GNRW monthly operating session:

https://ogrforum.com/...5#159660139102453925

Well I am days and many pages behind here on this thread.   Added cracks to the concrete and the first round of weeds growing out of the cracks and seams....   I'll let it all completely dry and probably go back and add some more weeds and some more weathering and staining on the roadway, then move on

Excellent work Chris.

Andy

I love the cracks....so realistic!!!!

Chris, everything looks great!  I know it is hard to keep up to speed on all that is going on here.  I could spend so much time here that I wouldn't get anything done on my layout.

Thanks guys for the kind words.  I was tempted to move onto something else, but figured I really should do the "detail" work on this scene and bring it to conclusion.

   Yes, Mark I am really trying to limit my "screen time"....  Went back to work last week so I don't have anywhere near the free time I had over the winter.     I admire your ability to keep up with your layout thread,  I thought about starting one of those years ago, and realized, I probably wouldn't be willing/able to put in the time to keep posting and replying.   

For anyone that hasn't tried the cork road bed for making concrete roads and sidewalks, I highly recommend it, it was fairly easy and straight forward to cut all those concrete cracks and as long as you keep rotating the knife blade back and forth the material just separates, as it's "grainy",  and makes great imitations of cracks.   Ended up taking my 1 inch 25mm snap off heavy duty knife and it made easy work as most all of them only took 2 passes, so I would do about 2 inches and re-trace my cut while I still remembered where it was and which way I zig-zagged.

Chris, It does take some time to keep up with the thread.  I never expected so many folks to follow it, so believe I owe it to them to post.  Selfishly, I think I get more out of it than anyone else does.  It does help that I am now retired.  Besides, I really enjoy following along other folks' building threads, or following along with projects like yours on this thread.

@chris a posted:

Well I am days and many pages behind here on this thread.   

I certainly wouldn't say you are days behind on anything Chris.        Your working diligently on this project and sharing it with us says plenty.

Looks darn nice. 🤓

Got the laser out and projected a "baseline" for the layout on the wall,  at about 48" high,  and then painted that baseline with some leftover red paint.   Next is to paint some low mountains roughly where the duct tape profiles are located.   I am back to work, so progress on the layout will slow to a crawl until fall.

Rich in SD

Not my layout as such, but I've had this WW2 army flatcar plate (my brother gave it to me a while back, he'd found it at a military show in Belgium) and couldn't figure out how to hang it up.

Yesterday, it occurred to me to give it fake rivet heads as it had when mounted. I'd gotten the idea when looking at one of the 50s Army flatcars the railroad I volunteered on owns (we're in the middle of an insurance nightmare and nobody knows if we'll run at all this year),  yesterday.

I'd run this by a couple of friends and both recommend carriage bolts. Beats me how I hadn't figured it out on my own.

Anyway, I made a quick trip to the hardware store, found bolts that worked, and I mounted them and cut the backs down along with grinding down the cast markings on the heads (they're still there in the shot).

Once the days of forecasted rain is over, I'll paint the heads with WW2 Olive Drab Green paint, and weather them a little with powders as I do on my models.

After that, I'll need to figure out where the hang the thing!

Cut some panels to fit over the staging tracks below. The only way to access this side of the layout is to walk on top of it so everything has to be removable. Placed some buildings to try and get an idea of what might fit up here.

@chris a- the freight depot is really coming together. The details make the difference.
@shasta- interesting- does the top need to be lifted off to access the tracks below?
@trestleking- nice paint job. The room is looking good.
@p51- Nice builders plate Lee. Good idea to use carriage bolts.

Nothing train related for me this past weekend. Had a long list of honey-do's to take care of. I hope to get back to my F3 upgrade this week. I need to figure out the lighting circuit for the headlight and classification lights. Once that's done I can install it all in the shell.

