GEC's Layout Progress

[Green_Elite_Cab]

AS far as news go, i'm about three cars short of an Amtrak Silver Crescent (i need 1700 series baggage car and 1-2 Viewliners). I'll also be installing trees for the first time soon.

I added the grills and some other details to the New Jersey Transit PL42AC. This model doesn't really have much to it. I added the brass grills, vents, fans, and horn, but most of it is smooth, or in the pilot detail (which i'll get to eventually). I've touched up more of the paint, and it looks like any remaining rough edges (although its a lot cleaner cut than it was before) will be covered by decal stripes, so i'm not to worried. I painted the MU plugs, HEP plugs, headlight housings, some roof details, and i used tamiya transparent red over silver paint to make the red markers temporarily (eventually i plan to use metal tubes and LEDs/Fiber Optics to light the headlights, ditch lights and markers.

The frame for this locomotive is already out, and i'm told that decals will be availble very shortly by the highest authorities at Island Model Works, the maker of this shell, and so i'm thinking this model has some potential to be finished "early". I had ordered a loksound decoder for my C32-8, but because that project is again being held back, its very likely my PL42AC will be running around with sound (I have a good number of the needed sounds).







On top of a new camera, I also got this wacky flexible tripod. This is quite possibly the most awesome thing ever. It allows me to easily set my camera up anywhere on the layout and have it be held steady. Most of you know the best pictures are made without the flash. One such problem using a camera without a flash is that the apperture needs to stay open longer, and as a result, the camera has to be held steady, or the photo will be blurry. Before now, I either had to lay the camera on the layout, hold it on a soda can, or my personal favorite, a pile of styrofoam packing (worst case scenario i just had to hold my breath and shoot. This thing removes the hassle, i don't even need to hold the camera steady on it. It lets me get so many new angles, so i'm hoping my shots are no longer the same old boring scenes. I'm hoping to mix things up again.



The following photos would have been impossible (or at the very least, very difficult) without the tripod. For many of them, the tripod held the camera steady and allowed me to zoom in from across the layout, giving new angles. For example, two shots of my yard like these would have been impossible with the methods i was using.








So yeah, i'm pretty pleased this christmas. I got most of what i wanted. Sadly, because of my sister's puppy (that she adopted the day i set up the tracks around the tree), I haven't been able to run my lionel train around the christmas tree like i usually do, but i still have a whole layout to run.