M Graff

I have made a small video on track weathering. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S12hP306o0s Enjoy, and if you have any questions, please ask.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8TI503k9VA A little film I made today about backdrop painting and some landscape painting . Source: Backdrop painting video

Here are some pics of it as it stands today: Still some small details left.... This is how it looks like with the warm white LED on: I will add some small details on it and maybe a brakeman on the pilot. This was a real satisfying project, and I will try to find more scrap locos to modify in the future, any known ones out there? B)

Thanks all, I have made some "small"alterations to the loco, I have added lights and a bell , and I have installed a decoder. I can´t really grasp how well it runs, considering the "Frankenstein" type of build... (lots of parts from several donors). I have thoroughly tested it on the layout now and it behaves REALLY well It shunts as the other good steamers I have, and it has a really nice amount of pulling power. It is due to the fact that it is a lot of weight in it.

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!

As I am modeling in HO scale and being Swedish, I have a bit of different influences. There is a layout in the Swedish museum of Technology built by a man named Uno Milton. It was the first layout that showed me that a model railway can look so much more! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoUzlpTSMOE The second layout that really gave me big inspiration was John Allens Gorre & Daphetid. That was the big inspiration for me to start with US prototype models. The third one is Malcolm Furlow´s San Juan Central, what an artwork! That one has something that is hard to describe, but just IT!

Thanks! I think it frames the layout really well. I will however paint the valance black to put it out of sight, so to say. But knowing me, I will not let it be all black...

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:

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?

Thank you very much Jack! I try my best .

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 .

That Southern 4-6-0 is VERY nice! I don´t think the tender looks so out of place either. And as mentioned, it is better to have DCC in it from the start.

Really cool, and deserved. Congrats!!

http://www.break.com/index/couch-airbag-explosion-surprise.html Haha, this made my day!!

This is from the Swedish eBay site (Tradera). I have a hard time understanding why? Wagon Is it maybe so that all things with model trains are worth selling? And when we´re at it, let´s not forget this Gem: Three houses from RS modell They went for a whopping £275!!!!

One of my recent pics: It shows my H0 scale Shay that I photographed at my shelf layout.

Thanks! After those kind words I got the urge to take some more pics .

Hi again, I have had the rebuilt Shay (from earlier in the Blog) sitting on my table for a while now. I decided it was time to finish it . I repainted almost all of it and applied my Custom made decals. I also took the time to adjust the driveshaft as well. It runs really good now, and I hope the looks do it justice too : I made this as well: I think it worked out well.

It´s so expertly made that it doesn´t show at all..... Totally rubbish for that price at least!

An idea for the next challenge: The four seasons, making a layout in a small space (smaller than this one we had) and make it recognizable what season it depicts. And to make it a bit harder, why not make a water-scene mandatory? I love this competition stuff!

Wow! That was real great fun! To see that I got so good results in the 2010 Challenge is really warming in this cold weather. Thanks for all who voted for both me and the other contestants and a big congratulation to the winner!! Waton is a showstopper! My M - K & Eastern RR is being more and more detailed by the week now, It´s really easy to access all places for detailing. I just don´t know why I haven´t made a shelf layout earlier....

I got some nice stuff from my wife this Christmas, a bunch of laser-cut fire escapes and park benches from "Imagine That Laser Art" in Canada. They were not exactly hard to build, but a bit time-consuming A little paint on it, then it will look good. I just had to see how it looks when it´s in place. The Fire escapes is very nicely designed. I have looked at some of the others on the market, but they are too ornamented to be suited in a more basic setting. One package is sufficient for two stories. so in this case it requires 1 ½ packages. It looks pretty decent even at close range. Laser cut plywood is very well suited to do this sort of things. Only the rest of the details to be attached, and some weathering and......... Really great products, and nicely priced too.

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!

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 .....

It´s like when I sold my Roundhouse Shay, it was not running and described as "for the technically experienced" etc..... I got something like £ 100 for it At the time, the Bachmann RTR Shay was going for less than that at some Ebay-shops.....