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M Graff

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  1. M Graff
    As it was shown in another forum a scratchbuilt Camelback, I just felt like that was something I had to try!
    The one shown was a 0-6-0 type, but I don't have any suitable donors for that....
    After looking in the Steam locomotive cyclopedia, I saw a Reading 2-8-0 Camelback.
    That meant we were in business!
     
    To give some insight into the project we start by showing the donor for the conversion:

    A Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 Consolidation with a Soundtraxx decoder (retrofitted). It's a fantastic locomotive in relation to the price. But as I have too many, it would be fun to be able to convert it into a "more appropriate" locomotive ....
     
    Bachmann's locomotive is very similar with an Illinois Central locomotive, but not with a Camelback:

    Here is the locomotive on top of the drawing of an IC 2-8-0 locomotive.
     
    Camelback locomotives with a 2-8-0 wheel arrangement is a little bit smaller however, at least the kind I have the drawings of.

    It all works but will be convincing with some selective compression, or rather expansion as the donor engine is a bit longer in the wheelbase ....
     
    I started by removing the shell from the locomotive and removed all lose parts! : O
    Then I made a new boiler of Plasticard, I made it by rolling plasticard on a metal tube of suitable diameter (22 mm in my case), and then dip it in boiling water for 5 minutes. When it cooled, it retains the shape!
     
    I took the cab from the donor and made a new rear end that fitted the boilers shape. Then I did the fire box in the same principle as the boiler, though I used a bent brass sheet for that form instead. The roof over the fireman is from an extra ALCO RS-3 cab I had in my scrap box.

    I glued the stack, domes, bell, air pump, alternator, and tanks in place and suddenly it starts to look like a locomotive!
     
    Here is the finished result:

     

    The coal tender is a bit on the large side though. A may be in order.....
    I will post more pics as the build continues.
     
     
    Source: The M-K & Eastern RR Harbour branch
  2. M Graff
    Hello in the summer heat
    I have always had a desire for a special locomotive for my layout.
    It all started when I read about the small port terminals in New York and the locomotives they were using.
    Central of New Jersey had an Ingersoll Rand locomotive that is one of the first commercially made diesel locomotives:

    A very beautiful locomotives in my opinion
    Then came Tim Warris with his Bronx Terminal in HO (an incredible layout).
    There he showed how to take a brass Boxcab and rebuild the drive to get it to run as well as it looks.
    The problem with just Boxcabs is that the only models that are available are either made of brass and costs a fortune, and runs like a bag of s**t.
    Or you may have to be be content with an old Roundhouse locomotives in plastic that is also going like muck ... Plus, you have to add the extra detailing to make it look reasonably good .....
    Neither option was very good
    I thought it would be nice to build one myself.
    One problem was that it was really tricky to get hold of the drawings of the locomotive.
    Luckily, as I am a member on a U.S. forum, where one of the members have recently built an I-R Boxcab in brass and in S-scale.
    I emailed him about the drawings and he emailed me back everything he had as PDFs

    I had to resize it a bit before I got the printouts right for HO.
    After some thoughts and inquiries, I finally found a locomotive that would do as a chassis donor:

    (See http://www.rmweb.co....__1#entry410924)

    Apparently it is a bit of a difference in length. but very acceptable to me.
    I decided that I would build the new body in plastic, which could be a challenge.
    I used 1, 0.5 and 0.25 mm plasticard and some profiles.

    This is about everything you need for the basic construction (needle files and tweezers are not in the picture).
    I drew up the parts with an ink-pen and drilled the corners of the windows before I cut them out with an Xacto-knife.


    This is "the base wall" , made of 0.5 mm plastic On to it, the embossed outer skins of 0.25 mm plastic will be applied. That way I get good stability in the body and a "plate-like" appearance.
    The chassis was shortened 4 mm on one side, and the entire original decoder with lights sent into the round-archive .
    I made two boards to mount my LED's and resistors on.
    The Lenz decoder was hard wired in and mounted above the motor, but under the weight.

    I made a new base of 1 mm plastic.
    This is how it looked after I glued the walls to the base:

    I made the outer skins and the inner window frames of 0.25 mm plastic.

    The outer skins, I placed (upside down) on the drawing, and used a self-made light table to emboss all the rivets with a needle in a wooden holder.

