thing regardless since we've been averaging about 150 posts a day, much more than the forum that we all left behind.

Mikey and I have talked a lot about what's going on here and to say that we're delighted is an understatement. We couldn't be more pleased that you all have chosen to join us here and we're trying to make this the pleasant and comfortable place that we all were use to. I think we've succeeded, and for this we thank you all.

We also thank the mods we have for making this all possible. This couldn't happen without them being here, it just couldn't...

We are growing at a slow pace, just what we wanted. All are welcome here so remind your friends where we are if you would. Remember our promise to you, no ads, no corporate interference, no intermingling with other hobbies, just private ownership by people who care about trains. We extend an extra thank you to those that have gone out of their way to support us, we are grateful that you can and did do this for the good of these forums. All of these things makes doing what we have done worthwhile.

This will be my first layout with staging ( maybe ). My garage layout will be point to point with staging at both ends. The staging yards will be stub ended with run around crossovers. Now, I make my first staging run, switch some industries and an interchange along the way, go to staging and run around the train. To me, that train will now be "unworkable" going back. Am I correct on this, does the whole train need to be turned? Or am I overlooking the obvious? Also, would there be a train at each staging yard, or would one run back and forth between the two? I think what I am really asking is how do you use staging?
Any info would be a big help.

Loren

Hi All,

Purchasing a Walthers Centennial Mills background building proved a good choice as Walthers include a back wall which is not needed with plenty of spare windows ........ with this in mind i extended the building to double its length with some plasticard for the roof i will cover with fine sand once it is in place.




The basic walls intended to be used.



Spare backwall and windows.



Double length mock up.



Assembled 60 Thou plasticard strip to join both walls.



White Plasticard replacement roof 80 thou to give some structural strength .



Walls complete ........ a little filler to the main wall joint sanding and a longer loading deck it will be good value for money.

I will add some more pics of its completion soon.