Sunday Scenic Showcase August 6, 2023

Four weeks and done! The steps took a few hours each.....the pieces are tiny!

This is the stairwell to the office level from the warehouse floor.....

.....and, done!

Have a great Sunday, everyone!

Peter

@Putnam Division posted:

Four weeks and done! The steps took a few hours each.....the pieces are tiny!

This is the stairwell to the office level from the warehouse floor....

Have a great Sunday, everyone!

Peter

Bravo Peter!

Very nice work, gentlemen!!!

Alan- now the secret on how you build the steps has been revealed.....

Peter- you've got a great collection of tools for model building. I'm always trying to jury-rig something to hold parts while the glue dries.
The building looks great.

Bob

Bob,

I think Peter has every model-making tool known to man and, he is an expert at using them. He is going to have to give us a picture of them all hanging up on a peg board.

Thanks everyone for sharing your work!

my work this week focused on modeling the trim around the windows and roofline of my house. I’m trying to reasonably capture the appearance when viewed from a few feet away.
Here’s he prototype I’m trying to re-create:

Here are my efforts in progress at the window trim:

Anthony,

Get various strips of Evergreen styrene and you will be able to duplicate the trim without a problem.

@Alan Graziano posted:

Anthony,

Get various strips of Evergreen styrene and you will be able to duplicate the trim without a problem.

Thanks Alan- My plan exactly.

Peter, you knocked it out of the  park on that build. That’s a great looking structure.

Anthony, looks like you have a project to recreate the trim work. But it will set it apart from just using what’s available from Grandt or Tichy.

I finally got around to building my coal conveyor. I had some HO ones in my coal yard that just didn’t cut it anymore. I purchased this one from Crow River. I would like to say this was a fun build but it wasn’t. Just a lot of small parts that all needed cleaning up to be fitted. One thing I changed up. I added the angle iron to the motor following the instructions. For whatever reason it wasn’t wide enough to fit around the conveyor frame. I trimmed out a piece of thin brass sheet with a cut off wheel and used the to support the motor. It still needs a little tough up paint and a final dusting of weathering. I will now buy another to complete the scene. Seeing I learned a bit building this one and it dodged the trash can. The next one should go easier. It’s going to reside in a spot built 30 years ago that will see some scenery upgrades.

Here is what I truly believe is a sign of mania.  I have been working a couple weeks on different paint schemes to make realistic looking manhole covers.  now realizing I have to step back and start over because I am all over the place.  Is there such as thing as too much focus on detail?  I think yes.

Excellent work Dave C

Empire Dave,

I agee that you can focus too much on detail. I do not think it matters as much further into the layout where it cannot be seen. I would still put a lot of focus in the portions of the layout that can be easily seen close to the front of your bench work.

I’ve been working on a church for our new layout addition. The church is inspired by St. John Gualbert Church in Johnstown PA. I have included a pic of the actual church. I am not looking to copy the original just using it as inspiration.

I bought a 3D printed model from Gold Rush Bay online and basically then added my own 3D printed details including, crosses, a tower replica of St. Marks, golden lions, St, John statues, and an inside scene. I tried to replicate a weathered and tarnished copper roof. I am not totally happy with the outside building color yet. Going for a weathered Tera cotta style look. Still working on it using weathering powders.

I am happy with the stained glass windows. I printed the windows on Vellum paper then carefully covered the prints with gloss varnish. After drying and then attaching the windows, I wired some 12-18 volt ready LED strips. You can see the windows show up very well in low light and the inside lights on. I had to paint the inside ceiling black as some of the light was leaking through the plastic roof and didn’t look prototypical. All in all, pretty happy with the progress so far.

Incredible work one and all.

Alan, how did you attach the 4 sheets together to make the outer shell.  I'm guessing there strips glued to the interior of the seams.

Hi Guys and Gals,

It looks like another great S.S.S. is upon us today. Some great work being showcased.

Peter-The model turned out great. From what I can see it looks like the photo on the box and in other photos I have seen of it. Can't wait to see it on the layout.

Empire Dave- I concur with Alan, however the "devil is in the details". As soon as I think I am "overdoing it", I see another modeler's work and realize I have only touched the surface. You will know when you have gone too far because you will feel that there is nothing else you can do. Of course you don't need to go as deep with every project but in my experience, if you don't take it to the level of YOUR satisfaction it will always bother you.