    I can now reveal, that when you venture into this kind of construction, without having tested the techniques, it can REALLY go down the drains!
    The picture that follows shows just that:

    First, it did not work out with my roof, it was formed like a Banana..... Luckily I found a roof in the scrap box that could be cut to shape and be used instead.
    It was not the biggest problem .......
    I had glued the body together and glued the window frames in place before applying the outer skins with the embossed rivets .
    It did not work out that way, so I started from scratch .
    But as I had done it once, it went rather quickly the second time ......
    The Chassi beams are plasticard I-beams 2.5 mm.
    I had almost feared the construction of the roof mounted radiators ....
    Fortunately, I had a piece of corrugated patterned plasticard. I shaped a piece of 0.5 mm metal in the right curvature, then I took the plastic, forcing it to follow the shape of the plate and secured it with clamps and then dipped the whole shebang in boiling water for a few minutes. When it had cooled down I had a row of convincing cooling tubes in the right shape!
    So here is the build as it stands right now, just some paint and small details remain:


    The exhaust pipes on the roof is turned from beech in a drill stand

    Scratchbuilding is FUN!
     
    Source: The M-K & Eastern RR Harbour branch
  3. M Graff

    Part 6: Shay conversion

    By M Graff,

    Hello in the cold .
    I took the opportunity while I'm still snowed in to address a couple of projects I have been keeping on the shelf.
    The first is my Shay locomotive. It is a H0 scale, 3 truck 80-ton Shay from Bachmann and their Spectrum series.

    The locomotive has led to many concerns, repairs and other headaches....
    The first thing that happened was that the Tsunami sound decoder that I ordered did not fit ....
    So I had to build a new tender shell from brass to make it fit:

    Then the drive gears on the drive line cracked one by one ... :? .
    Luckily, NWSL in the U.S. makes new gears made of steel instead of the originals that are in plastic!
    Then the locomotive worked "good", except that it was not possible to back up through a switch, because then the middle boogie would derail guaranteed.
    I was doing all sorts of adjustments and fine-tuning without much success.
    Then I thought: :-Aha! I can rebuild it.!
    I had already mounted the sound decoder in another of my locomotives (that happens ...),
    and I had just bought a Lenz Gold decoder, the foundation for the project was laid.
    I've always appreciated the look of two truck Shay´s, and to rebuild it from three truck to two truck ought to work.
    I dismantled the whole locomotive into pieces:

    And after some measurements I put the saw firmly to the chassis!
    I cut off a piece of the chassis behind the rear bolster and cut the tender chassie in the same place. I glued together the two halves with epoxy and reinforced the joint with carbon fiber rods. I then used epoxy with micro balloons in it to reinforce it:

    Top View.
     

    Bottom.
     
    When it was finished I cut the original tender shell so that it fit tightly against the cab backside.
    A little wiring later (I made it all new), that was it:

    It works much better than before in every way, and it does not look so clumsy as before. Now it fits well as a Port switcher on my layout.
    It took 5 hours of work, but it was not much else I could have done instead .....
  4. M Graff
    And now for something completely different
    I've always been inspired by John Allen and his layout; The Gorre & Daphetid RR.
    What some do not realize is that he built almost everything himself, including the locomotives.
    Many of them had no direct prototype for the model, but was built to suit his fictional railroads requirements .
    I myself have had a project that has had the time to mature for a little while (about 20 years .....), but now the parts that I needed to do it miraculously had ended up in the same box at the construction table .
    My layout was in need of a bigger switcher, I have a 0-6-0t saddle tanker and it's a bit small.
    A 2-6-4t would probably be the model, as I´ve always liked the look of that particular type of locomotive.
    I had half a chassis from a Mantua-locomotive, and some mixed bits and pieces ....
    I had found this scrapped shell a while ago, now it became useful:

    Here's how it looked after the first fitting, shorter tanks, another cab, a two-axle bogie, rebuilt drive etc. etc.
    I had a Mashima open frame motor that runs like a clock, so I decided to use it for this project.
    I made the driveshaft from old Athearn parts.
    Here you can see some of the new parts on the locomotive made of white plasticard:

     
    The shell is fixed with a single screw under the smokebox:

    I sandwiched a nut between some pieces of plasticard. It will probably not come off sometimes soon....
     
