Sunday Scenic Showcase February 3, 2019

Finally got back around to working on my trains.  This is a seatrain crane i have been working on. Still got lots of work to do. 

test fitting the first structure on the just started center peninsula:

Alan, the buildings look great! Stubby, that is a very interesting crane. Can’t wait to see your progress. Looks good so far. Pete, that is a very nice structure. Very unique. I added the sidewalks and cement cap/end pieces for the underpass, along with some ground cover. I installed more retaining wall pieces and some ground cover behind the girder bridge, and installed a cement retaining wall in front of the higher level industrial area on the layout known as “the hole”. I’ll add the street portion to connect that area with Jericho Turnpike (underpass) soon. I also put in a layer of some 1/2” Homasote in the corner and up the side of the grade. I’ll paint it earth brown and put down some ground cover and trees. I think it’ll be nice to give this area a little elevation. Thanks for looking.

Andy

Alan,

The buildings look great! Thanks for posting.

Dave

Alan, three different types of buildings for three different ares on the layout.  I like them all and can't choose a favorite,

Stubby, not quite sure how that crane works but it sure is impressive.

Coachjoe, the seatrain was one of the first “intermodal” attempts.  It was used to load freight cars onto Seatrain ships to be transported.  The cars are moved to carrier, lifted and put tracks built into ship. The ships could hold about 1 mile worth of cars. I believe it was used very heavily in WWII to transport equipment.  Check out this link https://books.google.com/books...%20crane&f=false

ive enjoyed building it now i gotta figure out how and where to put on my layout.  I know it is suppose to work the other way around but i really like the crane so i built it!

stubbygda. 

Absolutely beautiful work by everyone!

Just off my workbench this week is this MTH Railking Union Railroad SW1500. I'm not a rivet counter but I did find several things about the model that I wanted to change. First up was the Flexicoil sideframes. I swapped them out for the proper AAR type switcher sideframes, after cutting and grinding off the friction bearing journal boxes and sculpting on roller bearing journals with epoxy putty (Kneadatite).

There was also no way to fix the pilot without it looking odd (it looks like MTH used the pilot from the SW1 model) so I dragged out the styrene and built new ones. The plumbing around the couplers was scratch built with Tichy wire and fittings sculpted from epoxy. Also scratched were the drop steps and anti-climbers. The end handrail stanchions were cut off and replaced with Precision Scale brass stanchions soldered to the MTH bracket. Precision Scale also supplied the MU connections and coupler lift bar brackets. The lift bar itself was formed from Tichy .025 wire. New handrails were formed from .025 music wire.

Union RR switchers have gizmos all over them so I took the opportunity to add a few to the roof, including Precision Scale beacons, scrap wire conduit, and Miniatures by Eric firecracker antenna and horn. I have to admit to a taking a little artistic license in the roof-top details because my reference photos weren't clear and it seems the Union changes the locations of things on their locomotives about every week! To finish out the rest of the details I carved off the cast-on grab irons and replaced them with new ones formed from .025 Tichy wire, along with Tichy NBW castings. The final detail added, so ubiquitous among Union RR locomotives that it would be a sin to omit, was a scratch built cooler.

Touch up paint was applied and the model weathered with pan pastels, water-based artist's markers and airbrush paints, various acrylic paints, and sealed with Dullcote. 

The last picture shows the current project: the companion caboose for this locomotive. It's an MTH Premiere bay window caboose that is getting several modifications. 

Joe Shipbaugh

                       Weathered item #1660 . More Hy - Cubes on the way ……..

 Joe, Fantastic job on that switcher. The weathering is right on as well as the fixed pilots and extra details. You would never know at first glance this was a Railking model. If your willing to model and modify you can get great results and protypical details without spending a fortune. Rather than sit on the fence and waiting for the manufactures to do it for you. The cooler outside the cab is a great modeling touch. Looking forward to the finished caboose.

Awesome modeling everyone, incredible talent!

Great contributions by all. Alan that is really amazing work with the MDF. How do you do the brickwork?

-Tom

Such amazing craftsmanship by everyone !!!!!!

Here is the latest custom project completed. This structure was relocated near the turn of the century and was a PRR office for some time. Client does not know if it still is standing.

Beautiful work displayed by everyone today.

