Freelance 2017-1

[faraway]

To be consistent in the 80s the great modern Cat scrap loader is replaced with an older German Wiking crane.
http://www.1zu87.com/modellautobilder/1z...827_01.JPG
It is dressed down from shiny read and silver to bleached and dirty yellow.

[MountainMan]

That is one good looking crane, and fits the scene perfectly.

[faraway]

There have been some pretty interesting structures in Chicago.
https://flic.kr/p/orGZPg

I use it as an inspiration for a backdrop. A shot after first layer of paint.


Dry brushing is the perfect choice for the less gifted.



The scenery is a good stage to reuse an old Downtown plaster building.

[faraway]

Another run with the dry brush to lighten it up at the next morning.




It is interesting to either start with a light wall and tone it down with washes etc. or start with a dark wall and light it up with dry brush. The rough surface of dispersion paint is very suitable for the dry brush approach. The base is white paper coated 3mm and 5mm foam board.

[alcanman]

Great work, Reinhard. I just had to comment after seeing those last sets of pics. You have added so much more character to the layout with this 1980s version of Freelance and the concrete wall provides a perfect low relief backdrop.

Inspirational! - I'm now thinking about moving back in time to the 80s or 90s for my next layout project.

Mal

[faraway]

Thanks for the nice comments.

I am not satisfied with the west end and tried to reuse two buildings formerly used at the east end.

They are just put in place and the rear one had only one side wall at the right end. I broke it off and put it at the left end. It fits perfect between the new wall in the rear and the track.
Just a test but the concept looks promising.

[Tyson Rayles]

[faraway]

Mike, the left building got fixed, the sidewalk repaired to it's full width to align the right building with the wall and a "micro" backdrop added. I like the change and made it permanent.

[doctorwayne]

.....I like the change and made it permanent.

Reinhard, over the years, you've rewritten the definition of permanent, I think.

Wayne

[faraway]

Another building made it's journey from the East side to the West side industry. The length is cut down to 20cm / 8" to fit in the new not so romantic space.

[faraway]

The building originally made for this spot when the layout theme was Brooklyn 1930s is a valid alternative. It has been slightly modernized while it resided at the East industry.

[shortliner]

.....I like the change and made it permanent.

Reinhard, over the years, you've rewritten the definition of permanent, I think.

Wayne

Gotta agree - that is a magnificent job!

[faraway]

I like the idea of a none brick building but that area of Chicago was mid 1980 in decay and the gentrification was just around the corner. Lots of debris in the right of way is from new apartment building growing everywhere. A "modern" industry structure in that area would be also an older one and it might be abandoned already.




ps. permanent = it's fine for today

[faraway]

Same spot, same material. The Atlas Middlesex building got kit bashed again to look more different from the others all derived from the same Atlas kit.

[faraway]

A Facebook posting last week Thursday stated the Intermountain GP10 has been delivered to US dealers. Trainworld had them on stock and DHL Expressed dropped the parcel on hour ago at my doorstep.

My very first impression:

- It is a nice looking model. Lots of details and fine done.
- The Loksound decoder has lots of function. Much more then I use. Especially the mandatory humming sound at low speed of all ESU decoders is an option I could miss easily. The motor/exhaust sound is surprising whining. It is close to a turbo charged engine.
- The drive is ok and become better after 20 minutes break in. No it is not an Atlas drive but it is ok.
- Intermountain ships the shell with two extra stacks. You may remove them if you prefer the prototype stack arrangement
- The handrail are not as flexible as I am used to. One arrived broken at the end of the can opener. No big deal but be carefully when handling.
- The engine negotiates my nasty 18" curve without problems.

Summary:
Not perfect but I am glad I got mine after so many years of waiting. A good fit for a small switching layout in the 1980s.




Another CR GP10 with DC only is on order thru eBay too. Should arrive end of next week. Two Tsunami 2 EMD 21 Pin sound decoders are locally ordered and supply a better sound without humming noise.
The Loksound 21 Pin decoder can be reprogrammed to everything and will be reused some time later. Perfect drives like the GMD-1 cause only little humming sound.