Bob

@Bill Park posted:

Mr. Putnam Division, That is a great looking model. Buildings like that make a layout. I thought I would offer a suggestion. If you are going to fill in the mortar lines on the brick, take a look a product named Roberts Brick Mortar Formula. For years and many brick buildings later using dry wall mud, and spending hours working for the right amount in the mortar lines, I discovered this product in a  jar recently at my hobby shop. On a whim I bought a jar and used it immediately on a new  Ameritown building. I couldn't believe how easy it was to apply with a paint brush and after it dries,(maybe a half hour) you can rub the surface and the excess comes right off. Rubbing it further will take a little off and you can actually get the amount of white you want for the appearance you want. If you have used dry wall cement before, you will find this much easier and a better looking building in my opinion. You can goggle Roberts Brick Mortar and it will come up. Hope this  makes that very handsome building look even better. Bill

Bill.......funny you should mention Robert's Mortar Mixture..........one of the reasons I purchased this model is that the construction/painting video shows an alternative way to weather.....using Ivory Black oil paint with turpenoid.

I wanted to try something different.

I have been using Robert's Mortar Mixture for years and love it......but I tend to "over-weather", and, I wanted to see if I could get a "weathered effect" with a different technique. I would say that I should be finished by about Easter......still a lot to do.

Here are some of my most recent buildings with Robert's Mortar Mixture.....and, you can see what I mean......my building seem too old and too run down and too weathered, maybe....

.....from 2017, MAX FOODS.....a Lionel kit-bash......

....also from 2017, a Korber kit bash factory with "air rights' over the right of way.....I think the Roberts of this one is just right.....

.....two models from the throws of the pandemic, 2020.....which I think are a little "overdone"....1st, a Lionel factory......

....then, a Plasticville Factory.....

So, I'm looking to see what a different technique does.......

I will be certain to post pics when I'm done.

I also am not abandoning the Roberts product.......the other solution to my problem is: use less and/or rub off more.

Thank you for your comments!

Peter

Great work Peter.

Here is what I did with Plasticville, including 2 factories:

From Plasticville "Junk" Comes Unique Buildings (warrenvillerailroad.com)

Peter that looks great but what a process. I look forward to being able to do something of that caliber.

John, Warrenville is going to be the up and coming place to live and work. That’s an innovative and impressive approach which I hope to replicate some day.

@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:

John, Warrenville is going to be the up and coming place to live and work. That’s an innovative and impressive approach which I hope to replicate some day.

Thanks for the very kind comment Jay!

I'm glad that you navigated to my site - I love to share there, it is almost like playing with trains

Loved Warrenville John. Nice work.

Great work John!

Andy

Hi Peter,  Since I have been assembling buildings, I have looked for an easy way to fill in the mortar on a brick building. It was only happenstance that I discovered Roberts Mortar Mix. I found it much easier to use than dry wall mix. I will be interested in seeing your new idea technique. Its always good to have other methods .  Bill

Cris a  you're concrete sidewalk  around the factory is top notch. So realistic. I'm sure I missed it but may I ask what color you used to make it so real. Thanks

Hey FarmerJohn,   Thanks.   It's Midwest Cork Roadbed, the large 5" wide 5mm thick stock, maybe 24 to 30 inch long sections.   I used cork roadbed for some concrete curbs in a project about a year ago, cause I needed them to bend and flex to match the profile of the road and sidewalks, and it worked great, then I used it around the ash pit in my engine service facility for the concrete apron.  I don't think I'll go back to using anything else for concrete moving forward, the cork is great, it has the perfect texture, it's easy to work with, flexible and easy to make cracks and spawling effects. 

I spray it with Rustoleum Camouflage Khaki as the base coat,  then I did some minor shading with the airbrush when I had it out a few weeks ago...   

@RSJB18 posted:

@shasta- interesting- does the top need to be lifted off to access the tracks below?

Bob

Yes all the track and  track on the raised roadbed with supports stay in  place. To access this area of the layout you have to walk on the 4 balloon Loop staging tracks so everything else has to be removable. The ceiling is 4 1/2 ft above this area so it is a little challenging working on this section of the layout. This was never intended to be a permanent layout so there is a lot of temporary work in place.