    A little painting, marking and weathering later it looks like this:

     

    After an hours break-in it runs like a watch! I'm very happy with how it turned out, and that it hasn´t got a prototype? It doesn´t bother me at all!
  5. M Graff
    Hello! I 've had a Bachmann three truck 80 ton Shay in HO in quite a few years now.
    The original:
     

     
    The Shay has experienced quite a few revisions, among other things, the exchange of the cracked plastic gears with metal gears from NWSL . The largest revision was when I had gotten tired of the lousy tracking of the middle truck. That was when I rebuilt it to a two truck version:
     

    (see http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/638/entry-5254-part-6-shay-conversion/ )
     
    Now I've always wanted a narrow gauge Shay. Luckily I found a conversion kit made by NWSL .
    They are really a big help for us tinkerers!
     

     

     
    The kit included new axles , bolsters , brake beams, shims and installation tools for the axels.
     
    I disassembled the original trucks in a flash, and in another flash the new parts were fitted. The hardest thing was to push the wheels on to the new axels.
     

     
    How it looks now :

     
    A small film from the first test drive :

     
    Throughout a fun conversion that gives a super Shay in HOn3!
  6. M Graff

    Part 3: Water and piers

    By M Graff,

    I was getting ready to start on the Harbour, and I needed to add the various items on the quaysides that was going down into the water before proceeding.
    I was going to have a small fishing pier and a Carfloat apron, The pier was easy to make:

    I made the stonewall from balsa, and embossing the mortar lines with a pencil. I primed it with gesso and painted it. Ready!
    But the Apron was a whole different matter, I needed some hoist/balance structure to hold the wires that keeps the actual bridge in position. After some Web browsing, I found this on eBay:

    I only had to build the float apron, add some small details to it and paint it :

    I then turned to the making of the water.
    To start with, I primed the surface with Acrylic white Gesso. Then I made some ripples and waves with gesso and some gel medium:

    I was careful not to make the waves to irregular as they have a certain pattern in reality.
    I started with a basic medium sea blue colour (Vallejo), and made some variety in it by mixing some sea blue into it. I then followed the waves with a fan brush with some light blue in it:

    The next step was to highlight the top of the waves:

    To tone it down I added a "glaze" of medium blue mixed with matte medium, I made it translucent enough to just show the different hues underneath.
    Then I added the final highlights using pure white on the wavetips to simulate foaming:

    To make it look like water I only had to glosscoat it. I used Future floor polish. It is an acrylic polymer clear that turns out very gloss!
    I applied it with a wide brush in four heavy layers, and I´m very satisfied with the result:


    My next installment will handle the various buildings on the layout.
  7. M Graff

    Part 4: Marine vessels

    By M Graff,

    My layout is thought to be situated on the US eastern shore in the vicinity of Maine. It is a shortline with it´s major traffic generated through the Harbour and the Car float operation.
    I had already made the Car float apron so now I "only" had to make a Car float .
    Initially I had actually wanted to use the Walthers float, but the scarcity of it and the very high prices on it made me plan a build of my own instead.
    As I had some plans from Sylvan scale, and a lot of pictures from the Web, it made it easy to make some plans for a Car float that would suit my needs. I like the appearance of the "Station-floats" (the ones with two tracks and a center platform), So that was what I was aiming at.
    I started with two big Balsa planks (it´s good to be a model airplane builder as well...), I glued them together and sawed them to shape with my band saw. And primed it with some sanding sealer before I sanded down the grain.

     
    I glued the rails to it and made the deck from 1,5 mm balsa sheet that I scribed planks in with a pencil.
    To make the hull plates, I used Aluminum tape and applied at all over the metal areas. I glued some mahogany strips as rubbing strakes on the hull sides.

     

     
    I painted the hull black and stained the deck with India Ink. I weathered the hull very heavily as it is prototypical for the timeframe.

     
    I made the railings from brass wire and the platform from wood strips.

     

     
    It really makes the place in the scene I think.

     
    To pull the Car float I needed a Tugboat as well. And again was the available kits very expensive...
    As luck would have it, I already had a Lindbergh diesel tug that I got really cheap on a sale a few years back.
    It is in 1:90 scale, but that doesn´t really make a difference to me.
    This is how it looks in original:

     
    Here is the BEDT Tug Invincible that I used as an inspiration:

     
    I sawed off the bottom of the hull to make it into a waterline model, and I replaced the bridge with a new built from styrene.
    I made a new chimney from brass to backdate it to steam powered. It is more like the RR tugs of the Eastern shore now.

