Happy Independence Day!

It has been extremely hot here in the Midwest, so needless to say, I have not been at the work bench for a couple of weeks.  Hopefully we will get a break soon and I can pick up where I left off with my various weathering projects.  

I spent the day at the lake swimming with my family to celebrate the 4th of July.  As I type this, the artillery shells are blasting outside, and the dog is curled up at my feet.  

Not a lot of activity in the area of model railroading for me lately.  Here are several shots of Marias Pass from my various photo shoots.

150th Lumber Load Sold

I just packaged up lumber load #150 tonight, for tomorrow's mail.  It's funny to think that I never intended this little project to be more than a way to fill my own empty Red Caboose centerbeam cars.  This is a prime example of how an addiction can turn lethal, and make you do things that you wouldn't ordinarily do.

For those that have invested in my product, I greatly appreciate it.  I have received some great feedback so far, and a few repeat buyers which tells me that I am doing something right.

I just recently created 6 new load versions for the shorter 60' Micro Trains centerbeam, and have already sold a few.  I don't know of any other source for a modern lumber load for these specific cars.

If you are interested, please check out my dedicated lumber load page here on my blog, or check out my current listings on Ebay.

Get them while you can.  Who knows how long I will keep making these before I lose interest and move on to something else.  Or worse yet, a new layout project consumes all of my hobby time.

CNA 86' Boxcar - Progress Photos

I thought I would share some progress photos of a Bluford Shops model 86' boxcar painted in CNA blue.  I want to replicate a fair amount of age, grime, and rust on this version.  I started with a white fade, and sprayed several coats over the bright blue.  I followed the white with a couple coats of the raw sienna tint.  The graffiti decal went on next.  To achieve the surface rust appearance much like the CSX version I did recently, I brushed on a coat of burnt umber oil thinned with mineral spirits.  I let this sit for a short time, and then took most of it off using a cosmetic sponge.  A note here: I have tried the q-tip method for taking off excess oil, but with these larger bodied cars, the sponge seemed to work very effectively, and faster than a q-tip.  The oil builds up around the ribs and in the details of the doors which is exactly what I want.  At this point, the roof hasn't been touched.  You can see the original color in the photos.  In order to get additional grime on the doors, I then added more burnt umber with a brush, but this time more deliberately, and just on the doors.  I again took off the excess with a sponge, and in a few areas with a q-tip.  Lastly, I began working on the roof by adding a layer of burnt sienna oil which you can see on the cardboard pallet in photo 2.  This will be the base coat which I will then apply burnt umber using a dabbing motion with a stiff brush to achieve a well rusted roof top.  The body will get rust streaks, spots, and details, using more burnt umber and a small brush.  I plan to add some more graffiti towards the end, in addition to safety striping.  Any questions?

In this first photo you can see that I have added a bit more burnt umber oil to the right set of doors.  The left set of doors are the result of a single coat of burnt umber applied to the entire car, and then taken off with a cosmetic sponge.  (just like when you are applying your morning make up fella's)

I use a piece of cardboard as a pallet for my oil paints.  The roof was painted with oil straight from the tube.

Here is where the car stands as of this evening when I decided to stop.  I'll pick it up again tomorrow evening after the oils have dried.

Happy Father's Day!!

Since Omaha is the home of the College World Series, it's almost criminal not to take in an occasional game.  My son and I went down to game 5 today between Florida State and Stony Brook.  We had our general admission tickets and were prepared to become like rotisserie chickens being baked by the sun in the west facing seats.  An NCAA person flagged us down near the ticket booths and said they were looking for father/son pairs to give seat upgrades.  No-brainer right?  After getting inside I quickly realized that we would be sitting behind home plate in the 5th row!  I don't even want to know what people would regularly pay for these seats.

Great game.  Lots of runs.  We were cheering for the underdogs, and although they didn't make it a close game, it was an enjoyable day.  Hope you fathers out there had a great day, and were able to do something special.

Here is a really bad photo taken on my blackberry.  The lens must have been fogged over from being in my pocket.  I'm not a huge baseball fan, but the CWS is a great environment to experience.  Oh, and by the way, UP #844 was sitting just outside, north of the stadium.  We were hot and tired so decided not to check it out this time.  I guess we are too jaded seeing it in action, while chasing it for 100 miles just a few months earlier.