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+--- Thread: Tmo layout addition '24 build challenge (/showthread.php?tid=9888)
RE: Tmo layout addition '24 build challenge - TMo - 07-05-2024
The Coal Dealer kit had some extra stuff in it including some bins that were fairly simple to put together. Knocked that out after dinner, and those will get stuck somewhere around the area that will include the Coal Dealer and the silos.
I've also been exploring adding various colorations of ballast to use on my coal tailing pile. On the spray painted (black) Sculptamold, I started with a layer of very black ballast applied on top of Titebond glue and added some layers of medium gray applied on top of some 3M spray adhesive. After it was dry I scraped off some of the gray to reveal some of the black. Not sure I'm sold on the look yet, but it's a start - I wanted a rough and tumble non-uniform pile of refuse, but it might just be a little too motley. I need to look at some prototypical piles - the internet's great for that....
RE: Tmo layout addition '24 build challenge - TMo - 07-05-2024
Problem solved. Took a look at a lot of photos and by my viewing, just about anything goes with a coal tailings pile. Some are pitch black, other are more like rubble, some have quite a mix. Some have trees and shrubs taking up major portions. Anything goes!
I did like a darker look, and my medium gray ballast was still a little too gray. The solution was to apply a dusting of black spray paint over the previously applied ballast. I then hit it all with spray glue and sprinkled on a couple colors of turf and brought out my big jar of mixed green/brown stuff. It's currently drying, and I may decide to pull some of that off or to add to it. I think that's a big thing in scenery building - you have to be willing to take a dare and add another layer to what you already have and be brave enough to pull out the paint and the glue.
RE: Tmo layout addition '24 build challenge - tompm - 07-05-2024
Looking good. It is coming together nicely.
RE: Tmo layout addition '24 build challenge - jim currie - 07-05-2024
slag piles were often called red dog as they often had a reddish tint due to sponcom fires in them.
Jim
RE: Tmo layout addition '24 build challenge - nachoman - 07-05-2024
Looks pretty good! You have given me some ideas for my own tailings pile.
RE: Tmo layout addition '24 build challenge - Amalynn - 07-06-2024
Looks excellent!
RE: Tmo layout addition '24 build challenge - TMo - 07-06-2024
Great input, Jim, and you're right, I did see some reds (with smoke and ash) and also some orange wash entering streams from the tailings piles I've seen. I do know that the Lackawanna River used to run bright orange at times from leaching heavy metals from the piles and from pumping out of the deeper portions of the mines near Scranton and Wilkes Barre. I do have some orange course turf that I could use in spots, and I'll give that a whirl tonight as I add more scenic detail to the pull-out module.
RE: Tmo layout addition '24 build challenge - TMo - 07-06-2024
Spray adhesive, black painted polyfil, couple colors of green spray paint, touchups, slap some more green/brown stuff at the interface between the tailings pile and the brush above it. All told, about 15 minutes of work. It's rough and needs some tweaking (tomorrow after it's dry), but it's gonna work back there in the that corner, and I didn't have to do anything precarious to get any of it into place. It also fits in well enough with the backdrop. The transition at ground level is something I'll work on when I get a much better idea of where structures and roads will be sighted.
RE: Tmo layout addition '24 build challenge - tompm - 07-06-2024
It is making a fine looking transition section.
RE: Tmo layout addition '24 build challenge - TMo - 07-12-2024
Thanks Tom. All of the Challenge participants are certainly upping their game as we get into July!
I was working on the portable coal conveyor that came with the Coal Dealer kit, but the instructions on that thing are scant - although they do provide some excellent pictures of their O-scale model which is exquisite. Trouble is, the HO scale unit is 55% smaller. I scrapped my initial attempt and decided to move on for now and attack Lucky's Lunch Counter. I got the four walls and floor support structure together. Now comes the roof and signage, which is a bit trickier...
