Tigard & Grants Pass Railroad

The Sand Tower

2006-02-24T00:57:00.000-08:00

Well today I got most of the sand tower completed, plus added a final color to the walls of the sand house. I started off with a depot buff color, experimenting on the back side of the sand house in case it didnt look so good. And it didnt, so I resorted to good old boxcar red. I drybrushed this on, using Polly Scale acrylics. Every once in awhile I would dip the brush in some water just to keep the paint from getting too thick on the brush and model. The pictures show the results, the sides came out looking more on the brown side than red, but Im fairly happy with the results. I drybrushed some grey over this boxcar red coat once it had dried.

One thing I constantly have to fight is the sense that everything has to be "perfect". Its one thing to frett over every little detail: peeling paint, weathered boards, wood grain detail etc if youre just building one model or diorama. Even for just a few models ... then OK go for it. But if youre ever going to have a model railroad then you have to get to the point where things are "good enough". Thats not to say that sloppy work is acceptable, rather that you cant spend all your time on one model if you ever want to build an empire. Once this model is placed on the layout with scenery, track, rolling stock and other structures competing for a viewer's attention it will blend in nicely.

I have also posted a few of the sand tower photos. Construction has progressed as far as possible until the sand house walls were painted. This is because the sand tower will get attached to the sand house roof once I get the roofing down. I have to say that PBL is usually very thorough with instructions but this kit left alot to be desired. I actually had to go back and cut off some of the major bracing on the tower and reposition it because later steps were not lining up. I had to refer alot to the scale diagrams for lack of worded instructions, but this is something you should always do anyway. Read all the instructions before diving in, and familarize yourself with the scale drawings also. Now if I could just follow my own advice!! The main thing was keeping all the boards and cross beams square. I used the same coloring scheme on the tower: CC Crow silver wood stain followed by india ink/alcohol and chalk washes. Ive gone over the tower with one application of the driftwood formula and will do at least 1-2 more until it lightens up a bit and gets that bleached out look. I distressed the wood in a few places, adding notches and gouges, one of which is visible in the side view picture just under the angled bracket. I will keep these the darker color so they stand out as the surrounding wood bleaches in color. I should be able to get this wrapped up in the next few days, once I get a roof on the sand house.

Trying for that Driftwood look

2006-02-24T00:28:00.000-08:00

Im still working on my Sand House, and this post will deal with staining the walls and construction. Since Floquil stopped producing their Driftwood stain, alot of people have been experimenting with formulas to simulate that aged silvery look that wood gets after years of exposure to the elements. You can use the CC Crow "silver wood" with good results, but many people are still hunting for a driftwood look. I found a recipe on the net that uses Sherwin Williams interior pickled white oil base stain. The pictures of the side and front elevation of the sand house shows the results of using this stain. I think it comes pretty close, and Im not going to sweat the details of fine tuning it. I first applied a wash of the silver wood from CC Crow. Over this I applied my india ink/alcohol wash in combination with powdered chalk. I scraped my chalk sticks to give me small piles of black and brown powder, and took my wet brush and dipped it in the pile to grab a small amount of powder, then scrubbed it on the wood.

When this dried I applied the driftwood stain, thinning it out with a bit of laquer thinner. As far as construction goes, this was pretty straight forward. The peel and stick battens were applied to the side elevations and trimmed to fit. The kit is engineered to go together with tabs and slots, arranged so that you cant line the walls up wrong. The roof is slotted and fits over tabs, again its a pretty standard laser type kit. So far Im happy with the results, you can see a bit of brown showing through the driftwood in places. Its almost impossible to screw this up, just go at it and play around until you get a look you like.

The Sand Bin

2006-02-13T16:03:00.000-08:00

Today I made more progress on my Sand House kit. Im working on the sand bin first, and I really love the way these laser kits go together. You could actually build this kit in about 2 days but Im taking my time and putting alot of weathering effects into it. I played around with various methods, some new to me and some old. I used the Silver Wood from CC Crow and also some India ink and alcohol washes. I went over this with a dry brush of grey acrylic paint to catch some highlights. The top picture shows the posts that surround the bin, I used the brown Kiwi liquid shoe polish on these and was very happy with the results.

