Chappee water tower. 1/35 scale.

For a challenge on Railroad-line forums I decided to build a wAter tower to go on my French tramway layout that still remains to be named. I have been modeling very little lately and hopefully this will be just the boost I needed. I found pics and plans with added on measurements for this project a while ago online at LePress forums I think so thank you to whoever posted these initially and even more so to whoever added on the measurements.

Theast issue of Voie Libre , a French narrow gauge mag, had some info on these as well. These towers were mass produced by Chapee foundry in LeMans from the 1880s. This mag is available I. English translation in digital format from a website called Zinio. No affiliation with either the mag or the site, just if anyone cares for this info.

I will build this contraption out of plasticard and post my progress here.

Until then….
Alex

Layout Construction: part 3. Complete track plan rework.

The initial track plan did not work out. The custom made turnouts that were supposed to go in didn’t prove reliable. Accordingly I decided to simplify things so I went with Walters shinohara #4s dcc ready ones. The plan itself was changed completely as well now being a simpler run through station in a small town outskirts with one industrial siding.

The turnout controls I went with are bullfrogs from Fast Tracks. At 6$ a kit the price is right and they work really smooth and reliably. The kit takes about 20 minutes to assemble. However these things are really strong and put a fair bit of pressure onto the turnout. Accordingly I had to secure all the track work with Gorilla Strength glue.

The running quality of the little decauville however remains below acceptable and something remains to be done.

This is basically how the state of affairs looks like on the layout. Next I need to finalize the track work and start burrying it all in groundwork.

Until next time

Thanks for looking

1/35 Stone House: another insufoam build

I am growing more and more fond of insulation foam as a building material for a multitude of modelling purposes. Mainly though: buildings. It is incredibly easy to carve, shape, glue, paint, weather, etc. And no less important, it is dirt cheap!!! In fact, I am so fond of it that I decided to scrap the idea of using MINIART buildings on the layout, and scratchbuild everything from foam.

Over the last month or so I have put together this background flat for my 1/35 tram layout. All in all it did not take too many hours to complete, and is the most satisfactory one I’ve built out of foam to date. Therefore I decided to write up its construction process for anyone to reference if you choose to try this great modeling media.

1) I laid the dimencions of the future structure out on a piece of foam, including all the window and door openings, and carefully cut it out using a #11 xacto blade. I find that the best way to make the cuts is to go multiple times, but light at constant depth with your cut rather than trying to go deeper or zig zaging up and down. This way the cuts turn out fairly  straight and even.

2) Next came the most time consuming part: the actual carving. The stones are more or less random sizes, so no ruler was requires, however if I was to carve a brick structure, the process would easily double in time required. I carved each stone in a way that it was separated from the next by a thin strip of “mortar”. (IE Carved one, shifted over 1-2mm and carved the next instead of carving one on to p of another) This way the mortar lines appear thicker, as opposed to stones being simply piled on top of one another. At this point I also cut out and carved the under roof pieces, as well as the far side of the wall and the smoke stack piece. (the building is not exactly a flat, but will stand at an angle to the viewer)

3)Next I glued the pieces together. I used PVA type glue, and reinforced the joints by inserting toothpick pieces into the joint, also set on glue. (FYI any solvent based glue might melt the foam, therefore I would avoid using these all together)4) Next I started on the painting process. By first applying a basecoat of tan acrylic paint both on the outside and the inside of the walls. I made sure it was a thick and even coat, so that in case I was to add lights inside the building there would be no thin spots that would let the light through.   (FYI, just like the glue, any solvent based paint might melt the foam, therefore, the safe bet is to stay with acrylics only)

From here I went on to apply a number of aclylic washes of black, brown, yellow, etc nature until I felt I have achieved the look I was after. Once all that has dried I dabbed on white paint in a dry brushing manner to capitalize on the weathered effect.

As you may see, I tried to apply cut out rectangles of tape midway through the weathering/washing process to represent the places where signs once used to be, but the washes sipped under the tape anyways and that idea did not really work out.

5) Next came the roofing part. The base was simply cut out from cardstock, covered with 2 sided tape, followed by a layer of shingles, made of strips of black poster board with grey, white, etc streaks of acrylic painted on. I will not go into the details of the method, since it is not of my own invention, and was actually described by Troels Kirk on RRLine forums here: . The author’s shingles turned out way better than mine, but this was my first attempt, and I know what to improve on.

  

6) Windows came next. They were scratchbuilt from stripwood, finished with AI mix and dry brushed with white acrylic paint. I used no jigs, to put these together, but simply put them together piece by piece on top of a pre-cut to size piece of acetate.

7) Some detailing to bring the structure to life includes scratch built mailbox, door handle, flag pole support base, smoke stack pipes and the centerpiece of the building, old-style lamp. The lamp is a etched brass kit acquired off eBay by a company named “ET-Etch” I believe, and is designed to be used to improve the bulky appearance of Miniart lamps that are included in their building kits, and does a good job at it for that matter. The base and roof of the lamp are still plastic pieces from the original kit, but the “ironwork” is brass etchings. I inserted a light bulb into it with the intent of lighting it up one day , whenever that comes with my snail’s pace of progress.

8)Next I printed up some graphics on an color inkjet printer to finish off the appearance, and here is what the house looks like in the end.

