Happy Sunday everyone hope everyone got lots of Great treats yesterday for Halloween!! This week on the showcase I would like to show you the latest Problem to surface along the right away on the Bellevue and Schenectady RR. Yes even the country's economic downturn has reached this area and closed one of the RR's customer's-The Bellevue Brassiere Company. And since its closure, the unwanted's have taken over the plant and are trying to make it home.This blight was created by the notorious gang from Garfield-Maria and Mark. Enjoy and show us those Scenery Projects-big, small and everything in between!!! Happy Railroading!!!-Don Klose

Here is the building info:

Measurements,
15 inches high to the top of the billboard,
base 6x6

Building stats

Building completed on all 4 sides using Plastruct old brick and cinder block foundation
Windows broken to give it an abandoned look with steel industrial casement windows. Side fire escapes, piping on building side and roof details.
Hand painted company name and creeping wall vines,

The graffiti on the building are made with decal stock. They are custom made.

On the ground floor the Homies are having a good time with some of the goods that were left behind when the company closed. One of them decided to do a little wall graffiti on the staircase wall.The guys out on the dock.... well they are just having some fun!

The fire in the bucket in the dock area is made using an Evan's Design Fire LED Set. It is placed inside the bucket and works on 12VDC. The flashing orange & yellow LEDs produce a great looking fire effect.

Middle level has silhouettes of sewing machines and mannequins

The third floor is the electrical CT room. Inside some of the local homies are trying to hot wire the old factory's electrical service and are in a dangerous situation. Five homies are holding cables and trying to attach them in the electric service. The service panel is made using Grandt Line Meter Pan & Breaker Boxes & the CT Cabinet is homemade.

The electric arcing effect is made by using two Evan Design Welding LED sets. This give a great bright arcing effect that lights up the whole room. A total of 6 LEDS from the 2 LEDs are used. Inside the room is filled tag art graffiti on the walls, Weeds and waste left over from the former owner.

The rooftop features a scratch built billboard that has seen better days. The main frame is built with spruce and broken in spots to the aged effect then stained with Floquil stain. The board was then overlaid with two different billboard arts. The bottom one is for Chevrolet and the overlaid art is for the old Blitz Beer. It is made torn and ragged showing each piece of artwork on the board. The uprights are Plastruct Trusses and the old lamp heads are made by Banta Model works.

The rest of the rooftop has 3 plumbing vents, A Korber smoke jack & a rooftop ventilator.

Don that's one cool and unique building, wish I had thought of that!

The Sharky building is essentially done,
The USO is ready and we are waiting for the Arttista bus to arrive next week for the "Hanger Dance"

Don, Ray, both of those models just blew me away. That distressed billboard is terrific!

I haven't been too motivated to work on the layout the past few months. This past week, that changed. I relocated one structure to add a gas station.

Here's that old rust bucket that Gomer keeps saying he's going to fix up. The more I look at this photo, the more work I see that still needs doing. I'm going to move the old car back, further into the brush, make the bushes look better, and add some more stains to the ground.





An over all view of the gas station I made from an Ameritown garage kit. The pumps and soda machine will be replaced with better ones soon.



Here's a shot when the gas station was temporarily placed.



Jim

Don I really like all the detail in your new addition, the fire lights from Evans design look great!

Ray fantastic job, that USO hall looks spot on!

Jim excellent job of converting the garage into a nice rural gas station.
Great work guys!

Nice details Guys as always.
Great work Ray!

Hat's off to Atlas O.
This CNW common scheme has never been made in O scale before.

This weeks weathering...

WOW, great job everyone!!
Don and Ray you both did outstanding jobs on those buildings, nice attention to details.
Steve, that box car looks great.
Jim, your gas station conversion makes me want to redo the Ameri-Towne garage that I already finished.

Here's what I have been working on this week, the stock yard to almost finished...





and the Moonville station has been moving along, still need to do allot of detailing though...





After spending most of the day yesterday painting 16 figures I now have a new appreciation for ALL finished figures.

Paul

Jim you nailed that gas station, feel like I've been there

Sirt the winter scene has always been one of my favorites and the weathering on the North Western makes it fit in beautifully

Paul you really have an eye for coming up with neat scenes.
I've never seen that cattle corral look so good!

Paul,
How did you do that nice lush grass in the corral?

