You know every time I look on here someone WOW's me with there skills. I'll say it again WOW I have a lot to learn. The good thing is this is the best place to learn! Thank you all and Dan looks great!
I second Mike on that. I love the rock work and can only imagine the time, energy and money it took to create a scene that impressive. I think it looks like resources well used!
Thanks Lee, it's really the cheapest thing on the layout. Plaster Paris, a wood frame, black wrap and acrylic paint. The longest time is letting the molds set up in the sun for a couple of days. It's embarrassingly easy. I wish more people would try things they haven't done before. Anyone can do this, By the way, that's not a white waterfall at the end of the trestle, it's just not covered with a rock mold yet. Don
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Hi Don, Is there anyway you could post a video or pictures on how you do that? It's great work!
Wow is right! Such massive elevations covered with rock castings really does require tons of plaster. Well done!
Back at the ranch, the section of rock castings I slapped together the other day received some color and foliage today.
Bruce
lets see. MTH Challenger with a faulty smoke unit. First I superglued the fan blades to the motor shaft so it's not free spinning anymore. Second I replaced the wicking. Third I drilled out the hole in the metal piece that divides the smoke output to the two stacks, doubling the diameter size. Smokes a hell of a lot better.
Next was to install an LED backup light in the challenger tender(bulb burnt out) and install a tether for my new PS3 aux tender. Removed the coil coupler on the Aux tender and installed a Kadee coupler. Now my Aux tender is my transition car to my kadee equipped rolling stock. I'll do a video tomorrow.
Mike, it's in ORG a few months ago. Don't remember what issue. You can look it up. Glad you like it. Don
Tom- extra bracing at the top of the legs added. Me- looking at Minwax wood stain colors.
The marble pieces are not here, that means Tom has them at his work to get them cut.
Of the stains, I like the English Chestnut, and Green Tea or Early Spring.
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trumptrain posted:Carey TeaRose posted:Legs attached on the art deco style Std. Gauge layout table I am creating with my fiance' Tom.
Carey - Tom is a lucky guy!!!
Aw shucks, thanks... I'm one lucky gal, too- he's a keeper. Nice to have a master woodworker in the house to build stuff for me
We're a good team- I come up with ideas, he makes them happen.
YES! Marble corners pieces cut to size for the layout table. Next, individual cut fill pieces underneath the stone pieces to get them all flush with the top height. Goodie goodie, these look great with the black gloss painted table legs!
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I modded Mr Allosaurus to fit on the gang-car to chase the piggies. During the process I managed to move the blade over six inches to reach the ring finger of my other hand, it did not bleed very much! CA glue is such a blessing. C'est la vie. 
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scale rail posted:Thanks Lee, it's really the cheapest thing on the layout. Plaster Paris, a wood frame, black wrap and acrylic paint. The longest time is letting the molds set up in the sun for a couple of days. It's embarrassingly easy.
Funny how the easy stuff sometimes is the thing people make a big deal about, meanwhile they never notice the things that almost drove you nuts or to the poorhouse, huh?
I'm in the middle of scenery work myself, but I decided to use light materials that can flex in case I ever need to move the layout, so using plaster is out for me.
Doesn't mean I can't appreciate your work, though...
Finally got around to finishing Altoona Power Station. Now I just need to connect the power to power the LED I installed inside. This should make this building light up really nice. Next up is too add a whole bunch of zombies. Turn this into a great zombie scene.
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Looks great, between you and Dustin!, I am glad I have Menards! LOL
Tony,
I love the Work Train.
Good luck with power House too.
John,
I will be doing a vid on the work train set soon. Just waiting to add some additional work train cars. But I do have a few other train vids. Check them out here
https://www.youtube.com/user/MrBorderman01/videos
Thanks
A nice classic power station. Like it !!
Went to my L.H.S. today and pick up a hard copy of the MTH Catalog. 2016 Volume 2. Bert was on duty from my old L.H.S. Also met Frank in the HO & N scale department. He had the D T & I / 1776, in HO Scale. We also talked about the Durand Michigan, Railroad Days, May 12th - 15th. http://www.durandrailroaddays.com/
Frank recommended several railroad history books I should read about the D T & I. Below is a loco I will be putting on my MTH Built to Order. Due late May.
Detroit Toledo & Ironton - Click here to learn more.
