149th Street Harlem Station

[e-paw]

Very nice work sir.

[Genetk44]

Matt...Layout is looking fantastic indeed...great job. is the car float the Frenchman River model?

cheers
Gene

[sailormatlac]

Matt...Layout is looking fantastic indeed...great job. is the car float the Frenchman River model?

cheers
Gene

No, I'm using a Walther car float. I will only use apron spare parts, mainly the hydraulic jacks.

Matt

[Rscott417]

Coming along great. I wish the Frenchman float bridge had the switch on the bridge itself, other wise it's a nice kit.

[sailormatlac]

Coming along great. I wish the Frenchman float bridge had the switch on the bridge itself, other wise it's a nice kit.

Thanks! Yes, their kits are quite nice. It a shame they only make the gauntlet bridge.

Lot of stuff happened during the last two days. I won't waste my time struggling with futile words so prepare yourself for many pictures.



First, I painted the carfloat. After a basic coat of Krylon camouflage brown, I decided to try a method I once heard but never really applied. Instead of building the weathering pattern with several layers, I just used heavy washes of cheap acrylic paint including burnt umber, burnt sienna, Payne's grey and yellow ochre. Those water-based washes were really liquid and I dabbed and stippled thinned paint here and there. The idea was that those "floating" colors would merge together instead of drying. Some colors pool here and there. The nice thing is that the puddles leaves a very realistic weathering pattern. So far, I did the operation 3 times. I plan to lighten the overall color a little bit again with more drastic contrasts. I was once told in my teenage years that my drawing skills were good but that I was too shy to add light and shadows. Since then, I try to fight that natural tendency! With little success! Other weathering technics will be used, but I feel this technic is worth using. Very fool proof, no real talent needed, physic laws do the job for you.





Next project was to build the iconic Erie bridge crane (not sure it's the good name for that thing). Getting the thing right was very important because this crane is visible and easily recognizeable on every Harlem Station pictures. That's the mascot! I used Central Valley bridge parts. Well, I completely depleted my stock and had to butcher my CNR Courtesy and Service bridge! Oh well, you can start throwing rotten tomatoes! Wood used was custom cut cedar patio planking leftover from my last week home improvement project. I stained the wood with tea and coated them with my steel wool/peroxyde mix. The mix is now more than a week old and works even better. The "Erie" lettering was drawn to scale from picture. This is the REAL thing, not some "quite similar" font. I printed them on Walthers decal paper, coated with dullcote. My first try was a few years ago when I did my QRL&PCo gondolas and hoppers. Back then, I used Krylon flat finish and the decals ended very thick and hard to work. With dullcote, they stay very thin. That's the way to go. Still a long way to go before this crane is completed, but the basic work is now done.





























Finally, I also started to ballast tracks with several material taken in the backyard: sand, dirt and some wood coal. My first mix add too much fine powder. It really makes it hard to glue. I finally decided to resift the dirt several time outside in the wind to get rid of the fine particles and keep the rocks.







Matt

[faraway]

Great quality work at a tremendous high speed Further comments about my speed will be forwarded to you for professional handling

.....Finally, I also started to ballast tracks with several material taken in the backyard: sand, dirt and some wood coal. My first mix add too much fine powder. It really makes it hard to glue. I finally decided to resift the dirt several time outside in the wind to get rid of the fine particles and keep the rocks......

That is a nasty problem because the prototype dirt and ballst around the tracks is closer to dust and mud than to ballast stones (remember my question ?). It helps if the fine ballast is very heavy, Light fine ballast is nasty to glue down. It like to swim on top of the glue. I got therefor heavy fine N scale ballast. The fine particles from the backyard are required to look like the prototype but they are not heavy enough.

[sailormatlac]

Great quality work at a tremendous high speed Further comments about my speed will be forwarded to you for professional handling

.....Finally, I also started to ballast tracks with several material taken in the backyard: sand, dirt and some wood coal. My first mix add too much fine powder. It really makes it hard to glue. I finally decided to resift the dirt several time outside in the wind to get rid of the fine particles and keep the rocks......

That is a nasty problem because the prototype dirt and ballst around the tracks is closer to dust and mud than to ballast stones (remember my question ?). It helps if the fine ballast is very heavy, Light fine ballast is nasty to glue down. It like to swim on top of the glue. I got therefor heavy fine N scale ballast. The fine particles from the backyard are required to look like the prototype but they are not heavy enough.

Reinhard, I have no problem with floating particles, but the dust is so dense it absorbs hardly the liquid. You're right, dusty and muddy ballast seems to have been standard until only a few decades ago. I'm on my way to my local park to see if I can find something better suited.

Matt

[MasonJar]

Ahh! What did you do to that CNR bridge!

Actually, it looks fantastic! As does the rest of the module, rolling stock, car float, etc, etc. Very well done!





Andrew

[sailormatlac]

Ahh! What did you do to that CNR bridge!

Actually, it looks fantastic! As does the rest of the module, rolling stock, car float, etc, etc. Very well done!





Andrew

Thanks Andrew!

I know, I can't be at peace after such a crime!!!!! But hey, isn't prototypical to reuse old stuff?

BTW, ballast is now 90% done. Only a 3 sidings to do!

Matt

[MountainMan]

Wow!

[Canadian Atlantic Railway]

I'll second the wow and add AWESOME! To the list of comments.

[Ralph]

That is turning out SO WELL!!! Your weathering techniques turned out beautifully.

[BR60103]

Matt: some prototype photos of a rail barge. Unfortunately, it's in a museum setting at the Fulton Fish Markei in New York. I think it's been repainted a bit.

   

   

   

[sailormatlac]

Thanks David, yoru pictures confirm me I'll have to add some colors to details here and there.

Matt

[faraway]

Matt, how about a covered barge like the red one on the right hand? I would like to have one on my layout but a H0 model is 14" x 4"..... There is a resin and a wood kit on US eBay.