Another beautiful Sunday showcase, nice work everyone!

Jaabat, that gas station really takes me back to my youth, thanks

More weeds in progress:






Keep the pictures coming!

Jim,

Weeds are AWESOME! I beautiful detail - I love the wild flowers!

Another great Sunday Showcase everyone!

Patty

Great work everybody!

I'm working on some cold metal castings. I'm just trying make them more cost effective and less time consuming.

One is real, one isn't

Dave

The one on the right is real?

King,
Fantastic job on the casting. I'll take the easy road out and say that they are both real.

Dave,
Awesome photo! Neat to see them side by side. I am going to guess the one on the left is the real one... but the one on the right LOOKS older.

Patty

This is a really fun Sunday Scenic Showcase folks!

I made good progress on Fallingwater this week. Currently working on the 1rst floor windows and terrace walls and making myself do at least 1/2 hour of stonework at the end of everyday working on it - except on Sundays of course!





The detail shows how I soldered small hooked pieces of brass tubing to an angled section of brass for the floating stairs. I painted then epoxyied the 2 pieces into place and will add the stair treads soon.

Patty

This message has been edited. Last edited by: MiniRR,

Patty,
Fallingwater is really looking good. I'm so glad you have joined us.

Thanks Jim - for both comments!

I was hoping to finish the first floor today, but I my eyes are going a little buggy after wrestling a bit too long with the corner windows. Time to head to Sonic for a chili dog and call it a day!

Patty

Great showcase, everyone!!

Some quick shots.







Jim, what did you use for ground debris around the weeds?

quote:

-The Bellevue Brassiere Company

Ah, what Miller Engineering could do with this jewel as a rooftop enhancement!!

Although, I doubt Mrs. Slocum ("Are You Being Served?") would approve!

KD

Vulcan,

Your weathering and detail work is outstanding!

Patty

quote:

Originally posted by MiniRR:
Thanks Jim - for both comments!

I was hoping to finish the first floor today, but I my eyes are going a little buggy after wrestling a bit too long with the corner windows. Time to head to Sonic for a chili dog and call it a day!

Patty

What are your stones made of?

collectthem,
I'm using thin shavings of actual sandstone that is cut in strips with a cutting wheel on a dremel. The small waffer thin slices lift right off the stone I'm collecting it from with a little help from a putty knife. A little goes a long way.

Patty

quote:

Originally posted by MiniRR:
Vulcan,

Your weathering and detail work is outstanding!

Patty

Thanks, Patty.

Very nice work everyone!

Thanks fopr sharing

I have not been working on the layout the past few weeks, but rather finishing my basement before I do any more to the layout.

Complete most of the framing this weekend. Still more to go.

quote:

Jim, what did you use for ground debris around the weeds?

Vulcan,
The ground debris around the weeds is baling twine chopped up and a few dried leave also chopped up.

Thanks. I really like it.

I've heard of somebody else that uses Jute macrame for weeds, etc. But I haven't been able to find any around here. And I'm not all that comfortable shopping in the needlepoint sections of the crafts store.

Vulcan,
Hope you don't mind me reposting your picture. The 1 week transition is just so impressive. Did you make this from scratch?

Or, you could try building some scenes out of just toothpicks...millions of them!!!



And we just pick our teeth with them...!

Patty.......WOW!!!!!!!Falling Water is my favorite place to visit. I had studied the building for years before my first visit. When I walked into the living room it was like a 10 year old at Disneyland!! I've thought about building one for my layout but it would never be as nice as yours.....WOW....again!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Jim M:
Vulcan,
Hope you don't mind me reposting your picture. The 1 week transition is just so impressive. Did you make this from scratch?

Yes, it's all scratch, mostly from styrene. It runs, but not as well as I'd like. I'll try to figure out why, later, when I feel like trying to figure out why. The dog hairs are optional, except for me.

Sometimes you have to just walk away.............. for a while.

Stu, I've been seeing on the news alot lately where a guy built a full size stagecoach from toothpicks.

Thanks Vulcan, it really looks great.

quote:

Originally posted by Vulcan:
Stu, I've been seeing on the news alot lately where a guy built a full size stagecoach from toothpicks.

A guy's gotta have a hobby, right? He just hasn't discovered 3RS yet!!!

Nice work everybody!

I had to wait till 1:00 am to see all of the posts. It was worth the wait!

