Sunday Scenic Showcase June 12, 2016

Don't necessarily want to ask "secrets", but it would be very interesting to know how you form the ends on the tanks. You're work is amazing.

Blasting away a few silly nonsense cars this week.         

About 5 minutes each to remove all the lettering using baking soda.

GET-ER-DONE!

WOW ALAN!!!! That is Frig'n FANTASTIC! I want one on my model RR and I have no need for it! WOW!

Just like buying an MBTA ride ticket on sale cause it's such a great deal and I never ride it! HA!

Thanks for posting! WHAT MOTIVATION to do something today!!! Thanks, Dan

SIRT, I would like to ask you, would baking soda be too abrasive to take paint off Postwar Locomotives?.

Thanks,Clarence

Tom,

I have no trade secrets when it comes to modeling. I purchase the heads along with a lot of other things from Plastruct. If you want to construct something like this, I will be happy to help you get a bill of materials together.

 

Thank you,

Dan,

Thank you. This particular model is not going on a train layout. The customer will be putting this model in a display case. This fellow worked at a refinery years ago and now is in the medical field.

Steve,

That is a nice piece of equipment you have there. It sure is a great eraser.

Alan Graziano

Just completing the front end of a refinery going to a customer in New Zealand (Alan and I are building structures for the same customer).  I need to paint the bases and some touch up piping.  The structures on the platform are all glued down and all structures will be glued to their bases once they are painted.

The crude starts off in the desalting tanks then travels to the crude oil furnace and on to the main distillation tower. Product is diverted from the main tower to two side strippers for further processing while the tops from the main tower go through a bunch of drums, condensers and filters. Bottom product from the main tower will go to other towers for further processing.

 

Alan,

Are the two tanks in the background part of the complex too!?

Don

Ah the water purifier and hot water tank..............no but if you want a hot water tank designed for your layout just let me know!

Joe

Clarence Siman posted:

SIRT, I would like to ask you, would baking soda be too abrasive to take paint off Postwar Locomotives?.

I'll leave it to the expert to directly answer your question. But, one excellent way to strip paint from almost anything is to soak it the purple-colored liquid degreaser that is sold by the gallon. (One brand is "Purple Power", but there are others). You can usually get it cheaply at Walmart.

It takes anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks, depending on the paint, but it has almost never failed me, and it is quite gentle. I suppose that there may be SOME plastic in the world that it will attack, so be careful and test first. But I have never had any issue with plastic damage, even when I have soaked delicate items for weeks.

Working on a little bar.....

That is very nice, Jeff. 

Clarence, I don’t believe you would have a problem restoring your item using baking soda & compressor.

 I personally refrain from altering PW items. Non scale toy items to me are not worth the effort or meant to be changed. I like them in their current state as antiques. Age and chips are just fine considering what they are. Probably worth a little more untouched too.

 I have tried about 15 methods and chemicals through the years from Pine Sol to brake fluid. Nothing is efficient or reliable due to variations in paint applications. Besides it’s always a big mess. Time is an important factor to me. Every lean task must be accomplished quickly.

The blaster in my opinion is the only consistent way to quickly strip an item followed by a thin coat of auto body primer spray. Small items like removing a number, I use Mr. Clean Magic erasure rather that starting up the compressor.

Since the shells are smooth after blasting, abrasiveness is not a factor. Using baking soda will not cause items to be rough. Compressed air and a paint brush will provide for clean paint prep.

Thanks for the question and good luck in your choice.

 

 

This stuff  is really great  work ,, way out of my league  ........  thanks for posting

SIRT, Thank You for your reply. Good things to know, and some things to consider.

 

MaxSouthOz posted:

That is very nice, Jeff. 

Thanks- Jeff

Joining the SSS thread a little late this week.  As always, very nice work displayed so far!

A couple weeks ago I posted about re-lettering a 3-pack of Lionel PS-2 two-bay covered hoppers from their "as-delivered" PRR livery to Jersey Central.  

At the time of that post, I had one car stripped and re-lettered.  I have since completed the other two cars.  

Below are some photos taken at various stages of the project.  I may put together a "How-to" (or "How I did it") thread describing the entire project if/when I can find the time.  All in all, it was much easier than I would have guessed!

One car, road # 821, has been weathered so far...

Great work everyone. Alan and Joe, your work is mesmerizing. I just have not done anything in quite awhile. Club and home activities seem to take my spare time away. Thanks for keeping this forum alive.

Wow, You guys weathering jobs are awesome. here some pictures of my Ginny pigs before I try my G scale cars.

I am learning slowly.

 

 

 

First, that 55 Chevy looks like most of them did in about 5 years when their one coat of enamel gave up.