     

     
    I painted it to represent a Tug that had been around for a while but not too beaten up.
     
    That concludes the ship building for this layout B), in the next installment I will concentrate on the city.
  8. M Graff
    Hi all, since the last entry I have bought some kits from Downtown Deco, I thought it would be good to show how I painted them.
     
    This entry will show how to paint and weather the Adams Ave #1,
    The owner of Downtown Deco, Randy Pepprock, had a thread at a big US Forum on how to paint it, but it was deleted as it was being called "advertising".....
     
    I hope this will show the methods that can be used to paint and weather it. Sure, it´s not as elaborate as Randy´s was, but I think it will show some of the techniques required to paint any Hydrocal/plaster kit.
     
    Here is the build:
     
    I had bought three kits from Downtown Deco, which I thought I would use on my layout.
    I sat down the night before last and began to put them together.
    I started with Adams Ave #1 (and 2 and 3..... wich will not be shown so much here)
     
    Last night I had come this far:
     

    Adams Avenue # 2. They have wonderful texture and feel, these kits!
     

    Adams Avenue # 1 & # 3. I have recently rebuilt this part of my layout and the DD kits will look very nice there, I think.
     

     
    A closer picture, here you can see the background photos (from Kingmill) that will be used as well.
    The houses are ready for painting now. and that will not go as fast as building them [].
     
    I can highly recommend the Downtown Deco's kits!
    One should be careful though that they are in plaster after all. I was however surprised that the Hydrocal used isn´t as hard as the dental plaster I´m currently working with...
    In my kits (Adams #1 & #2) the front walls of the houses had broken (not so surprising after a trip across the Atlantic ocean...), but it was just a matter of using some Loctite CA and glue it together. It´s not visible afterwards [tup].
    The joints have to be filed for the right fit, which was very easyto do with a long file.
    I glued the parts together with CA glue.
    I tried Epoxy as the instructions said, but it didn´t soak into the material as good as I would have liked.
    The roofs are in Plasticard (included) and instead of using the black cardboard that came with the kit, I used 3M Micropore surgical tape as roofing material instead..
    I glued the roof details that came with the kits, but waited with the ventilators (which I'll make special ).
    I made a few extra vents/vent pipe of alloy tubes I had in the parts box and some leftover plastic pipes.
     
    The start of the painting of Adams Ave #1.
    I primed the whole house with my trusty Airbrush loaded with an off-white Vallejo Color:
    DD recommends spray paints, but I don´t own any as I work with Airbrushes all day long...[]
     

     
    Now you can see more of the relief of the walls. The reason that you should prime the house is that otherwise the plaster sucks the water out of the paint and the result will be uneven and not as good.
     

    I used the cheapest artist acrylic paints I could find .
    I use a brand called "Sense", 12 colors for $6 , you don´t even get half a tube of Liquitex for that.....
    However, I use a more expensive color to the first layer, "Pale Terracotta" from Winsor & Newton, I think it gives a good basic tone to work on in the next steps.
     

    I brush it on with a ½" brush and dilute it with water to a very thin consistency. It is supposed to cover but not be much more than a wash.
     
     

    Here I have proceeded with the next color, a wash of "Burnt Sienna". It is imperative that you work out the color so that it does not look blotchy, but it must not be too perfect either....
     
     

    Here it is a little more evident how wet you put on the paint.
     

    I put on a wash using "Burnt Umber". Then I painted the concrete surfaces and rocks with a mix of white and "Burnt Umber", it makes up a very good aged concrete color!
    I painted the stones the same color. Then I painted a few stones with "burnt sienna" and "yellow ochre".
     
     

    The roofs were painted with a dark gray/brown color that was painted on in thin layers.
    I painted the tiles with a light turquoise Vallejo color I had. I then put on a wash using a mixture of "Burnt Umber" and black paint. I made some rust streaks as well too.
    I then took a fine abrasive paper and topped off the edges, it gives the same effect as a dry brush with white paint.

     

    Now it's just all the windows and doors left to paint before the final detailing .
     
    I painted the sign on the side wall as well.
    The stencil that was in the kit said: "Fast loans".
    Wich I didn´t find suitable for my layouts era (late WW2).
    I made my own text instead, wich I placed on the wall and lightly airbrushed the text with a gray/green colour:

     
    I removed the mask and then it looked like this:

     
    The next step was to draw white outlines with a paint marker. I found mine in a artist store.
    I Wrote the "Buy" text as well with it:

     
    It doesn´t matter if it isn´t perfect, as you actually will need some hand drawn look in it to suit the weathering style.
     
