I understand what you are saying, but in their (the posters on the other forum) defense we never read it as critisism of her work. It was simply posted as a question, since they all commended her work, and with her ambitions and skills they wondered why she would leave those gaps unattended. It's difficult to convey the dialogue from that forum here without losing some of the context, and I think you may be reading it a little worse than it actually was.

Anyway, no hard feelings, and it's looking a lot better now, even though it has been some work getting it done

Svein Wrote:I understand what you are saying, but in their (the posters on the other forum) defense we never read it as critisism of her work. It was simply posted as a question, since they all commended her work, and with her ambitions and skills they wondered why she would leave those gaps unattended. It's difficult to convey the dialogue from that forum here without losing some of the context, and I think you may be reading it a little worse than it actually was. Anyway, no hard feelings, and it's looking a lot better now, even though it has been some work getting it done

Vigdis, you are a dear heart, and always most welcome here on Big Blue. If I need to see how it can be done better, I know exactly where to look......... put your name in the search function, and click "search", the answer will be there, in the photos, of your work.

Vigdis:
after reading the last comments, today I walked by a building where the supports for the front porch/awning were sitting a couple of inches above the sidewalk and held down (up?) by small metal straps.
I didn't have a camera with me.

BR60103 Wrote:Vigdis:
after reading the last comments, today I walked by a building where the supports for the front porch/awning were sitting a couple of inches above the sidewalk and held down (up?) by small metal straps.
I didn't have a camera with me.

There is a prototpye !!!, for almost everything !!!!
Almost, but not this:
[attachment=15539]

Second attempt at the posts, it's looking a lot better now I think :



Weathering and lighting still to be (re)done, and since the hanging lamps all have to be rebuilt she will try a slightly different technique to make them a little more robust this time.

It is wonderful

What did V. use to stain all the woodwork..?? It looks great..!!

I used a very diluted mix of brownish/black acrylics when I built my roundhouse a couple of years back, and they look good...But that faded grayish looks a lot better...

The wood pieces were stained before assembly, she used a mixture of mainly isopropyl alcohol with a few dashes of different WS Earth colors to make a dark grayish tone. Then the pieces were soaked in this bath for about 15 minutes before they were laid out on a paper towel to dry. The degree of coloring from the stain varies slightly from piece to piece, I think these variations bring more "life" into the wood. After everything was assembled, the entire building was weathered with various black, gray, brown and white powders mixed together.

We read about M.C. Fujiwara and his "Big jug o' stain" on another forum, and decided to give it a try. I think it looks great, and it also preserves the wood grain much better than regular paint.

That, still looks GREAT !!! ( Be thow silent, Nit Pickers !! )

Svein Wrote:The wood pieces were stained before assembly, she used a mixture of mainly isopropyl alcohol with a few dashes of different WS Earth colors to make a dark grayish tone. Then the pieces were soaked in this bath for about 15 minutes before they were laid out on a paper towel to dry. The degree of coloring from the stain varies slightly from piece to piece, I think these variations bring more "life" into the wood. After everything was assembled, the entire building was weathered with various black, gray, brown and white powders mixed together.

We read about M.C. Fujiwara and his "Big jug o' stain" on another forum, and decided to give it a try. I think it looks great, and it also preserves the wood grain much better than regular paint.

Thanks for the info...

Time for another update, this time without the roundhouse

Now it's Christmas vacation, and Vigdis finally got around to do some more work in the basement, as a break from the finicky work upstairs. Yesterday she checked all the Bullfrogs and made the final adjustments before pinning down the turnouts in their correct positions, and today she's been busy laying track on the main line.

She started on the section just left of the doorway, where the track curves around the chimney and rises up towards the highest elevation, the grade here is 2%. The track was testfitted and bent in shape before feeders were soldered on, then a thin layer of brown Tec7 caulk was used for fastening the track temporarily held down with T pins. In the easement curve (right in front of Vigdis) there's also a track joint, så extra care was taken to make sure it's smooth:


A simple mirror is a very handy tool to ensure that the track has a nice and smooth curve without any kinks:


Svein

Very nice! Looking forward to seeing more!

I played around with Vigdis' camera phone during her test run yesterday, here's a short video I put together this evening:

http://www.hjemstad.no/videos/Following_a_train.mp4

Svein