Tom,

the model shown is a kit. The brick detail is cut into the midfield. All I had to do was paint and weather.

Alan, kit or not your work is always excellent and inspiring !

-Tom

Alan Graziano posted:

Good Morning Everyone,

I will start off with a few kits I am completing.  The industrial building I am completing is my favorite. The kit is made of MDF material. I found it really easy to work with. Let's see what you have been working on.

Alan,

Looks like you and I have been building the same kits recently.

Newport Hardware Company (Bridgeport Hardware on my layout) by Carolina Craftsman Kits - I put the exterior staircase enclosure at the rear of the building due to layout space constraints and also added a shed.

Olympia Tool & Die (Hughes Treitler on my layout) by ITLA Models - I built the kit in ITLA's configuration 1 (or 2?) with a shed on the roof. I also added quoins to the corners and used plastic "stone" material to cover the ITLA foundation stones, which I felt did not have enough relief for an O scale model.

Bridgeport Hardware has already been installed on the layout but I'm still working on the scenery surrounding Hughes Treitler, which is the only unfilled space remaining on the layout.

MELGAR

Great work Mel.  I would never have realized the tool and tie Hughes Treitler were the same kit.  The hardware store illustrates how a few modifications, staircase placement, shed, awnings, can make a kit look so different.

Great work on the switcher Joe. Steve, excellent as always, Tyler, great scenes, Richard, the custom build looks terrific, and Mel, your structures look fantastic. Incredible  work by all!

Andy

                                               Great showcase today. Good looking stuff!                  

joedaddy posted:

Just off my workbench this week is this MTH Railking Union Railroad SW1500. I'm not a rivet counter but I did find several things about the model that I wanted to change....

Joe Shipbaugh

 

VERY nicely done, Joe! Excellent modeling!

coach joe posted:

Great work Mel.  I would never have realized the tool and tie Hughes Treitler were the same kit.

Thanks Joe and STEAMFAN77,

The Olympia Tool & Die kit was designed to be assembled in twelve possible wall arrangements. There are short and long wall pieces that can be put together in different ways. Alan has built a long and shallow footprint without a rear wall. Mine was built as a closed-in building. It also looks to me like Alan's model was built from ten wall sections. Mine came with only eight.

MELGAR

Wow, the above buildings, beautifully crafted, and the MTH Yellow switcher above, work well done, so realistic looking, your talents are unbeatable. Thank you for the pictures.  And SIRT, your weathering is fantastic, being that we are neighbors, we need to visit again soon. Happy Super Bowl Sunday, #53.....and Happy Railroading.

I haven't worked on the layout for quite awhile, the cold streak this week finally got be in the mood. I purchased the Menard's freight house to fill a large area I didn't know what to with and got it in placed and started to do the scenic work around it. It doesn't compare to what I see every week in this thread but it works for me.

Great stuff, everyone!

Peter

I finished the model. Here is a picture.

Great Work Alan!

Nice job JLM, it looks great!

Andy

Great work everyone. Been busy at the train club with open house events which concluded today. Should get back working on the home RR soon.

Recovering from that nap called Super Bowl LOL ... even the commercials were unbearable. Glad to have my mood lightened by the amazing work showcased this Sunday. Thanks as always to everyone who takes the time to document and post.

Rounding out the edges on my old build while getting started on the February Build.  Used a colored pencil to add some highlights on the rusty roof and stumbled across an unexpected but effective way to give some "bounce" to cardboard in an effort to make it look like wood.

Great work Fish!

Andy

joedaddy posted:

Absolutely beautiful work by everyone!

Just off my workbench this week is this MTH Railking Union Railroad SW1500. I'm not a rivet counter but I did find several things about the model that I wanted to change. First up was the Flexicoil sideframes. I swapped them out for the proper AAR type switcher sideframes, after cutting and grinding off the friction bearing journal boxes and sculpting on roller bearing journals with epoxy putty (Kneadatite).

There was also no way to fix the pilot without it looking odd (it looks like MTH used the pilot from the SW1 model) so I dragged out the styrene and built new ones. The plumbing around the couplers was scratch built with Tichy wire and fittings sculpted from epoxy. Also scratched were the drop steps and anti-climbers. The end handrail stanchions were cut off and replaced with Precision Scale brass stanchions soldered to the MTH bracket. Precision Scale also supplied the MU connections and coupler lift bar brackets. The lift bar itself was formed from Tichy .025 wire. New handrails were formed from .025 music wire.

