Newbie - District 22 - Downtown L.A. (A table top railway)

[jonte]

A bent 'Buck' !

   

   

A coupe of cruel close-ups of sorts

   

   

These things really are so small.

jonte

[jonte]

"And where are you up to on the building, you promised, jonte?", I think I may have heard somebody ask - or perhaps not

Well just in case

   

   

I know; doesn't look much does it

This Wills sheet really is difficult to cut and large hand tools are called for to try and make any attempt at mitre-ing. Some filler required, I suspect.

Still, all the dimensions are there near enough, so just need to make a plasticard carcass to affix it to etc.

Early attempts at matching some of the orange brickwork that shows in (lower) parts is one step forward, two back. Never mind.

Work will slow over the next week or so as Mrs. jonte is forcing me to join her in sunnier climes

Best regards,

jonte

[jonte]

Hi.

Have made a start on the the building you may have seen the plan of in my earlier thread

                   

Needless to say, a long way to go yet.

Regards,

jonte

[jonte]

I mentioned a couple of posts back that my building is based on one that stands in Palmetto Street, Los Angeles and is in fact a mirror image of the prototype. Despite my best efforts, I've been unable to load the snapshot from Google Maps, so if anybody's interested, the address is given as approximately 1312 Palmetto Street.

Just to give you an idea of the finishe I'm attempting to replicate.

jonte

[jonte]

A tad more progress:

                       

[jonte]

A dry fit of the roof and skylights:

   

jonte

[jonte]

Hi.

Thought I'd share with you these 'mortary' additions before they get covered in paint (photos not as detailed as I'd have liked so I'm hoping that at least one will show you some of the definition I've hopefully achieved):

       

           

[jonte]

           

Regards,

jonte.

[jonte]

Results of my attempts at a slightly raised lintel:

       

[jonte]

Apologies for the abrupt end to my previous post: the system simply crashed on me.

Now that things technologically speaking are back to normal, and my afternoon guests departed, I'll continue.

   

Progress has been slower than anticipated as quite some time has been spent practising trying to achieve the right tone of brick wash/white wash of the original, and replicating the peeling effect.

Washes are the best option I feel but I've yet to hone the grouting technique on the surface.

Regards for now,

jonte

[torikoos]

Hi Jonte, that's coming along nicely!

Koos

[jonte]

Hi, Koos
Thanks for dropping by and for your kind words of encouragement. Not an exact replica of the original but hopefully has most of its character which should provide some much needed flavour to this postage stamp sized layout.

Funnily enough, I was admiring the ballasting on Tree Point over on the UK site earlier this morning, but being no longer a member was unable to leave a comment. Love the addition of the telegraph poles too but sadly, they're a little too large for 'District 22'.

Good to see you're back.

Best wishes,

jonte

[torikoos]

Hi Jonte,

Treepoint is here too :-) <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://bigbluetrains.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=7419">viewtopic.php?f=19&t=7419</a><!-- l -->

As for the hobby, I wasn't motivated for a while, and busy with other stuff work/life that took over for a bit, holidays etc, but I've found my motivation back :-)

Cheers, Koos

[jonte]

Hello again, Koos

Thanks for the link; for some reason I couldn't find it

I find that even without the 'distractions' you mention, occasionally it requires quite a bit of effort to put down the lap top/mag or whatever, and wander out to the den for the next bout of modelling. Strange to say really considering this is my favourite hobby. I suppose even hobbies require some level of dedication which is why I so admire those members whose projects are already several years in the making and still without an end in sight. Respect!

Regards,

jonte

[jonte]

Hi.

Just thought I'd share with you my feeble attempts at soldering up a set of extendable gates from some thin brass wire and offcuts of code 40 rail:

       

Apologies for the poor quality of the shots which were taken in fading light which activated the flash.

Although the building I'm basing mine on didn't sport this type of gate, I can't help noticing that it was/is somewhat ubiquitous in the downtown area.

I'd like to have shown one side of the gates in an open position, however, the finest wire required was a darned nuisance to cut without bending and frankly my soldering skills weren't up to it! These would be an ideal subject for etching in this scale, I reckon.

Anyway, I hope you like 'em.

Regards,

jonte