Reinhard, is this taken near Loop 610 and Mykawa? Reason I ask is that the part of Mykawa I'm modeling is further south between the Airport Blvd and Almeda Genoa intersections. There are no powerline towers in that area. Also, I've actually never seen a UP genset on this stretch either.

faraway Wrote:There is one tiny detail I miss. The photo is taken heading north. I did drive north and wanted to park the car to take some photo of idle engines. No way, the east rim of the road is to rough to park a limousine. I had to do a turn and park heading south.

BR60103 Wrote:Nice furniture. One of our dealers used to use drafting drawers for his inventory.

I'm a bit worried about the stuff you have lining the drawers; I'm afraid it might react with your cars. (It may not.) I saw a brass loco that was taken out of the foam box and the foam had integrated itself with the paint.

I was originally looking for drafting drawers like the ones used to store blueprints. Couldn't find what I wanted, so hired my carpenter neighbor to build them.

On the drawer liners, I want to thank you for bringing that point up! Others need to be aware of the possibilities too. I got the material in November. After putting some cars in there and then going back a couple days later, some of the cars were sticking to the plastic liner material... some kind of chemical reaction. Athearn RTR cars were the worst, must be whatever paint formula they use. All the other rollingstock brands have either zero or minimal "stickiness" I've also found that once a car is weathered and dullcoted, there is no reaction at all. I have been and will continue to monitor the situation! Matter of fact, I am going out there right now just to make sure nothing is "welding together"!

docWayne, Andrew, thanks, there is alot of "biL" in this presentation. The lessons that he pointed out and taught are definitely contained in the presentation. I'll be passing those things on to others, and I am certain that biL will be smiling.

Gary S Wrote:Reinhard, is this taken near Loop 610 and Mykawa? ...

We headed west on Alameda Genoa Rd coming from an antique mall Barbara visited. When we met Mykawa Rd we turned right and headed north for the industry around Murphy (you told me about it). While going north I saw the Genset and wanted to park by just pulling right of the road. That failed due to the rough shoulder. I did a U turn and parked in a small road, may be Madden Ln.
However, there are no power lines visible on Google. Might be I did mix up the photos :o It must be some of this photos http://s966.photobucket.com/albums/ae149...1QQtppZZ20 On page three is the industry at Murphy. So it must be in the photos prior to Murphy.

Hi Gary,

Is your drawer liner the soft foam "no-slip" carpet underlay? If yes, it will deteriorate over time, and stick to things, even if it is not doing it now. Our local big box building store (Home Depot - not sure who you have in TX) has closed-cell underlay for laminate flooring that seems to avoid these problems. You could also go with an engineered cork product such as those used in tool boxes.


Andrew

PS - Wherever biL may be, I am sure he's proud of the fact you're passing on the lessons.

Kevin, Charlie, Gus, thanks for the great comments. I appreciate y'all taking the time to look. Hope everything is going well for y'all.

Steve, thanks for the comment on the roads. Still have alot of work to do on them... darker streaks need to be added down the centers of each lane, gray/black washes to tie things together, grass along the edges, and of course the traffic stripes. I'm thinking I can make it turn out pretty good from what I have so far. The road is made from "Lightweight Foam Spackle" from Home Depot. It is a white "foamy" stuff that is used to patch drywall. It smears on like shhetrock mud and takes a day or two to dry. I mixed black craft paint into it and stirred it good before applying it. I took a cheap 4" wide sheetrock knife and bent the edges down at right angles, leaving the knife the width of the road, with the bent over edges going down. I then cut the bent over edges to the thickness of the road, which is around 1/8 inch. With the knife modified like that, it was a simple matter to drag the knife along, leaving a nice raised road surface. I went back over various areas of the road a couple times, using a new batch with varying amounts of black paint mixed in. This is what gave the varied colors. As always, have to be careful with the black, just add little bits at a time, because the mix can quickly become way to dark!

[quote="Gary S"]One last note. I am doing a clinic at the upcoming San Jacinto Railroad Modelers Train Show on February 18th. The topic will be painting backdrops based on prototype photos. I'll be showing the methods I used for my backdrops in a Powerpoint slideshow, with the pipe yard backdrop being the main subject.

Gary:

Are you planing to have this available for your friends here at BLUE after the Train Show ?

Thanks,
Howard

faraway Wrote:Might be I did mix up the photos :o It must be some of this photos http://s966.photobucket.com/albums/ae149...1QQtppZZ20 On page three is the industry at Murphy. So it must be in the photos prior to Murphy.

Looks like the UP photos are all from north of 610 in UP territory. Page 3 and 4 of your album is definitely BNSF Territory on Mykawa south of 610. The orange brick building is Grocers Supply which I am modeling.

MasonJar Wrote:Is your drawer liner the soft foam "no-slip" carpet underlay?:

It is soft foam material specifically made as drawer liner. I'll be keeping a close eye on the stuff and checking cars from time to time to make sure no grief comes from this.

hyawn Wrote:Are you planing to have this available for your friends here at BLUE after the Train Show ?

For sure! Now, only thing is... the PowerPoint has around 100 slides and very heavy on the photos. The file is quite huge... will have to figure out how to send it.

Gary, one way to do it would be to use a large file transfer service. Many are available free. It works quite well. Copy the file up and post the link. I had to use this method last December when my niece was getting married. The original printer made a mistake. We were able to get the eps file and have a local printer correct the error. Crisis averted.

Another way would be to burn to dvd or cd, depending on size.

Tom

Gary S Wrote:Kevin, Charlie, Gus, thanks for the great comments. I appreciate y'all taking the time to look. Hope everything is going well for y'all.

Steve, thanks for the comment on the roads. Still have alot of work to do on them... darker streaks need to be added down the centers of each lane, gray/black washes to tie things together, grass along the edges, and of course the traffic stripes. I'm thinking I can make it turn out pretty good from what I have so far. The road is made from "Lightweight Foam Spackle" from Home Depot. It is a white "foamy" stuff that is used to patch drywall. It smears on like shhetrock mud and takes a day or two to dry. I mixed black craft paint into it and stirred it good before applying it. I took a cheap 4" wide sheetrock knife and bent the edges down at right angles, leaving the knife the width of the road, with the bent over edges going down. I then cut the bent over edges to the thickness of the road, which is around 1/8 inch. With the knife modified like that, it was a simple matter to drag the knife along, leaving a nice raised road surface. I went back over various areas of the road a couple times, using a new batch with varying amounts of black paint mixed in. This is what gave the varied colors. As always, have to be careful with the black, just add little bits at a time, because the mix can quickly become way to dark!

That's a useful explanation of technique Gary. Thanks for that.

Gary S Wrote:One last note. I am doing a clinic at the upcoming San Jacinto Railroad Modelers Train Show on February 18th. The topic will be painting backdrops based on prototype photos. I'll be showing the methods I used for my backdrops in a Powerpoint slideshow, with the pipe yard backdrop being the main subject.

[attachment=20080]

will you be sharing that slideshow presentation on youtube with those of us too far away to attend it in person? will you be sharing it as a file upload perhaps? :-)

Koos

I'll see what I can do for sharing the file. Don't know anything about putting something on youtube though. I definitely appreciate the interest in the presentation.

Man your layout is looking great.