LT1Poncho-The church is very nice. Is it O Scale?

Dave

Mike,

The church is absolutely outrageous. Just a fantastic structure.

Coach,

I used .010 inch thick abs backing strips to glue the sheets together. It usually always looks good until painting. That is when you see the distortions in the sheets from gluing. In this case the tank will be silver and it will show all imperfections. Hopefully, there will be enough gingerbread on the tank to distract anyone from seeing the imperfections.
I always say hide your mistakes with more detail.

Dave, thanks for your comments. YES, the church is O scale

@LT1Poncho posted:

I’ve been working on a church for our new layout addition. The church is inspired by St. John Gualbert Church in Johnstown PA. I have included a pic of the actual church. I am not looking to copy the original just using it as inspiration.

I bought a 3D printed model from Gold Rush Bay online and basically then added my own 3D printed details including, crosses, a tower replica of St. Marks, golden lions, St, John statues, and an inside scene. I tried to replicate a weathered and tarnished copper roof. I am not totally happy with the outside building color yet. Going for a weathered Tera cotta style look. Still working on it using weathering powders.

I am happy with the stained glass windows. I printed the windows on Vellum paper then carefully covered the prints with gloss varnish. After drying and then attaching the windows, I wired some 12-18 volt ready LED strips. You can see the windows show up very well in low light and the inside lights on. I had to paint the inside ceiling black as some of the light was leaking through the plastic roof and didn’t look prototypical. All in all, pretty happy with the progress so far.

The Church is magnificent!

Bravo!

Peter

@luvindemtrains posted:

Hi Guys and Gals,

It looks like another great S.S.S. is upon us today. Some great work being showcased.

Peter-The model turned out great. From what I can see it looks like the photo on the box and in other photos I have seen of it. Can't wait to see it on the layout.

Dave

Thank you, Dave!

Peter

@Alan Graziano posted:

Bob,

I think Peter has every model-making tool known to man and, he is an expert at using them. He is going to have to give us a picture of them all hanging up on a peg board.

Thank you Alan and Bob........all my tools have come about by accident or by design.....

By accident (or, through my disorganization).....I go to a show (mainly York) and see a tool and say, "hey, I need that". However, when I get home, I find that I have 3 already! And, I've been going to York since 1983......I'm not sure if this ever happens to anyone else? .

By design........in late 2020, as I approached retirement and my wife made plans to finish off the attic as a train room and as I was dismantling the basement layout, I had time to plan. First of all, I realized that I had trains that I never knew I had nor did I ever run. Well, 4 SUV loads have gone to Cabin Fever.....and, I have been successful in keeping the fleet size down!

Then, I planned the layout and looked at my pile of building kits. I read the instructions and my new interest was "small tools that will help me get it done". Having all these tools available has really helped the process.........as is careful reading and re-reading of the instructions. Sometimes instructions leave gaps.......but, knowing that I have a wide variety of tools, I have the confidence to muddle through (and, I have my modular group colleagues to help me with carpentry and electronics and this great Forum that is a great repository of experience to bounce things off of!!!!!).

In addition, watching Alan's and everyone elses projects over the years has been a great inspiration!

Sorry if I rambled too much. Have a great week!

Peter

@luvindemtrains posted:

Hi Guys and Gals,

It looks like another great S.S.S. is upon us today. Some great work being showcased.

Peter-The model turned out great. From what I can see it looks like the photo on the box and in other photos I have seen of it. Can't wait to see it on the layout.

Empire Dave- I concur with Alan, however the "devil is in the details". As soon as I think I am "overdoing it", I see another modeler's work and realize I have only touched the surface. You will know when you have gone too far because you will feel that there is nothing else you can do. Of course you don't need to go as deep with every project but in my experience, if you don't take it to the level of YOUR satisfaction it will always bother you.

LT1Poncho-The church is very nice. Is it O Scale?

Dave

Yep, the level of talent I've seen on other layouts and this forum what drives me to spend the time on getting it just right.  For me, the hobby is meant to take up lots of time though I do get impatient sometimes.  Getting it just right though is pretty satisfying, so I was just laughing at myself for how many different paint schemes I had tried.

I think you can tell a model railroader, or any artist for that matter, by the way they are staring at the world around them trying to accurately capture it in their chosen medium.