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In what you might say is role reversal the wife was watching a basketball game and me, not into sports, I was in the attic running trains for the evening. Had three conventional and one legacy running. More fun watching trains go around then watching someone running up and down a court.................Paul
I am with you Paul! Now Football is a different story!
smoking building.
Very nice, where are the fire trucks?
I made some photos of the pickle plant complex (Menard's sallting station and the packing plant, as well as the "pepper" tower, and the rolling stock lettered for the plant, or that support it.....vinegar car, etc.) but have not figured out what this "pickle branch"/company shortline will use for power. I need a scale Porter steamer, and just the K-Line is out there...
Yesterday. I went out into the lower yard and addressed a fallen granite rock that rolled out into the yard with a 12 lb. sledge hammer. When I finished, and had a lot of gravel sized pieces, and gathered it all in a few wheelbarrow loads to dump over the bank, I went for a motorcycle ride.
Sometimes it is better to just walk away. This distraction was the best thing for my layout at the time.
Today, I have a better plan and clearer direction.
SAC Sparkchaser posted:Yesterday. I went out into the lower yard and addressed a fallen granite rock that rolled out into the yard with a 12 lb. sledge hammer. When I finished, and had a lot of gravel sized pieces,
Just by way of a friendly Hello, let me offer a bit of trivia. Your rock was from Canada. I don't know where you live, but if it is anywhere south of the Great Lakes, it was a "Glacial Erratic," brought to you by the last Ice Age ( as were the Great Lakes themselves) and deposited in your area by glacial action. Pinkish with the usual black/shiny/gray mica flecks or white-ish with the same content, such rocks originated in Canada and were rolled/dragged/washed to you, hence the rounded shape.
I couldn't resist that, but you probably knew all that anyolways. You picked one of the hardest rocks on Earth to wack at.
Hi.
FrankM.
In the current issue (June/July) of OGR, there is a photo of a "Bert" patrolling a layout...assume not the same "Bert" cited above... Per another comment above, a sibling's oldest kid went to a certain college expecting he would make the football team. He did not. He did graduate. I am into cars and trains, not spectator sports, but, to me, basketball moves, football crawls, baseball stands. (no clue what they do in tennis, nor how they score it, or....even the terminology, although a cousin played it).
And here I was picturing that rock as as having fallen from the ancient volcanic cliffs overhanging Telluride, behind the old RGS station, or maybe from the Sierra, to roll across the abandoned roadbed of the North Pacifci Coast RR and through your backfence, setting off your dog, who took strong offence at the intruder.
Today it was not on the layout but below. I found some tiles from the previous home owners. So I laid tile today. I got to roller it yet. Couple of pics of the area..........Paul
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There is a reason you can't buy that tile anymore. begins with the letter A.
quickly testing wood stain colors- both from Minwax. The green is their Express Colors in Emerald, definitely needs a second or maybe even third coat. Done with a cloth. The other is English Chestnut, laid on thick with a brush and not wiped after. 
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Moonson posted:SAC Sparkchaser posted:Yesterday. I went out into the lower yard and addressed a fallen granite rock that rolled out into the yard with a 12 lb. sledge hammer. When I finished, and had a lot of gravel sized pieces,
Just by way of a friendly Hello, let me offer a bit of trivia. Your rock was from Canada. I don't know where you live, but if it is anywhere south of the Great Lakes, it was a "Glacial Erratic," brought to you by the last Ice Age ( as were the Great Lakes themselves) and deposited in your area by glacial action. Pinkish with the usual black/shiny/gray mica flecks or white-ish with the same content, such rocks originated in Canada and were rolled/dragged/washed to you, hence the rounded shape.
I couldn't resist that, but you probably knew all that anyolways. You picked one of the hardest rocks on Earth to wack at.
I live in the Pacific Northwest and our house in on the floor of an ancient glacial valley. Wouldn't have been good real estate 20,000 years ago, I'm imagine.
It stinks when I need to dig a hole for any reason because for every ounce of soil, the shovel will pick up ten pounds of granite and other hard rock types.
CTR: You should put indoor/outdoor carpet on your layout. deadens sound, easy to put install.