    This is how it looked after i drew some drop shadows with a regular black sharpie pen and also lightly sanded it to pre-weather it:

     
    I then added a very light Burnt umber wash as well to weather it a bit:

    It took no more than an hour to make it, well spent time in my opinion .
  10. M Graff
    And now for something different:
     
    I found a kit at a Trainshow here in Sweden this weekend:

    A 1934 Ford Bus. Just what I needed for my layout!
    As I understand it, it was very common during WW2 that these smaller types of buses were used in major cities in the U.S., in addition to trams and Subways.
    Jordan/Highway Miniatures makes really nice kits I think!
    The amount of detail is sufficient without making it tricky to assemble. I deviated from the manual however, as the description advocated that all parts should be painted before assembly ...... I hate to glue together pre-painted parts, so I glued it together to a point where it wouldn´t obstruct the installation of the windows later.

    The headlights were made of solid clear plastic. That makes it very easy to make them look good.... I just masked the lamp housings and then painted them silver before I painted them with the end color. Then you get real reflectors in them!

    The purple you see here on the lenses is Maskol (liquid mask film from Humbrol).

    This is how far it could be assembled before painting. Very nice interior detail I think. Just enough detail.
    I painted the bus créme yellow, black fenders and rims, and a gray roof. I clear coated it with Future Kleer, and weathered it with a light wash.
    Here is the result:

     

    As can be seen, I have both driver and passengers in the bus
    A very nice acquaintance, which surely whetted the appetite!
     
    Source: The M-K & Eastern RR Harbour branch
  11. M Graff
    Hi all DCC fans!
    I use the Roco Multimaus digital system, and of course I do appreciate that they have done a very ergonomic handset.
    But the designer that chose the color ought to have been sent on retraining

    Sure, the red may well be neat, but not on a controller .... Looks almost a bit "so" ....
    I did this to mine today:
     
    Dismantling it took about 5 minutes, of which three minutes were spent finding a suitable screwdriver ...

     
    I cleaned the cover with soap and water, and mixed in a little spirit to accelerate the evaporation.
    Then I primed it with a black primer:

     
    Then came the real fun .
    I wanted a personal touch, so I thought that I would have stars on the upper part of it, clouds in the middle and fire at the bottom.
    I used white in my Iwata CM-B airbrush to sketch it up freehand:

     

    The back got a little more clouds and a locomotive at the bottom (it IS a Train accessory after all...).
     
    Then I added the colors from light to dark and I finished with some white for highlights.
    This is how it looks before Varnishing:

     
    I finished it with a satin-finish spray varnish which I let dry for about five hours before I assembled it:

     

     
    I'm pretty happy with the result, now there is no doubt about whose hand control it is .
     
    Source: Pimp my Multimaus!
  12. M Graff
    I have built some more on my Downtown Deco buildings, and it's great to see them painted and detailed .
    I have started to paint my Adams Ave # 2:

     

     
    And I made sure to get some variety on the brick color and concrete.
    Then I put some signs on them that I've printed out:

    Here is how it looks when placed on the layout:

     
    Adams Ave # 1 is also being "finished"....

     
    Adams Ave # 3 is also getting some work on it as well:

     
    I have also renovated an old laser cut kit (JV models?) that I had.
    The one whooriginally built it (I bought it second hand), had not braced it on the inside .... so it was "somewhat" askew .
    I needed a building with a staircase between the new upper level and the loading dock on the lower level. So it was a very suitable candidate.
    Here it is in its red color as it looked before I started:

    And this is how it became:

    I made a whole lot of chipped paint on it and put "glass" in the windows (they were surgical tape before ).
    A little snapshot of how it will look like when it all comes together:

     
    Now it's just a bit of lighting and other things that are going to be added.....
     
    UPDATE!
     
    I've done a "bit" more at the new section, a small change and a slightly bigger one.
    Adams Ave.#3 has had a slight change in the form of a fire ladder.
    This is how it looked before, here you can also see the text on the side and on the front as well: "Union Hall":

     
    This is the result:

    As it looks with the fire stairs and some detail parts in place. I added a door to the facade. It was very easy to do as this is a plaster-kit.
    The fire ladder is from "Imagine That".
     