Ive enclosed a couple of close up shots of the Sand Bin, and you can see the contrast between the brownish posts and the ties which would be darker. After the Kiwi shoe polish had dried I brushed a wash of acrylic black over it to darken them a bit and enhance the cracks etc. In a couple of places you can also see the dark squares where the tie plates used to be. This is a great detail, but after putting all the posts in place most of it is covered up. Im building this kit on a plywood base, as if you couldnt tell from the photos! I always use either plywood or MDF for my bases since both materials are very stable. Kits arent cheap these days so I spend a few extra bucks to make sure the base will never warp on me. In the closeup of the ties, you can see where I came back over them with some 220 sandpaper. I used just enough pressure to take a bit of stain off, to where the silvery coats shown through. Hopefully it will look like old ties where the creosote has worn down and they are getting that sunbleached look. Thats it for a couple days, off to work tonight and back on thursday.

Sand House

2006-02-12T10:34:00.000-08:00

Well its been awhile since my last post, work has taken up alot of my time but that is about to change. I will only be working about 3 days a week, so no more excuses for not getting some modeling done! I went on a layout tour yesterday and saw some very nice layouts, a couple that were pretty much finished looking. So today Im inspired to build something, and Ive started on my PBL Chama Sandhouse. The pictures here show the initial weathering stages of the sand house walls and also the storage bin. I roughed up the wood by using a wire brush and an X-acto knife to add some grain effects. Next I went over everything with a wash of Silver Wood which is available from CC Crow. This gives the wood that nice aged silvery-grey look and also has the benefit of not warping your pieces like a water based product would. I will give the wood several coats of this wash, until I like the look. I also take an artists black chalk stick and make a small pile of powder using a razor blade. I will then go over the wood again with an India ink and alcohol wash. Be careful with this wash, India ink is very strong and I make mine very diluted. You can always add more washes to build up the color, but if it goes on too black theres not much you can do to salvage it. Occasionally I dip my paint brush into the chalk and apply it to the wood siding. Then I brush it out, always going with the grain and board direction.

The photo on the left shows a close up of how this is progressing. The lower piece of wood in the picture is the sand bin, which was made up of old ties. The dark squares on this piece represent where the tie plates have been removed. I will stain this a darker color to give it a creosoted tie look, possibly using a dark brown liquid shoe polish such as Kiwi's. The upper piece of wood in the left photo is one of the sand house walls. Notice how some boards have recieved more black chalk at the bottoms? This sand house will get battens placed over the walls on those scribed lines, and then painted a depot buff color. I want to leave some of the paint off at the bottom and let that dark wood show through to represent how water seeps up from the ground and weathers boards. Although the camera does not pick it up well yet, the boards are starting to take on a very nice driftwood grey shade as they dry from each application. I probably will help this along with a dry brush of a driftwood color. Stay tuned as the Sand House comes together.

Weathering Signs

2006-01-15T17:07:00.000-08:00

Today, besides watching my Colts go down in defeat, Im working on some signs for my Feed Mill. I used the stencil that came with the kit for the sign on the roof. I was real nervous going at this, if I screwed it up the roof would be ruined also. Luckily I had the wife hold the stencil tight to the roof with an X-acto blade while I held it level and in position. Its always good to have a wife that will hold things for you....hmmm....errr better not go there. Anyway, the stencil worked pretty well. I used the same color of acrylic paint as for the siding which is "old parchment" by Ceramcoat. I should have added just a drop or two of water to thin the paint very slightly so it would flow better. Too much water though, and it would work right under the stencil so I took the safe way out. I used a large soft brush and just dabbed at the roof, even a small sponge would have worked well. Afterwards I gave the area a small shot of black chalk. I may go back and touch up the "M" in Majestic so it shows just a bit better. I like the way the paint didnt hit in some areas, it gives it a nice weathered effect to go with the tar paper. Once again I dry brushed or dry dabbed this paint on.

I also decided to add a few signs around the Mill. Feed Mills were notorious for displaying alot of ads, so I found a couple nice signs on the internet. Try a Google search for signs, rusty metal signs etc and see what comes up. These two signs represent metal signs that have rusted through in spots from age and the elements. I printed out both signs and then had them reduced at Kinko's to the proper size to fit. I hit the edges of the signs with black and rust paint to hide the white edges. Then I glued the signs on thin cardstock to repesent the metal backing and glued them in place on the Mill . It only took a few minutes for the glue to set up as I held them in place, then I added a slight dry brush of tan chalk over the signs to tone down the white lettering. I will add a few more small signs, fertilizer ads, tractor ads etc. to dress up the Mill even more. I like the way these signs came out, its an easy one day project and there are many more signs out there on the internet.

