Weekend Photos - December 2020

[healey36]

I like carved pink foam for tunnels. It works better than blue foam.

Why is this? Is there a structural/chemical difference in the way it's manufactured. I've never tried pink foam.

Over on the Oh my God Really forum . They ask this question once a month.

I'm a rube...what can I say?

While cleaning some stuff out of the attic, I found a box of prewar Lionel O-27 stuff I forgot I had. I've made numerous sets for kids using these work-horse cars and 1664/1684 locomotives. I always liked the 1679 boxcar...here's a couple in Ives and Lionel livery:



I think I still have one spare 1664 around here someplace.

[gregj410]

BTW, Greg, you'll have to give us, or me at least, a lesson in rock carving. Yours looks brilliant. I botch it every time.

Thank you! I use Bragdon molds with PoP. I usually pour several at a time as they set up very quickly. Then it’s a matter attaching them to the plaster web, cutting and piecing together as you go to make it look as natural as you can. Start with big pieces and break one or two big ones up to fill in the gaps as you go.
As for paint, I’m all over the place with that. I go long stretches between making mountains and then I tend to forget what I did previously. I should probably take better notes. Think washes more than paints. I’ve been using waterbase tube paint but WS and SE also make paints for this application. I spray the faces down with water first to help the paint find all the nooks and crannies. That’s about it, hope this helps.

how are you going to retrieve derailments from inside?

Fortunately it’s a straight shot through there but yes I can access from underneath.

[healey36]

Christmas tree shipment, New York, 1903:



Pick out a nice one on the Lower East Side.

[rogruth]

Pretty good sized trees. The days of the @ 12' ceilings. Also seem to have nice shapes.
Also seems to be a rather large number of trees. My guess is that they arrived by rail transport.

I like the blanket on the horse also (left side). Were there complaints about global warming then?

[rogruth]

Healey,
Those pre-war cars look very nice.
How much/little work to get to that condition?

[healey36]

Roger, those are in as-found condition. The Lionel car is not rare, so it’s easy to find them in decent shape. The Ives car is fairly dirty, but I’ve been reluctant to polish it up for fear of messing up the lithography. It also is not that rare, so I need to just use some soap and water or cleaner wax and get it cleaned up. If I mess it up, lesson learned.

[gregj410]

I took a break from the Miners cabin to build some long awaited train shelving. I’ve built some of these before however, my buddy was building some closet shelving and he used screen bead to hide the plywood edges. It looked pretty good, so I hope to drop back at some point and screen bead all the edges. This will have to suffice for now.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Those will fill up a lot of wall!

[healey36]

Nice looking shelving. I have a few small shelf units I built myself, but they are full. Sometimes I wish I had more space for shelving, but then it would likely be just an invitation to buy more stuff, which I desperately need to stop doing. So much stuff in boxes under the layout.

Not much progress on the tunnel project the last few days. Got the road cut out and glued in (except at the bottom where it meets the base):



I think I'll start cutting out the terrain profiles and get them cemented in place, then it's scenic. Strongly leaning toward old-school papier-mâché, although I might use a few rock castings made with Woodland Scenic molds I have around here somewhere. It's still relatively lightweight, and I want to keep it that way as much as possible.

[gregj410]

Nice looking shelving. I have a few small shelf units I built myself, but they are full. Sometimes I wish I had more space for shelving, but then it would likely be just an invitation to buy more stuff, which I desperately need to stop doing.

Thank you. More space means more stuff and I agree that’s not the solution. Better management seems to be a better alternative. My layout allows me to run some pretty long trains and I like the idea of being able to quickly clean off the rolling stock if I want to switch things up.

Good progress on the build. Nice to know that thing can double over as a step stool if necessary

[healey36]

Yeah, I could see that being nice, storing long trains/consists en masse, pull ‘em down and put them back in favorite as-run configurations. Your layout looks suited to that, made for that. Mine is a glorified test-track. I tend to tinker with old stuff, get it running, then after a few laps it goes up on the shelf. I need to rethink what I’m doing, lol.

The Old Man made me a rack for the S-gauge stuff that had slots cut in the shelving that wheel sets would sit down in. Worked brilliantly. We put sliding glass doors on it, which made it heavier than hell. It amazes me the thing hasn’t fallen off the wall, some 25 years later.

I started gluing in the scenic partitions on the tunnel project. What do you use for adhesive when you assemble your lattice-work? I’m not sure I’m going that route, but if I do, I need to figure out how to hold it all together.

[gregj410]

What do you use for adhesive when you assemble your lattice-work? I’m not sure I’m going that route, but if I do, I need to figure out how to hold it all together.

I start with my verticals. Weave the horizontals in and out roughly where they will go. Blob of hot melt in between and use these micro spring clamps at the joints. I have about 20. Usually by the time I’ve clamped the 8 th one or so the first one is ready to come off. Hot melt dries pretty fast. It goes pretty fast once you get it down. Hope this helps.

[healey36]

Thanks. I’ve got a tube of the small spring-clamps, and the wife has a hot-glue gun. I’ve used that thing in the past and have burnt the hell out of myself every time, lol.

[rogruth]

I used a stapler that looked a little scissors or pliers.
Cardboard would fit between the jaws and the handle was squeezed to fasten.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

It amazes me the thing hasn’t fallen off the wall, some 25 years later.

It may be holding the wall together,

I started gluing in the scenic partitions on the tunnel project. What do you use for adhesive when you assemble your lattice-work? I’m not sure I’m going that route, but if I do, I need to figure out how to hold it all together.

I used little hot glue gun. Very fast and efficient. Lattice was sliced up grocery bags. "Painted" over that with Hydrocal. Easy-peasy.

Thanks. I’ve got a tube of the small spring-clamps, and the wife has a hot-glue gun. I’ve used that thing in the past and have burnt the hell out of myself every time, lol.

Did not need the spring clamps for the lattice; hot glue worked fast. Burn yourself? Hold it by the pistol grip and not the tip, maybe?