Okay let's see what ya'll been up to this week as I start the showcase with.........................nuttin yet, LOL! Actually as soon as I get this posted I am going downstairs and will be working all day to have some pics to post later on.................hopefully LOL! No really I do have a new building, well actually 2 buildings that are one, but need to get some scenery done before I can post pics. See ya guys later!

Here's what I did this last week (well, last two and a half weeks)

Took 14 of these



To make one of these:





Its an HO Scale background building:

Very nice. Looks terrific as does the entire back ground.

Nice forced perspective and a nice structure as well, John!

Very nice, John. Those kits are a kitbasher's delight. I think I also see the backs being used in your cityscape.

Dennis Brennan

Working on the bridge


Passing the waterfall

quote:

Originally posted by pennsyk4:
Working on the bridge

Nice shots. Who made the Gas-electric? Looks great.

I just finished this low relief urban background. It's kit bashed from two downtown deco fulton fish market kits. it's 48" long, 16" high and 3" deep. It sits in the very back of my layout. tell me what you think.







I'm trying hard to capture that urban feel, think i'm getting there?


as always, thanks for looking.
Nick

How I spent my weekend!

Our local TTOS division has decided that we need more scenery on our modular layout. Here are a couple of removable scenery sections I put together for one of the corner modules.

They are pink foam carved mostly with the hot knife. To keep them light weight no plaster was used. They also seem to bear an uncanny resemblance to some of the rockwork in Red Rock National Park in the current OGR!!! Hmmm.

I think we'll name it Mount Rocky State Park in honor of Rocky, our division's beloved "President-for-Life".










Jim

John Sethian - I love that building! Very nice work, and excellent photography.

pennsyk4 - nice bridge, and very nice rock-work.

Great stuff gentlemen.

John

I know that I haven't been around lately to contribute,but that does not meen I haven't done anything.We have a Day Out with Thomas at the Illinios Rail Museum,where the club layout will be up for two weeks for the kids to see.I've been working on my little town project when I can,and I'm almost done with it.I still view Sunday fun,and you guys are still a insperation to me.As allways I am amazed at the talent that is represented here.You guys simply amaze me.Hopefuly I will have this project done in a week or so,so I can post pictures for you.It's finaly comeing to life.BF

Looks Good Jim but I cant quite see Rocky's Likeness in the side of the Rock facing, like MT Rushmore you now Mt. Rocky-Don

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Policastro:
How I spent my weekend!

Our local TTOS division has decided that we need more scenery on our modular layout. Here are a couple of removable scenery sections I put together for one of the corner modules.

They are pink foam carved mostly with the hot knife. To keep them light weight no plaster was used. They also seem to bear an uncanny resemblance to some of the rockwork in Red Rock National Park in the current OGR!!! Hmmm.

I think we'll name it Mount Rocky State Park in honor of Rocky, our division's beloved "President-for-Life".










Jim

I think I'll have to work on that one.

But, we should probably put all the officers on there. Maybe then we can be sure that they'll all be "looking on" at meetings.

Jim

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jim Policastro,

Great pictures everyone, That New Lyon bank is really something! It reminds me of 140 West St (a telephone building in downtown Manhattan).
I thought that I'd post these 1:1 scale quonset huts as fodder for kitbashing. There were some threads awhile back about quonset huts and I came upon these last week in Piscataway, NJ. There were 5 or 6 in a row with various modifications. I didn't have time to pace them off; but I could at a later date if anyone is interested.

Okay folks been a long day, but I did get some things done and am posting some pics for your comments.

First off I had replaced a Lionel bridge with a new MTH bridge as I posted the other week and was troubled as how I could get it to the right height. I was looking at having to do some major routing and cutting and wasn't happy about it. Then I thought instead of taking it downm why not bring the ground up? So here is one side of the bridge done the other I am waiting for the plaste to dry to paint and add grass and stuff.
The mostly finished end



The not so finished end LOL!



As I said I had a new building but was actually 2 buildings and here is what I mean. A friend named Jack took the MTH Grainery and cut it in half and made me these background buildings. I love the old mill look and want to say once again THANK YOU JACK! First is a pic I took as I just added them on.



And some with a little landscaping added. Not finished but my knees which I need to have replaced couldn't hold up any longer.



As you can see the Matte Medium hasn't completely dried yet.





The area in front of the hill will be my farm area and when I get the river done I will span that with a couple of covered bridges.