    Adams Ave.#1 received a minor update [].
    I will have it in the corner, up against the backdrop and it felt a bit too small and it would not really work with the mirror I was to have where the road ends.....
    Here's how it looked in the standard version:

     
    How it look like after the "small" modification:

    I had a side wall from DPM in the scrap box, but no matching front wall, so I made one of plaster.
    The Corniche on the top is a dollhouse trim and the windows are out from the scrap box (IHC?).
    the remainder is Matte Board, a black 1.5 mm cardboard.
    The result was rather okay to my eye.
     

    The edge between the mirror and landscape is to be hidden in the best way possible.
    I have been looking for front-reflective mirrors, but not found any on this side of the Atlantic unfortunately....
    The ones I have found do not deliver small orders from the U.S. as it is so fragile ....
    Anyone know if there is some available?
  13. M Graff
    This is how I do my model activities this time of the year :

    It does improve the visibility to work in the sunshine
     
    I felt a bit inspired yesterday and began some much needed overhaul on my Broadway Limited SW-7.

     
    It had been showing some poor power pick up in the leading bogie, so I disassembled the locomotive as best as I could .
    I washed out as much oil as I could from the gearboxes, as it seemed to be the probable reason for the problem.
    While it was disassembled, I took the chance to weather it as well B)
    It was supposed to look used but not to death.... U.S. RR´s during WW2 usually wasn´t much into cleaning the locomotives, and not particularly Port-switchers....
    It was marked for NYC, but I wanted to have it in my RR's markings: M-K & E.
    I erased the text with a fiberglass brush and then painted a layer of black (Vallejo Model Air) to completely remove all traces of the text.
    I assembled the shell and masked all the windows with Humbrol Maskol.
    I then mixed a color of 50-50 black and gray / black. Then I used that in order to tone down the black original color.

     
    The bogies were blasted with baking soda and primed with a dark gray paint.
    Radiator grilles were painted with a lighter gray color, so the dark wash would work against it.

     
    The wheels were also masked with Maskol, both the treads and bearing journals.
    Current consumption is via the journals, so no colour there!
    The wheel sides were painted black and weathered with pastel powder.

     
    The bogie sides were painted in the same way.

     
    Some decals and general weathering later, it became like this:

     
    Clearcoated with Modelmaster Dullcote B).
     
    I have also been changing a bit on the layout, the gas station that were on the front of the layout:

     
    It has been replaced by a coal merchant:

     

     

     
    And then I finally got some use for this car:

    (I really like that car, wish I could find some more of them....).
     
    PS, when I tried the SW after assembly, it worked perfectly! Really nice to eliminate the flaws.
     
    Source: The M-K & Eastern RR Harbour branch
  14. M Graff
    Hello fellow forumites!
    I'm starting a new project; the brass kit mfg HNJ's steam locomotive class N3!

    This is the contents of the kit:

     
    Seems to me to be a good kit! :-)
     

    This is the progress so far.
    The gearbox was a bit fiddly to get smooth, but after some fine adjusting, it is super nice!
    :-)
    The boiler is made from thick brass tubes and cast brass pieces.
    It was a job for the propane torch!
    Just going to add the smoke box overlay and the boiler bands before detailing it.
    The tender chassis is very nicely designed and went together true and square without any trouble.
    The goal is to complete this loco in 50 hours. :-)
    I'm only 3.5 hours in the project so far....;-)
     
     
    Source: Kit built brass N3 in HO
  15. M Graff
    Hi all, I felt that it has become a lot of changes to my model world . So much so that it required a new layout thread .
    It all started with my Middletown, Kensington & Eastern RR that I built for the 2010 challenge.
    A layout that would depict a fictional New England in 1943. Thanks to a move to larger premises etc. I started to build on it, and add on to it a little, but felt that it did not really work ... : (
     
    My good friend and museum owner Peter Haventon offered then to aquire the layout to have at his transportation museum!
     