Union RR switchers have gizmos all over them so I took the opportunity to add a few to the roof, including Precision Scale beacons, scrap wire conduit, and Miniatures by Eric firecracker antenna and horn. I have to admit to a taking a little artistic license in the roof-top details because my reference photos weren't clear and it seems the Union changes the locations of things on their locomotives about every week! To finish out the rest of the details I carved off the cast-on grab irons and replaced them with new ones formed from .025 Tichy wire, along with Tichy NBW castings. The final detail added, so ubiquitous among Union RR locomotives that it would be a sin to omit, was a scratch built cooler.

Touch up paint was applied and the model weathered with pan pastels, water-based artist's markers and airbrush paints, various acrylic paints, and sealed with Dullcote. 

The last picture shows the current project: the companion caboose for this locomotive. It's an MTH Premiere bay window caboose that is getting several modifications. 

Joe Shipbaugh

Joe,

You did a fantastic job on this!  I might start over with mine after seeing this.

David Minarik posted:

 

Joe,

You did a fantastic job on this!  I might start over with mine after seeing this.

 

I really had fun doing this engine and have another one planned in the blue paint scheme, but that has to wait for the caboose project to wrap up. I'm also in the early stages of laying out and scratchbuilding a slab car. I'm trying to guesstimate car dimensions from a few photographs so it may not be exact but "close" will be good enough for me. Let' face it; some dude with a welder and some sheet steel builds them all the time so I ought to be able to build a smaller one out of some plastic! My intent is to build it in sub-assemblies and make rtv molds of each. Then it's just a simple matter of deciding how many we want! I hope to get over your way for a visit real soon.

Joe Shipbaugh

It has been way too long since I have been on the forum and in particular this category. You fellows do incredible work, I hope that I can come close. As the basic layout is getting close to done I am getting tempted to start some kits that I put away. I also want to enhance some Menards buildings. 

Dave O'Connor has been working on the On30 section of the club layout recently.  What's really nice about the area behind the upper track is that it lifts out for access and the seam is invisible from the front of the layout. Taking it out, though is a two-person operation as it has to be handed off to be set down somewhere.

WOW!! What a Showcase! Congrats to everyone.

AGHRMatt posted:

Dave O'Connor has been working on the On30 section of the club layout recently.  What's really nice about the area behind the upper track is that it lifts out for access and the seam is invisible from the front of the layout. Taking it out, though is a two-person operation as it has to be handed off to be set down somewhere.

A beautiful piece of work on a natural scene.

MELGAR

Wow...this has to be one of the best SSS threads I can remember!  Thanks everyone for sharing your great work here...and thanks, Alan, for starting this thread every week.  Very enjoyable!

stubbygda posted:

Finally got back around to working on my trains.  This is a seatrain crane i have been working on. Still got lots of work to do. 

Wow! Looks so real.  Are you scratch building the motors or are those from a kit?

joedaddy posted:

David Minarik posted:

 

Joe,

You did a fantastic job on this!  I might start over with mine after seeing this.

 

I really had fun doing this engine and have another one planned in the blue paint scheme, but that has to wait for the caboose project to wrap up. I'm also in the early stages of laying out and scratchbuilding a slab car. I'm trying to guesstimate car dimensions from a few photographs so it may not be exact but "close" will be good enough for me. Let' face it; some dude with a welder and some sheet steel builds them all the time so I ought to be able to build a smaller one out of some plastic! My intent is to build it in sub-assemblies and make rtv molds of each. Then it's just a simple matter of deciding how many we want! I hope to get over your way for a visit real soon.

Joe Shipbaugh

 

Joe,

I am doing a custom run of Blue MP15s with yellow ends.

Let me know if you would like one.

Dave

EmpireBuilderDave posted:

stubbygda posted:

Finally got back around to working on my trains.  This is a seatrain crane i have been working on. Still got lots of work to do. 

Wow! Looks so real.  Are you scratch building the motors or are those from a kit?

everthing is scratch built.  the platform is still very much a work in progress. there were actually several different platform configurations used on the seatrain cranes depending on where built so im still playing around with some different options.