Pennsy F7 Reefer Block Under Bridge

That's some fine Pennsy action John...always get that from your photos...excellent!

 

Thanks

 

Bob

Looking good, John.

 

You're just about ready to start giving what will be well attended clinics on how to make trees and do scenery right!

I must agree, that scenery is just beautiful and an inspiration.

Perfect composition and setting.

 

Makes me want to be an O-Scale railfan and take a few pix...

Nice....very nice....Pennsy Perfection!!

Fantastic work John! 

Awesome shot! Everything about it!

Incredible work as usual John. Where'd you get the neat truck on the bridge?

Great scene John - SPF's will appreciate the closed coupler cover on the pilot.  That's a P&D pilot casting - right?

 

Ed Rappe

I always enjoy your work John, top notch!

That's just nice!

John, That is some mighty fine modeling! It looks like 1:1 to me!

Malcolm

Can absolutely  lose yourself in the photos of your layout. AWESOME MODELING always excellent rolling stock and motive power. Congratulations!!

Gorgeous!!!!

 

Peter

Hi everyone, I really appreciate the complements, particularly because they are coming from the world class modelers here!

 

To answer the questions:

 

Ed, yes that is a P&D casting for the pilot.  Those are MTH F7s, which I modified for a more realistic appearance, and added Pennsy specific details. Most of you may know I had a two part article on how I did this in O Scale Trains.

 

Phil: That is a Corgi Mack LJ Tractor Trailer in Mason Dixon Livery.   Corgi number is 50704.  I painted all the details (air hoses, under carriage, etc), dulled the paint, tires, and wheels to give a more prototypical sheen, and added some mild weathering with Pan Pastels. Other than that it stock.   The Mack LJ Tractor Trailer comes in several other “roadnames” but they are all too garish for my taste

 

Martin:  If I were to give a clinic on how to make those trees, the end result would be all my fingers glued together, foliage stuck to the floor, and a hefty consumption of band aids.  I am no good modeling in front of a crowd or to a time schedule. However, I do have an article coming out OGR which explains how I made them.  Normally I hate mass production tasks, because I quickly get bored with doing the same thing twice and thus improvise on the fly.  That is a problem when you are making, say a Truc Train flat car fleet, but it’s a real advantage when making trees and weeds. 

 

As for the other items in the photo; that’s a simple Lionel Trestle Bridge, weathered with PanPastels, its Atlas Track, those are Lionel Reefers, the rock wall follows Chris Smith’s technique in the next to last issue of OST (I highly recommend reading that), some of the wild bushes follow Joey Ricard's furnace filter method, others substitute poly fiber for the furnace filter, the grass on the hillside is Heki grass mat (YES, Grass Mat!), the post and cable road fence are wood dowels, Precision Scale lifting rings, and craft store bracelet cord painted silver, and the bridge piers are Lego Blocks

 

Cheers

 

John

That is beautiful work, John!  Absolute perfection.

Love that shot.  Beautiful.

Fantastic shot, great modeling. That grass mat really works well in that scene.

 

Jeff C

Fantastic John!

Sweeeeeet!

Hey John- who made the truck on the bridge? Your custom built?

Erik

 

Info given seven posts above.  Here are some photos

 

Before

 

 

After: (Mack rivet counters will no doubt be appalled that I pulled the signboard off the front)

Great photo.

John

 

Thanks for the great photo and all the information on materials and techniques.  I love the L model Mack.  The L model was the last really good truck Mack made!

really nice!