    What also changed my focus is that I happened to buy a pair of D&RGW narrow gauge " Mudhens " in HOn3 . That " blunder " made me go back to my roots of inspiration; John Allen and Malcolm Furlow!
    My first real layout was a Colorado mining railroad built after Furlows style and mindset. It was trafficked with what was available at the time, a Rivarossi Heisler and a number of low side gondolas.
    My book about John Allen's Gorre & Daphetid RR ( Gory and defeated ) that I got when I turned 12 was totally worn out when I was 18, so I bought another one!
    Now I had an idea! Could I not move my fictional railroad halfway across the continent to Colorado?
    I have way too many locomotives and cars with custom company painting to decal and reapint to the new name .....
    So if the MK & E could become the Minturn, Kings divide & eastern RR instead?
    Minturn is located within the D & RGW's narrow gauge network.
    So if my fictitious railroad connects to the narrow gauge in Minturn and then broke new ground to the north east via Kings Peak and then on to Idaho springs and Denver?
    Oh, yes!
    Then I can have narrow gauge, standard gauge and dual gauge.
    I will still use a bit more poetic license and do a port! But it will become a river port!
    So now I have the dilemma of taking down the framework I 've worked with.....
    But they are easy to modify to my new idea.
    The new track plan is basically a copy of the G & D! However with some modifications to suit the space given.
    What was given as well was that there will be mountains from floor to ceiling!

    What makes this a fun plan is that you have to run around all the loops to run one lap! And it will be easy to have overview from the middle of the room.
  17. M Graff
    Hello everyone!
    I have built a bridge that I've longed to build for many years!
    Namely the Central valley 150 foot Pratt truss bridge in HO!
    It may probably be one of the trickier bridge kits on the market ..
    I think it may have something to do with that it is built of loose beams that has to be cut to the right lengths and angles ..... But the end result more than outweigh the difficulties.
    I built it as a dual gauge bridge with both HO and HOn3 gauges.
    With a bit of painting and weathering it will probably be a jewel on my layout.

     

    To be continued.

    Continued:
    A comparing pic of the CV bridge and Vollmer's version.
     

  18. M Graff
    My latest build that I made to incorporate in my new layout. A Woodland scenics machine shop that I made a diorama of. I named it Miller & sons after the great Glenn Miller. I listened to a lot of his music during the build....

     

     

     

     

     
    I'm very satisfied with the build so far.
    I was honestly surprised at the value of this kit!
    It has a few issues though, as it is (as I have understood it) an old Alloy forms kit thar WS have re-released. The white metal is VERY hard, and made adjusting the walls a bit hard to do.
    There were some mold errors as well which demanded some work with the Dremel.
    I used Campbell shingles on the roof instead of the paper strips as I think it looks better this way.
    The building have led lighting and real glass windows.
    The cars are made from Jordan kits.
     
    Thanks for looking.
  19. M Graff

    Part 1: The story so far...

    By M Graff,

    Hi all, I thought that it was time for me to start this blog as it is more easily read I think .
    I will on this Blog, show the build of my HO scale US prototype layout, and the various items that have to be constructed on it.
    I will also show a lot of Airbrush painting and weathering as well.
     
    I will, in a few short captions bring you up to speed how far I have come on the HO scale M-K & E. It is meant to be set in the northeastern USA in the late 40´s, early 50´s sometime.
    It is a small shortline that has a Carfloat as the main connection with the rest of the railnet.
     
    I started on my current layout after I got tired of my previous layout, a basic 4X8:

     
    I wanted another , easily managed type of layout, where the maximum reach was 15", instead of 24".
    Therefore I decided on a shelf layout instead.
    I made a LOT of designs before I decided on this:

    It is 315 cm x 42 cm.
    As I like to be able to work on my layout whenever I feel like it I got "permission" from my wife to build it in our living room.
    As we live in a 1850´s farmhouse, she thought it would make a nice compliment to the setting .
    B)
    I started the build in january this year (2010), and had the basic shelf ready in a week:

     
    In the next posts I will go into the actual rail-laying and building of the houses.
  21. M Graff
    This is how I have planned my new layout to look.
    There will be some changes along the way I think.... :-)
    I have designed it to include my current layout along the left side.
    The size is nice to fill with landscape. The room is 6.5 x 4.5 meters.
    The possibility to have a decent sized harbour is really exciting!
    Almost true to scale liberty ship maybe? :-)
  22. M Graff
    I started with a mockup with the finished houses to get a better view of how the track planning would work in real life.
    As it were I didn´t have to change more than a few small curves to make it fit.

