Mountain Construction Continues

Another day, another few feet of mountains. They've now advanced their way around the outside of Horseshoe Curve and have started their way around the inside as well. My construction method was the same as previously described. The exception is the small park on the inside of the curve. I made this with a piece of two-inch foam cut to the right shape with a hot knife. I laid it atop a pair of scrap 1 x 3s. I then covered over it with plaster-soaked paper towels.

More Mountains

 I finally got back to building mountains last night after a prolonged break for building structures. I've started extending the ridge around Horseshoe Curve. For the previously-constructed mountains, I used Woodland Scenics plaster cloth. I've used this on my previous layouts with great success. However, there is a drawback, an 8-foot roll costs $11. It didn't take me long to realize that using it to build a mountainous layout such as this would send me to the poor house!

With the cost factor in mind, I set about finding a cheaper alternative. What I came up with is simple and cost effective. I mixed up a very viscous batch of plaster of Paris and dipped paper towels in it. I then laid the plaster-soaked towels over wadded up newspaper. This method is pretty old school, but it works and it costs a fraction of what plaster cloth costs.

While I was at it, I also added a Chooch Enterprises retaining wall, which I painted Tamiya Red Brown, to the area near Kittaning Point station.I also planted some more lichen on the mountain.

Finished Cornerstone's Backshop Kit

The latest addition to the Altoona Shop complex is the Cornerstone Backshop kit. The backshop is where steam locomotives requiring major repairs (a job that took three days or more to complete) were sent. I painted the walls Floquil "Boxcar Red," the trim Floquil "Concrete," the roof Floquil "Grimy Black," and the garage doors Testors Silver.

After the paint dried, I used some cheap grey acrylic paint to fill in the mortar lines on the brick walls. Once assembled I added the decals, put on a coat of weather wash and the hit the whole thing with a generous helping of black chalk. With vast number of steam engines in the shop and running on the main line, this building would be covered with soot and cinders. After chalk, I hit the building with a coat of Dulcote.

Streamliners at Spencer

This weekend, the North Carolina Transportation Museum hosted "Streamliners at Spencer." It was a truly phenominal event and I'm glad I got to go. It was nice to see some 1:1 scale trains.

Group Shot

N&W 611

FT Demonstrator

Juniata Terminal E8

Alco FA4

Finished the House Kit From Hell

Oh my God, what a holy terror this kit was to put together! The "Tower House" is my first Branchline Trains kit. Now, laser-cut wood kits are in general a bit more difficult to put together than plastic but this one was tough by wood standards.

First of the instructions just plain suck! They really don't do a good job of telling you which parts go where and how they're supposed to fit together. As a result, I had to pull pieces apart and re-assemble them several times.

If that weren't enough, a number of pieces simply didn't fit together the way the instructions said they should. This led to just whole lot of hair pulling, teeth gnashing and cursing at walls. Honestly, the folks Branchline should have measured twice before they fired up the old wood zapper!

As for paint, I went with Floquil "Depot Buff" of the walls, "Boxcar Red" on the trim and "Grimy Black" on the roof.

So yeah, definitely not a good first impression for Branchline Trains. But unfortunately other than the previously-mentioned Model Power kits, they're pretty much the only game in town in terms of house kits.

Time Warp!

With My K4 off for a rebuilding, I decided to fire up the flux capacitor and move the layout into a different era. The year is 1996, The Macarana is at the top of the charts, Bill Clinton is not having sex with "that woman" and Conrail was running the show.

Finished Model Power's "Decorated Christmas House" and a Motive Power Update

I finished the last of the Model Power house kits. This one comes with Christmas decorations printed on it. I had originally intended to just paint over them. But then my wife saw the kit and since Christmas is her favorite holiday, she convinced me to leave it as is. No paint, no weathering, just a coat of Dulcote to kill the plasicty shine.

Now there's one little problem with keeping the Christmas decorations, my layout is set in the summer! Oh well, there's always one or two tasteless rubes who leave them up all year round. A bit more problematic is the color scheme MP decided to go with, baby blue windows on white walls, yuck. But since the guy that owns the place is obviously a tasteless rube, the ugly colors can be excused. Anyway, that's it for the Model Power house kits.

In other news, I've sent my Minitrix K4 off to be re-motored and re-geared. Even with the addition of all-wheel tender pickup, it still runs far too fast and too rough for my liking. I'll have more once I get the engine back.