Rainbows in the Lehigh Valley Gorge

[TMo]

Chalk up one barf bag! Thanks, Tom. Glad you could make it through to the end.

One thing I did not include was some road dust - typically gray. Definitely need to address the pilots with that for sure. I'm working on the final installs of the railings. The bright yellow horizontals were harsh on the eye in comparison to the grime on the rest of the beast, but again, the burnt umber wash took the shine off. Maybe some pictures of a finished product early in the week. I'm taking it in to work where there's a guy with a fondness for the Reading. He might not make it to the bathroom in time.

[Amalynn]

Wow Tmo that looks awful in the best way possible. I like the makeup brush idea.

[TMo]

Yep - can't remember where I got that tip on the makeup brushes, Amanda, but I did steal it from someone. I think I got the full kit at Rite Aid or Walgreens (pretty cheap if I recall), and I do remember the cashier giving me a bit of an odd look. The fellas at work got a kick out of the finished product today when I brought it in to handle, and one thing I can say, is that the camera doesn't really capture the extent of the weathering. The common theme was "man, that thing looks BEAT!" Mission accomplished.

[Amalynn]

I upgraded my makeup brushes a few years ago but could never bring myself to throw them out as they’re still perfectly good, but the idea of passing them on to someone else (despite being clean) was gross to even consider, so they’ve just been clean and sitting in a drawer ever since. I think I finally have a use to put them to!

[TMo]

It's raining today.  Didn't stop me from getting the pressure washer out to clean the patio, the patio furniture and the back of the house.  We're hosting my granddaughter's first birthday at the end of the month and another list has appeared.  After getting soaked doing that I figured washing the truck was also doable.  After delivering the 25th load of mulch this year, I thought she deserved a bath.  But after all that, I'm back in the house warm and dry with no aspirations for going outside again.  

Started working on a little extension to the Hazleton portion of my layout in front of the Hazleton backdrop.  It's about 31 inches wide and between 15 and 25 inches deep - it'll give me a chance to add some more buildings and interest to the south of the breaker.  

A couple of cleats on the wall have been added and I'm working on the plywood/foam board open-faced sandwich to fill the gap.  1/4" plywood supports a 1" styrofoam board with a 1-by strip on the front to protect the foam and give a little structural integrity (the 1-by strip is shown in the photo bridging the gap between wall and the previous boundary of the layout).  

   

Dug in my pile of leftovers and found just about everything I need - might be a little short on styrofoam.  

   

I also need to permanently affix the backdrop (after some touchups), and I think I'll to that by taking the painted backdrop down and contact gluing the cardstock directly to it while it can all be place on my workbench.

[TMo]

Game on!  Looks like there's going to be a contest coming up - "Pick your poison".  You pick your project and see what everyone thinks.  I like the idea so much that this new corner of my layout is going to be my entry under the "scenery or layout edition" category.  Start time is likely on June 1st, so I'm getting some stuff together for the project.

The plan is for this corner to be heavy on industry and structures to front the backdrop, and I still plan to run the terrain from high on the front to the lowest point at the backdrop.  The structures will start with a coal focus closest to the breaker and devolve into other things getting closer to town.  I'll have to accommodate some roadways and parking areas.  Because I don't have a whole lot of depth, I have to do a lot of compression from front to back, so I may have a lot of structures that get chopped and mounted against the backdrop, and some built-in disguising techniques.  I don't typically do a lot of "paper planning" for my layout, preferring to build or place structures and then fiddle about with the possible, but with a start time of June, maybe I should force myself to put a rough draft on paper.

As usual, I'll be working back to front, but I'll be doing a lot of playing around before anchoring anything down in a permanent location.  And as usual, a lot of the structures will be paper models from Clever Models, Inc.  Two that have already caught my eye are the "Coal/Grain elevators" Clever Models Paper Models for the 21st Century - Catalog Pg 17X (squarespace.com) and the "Coal Dealer" Clever Models Paper Models for the 21st Century - Catalog Pg 08X (squarespace.com).  The Coal Dealer kit has some nice accessories that include a coal loader and some coal bins that I'd like to incorporate.  I'm also looking forward to adding a sandwich shop for the employees to visit, and I think Lucky's Lunch Counter is going to make an appearance near the breaker Clever Models Paper Models for the 21st Century - Catalog Pg 14X (squarespace.com).  There are a couple of other options that include a Hamburger stand and a Hot Dog shop.

Starting to get psyched about this!