    I use Peco code 75 rail as I think they are a good looking and well functioning alternative to the more pricey brands.
    I glued the rails to the foam with No Nails:

    I painted the ties and rails before ballasting. I used Vallejo Umber and grey:

    ballasted it with Chinchilla sand, it is a non mineral substrate. And it works as good as WS Ballast.
    I was going to have some tracks in the street in the harbour, and I wanted bricks between the rails. I used wall compound for the pavement and Wills bricks for the inlays:

    I painted the bricks before applying the mortar and the pavement paint:

    I used a warm grey paint for the road:

    This is how it looks after some India Ink wash:

    I made the quay wall with some Wills bricks and some timbers.
    To control the switches I use a DPDT switch to both polarise it and throw it:

    I use a wooden ball as a control-knob:

    I got some Basket liner to use as grass. As I had never tried it before it was a great experience!
    I applied it with PVA glue and I will paint it in some places to make some more variety in it:

    I think I will use some Matte medium as well to tone it down as well.
    Next, the harbour and water.
  23. M Graff
    It was time to do something about the background as it had been neglected due to other activities, such as building houses and such .
    I didn´t like to sit at the layout doing all the details that are inevitable when making a city....
    I bought some high quality artist poster board and went to work on it, sitting at my workplace.
     
    I put the board on the backdrop to draw all the existing buildings.
    I then printed out some nice photos of houses along with some books I have for inspiration.
    I use ordinary artist acrylics and start with blocking in the major parts:

    (yup the whiskey is mandatory when making backdrops )
    As can be seen I have started on the houses nearest the observer.
    After some time it looks like this:

    I then cut it out with a scalpel and used a gluestick to apply it on the backdrop:

    This is how it looks so far:

    I´m really satisfied with the result. Now it´s only the rest of the 10 foot background to do B)
    Then to make the clouds as well.
  24. M Graff
    Evening all!
    Sometimes a lot of things happen at once.....
    After living and working near were we live for the last 12 years, we have now decided to relocate.
    We have just signed the deal for this house:

    Not so very far away though, only about 12 kilometers from were we live now,
    but it's a very much better accomodations for both me and my wife.
    Both the communications and the house is better suited for our current needs.
    My wife attends University for her theological candidacy, and I'm studying history and architecture.
    That, together with the house purchase,
    means that there will be much less time for me to both write here and build on my layout
    We will also have to sell our present house in the summer,
    so a lot of work then as well.....
    One advantage is that we will be debt free then.
    Other bonuses are that I will get a much better room for my layout,
    and I will get a LARGE workshop with a very big spraybooth!
    A bit scary to take the plunge, but sometime it's the right way to go....
  25. M Graff
    I have started to paint some of the clouds now on my backdrop, I sketched up the clouds with a thin white paint and made the shadows with a gray-blue hue:

    The clouds closest to the horizon have some Ochre in them to give them some warmth.
     
    The clouds are piling up ....:

    I'm trying to make the clouds with as little planning as possible to make them realistic in shape and form.
     
    Here I have begun to define the clouds with pure white and some Payne's Grey:

    It's important not to get them to pale or too "heavy", photos to look at is definitely a good idea!
    So far I have come this far. No way near finished.... But there's more to come.
     
    I was at the local art-store and bought these:

    They are 12 mm in diameter, made of wood and flat on one side.
    Maybe you ask what I'm going to do with them? Well it is going to be revealed as I will show you, it is inspired by Tim Warris from Fast-trax.
    I started my project by cutting a pair of 25 mm wide strips of hardboard which I glued with Pattex "No Nails" at the bottom of my front fascia on my layout:

    I let the glue dry before I marked the center-line on the strips and then marked out every 6 cm on it.
    Then I glued on my "buttons":

    Perhaps now you see where it´s heading..... Rivets in a long row
    At the joints in the strips I put them closer to each side of the gap.
    When the glue dried, I painted the front in a Terracotta orange color (test jar with half a liter for £ 5...).
    I used a foam roller and a small brush:

    As can be seen above, I have begun to sponge on a little dark brown paint as a test.
    I want it to look like a rusty old riveted steel structure when I'm done.
    I added the diluted dark brown craft-color in small sections with a brush, then I sponged the surface with a natural sponge. It gives a nice "rust-like" surface that I think goes well with my Harbour layout.

    Starting to look good to me...
    This is how it looks when shot with a flash:

    As you can see it will match the rust on the barge pretty good ....
    B)
    A bit more work to do on it, but I expects to finish the project before the weekend anyway.

    Small update: I took a pic today that shows how dark it really is:

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