Been a while since I posted. Tore down first layout and expanded it. Went to 5'x12' with 1'x9 addition on the wall, made the yard 2'x10'  added home made ties under all track. Working on a new control panel. Made the upper loop with O31 track instead of O27. Added trolley run under front section of upper loop. John  Control panel link  https://ogrforum.com/...8#159660139190768768

A buddy of mine in NYC sent me a box o' goodies, including the Marx Commodore and the American Flyer transformer I posted about a few days back.

I've been doing some rehab, including this spotlight tower and crossing signal: 

Just got in a shipment of Marx parts, so I'm rehabbing this crossing shack for the museum layout. 

Also used the key at left to wind up a Marx loco (also included in the box of goodies!  Thanks, Eric!) and sent it for a spin with some Marx cars I got from Trainz a month or so back: 

Um.  Let's try that again, shall we? 

Much better! 

Also got a reduction gear for the Vandy, so that should be on the rails soon! 

Mitch

Built a 4x8 version of 5'x10' FasTrack complete (for now) using all o31 and o36

Hello everyone! Not much has been happening on the layout these past two days. Instead, I finally cleaned up the mess I made and ran some trains through the mountain to check clearance. Everything turned out good to go!

Tonight, I decided to do some painting. I was able to get most of the current plaster cloth painted, but my back started to give me problems. I decided to stop for tonight and will probably continue with more plaster laying.

Happiness!

Vandy motor assembled.  Had to drill the reduction gear to fit the prewar chassis and drill the chassis to fit the postwar axles. 

Note also the copper strip on the E-unit.  When swung up, it allows the E-unit to be locked in one direction, which I hadn't realized one could do with Marx locos.  I may look into wiring a vintage toggle switch into the cab... 

As always, a trusty assistant was on paw... 

Bulb bracket wire soldered into place...

And the Commodore Vanderbilt is ready to scoot around the Marx layout! 

Thanks again to my chum Eric in NYC! 

Mitch

Didn't know Lionel made this!

Looks brand new.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/25544...b:g:1P0AAOSwuVFhitXO

Today I removed my recently built elevated siding system and replaced it directly against the hardboard "sky," using 3" x 5" matte black shelf brackets, with the tops set at 9" above the layout. The removal of the dozen hand-built painted pillars opened up enough space to add another O-27 siding. The only difficulty was getting the six separate 6' sections level at their joints.  Slight imperfections were covered over with small super-glued patches. The whole system is so solid that someday I might hook it up to power and have a real elevated O-27 loop. Rick 

Morning guys, here it is again a couple days away and so much has been done!

@chris a Nice touch to the roadway! The cracks and weeds really bring the scene to life!

@trestleking Rich great idea and nice start!

@p51 Lee what a great gift from your brother! It's going to look great in the train room! On another note, were you up at Lake Cushman last weekend? There were a lot of WWII vehicles up here!

@shasta The panels look great and the buildings really change things up! Nice work!

@Putnam Division Peter looking great! That is going to be one huge building!

@Lionelski John, WOW I never knew that Plasticville building could look so good! Outstanding work!

@Radioman77 Nice looking layout, looks like it's going to be fun to run!

@M. Mitchell Marmel Mitch it is just Amazing how you are able to fix things that look beyond help and get them looking good and running!

@randr Nice little layout!

@Trainmaster04 The painting is a nice start! Just remember that a little at a time goes a long way and keeps the body from hurting too much! LOL

@RParmentier Rick very cool! I can't wait to see the day when you put power to it! It would be nice to just start it up and let it run while you work on something else!

Well guys as you can see I had alot to say! LOL

As for me nothing new, we are having a community gathering at our place, so the CEO has me cleaning everything up in the yard and gazebo for a fire and drinks! So it looks like it could be even a couple more days before I get to the train room, but I wanted to check in and see what everyone has been up to before I fell to far behind!