Second, Joe, without divulging your pricing or profit, could you give me an indication of what the raw material costs are in a project like that? I remember seeing the 1:48 engineering model of the methane re-former project at Lyondell Petrochemical in 1984. It was a huge model used by the engineer/constructors to determine crane clearances and logistics. I've always loved big engineering models. I'm going to put a chemical plant on the layout. I'm thinking of just buying the Plastruct kit, but I could be persuaded to do something different.

A little late to the party, but here's an outdoor shot of my recently finished model of the William Ford Barn in Greenfield Village.  It's a custom kit created by Andre Garcia and built by me.

finally finished the interior detailing of our roundhouse.

Trainman2001 posted:

First, that 55 Chevy looks like most of them did in about 5 years when their one coat of enamel gave up.

Second, Joe, without divulging your pricing or profit, could you give me an indication of what the raw material costs are in a project like that? I remember seeing the 1:48 engineering model of the methane re-former project at Lyondell Petrochemical in 1984. It was a huge model used by the engineer/constructors to determine crane clearances and logistics. I've always loved big engineering models. I'm going to put a chemical plant on the layout. I'm thinking of just buying the Plastruct kit, but I could be persuaded to do something different.

I had quoted a price but the customer changed a lot of things so I need to add up the material cost from a list I was keeping. Once I do so I will post.

In addition to a petro-chemical plant (I believe Alan helped design it) Plastruct sells (kit 3008 - $200), they also sell a series of 1/32 scale kits that go with books they offer. These are kit 5002 ($280 - not sure why), 5005 ($90), and 5007 A through D ($39 each).

Added a few more details....

very nice tavern J.

J - The details add a lot to the building. Great work.

Joe

Very, very nice work on tavern.

Trainman2001 posted:

First, that 55 Chevy looks like most of them did in about 5 years when their one coat of enamel gave up.

Second, Joe, without divulging your pricing or profit, could you give me an indication of what the raw material costs are in a project like that? I remember seeing the 1:48 engineering model of the methane re-former project at Lyondell Petrochemical in 1984. It was a huge model used by the engineer/constructors to determine crane clearances and logistics. I've always loved big engineering models. I'm going to put a chemical plant on the layout. I'm thinking of just buying the Plastruct kit, but I could be persuaded to do something different.

Trainman:

Total bill of materials was $668 Plastruct retail. You should add about 10% for cutoffs. Though there may be some parts missing, to the best of my knowledge the list is: (qty is total units not pack size)

 

<colgroup><col width="127" /><col width="196" /><col width="117" /></colgroup>

B-6	90024	0.5
C-12	C-12	0.33
CL-8	90432	4.5
E-6	95003	22
E-8	95004	33
F-8	95176	9
GV-2	95502	2
GV-4	95504	3
GV-6	95505	11
GV-8	95506	29
H-12	90067	0.5
H-6	90064	2
HR-8	90473	3
HRS-8	90683	6
LC-8	95435	10
MH-18	95641	11
MR-190	90863	1
MR-40	90855	1
N-10	95607	2
N-4	95604	8
N-6	95605	15
N-8	95606	50
OWTA-24	90407	1
PC-6	95303	2
PC-8	95304	4
PS-100	91613	2
PS-152	91684	4.5
RI-200	RI-200	4
RI-225	RI-225	3
RI-24W	95626W	2
RT-29	RT-29	0.5
SR-8	90483	1.5
SRS-4	90692	12
SSS-104	91104	2
SSS-108	91106	3
ST-12	90205	6
STA-8	replace with STA-6	5
STFS-10	90624	2
STFS-12	90625	1
SX-2	95582	4
TB-175L	TB-175L	1
TB-18	TB-18	1
TB-2	90102	1.5
TB-200	TB-200	2
TB-225L	TB-225L	0.5
TB-24	TB-24	1
TB-250	TB-250	0.5
TB-28	TB-28	0.5
TB-300L	TB-300L	0.25
TB-4	90104	6
TB-48L	TB-48L	1
TB-6	90105	10
TB-8	90106	19
TP-6	95203	9
TP-8	95204	16
TPO-4	95244	1
TPO-6	95245	2
TPO-8	95246	2
VHD-200VG	VHD-200VG	5
VHD-250VG	VHD-250VG	2
VHE-175VG	VHE-175VG	4
VHE-28VG	95747	1
VHE-48VG	VHE-48VG	10
VHF-18	95724	4
VHH-300VG	VHH-300VG	1
VS-175	VS-175	4
VS-18	95666	12
VS-200	VS-200	4
VS-250	VS-250	4
VS-48	VS-48	8

 

If you are looking for a custom design I would be glad to quote.

Joe

 

 

 

Thanks Joe! It validates my suspicion that building substantial projects in Plastruct gets expensive quickly. I'm planning on a chemical operation as a 2017 project. I have a good backlog of stuff to do and it's nice to know as long as I want to, there's something to build for the railroad. I've got months of work left just on the mountain.