All the granite in my area comes from ancient volcano's. Garrett island in the middle of the Susquehanna River between Havre de Grace and Perryville Maryland was purchased in 1880 by the B&O Railroad s they could construct a bridge across the river and it was named for John W. Garrett President of the B&O Railroad. The rocky high ground on the island's west side is the remains of the volcanic core. Basalt and quartz formed by the volcanic activity are still present. There are several abandoned quarries on both sides of the river and one is still being mined by the Vulcan Materials Company and they estimate they can quarry down about 1000' below the rivers surface and still have plenty of stone 100 years from now.
jmiller320 posted:All the granite in my area comes from ancient volcano's. Garrett island in the middle of the Susquehanna River between Havre de Grace and Perryville Maryland was purchased in 1880 by the B&O Railroad s they could construct a bridge across the river and it was named for John W. Garrett President of the B&O Railroad. The rocky high ground on the island's west side is the remains of the volcanic core. Basalt and quartz formed by the volcanic activity are still present. There are several abandoned quarries on both sides of the river and one is still being mined by the Vulcan Materials Company and they estimate they can quarry down about 1000' below the rivers surface and still have plenty of stone 100 years from now.
So cool, I was stationed Aberdeen when the Ordnance center was still there, I used to hang around HDG all the time to hit the antique stores, watch the Metroliners zip by the NE Corridor, and sometimes pay the toll to cross the river to Perryville for it's nice depot and the outlet stores there.
Man, I miss that place...
In September, I was going between NYC and DC to get on the Capitol Limited for our cross-country Amtrak trip, and made sure to shoot this over that amazing bridge:
oh!!! I was supposed to wipe off the chestnut stain with a cloth after... duh me. OKAY! Here is a new piece of wood for the English Chestnut stain, one coat brushed on and then wiped off. Second coat of the Emerald, poured into a container and then brushed on, and wiped off. Better
Harumph. I like the two stains together but the English Chestnut next to the Blk/Wht marble does nothin' for me...
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P51, The Ordnance School move to Fort Lee and took the Museum, Anzio Annie and all the tanks in the field with them. You wouldn't recognize the place today. The new brick barracks have been converted into office buildings. Almost all of the old wooden WWII building have been torn down and new six story office building have replaced most of them.
Sometimes progress is invisible, and today was one of those days. The results of my efforts won't show up for quite a while. I spent 4 hours online ordering electronic components from 3 different suppliers. I'll be building 18 of these circuit boards,
as well as 6 of a different type. The one shown has 12 identical circuits, and each controls a bi-color LED for signals. Doing the math, that's 216 of these LED drivers.
When it comes to electronics, I have limitations. I can't design circuits. I can kind of understand them. If this was cooking, I can follow a recipe, I'm just not a chef. Today was my day in the pantry, gathering the ingredients. When they show up, I'll start cooking. Great project to set up in front of the TV and watch baseball.
p51 posted:It stinks when I need to dig a hole for any reason because for every ounce of soil, the shovel will pick up ten pounds of granite and other hard rock types.
You'll be needing one of these, then...
Mitch
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Carey TeaRose posted:oh!!! I was supposed to wipe off the chestnut stain with a cloth after... duh me. OKAY! Here is a new piece of wood for the English Chestnut stain, one coat brushed on and then wiped off. Second coat of the Emerald, poured into a container and then brushed on, and wiped off. Better
Harumph. I like the two stains together but the English Chestnut next to the Blk/Wht marble does nothin' for me...
Speaking as a chap who grew up matching trim to fabric in the family store on Fabric Row in Philly (Marmelstein's on S. 4th Street, tho my father trimmed his name down in the 50s), I'd lose the emerald in favor of a two-tone brown to go with the marble. But that's just me.
Mitch
M. Mitchell Marmel posted:Carey TeaRose posted:oh!!! I was supposed to wipe off the chestnut stain with a cloth after... duh me. OKAY! Here is a new piece of wood for the English Chestnut stain, one coat brushed on and then wiped off. Second coat of the Emerald, poured into a container and then brushed on, and wiped off. Better
Harumph. I like the two stains together but the English Chestnut next to the Blk/Wht marble does nothin' for me...
Speaking as a chap who grew up matching trim to fabric in the family store on Fabric Row in Philly (Marmelstein's on S. 4th Street, tho my father trimmed his name down in the 50s), I'd lose the emerald in favor of a two-tone brown to go with the marble. But that's just me.
Mitch
Trying a mix of Ebony with the Eng. Chesnut. And then will try an Onyx stain solo. The Emerald is a nod to painted green layout table surfaces, with just a hint of deco. The mix is at the bottom right in this picture.
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