I hope you all have a great week and I will check in again when I get a chance! Remember to try to find time to have fun with your layouts and trains!

I dunno, but after years I'm still finding people with bases on the layout.

Today I noticed that the hard working firemen at the switch tower still had them. While removed from the layout I also painted over their red plastic outfits.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

@mike g. posted:

@p51 Lee what a great gift from your brother! It's going to look great in the train room! On another note, were you up at Lake Cushman last weekend? There were a lot of WWII vehicles up here!

No, my Jeep hasn't left my property since the pandemic. In fact, I have a new fuel pump I need to put on it, and pump out the gas and put new stuff in there as it's been way too long since I've fired her up; no events to go to! That'll change soon as most of the annual events that were cancelled the last two years are scheduled to take place unless things get bad again.

As for the plate, my brother collects builder's plates. He has a bunch of them, all cast ones, usually for steam locos. the irony there is that he's really not a train fan. He just like the craftsmanship as he likes casting stuff. He bought that at the Arlon, Belgium show several years ago when he was at EUCOM in Germany (he's a retired USAF LtCol) and mailed it to me a while back. I'd had it on a wall for a short while with plastic hooks, but a display case went to that location and it'd been sitting on the floor in front of my book case since then.

I'm still not sure where it's going to be hung up. With the exception of the adjacent walls to the door (and a Jim Deitz print that I'm in, called, "We happy few", painted as a 29th Division infantryman in a Normandy village), anything that gets hung up in the layout room has to be theme of the layout, either ET&WNC or WW2 era army railroads. This plate is 1944 dated, a year after the layout takes place, but it'd be almost criminal not to hang a plate for a Army piece of rolling stock that clearly made it to the European theater!

Cris a.  Thanks  for the info. You have done such a good job on this project. It is definitely  eye candy for me.

The past couple of weeks I have been working on building ballast hoppers.   I got inspired after viewing OGR post: Railroad Construction and Maintenance Equipment.    The statement from one poster: “If no one makes them, roll our own”  resonated with me!    As a member of the Duluth Missabe Railroad Historical Society, I frequently visit their website which has a vast pictorial library providing history and a complete equipment roster.    I discovered that the Missabe had ballast hoppers in their maintenance fleet. Some were colorful and unique so I got inspired for this project.   I got help from someone in the Duluth Missabe & Iron Range RR Scale Modeling group who identified the W1312 as a Hart ballast hopper.         

The Hart hoppers have unique hatch doors that can open several ways in order to discharge ballast to the center of the track, inside by rail or outside of the rail.   The cars of the DM&IR have been retire/scrapped for sometime but I found some useful pictures on the internet to help me create the illusion of the hatches design.    I also liked the cars yellow color scheme with maroon markings.   I was off and running!

Found a couple of Weaver 2 bay offset Hoppers on eBay for my canvas.  I am currently in the process of building and detailing the drop chutes.   

Hart ballast hopper, my target #1312:

One of my 2 Weaver 2-bay hoppers in mockup:

Sculptamold helped give profile to the ballast loads:

New loads test fit (Brennan’s Better Ballast):

Demolition with a little help from a radial arm saw:

Clean up with 80 & 60 grit sanding blocks:

New floor in place and test fit of my scratch built drop chutes:

Test fit with completed hatches for wheel clearance:

Project continues with more detail to add.  Will post more along the way!

Cheers to all and I continue to find great enjoyment and inspiration following all the activity on this topic!

Thanks to all!  Dave    

Finished painting my "farmer's market."

Dad was a carpenter for pretty much all his life...........I never saw him use a radial arm saw like this.

@darlander posted:

Thanks to all!  Dave    

Nice work Dave ! 

@Papa Dave posted:

Finished painting my "farmer's market."

I'm getting hungry Dave .     Looks good .

Outstanding work on the hopper car Dave.
Huge difference on the figures John.

Andy