Newest Train Guy

James is enjoying trains with Grandpa "Choo-Choo"

12" Scale Steam Locomotive "Kit"

At Steamtown, we walked through the shop area and found a 12" scale steam loco kit, complete with the instruction sheet!

Steamtown Railfest 2011

John and I drove up to Steamtown on Saturday for Railfest.  The event was celebrating the 25th anniversary of Steamtown and the 40th anniversary of Amtrak.  It was great!  In addition to Steamtown's permanent displays, Amtrak brought in a P40 Genesis pulling a cafe car, 2 baggage cars and a sleeper.  These housed a "museum" of the history of Amtrak.  They also brought an F40PH pulling a business/inspection car.

But, the best part was watching the excursion trains in action:  Canadian National #3254 Mikado, Nickel Plate #514 GP9, and a pair of Lackawanna F3s.  At one moment, we stood in awe as we watched all 4 engines criss-cross in front of us.  Here is the Mikado:

What's the fastest way to make trees?

Well, after our StillMeadow Crossing work session, we are still not sure . . .  but we finished some nice Woodland Scenics deciduous trees and we got a nice start on some conifers.  Steve, Jeff and I were assisted by Scott Mingus in tree-making.  Scott has a lot of landscape modeling experience from his many years of Civil War Wargaming.  Thanks again, Scott.

Making Conifers:

1.  Cut cedar shake into strips

2.  Carve into round trunk and add "bark" with a wood rasp

3.  Separate furnace filter material into thin layers and cut into circles, stars, and triangles

4.  White glue filter pieces to trunk

5.  Spray paint with Rustolem Flat Brown Camo

6.  Spray with thinned white glue and sprinkle ground foam

Woodland Scenics Large Tree Kit

Movin' Tracks

You will notice that I said Movin' Tracks, not Movin' Trains.  Last night I imposed upon friends to move my layout to the new train room.  Thanks Kevin, Jeff, Steve, and Scott!

Looks like a tight squeeze!

The StillMeadow Guys moving mountains

Green thumb

I think that I am finally developing a green thumb.  Not just because I got white glue and foam on it, either.  My trees are starting to look like, well, trees.
I trimmed up and re-shaped my first bottle brush tree.   Here is the final result:

OK for a start, but I wanted to try for a lighter, "wispier" look.  I found a nice tutorial HERE.

First start with a lot less sisal rope.

Spray with hairspray and sprinkle on 1/8 to 1/4" snips of sisal rope.
This builds up the branch structure.
(repeat 2 more times)

Spray with brown spray paint

Spray with hairspray and sprinkle on foam foliage and coarse foam
(repeat 2 more times)

The "wispier" look
(Uh, more like "we're having a major drought")

In search of the perfect tree . . .

Here is my first and second attempt to make O scale trees.  First, the classic "Bottle Brush:"

Not too bad.  Maybe with a little trimming . . .

Second effort was to use dried Sedum plants to make a deciduous tree (thank you wifey for growing Sedum in our yard).  I bundled and glued them together and spray painted them brown and then touched up with tan.  Then sprayed everything with diluted white glue, dumped on coarse and fine green ground foam, and then repeated that about seven times.  After it all dries I separated the branches and wrapped the stems with brown florist tape.  All it needs now is a kid climbing it!

Making Plasticville less "Plastic"

As I am looking for some details for my module, I pulled out these classic Plasticville lamp posts.  They have a nice look, but the base has got to go.  I did the major cuts with a bandsaw:

Then cut across with a razor saw:

And finish off with a file.

Much better!

Now, I need to be able to mount them so that they are removable.  

Just needed to snip off a pin head grab the blowtorch, and voila!

The second challenge was adapting a picket fence to a hillside.  Out of the box, the pickets point sideways when you put them on a slope.  The fix was to slice the pickets free from the bottom runner, and slice them partway off the upper runner.

Then bend them into a parallelogram and 

super glue the bottom runner back on.  

The fence pieces got the same "red hot pin" mounts:

The neighborhood just got a little more class:

Painting the "Painted Ladies"

I managed to acquire a bunch of IHC and Lionel "Painted Lady" building kits.  These are nicely detailed models based on homes from the early 1920s in San Francisco.  But the molded colors weren't great, so I started what ended up being a 3 month painting/assembly project.

Gee, this doesn't look too hard . . .

A little masking tape and we're ready to airbrush

That's better

Skipped about 20 steps here (primer coat, masking, painting, re-masking and painting, add mortar lines, glue in windows and glass, re-glue windows and glass when they fall out, cut and tape in curtains . . .)

Gluing and Assembly:  Rube Goldberg would be proud

Some roof work

Experimenting with layout

Adding the street

Done at last!

This was a long project with many mis-steps.  Here is what I learned:

1. Paint all except white plastic parts.  The molded colors are usually too bright and shiny.
2. Prime both sides of the walls if you want interior lighting (to avoid the pumpkin glow).  Grey Automotive Primer is quick and cheap.
3. Paint has to be scraped with a hobby knife from all glue joint surfaces (a big pain).  Testor's liquid cement does not stick to paint.
4. Contrary to what the "Pros" say, model airplane cement holds much better than liquid cement and is easier to apply without a mess.  But, you have to confine it to interior or hidden surfaces.  Liquid cement only has the edge with bare plastic clamped together.  I did not try super glue - too messy.
5. The best way to glue in window frames and windows is a drop of model airplane cement in each corner of the inside, out of view.
6. Paint and completely assemble each flat wall section, then assemble them together.
7. Spraying Floquil really stinks, even with a paint booth.  Polly S Acrylics are much nicer to spray.
8. An assortment of clothes pins, clamps, rubber bands, weights, square edges, and magnets are the key to assembly (see pictures above).
9. Doing 3 kits together is much more efficient, especially for painting.
10. IHC printed instructions are marginally useful.
11. Above all, have fun!