Dropping off the bride for another attempt at a river cruise in Europe tomorrow, so there may be some more opportunities for progress on the Challenge.
RE: Tmo layout addition '24 build challenge - TMo - 07-25-2024
Well, that was unproductive.
Sending the bride to Europe, rather than providing opportunities to work on the Challenge, became a dud when I got the "to do" list - which included both a desire for me to make her birthday cake (minor) to repainting the cabinets in the family room. I could have ignored the repainting - it was one of those "If you have time" jobs.
But it nagged at me. There was a guy at work that had offered up his paint sprayer about a month ago when I first mentioned the project, and I figured I might not get the sprayer if I delayed too long. Five cabinets joined together along one wall of our family room which all had to be sprayed inside and out and then shelves and doors with all of the painting done in my hillbilly paint booth I temporarily set up in the garage (plastic sheeting in one of the bays). Started last Monday night and finished late on Sunday. No time for railroading, and my goose (as far as finishing my Challenge entry) is in serious jeopardy. The towel is about to be thrown.
Nonetheless, I did finish up "Lucky's Lunch Counter" last night adding the roof details and reinforcing the base.
I also bought a low-relief kit called the "Philly Modular Flat" Clever Models Paper Models for the 21st Century - Catalog Pg 21X (squarespace.com) which is touted at the "kitbasher's dream" - all it is is a set of walls, windows, pilasters, roof components, windows and doors that you can put together as you wish. I have a tentative plan to put the flat on the left-hand wall to disguise the fact that there is a wall there and it's going to establish the receding hill contour down and away from the front of the layout section. I guess I'll start crackin' with that tonight.
RE: Tmo layout addition '24 build challenge - tompm - 07-25-2024
Lucky's is looking real good.
I can sympathize with you and the time issue. The wife keeps coming up with these little short projects that will take an hour according to her. The reality is they are taking days and my time to work on the layout is seriously impacted. Lat night I was able to get an hour in on working on the challenge and was able to post it.
RE: Tmo layout addition '24 build challenge - TMo - 07-27-2024
A subset of this challenge is the kitbashing of a warehouse complex on the west end of this layout addition - I've established a kitbash challenge entry just for that. It may be the only other thing that gets sort-of complete on this main challenge entry before time runs out. Just picked up the walnut boards I'm going to use on my son's TV cabinet that he's building for his girlfriend (with my help). I have a feeling that my help is probably going to be the main thing that gets that project done (sometime soon).
RE: Tmo layout addition '24 build challenge - Amalynn - 08-01-2024
I’m always floored by how good those cardstock models look.
RE: Tmo layout addition '24 build challenge - TMo - 08-18-2024
Yeah, Amanda, I'm pretty convinced that I made a good investment in getting the supplies necessary to build these kits - an Olfa knife, a 6" steel ruler, a supply of cardstock, some gap-filling cyanoacrylate glue, some gray markers, and an inkjet printer. The way decent plastic model kits have inflated, I'm doubly convinced. The third really good reason to go toward these kits is the almost unlimited ability to kitbash - illustrated by my Duplan Silk Mill warehouse or my coal breaker.
Do these kits take patience? Yes, but I would also say that building a good plastic or lasercut wood model takes meticulous precision as well to put it together well. And just like other models, the more you do, the better you get. I'll continue to try to show the options and benefits of these kits if my hands and eyes allow it.
Coming into the home stretch of the challenge, and other than finishing up the build of the Duplan Silk Mill, my layout addition is not going to make it to the finish line. I completely underestimated my ambitions for this space - I didn't think I was going to be able to fit all that much in the available area, but that supposition was wrong. I believe I have room for another manufacturing complex - I have a couple of ideas I'm kicking around, and I'm still looking forward to building in some terrain changes and some tricks of the eye.
Challenges are supposed to be just that - and I think it's good to be ambitious, especially with a hobby. Sometime before the stroke of midnight on August 31 I'll present the unfinished work in progress.