Man with average sized fingers builds a medium sized railroad

In reply to Appleseed :

His Shapeway vendor name is "madaboutcars".  I'm not posting a link because I don't want anyone blaming me if that information costs them a BUNCH of money.  He's got TONS of cool stuff in N and some HO scale.  If you chose to search it, that's on you.  

Sweet Mitchell BTW. 

Got the yard tower painted and assembled today.  

Still haven't decided for sure where we're going to put it.  One possible location:

I dig it.

Added a few small items tonight.  Added a sign and a radio antenna to the Tower.  Also added the ice machine that Google Earth says is on the "back porch" of the yard office.  I also copied a sign for the yard, manually changing the "Days since the last accident" to zero.  This is kind of another "inside joke", since my son thinks it's hilarious to gently bump the end of the freight train into the spur bumper causing a string derailment that takes me about 10 minutes to reset.  At least one of us thinks it's hilarious . . . 

Are you going to add any mortar to the joints? Any easy way to do this is to smear in joints compound for drywall. I used my index finger to do this:

In reply to Appleseed :

Sooo . . . gave it a try.  I think it looks better than before, but it came out a bit more mottled than I wanted.  Probably need to work on technique a bit.  It's definitely more visually interesting, though.

Maybe try another application? If you couldn't tell, I liked mine coming out blotchy/patchy. I know that's not the look you are going for. Maybe wait a little longer before you wipe it off. I used my fingers to wipe it down as well.  Then a dry paper towel in a criss cross pattern to wipe it down finally.  The first few times I wiped the compound completely out of the joints, so technique definitely plays a big part.

Just a couple misc. items I've gotten done in the last few days.  Got a section of road "roughed in". 

Also got some more lighting connected up.  This involved adding another feed and bus board, so it was a fair amount of work.  I should be set up to finish the lighting on the last "open" segment of the layout, which will be a maintenance/fueling area.  

Also painted up my police car.  As delivered (not bad, but doesn't look like anything around here)

About an hours worth of painting later:

Today's addition to the train room - it's only "sort of" train related.  We got a new TV for the living room, so Kazookid2 and I inherited the old one.  There's no cable hook up (internet only), so it'll be mostly for streaming virtual railfan while we're working. 

Finished this vignette up today.  Wish I could figure out how to download movies, because the light effect is pretty cool.  I'm calling it "The Patience of Job", and it's dedicated to an LEO/First Responder who's ever had to stand roadside in the freezing cold listening to a wild story about why this "isn't my fault".  

If what's happened here isn't completely clear, this site should explain it:
11 foot 8

In reply to kazoospec :

That is great.

Amazing.

Fun fact, even after they raised the 11 foot 8 bridge, some trucks still skim off their A/C units or corners of the roof on it.

kazoospec said:

If what's happened here isn't completely clear, this site should explain it:
11 foot 8

I should not have enjoyed that as much as I did.  Thanks for sharing, lol!

Finished up another "mythical" family business for the layout.  This one was my first "commercial kit".  Gotta say, it's nice not spending 3 or 4 days cutting walls, doors, windows and bricks.  

Interior shots:

Here's the kit: Cheap 3 story kit

The kit maker (Outland Models) is VERY hit or miss on quality.  They made the "auto shop" kit that I bought mainly for the lift, tire rack, car with the hood up, etc.  The building was so bad that I tossed it.  The detail parts were excellent. 

EDIT:  Confession time, I ran out of room for wires and didn't really have any inspiration for the third floor, so I just put a "for rent" sign in the window.  

Not a major project, but I got a few pumps made for a fueling station that I'll start on when my "bucket o' track" arrives.

In reply to kazoospec :

I often forget just how tiny all these piece are until you show a tool or something in the pic for reference. 

The layout now has 100% more Miatas.  I painted one up pretty quickly last night.  I used some of my "touch up paint" from the 1:1 scale Miata and was reminded of 2 things:  1. Auto paint is terrible on small objects and 2. paint on small objects always looks about 2 shades darker than on larger objects.  The model itself is brilliant, and I've got 8 more to play around with, so I'll definitely get it right before I'm done.  Now that we have a car on the layout, I'll try to find the right figures to add Kazookid2 and I railfanning.  

Also, since we now have transportation, today I added N Scale Kazoospec and Kazookid2 "railfanning". 

ClemSparks said:

kazoospec said:

No If what's happened here isn't completely clear, this site should explain it:
11 foot 8

I should not have enjoyed that as much as I did.  Thanks for sharing, lol!

We've got not one but two very low bridges in town, both under the CSX main line which goes right through town on a rising grade from south to north. They will never get raised, which means not truck is safe. And it's a college town with a huge transient population twice each year.

kazoospec said:

Finished this vignette up today.  Wish I could figure out how to download movies, because the light effect is pretty cool.  I'm calling it "The Patience of Job", and it's dedicated to an LEO/First Responder who's ever had to stand roadside in the freezing cold listening to a wild story about why this "isn't my fault".  

If what's happened here isn't completely clear, this site should explain it:
11 foot 8

Reminds me of the model railroad I saw that had the Onondaga Lake Parkway Bridge with a truck stuck under it. Its a 10'9" railroad bridge that trucks smash into every 2 months or so. The bottom of the bridge is painted bright orange now, and there are warning sign a starting like 2 miles back and they still hit it

Today, I'm fighting the urge to spend money I don't have.  More precisely, money I spent a couple weeks ago.  I was browsing through FB marketplace the other day looking for, of all things, 2' gauge railroad stuff (based on discussions on the railroad sports thread).  I was sure I had seen some recently, but didn't find anything.

What I did find, however:

This is the old yard sign for a decommissioned yard about 5 miles from us.  

In reply to kazoospec :

Not to be an enabler, but you'll probably never find something like that again if you don't buy it now. 

slowbird said:

In reply to kazoospec :

Not to be an enabler, but you'll probably never find something like that again if you don't buy it now. 

Yeah, I know, but I've been murdering the budget lately, so . . .

I put in a total low ball offer (which would only involve great bodily harm to the budget), and the seller came down from his asking price, but so far he's holding out for more than my offer.  I'm kind of glad he didn't counter with a bit lower price or my already suspect reserves of self control might have been overwhelmed. 

Not sure if you are interested: Kato passenger cars