Thanks for looking

Happy modeling

Alex

Layout Construction: Part 2 (setting up track)

Since the last post I have collected all the track and cut it out and laid it out. The turnouts as you can see are Kato #4′s (some are cut down shorter), the flextrack is Peco I believe. All code 83.I hooked it all up to an NCE DCC starter system, and tried running the loco on it (the Decauville built on a bachmann side rod frame). At first it ran extremely crappy if at all. After adjusting and tweaking and oiling and breaking in it is doing slightly better, but still is jerky and stalls a lot on low speeds and on turnouts, since the frogs are plastic–didnt think this would be a problem when buying, crap.(any suggestions as to this matter are appreciated). I thought these are supposed to be smooth runners, I’m surprised. My second unmodified siderod loco runs equally crappy . I am thinking maybe to solder all the rail together, etc—might help.Other than that Im out of options.

Thanks for Looking

Alex

Layout Construction: Part 1 (Building the shadowbox)

Finally, after much thought and procrastination, this week I’ve put together a simple box that’ll house the future 1/35n2 mini. The box is made of 1.5″ x .75″ boards and measures 50″x20″x24″ overall. It is assembled with 2 types of braces: corner and straight, and came out pretty sturdy, although I might still reinforce the ceiling and floor parts. Then the base of 1/2″ pink foam was inserted, which will be glued to the framework with carpenter’s glue.

Furthermore, the trackplan is currently being reworked to accomodate commercial #4 turnouts, and will be posted soon…hopefully.

Until then, happy RRing

Alex

1/35 (If) Open Wagon Finished

Havent posted anything for a while not for the lack of progress (there has been some), but for the lack of pictures of the progress. Camera got lost once again and I found it just today. This project has been going in stages and about a month ago, I finished off the final stage: the hardware. Everything is scratchbuilt from stripwood, plastruct shapes and Grandt line NBW’s. (the construction of the frame is described in the 1st post on this project) Overall it was an easy build nd I think it turned out well, for the time that I’ve put into it. The corned bracing irons, came out poorly, but by the time I realized that they are crap, it was too late, and I figured….Ill make it work. The boards are treated with AI solution, and drybrushed with acrylic paint. The hardware is sprayed with testors flat black, washed with acrylic washes and dusted with Bragdon’s powders.

Here are some photos of the final product.

PS: As you can see on the shot with the Decauville, the coupling height is way off, and its a problem I havent come up with a solution for yet. I initially planned to use the loco strictly with Koppel dump cars and made the couplers to match their height. Lated I decided to build a common carrier…..(any suggestions on how prototypes might have solved this issue without moving the actual couplers around?)

Thanks for looking, happy RR’ing

Alex

Building the “O” scale Crow River “Stationary Gas Engine”

I got this white metal kit in the mail along with a bunch of other goodies a few weeks ago, and decided to start building it, to use it to “power” the Sugar cane hoist I’ve build last year, but haven’t described here yet.

1)I began building the kit by filing and sanding the flash off the parts. I havent done too many white metal kits before this one, but the flash was not bad and it took me about 15 min to get rid of it all.

2) I began by painting all the parts with a flat black Krylon primer out of a spray can. I did not particularly care that it fully covers, because more coats of other spray were to follow, so it wouldn’t matter

3) Then I assembled together the base, water tank and cylinder of the engine, as is suggested in the instructions, since these should be painted as a single unit
4)Next came a quick coat of Valspar Terracotta, once again out of a spray can.

5)After this I left all the parts dry overnight, something that I should make a habit of.

6) Next DAy I began by test fitting all the parts, and making sure they all come together fine, by filing down, and drilling out. These operations were minimal though.

7) Then a random series of acrylic washes of various earthy and rusty colours came, followed by an AI wash

8) Once dry this was followed by a few coats of hairspray, and left to dry.

9) Then I brush-painted all the surfaces that needed paint with an Acrylic “Plantation Green” and let dry.

10) Next day I tried to scrape away at the painted surfaces with a stiff dry and then moist brush, but nothing happened, and if anything did, that took the paint off along with all the layers up to the terra cotta (SHIT!!!!!) the moral of this step, therefore is….stick with what works!!!! (rubber cement method for me)

11) Next I assembled all the white metal parts and did the skid (scraped lightly with an x-act knife and AI’d it)

12)Finally brushed it with Bragdon’s Dark and Light Rust colours as well as Soot.

13)Took pictures

14)still to come sparkplug, wire and carburator…….that’ll need to be scratchbuilt….soon

Pics of some of the steps outlined above, as well as some final ones:

Alex

Campbell Shed O scale

This here is an old project of mine: a corrugated metal shed from Campbell Scale Models. The first craftsman structure I’ve ever built. Like with many things I do, I like a run down look, but sometimes do not know where to stop, and overweather. I need to do something about this obsession with grime dirt and rust!!! I have added some extra detail to the thing to give it some life, and this is what came out:

Here are some pics:

Alex

Argent Lumber Photos

In undergrad I took a course on legal history. One useful thing I took away from it is that archives have lots of absolutely golden info on the subjects of railroads, which keeps proving true again and again. Argent Lumber photos are hard to come by, but today I discovered another gold mine. Here is the link: http://www.sc.edu/library/digital/collections/Railroads.htm search for “Argent” and here are a few argent pics for those lazy ones who wont read the post and just want the pics….If youre one of those…youre missing out.!!!!! Jokes are on you!!!

Enjoy!!!

Alex

New Decauville Builder Plates just came in!!!

Builder plates for the 1/35th decauville came in. These were custom etched by narrowplanet.co.uk and I like how these came out, keeping in mind that these are about 5mm x 7mm. # 303 is going on this loco and the rest are just in case. The problem is I already applied the #7 brass plates in place of the bulder plates with superglue. Now ill have to somehow rip it off without damaging the cab wall itself…well see.

Alex