Hey All, Quiet morning here in South Texas, so I thought I would work on a couple of projects including this new release from Accurail, a St. Louis Brownsville & Mexico (Gulf Coast Lines/Missouri Pacific) 36-ft Fowler Wood Boxcar. The StLB&M has a history that includes Yoakum & the Frisco, so a good candidate for the layout. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis,_Brownsville_and_Mexico_Railway This one is decorated for the MoPac era of the StLB&M. I think it is supposed to be a stand-in for this ACF Sawtooth 36-ft car. Maybe I will need to make an earlier version using the Westerfield resin kit.....sooo many projects. ACF 1914 Photos (Pre-Depression Era Models FaceBook page). -Bob T.
Bob that is a good looking car. Thanks for the link too. After retiring my grandparents lived in Donna not far from Brownsville in the winters. But, that info was new to me.
I got my C44-9W pretty well finished up and outside for a few pics today. A few touchups needed but its close. A fun project for a few days. The sun was out today even though it was windy and cold still. Spring is getting close at least! Steve Here is the prototype: He is my attempt at it:
Thanks Bob. I always thought the CNW paint scheme fit those bodies well. 9771 was (is) at least by several claims the last unit to be repainted yellow. Which was part of my attraction to it.
OK, yes, I do not understand the concept of Wednesday. Someone had asked about the KV Model joint bars that I showed a while back. http://kvmodels.com/joint-bars/ These come as a bunch of etched or laser cut pieces on a sprue. I have been installing these on my larger diorama that is under construction. Not worthy of photos just yet, so I put some on my smaller diorama. Here is an example: Hard to make out, even there and highlighted with some rust. This is on micr0engineering track (code 83). Maybe need to trim those edges a bit, get that ballast off of the rail, and cut a notch into the rail head. Anyhow, a nice small detail for diorama, but maybe not the whole layout. More to come... -Bob T.
The main project tonight was to make some progress on the larger diorama/small switching layout. I needed some trees, so spun up the SuperTree factory: I painted the armatures two different colors for some variety.....before you know it you have what looks like a bunch of trees. ...but they don't seem to go far. Oh well, I hope to get the diorama in reasonable shape soon. I did start on the trestle legs this weekend, but ran out of stained lumber. Here is the jig that I made to ease construction and a few of the legs. More staining tonight and maybe something worth showing in the coming days. Hope all are well, -Bob T.
Bob, In my opinion, the joint bars would really be noticed if they where spaced at prototypical distance (39 ft.?) . Let's see 2 joint bars for every 39ft. on both rails, for the whole layout? Nah! I can see your point. For a diorama? justifiable! Hop to it and send pictures. John
Bob: Those joint bars look great... but WHEW!! I'd hate to even think of installing such. Even on my modest-sized layout! You got more modeling oom-pah that I do, that's for sure. Andre
Thanks guys. I am planning to put these on two (~18-inch x 18-inch dioramas) and my ~5ft X 18-inch diorama. Not too much madness. I may put a few at locations on the main layout where I often take pictures. Probably no more than this single sprue. These are too small for my eyes to trim accurately. A fun project, but in small doses. -Bob T.
They look great Bob. Most I have seen were so grotesquely oversized it made the track look worse. These look good.
OK, finally hit on a Wednesday. Civil Engineers, read no further. Physics laws are violated below. Preview of the new diorama/switching layout. Photos tell you where you need more shrubs to hide the edges or delete them. I have the static grass in, the fishplates installed and some trees planted (not yet glued). Need to touch up the track, weather the rail, install the trestle, pour water, ballast and fill in the brush along the track. Home stretch. Ha. Oh well, maybe 50%. Hope all are doing well, -Bob T.
Indeed, I was curious to see the results, Bob. I like the look of them. I'm aiming to kickstart myself back to modeling something, for pete's sake. John P. makes a good point that these would be a bit time consuming to add to a larger layout. I'm hoping to start small and keep mine reasonably small and with a higher layer of detail. Thanks for sharing,
Looks really nice. How's your stash of Oddballs decals holding up? OR, are you using some other source now?
Oddballs' decals was not an easy issue. I had these for awhile . It took forever to get them to slide off. The FRISCO lettering and cab #'s are from a Microscale set . Some of the diagonal stripes tore, luckily they tore in between the stripe so I had to eyeball the distance. I had cut the stripe down in manageable pieces to keep from tearing in which they did anyways. The chevron stripes was a screaming issue, they tore in the middle but was able to join without a line shown. I would like to thank Steve Hurt for cheering me on through this. I told him this project was from hell. Steve says It bees that way sometimes! This was an undecorated kit. The cab was already in place so it was difficult to put the glass in. I used the front and middle sides and used Microscale Krystal Klear for the remainder. If anyone was to acquire an undec. kit, I would make sure the cab can be separated from the body, install glass and mask them prior to painting. I learned my lesson here, get new decals!