Patty, Falling Water is looking great!

Jim, Wish I had room for a barn. I would have you and Leslie build another for me!

The one on the left is the real deal.

Dave

This message has been edited. Last edited by: King Mouse,

Patty

That is a very impressive rendition of Falling Water. Your choice of form, textures, and coloring is so true to the original, I think you should consider publishing an article in some architectural history journal...Maybe "Architect?" or "Architectural Review?"

Great look this week all. Patty, my next trip to the Science Center, will be with high anticipation of your wonderful model.

Thank you all.
Mike CT

quote:

Originally posted by Kunde:
Paul,
How did you do that nice lush grass in the corral?

Mark, The grass is a "pot topper" from Michaels, it's a 4 inch round disk with Silflor on one side to simulate grass and what looks like ground up tea leaves on the other to simulate dirt. They use them to cover the top of, dress up, potted plants, you have to cut a hole in it for the plant to pop through the middle. It's fairly thick, about 3/4", and stuffed with poly-fill so I split it in half and pulled off as much of the poly fill as I could, it started to come apart when I pulled too much off, then glued it in place by breaking it up in patches. I filled in the gaps between them with sand to create a somewhat level surface then sprinkled ground foam and finished it with static grass. There was a mention of the pot topper in last months CTT that Kent Johnson used on his layout, I just took it a little further.

Paul

Nice work everyone!

@Dave -- those look great; are they cast in bronze?

@Vulcan -- wow, indeed! That's a great model you've crafted there; your weathering is top-notch.

@Jim -- you need some old rusted equipment discarded among those weeds.

Didn't do much on my home layout this week, but yesterday, while Patty was working on that fantastic model of Fallingwater, I set about replacing all the old lights in the amusement park:



While I was up there I also took the time to clean up Noah's Ark, refreshing the hillside with new trees and such:

I thought my subscription to Fine Scale Modeling ran out.

My new broken record seems to only play one line: "You guys are good!".

- walt

Stephen,
Where did you get the idea for the Noah's Ark? Does it move? Sounds?

Chris
LVHR

Chris --

Noah's Ark is part of the amusement park in the Miniature Railroad & Village, at the Carnegie Science Center (Pittsburgh). It rocks back and forth.

Kinda based on the one at Kennywood.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Slugger,

Stephan,
I looked at that picture and immediately had but one thought: Kennywood!

Chris
LVHR

Jim, the weeds turned out great!! I really like the combination of the rocks and weeds, it looks so real. Nice job!!

Paul

SLUGGER,
Why did the old-fashioned lights get replaced? I kinda' liked them.

Will the Carousel or Dipper rides return anytime soon?

Last I was there, the teacup-style ride needed refreshening. The traction tires were split/missing and the "cars" barely spun.

The amusement park area has always been my favorite part of the MRRV, ever since I was a kid.

quote:

Originally posted by springoflife:
SLUGGER,
Why did the old-fashioned lights get replaced? I kinda' liked them.

Will the Carousel or Dipper rides return anytime soon?

Last I was there, the teacup-style ride needed refreshening. The traction tires were split/missing and the "cars" barely spun.

The amusement park area has always been my favorite part of the MRRV, ever since I was a kid.

The old-fashioned lights were replaced for numerous reasons: the bulbs were difficult to replace (some of the replacement bulbs melted the plastic housing), they didn't stand up very well (both remaining vertical and long-time duration), and the general consensus was that they didn't look right (somewhat small compared to the figures).

One of our technicians was working diligently to restore the Carousel for next season. As for the Leap-the-Dips, unfortunately that will require substantially more effort to get into any type of shape for reliable operation (one of the reasons for trouble was the type of HO track used).

We're kind of short on time this year (the date fell a couple events fell late this year, necessitating us to remain open longer), and there were a couple other areas that took precedence, so unfortunately no "major" repairs will be effected onto the amusement park...this year.

(The amusement park si one of my favorite parts too! )

Thank you!

Keenywood and Carnegie Science center was my father's and is my inspiration to build the o scale rides. Can't wait to get back to Pittsburgh and see them both again. Just finished a lift and many ask where is that from? Old time Kennywood visitors knew of that kiddieland ride. Thanks for the pics brings back great memories. Fallingwater hope to see finished pics.
Kevin Jones
scalecarnivalrides.com