Here are some shots I took a few minutes ago of the current stage of my mountain. The main mountain itself is painted and ready to hit with glue/water to seal and attach ground cover and then trees. The lower sections need to be added onto (more hills around corners...) more coats of paint, glue, ground cover, trees...



I tried the Woodland Scenics pigments but they did not work as well as I would have hoped and would have taken many many applications to get as dark as I wanted. I ended up using acrylic paints from Michaels and AC Moore watered down in a spray bottle. The paint was a great deal considering AC Moore has it all on clearance at $1.99 for an 8oz bottle.

Paul..great job om your new addition. Curious about the trees....are they Grand Central Gems or something else. You had mentioned in a previous thread of mine that you used that brand of tress on some parts of your layout?

VaGolfer
The bridge project certainly worked very nicely.
looks terrific

nickb your kitbashing and urban "feel" looks great!

excellent! such a relief to come back over here to the sunny side of life ... sure beats that dank and dreary 3 rail dungeon of doom! LOL, like gizzmo always says: SANCTUARY!

also very happy to see so many posts this sunday. things were slowing down a bit lately so its very exciting to see so much quality work and so many new names participating. golly gee wally, you guys are swell!

john: love the look of that building ... fits perfectly with the forced perspective you have going on in the background. that last shot is superb! that two rail track really makes such a difference. keep up the great work.

nick: SWEET brick work buddy! man that looks sharp ... love the gravel and added details on the rooftops as well. wonderful stuff, and that last shot really shows off how the different layers come together for the viewer.

jim: you did a great job capturing the look while scaling things down a bit. reminds me of some of the work rand was adding to his cykadelic central. are the bases made from foal as well ... and is there a way of attaching them to the layout or do they just rest on the top. btw, been enjoying your recent articles and photo work in the last couple of issues of the mag. love to see how you can maintain the same level of realism in 3 rails as well as 2 ... now thats the mark of a talented modeler! keep at it.

bob: thanks for the shots ... i'm considering adding a quonset hut as one of the choices for the next token build. your pictures would be great to use as reference shots. any chance you could get the dimensions and maybe a couple of more angle ... and an interior shot perhaps?

paul: unbelievable work my man ... really top shelf realism you are capturing in your scenes. those trees are wonderful, but its your placement of both them and the other lineside items that really sell the scenes. the debris along the right-of-way is perfect as is the color you used as the earth undercoat. love your latest scenery work on the layout ... and looking anxiously forward to more progress shots in the near future.

sofasloth: been following your mountain build since the beginning. thanks for taking the time to post the shots. like paul, your earth tones are spot on and really make such a difference. i always love doing the first paint job on a scenery project ... i find its usually the first time i can see the light at the end of the tunnel and acutaly inspires me to take it up a notch and get it done. great shots and great work.

trying to make up for my lack of action lately here on the forum this weekend with the first stage of my rural freight depot scratchbuild. i finally found the confidence to give this a shot after seeing all the great builds in the last token tuesday shared platform build.

a special thanks to vulcan whose work is second to none here and whose latest projects and helpful advice during the 'pre-build' phase really got me going in the right direction. he is a tremendous asset and the extra time and effort he spends in his posts, his patience, and his willingness to be contacted for help make him one of the reall good guys here on the forum ... thanks vulk for all your help and for explaining what 'board-and-batten' meant!

here goes:

quote:

Curious about the trees....are they Grand Central Gems or something else

Yes they are Grand Central Gems with a few Noch thrown in also. In my opinion if you are going to use bought trees then Grand Central gems is the only way to go.

quote:

Originally posted by bfishma:

... reminds me of some of the work Rand was adding to his cykadelic central. are the bases made from foam as well ... and is there a way of attaching them to the layout or do they just rest on the top.

I'd like to let loose someday the way Rand does so well, but I don't think the guys in the club up here are ready for something like that!

The lower levels are foam but with a luan plywood protective layer. I thought it was needed to keep the edges from taking a beating. We'll see how the whole thing holds up after a few shows!

We just set things in place on the layout to keep set up time down. Things usually stay in place.

You can't beat individual plank construction - very nice. The nail impressions make a big difference. I'm going to have to go that little bit extra on the next project and include them.

Jim

OK lets try this again...
Here is a Lionel Suburban station with a new deck and roof:

mark: wonderful work ... absolutely amazing stuff. what are you using for shingles?