Richlawn Railroad: July 2010

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Hoovertown residential construction begins

I've finally started to do the residential area behind the Hoovertown business district. As with the business district I want to do the work off the layout, so the first step is to make a removable support structure. Once the support structure is completed, I'll remove it from the layout and place it on my work table to add the streets, landscape, structures, etc.

I wanted something light and easy to work with, so I opted to try for the first time PVC lattice. I know that it's expensive compared to wood, but I like that you can bend sharp curves (using a heat gun) and that using the standard PVC primer and clamps can work very fast. For you engineer types this may look over-engineered and you are probably correct. I never claimed to be an engineer!

The next step will be to add a 2" thick foam top to the PVC base and then add individual foam pieces to get the contours I want. As you can see in the back left of this picture where the track crosses over itself there is a big change from in track heights around this area. So, basically the foam top of this area will have to be built up more on the left and even more in the left rear.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Roy's Safe & Lock at Night

You can see the customer talking to Roy behind the counter. Maybe he's getting some keys cut....or just chewing the fat. Looks like Roy is having another sale on his large safes.

Pretty much the same angle shot with my room lights off.

It's subtle, but the lighting is different in different rooms & floors.

Maybe some day I can get some good shots with the exposure correct.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Roy's Safe & Lock Kitbash

Well, it's almost done. Here are some pix.

Little Gold House

I'm finishing up my latest wood structure kit - this one is by Mountaineer Precision Products (Kit #1) called "Historic Little Blue House - LaGrange, Kentucky". It's based on a real structure that is still standing in Kentucky. As you can see I didn't finish it in blue. I usually don't finish a structure in the same color as the kit shows and I prefer gold for this kit.

The kit has a 6" x 5" footprint and is well made. The gold color is actually a chaulk that I rubbed on the wood. I really like the way it doesn't fill the pores of the wood and allows the grain to show.

The foundation is kind of wacky in that it's two layers of wood. I used putty to fill the crack between the layers and painted it a concrete gray.

The differences in the shades of gold is the natural result of applying the chaulk and then handling the structure.

The roof stack didn't come with the kit. It's a piece of brass tubing that is drilled out the inside to thin the wall. The metal roof is painted gray, then brushed with a very thin solution of metalic silver and thinner. I used chaulks to add dirt and rust to the silver/gray.

All the pictures of the kit show three chimneys; however, the kit only came with two and the roof was only notched for two.

There were some fairly large gaps where the chimneys went into the roof. I used my old "tar" formula to fill the gaps (gray paint & white glue). I take some of the tar out of the bottle and let it dry and thicken to the point where it will fill the gaps.

See those two verticle lines? I don't know what caused them!

The porch columns are plastic. I liked the detail wood work on the front of the porch. The little house will probably be part of the neighborhood in the back of Hoovertown.