Its That Time Again

2006-01-15T16:05:00.000-08:00

Well its coming up on the 3rd anniversary of my big crash, and as always everyone wants pictures, asks me questions, and I get emails from people around the country asking for photos again. So to make less work for me, Im just gonna put some of the pictures up here on my website. This is whats left of a long nose Freightliner sleeper tractor. Tommy was driving while I was asleep in the bunk, and another rig came off the shoulder in front of him. We hit this other truck at 70mph and all I can say is seatbelts do save lives. This picture is looking in from where the roof used to be! The blue sleeping bag is where I was laying in the bunk, and the trooper's shadow falls right about where my head ended up as we slid down the highway. The picture of just the frame/chassis is interesting. If you look close enough you can see the gear shift behind the engine block. This shifter was 1 inch thick steel standing straight up and now its bent backwards at a 45 degree angle. Amazingly enough Tom had just a scratch across his forehead that needed about 2 stitches. As I was thrown forward I think I hit my leg on the microwave oven we had sitting on top of the nightstand/cabinet next to the bed. My left leg was broken in four places and I never felt it happen. Other than that, everyone agrees that we are extremely lucky to even be alive, much less walking around. God was surely riding with us that day and its his way of telling me that life is short, so get busy on that railroad!!!

Rolling Stock

2006-01-15T06:37:00.000-08:00

I am still learning how to use this site, and also my digital camera. So the pictures are bound to get better as I go along. I thought I would post a few pictures of some rolling stock Ive built over the years. The tank car was loosely patterned after a CONX car, number 8 if memory serves me right. It was built from a PBL flat car kit with the tank and hardware taken from the Gramps kit. I lettered it with some old Champ HO scale decals. Ive found that they scale out pretty well for Sn3, and I used them also on the orange reefer shown here.

I like reefers and I wanted to have a few private road names besides the D&RGW. Again a PBL standard 30 foot reefer kit with Micro-Scale HO decals applied. The box car is another offering from PBL and is just your standard typical average ordinary everyday 30 foot box car. Ive included some close-up shots of it to show the weathering. I used Star Brand paints from PBL and this is a 50/50 mix of new freight car red and weathered freight car red. I scratch weathered the car as described years ago in the Gazette. Basically you take a fiberglass eraser and scratch through each layer of paint to expose a bit of the previous coat. You can get some nice effects with some browns, greys and tans showing through as aged wood. I also used the Rexel Derwent coloring pencils on this car, alot of the weathering you see on the ends is from the pencil. I really like these pencils, you can get some very subtle effects and if you screw it up, just wipe it off and start over. Well, thats all for today....back to modeling. JD.

More Paper Creek

2006-01-14T22:40:00.000-08:00

I will show a few more photos of the Paper Creek material I am experimenting with. The first is of the corrugated tower on the Feed Mill. I used a combination of the rusty and semi rusty versions on this tower. Ive also used the shingle material and it comes as a flat sheet that looks very similar to laser cut wooden shingles that Ive used in the past. These new shingles are printed on very heavy paper, they are about .010 thick. I weathered them with acrylic paint, I use the "Ceramcoat" by Delta that you can get at any craft store.

In fact I use these paints on all my structures with real good results. No more inhaling toxic fumes for me! I used a very slight dry brush of white on this shingle roof. I also used some rust thinned with water on a few individual shingles. Remember to go very lightly with the weathering, you can always add more but once you go overboard the material would be ruined. You just want to catch the high spots and highlite them. I also used the Rexel Derwent coloring pencils, in this case some Raw Sienna running the same direction as the shingles. The tower was not weathered, it has such a nice effect already. I was hesitant about using these products since they are just printed paper, but unless you actually touch them it is almost impossible to tell the difference. From a normal viewing angle they pass the test and construction of the tower was much easier than using the corrugated metal sheet material, such as Campbells.

Initial Post

2006-01-14T22:15:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my little corner of the world. This is where I will chronicle the progress on my free lanced Sn3 layout, the Tigard & Grants Pass Railroad. I model Colorado style equipment in a 1935 Oregon setting, mainly because I enjoy waterfront scenes and there was no way to work one into Colorado without really stretching things! The last of my major home remodeling projects are just about finished with the new kitchen cabinets made and installed. Its time I got out of the armchair and built something. So if you like, you can check back from time to time to see how Im coming along. I have been building structure and rolling stock kits for the day I will actually have a place to use them.

My first entry has to do with a structure kit, the Bar Mills "Majestic Feed & Hardware". I originally built the kit with the simulated tar paper roofing supplied and painted it a faded red color. About a week ago I received an order from Paper Creek Models: tar paper roofing, shingles, bricks, rusty corrugated siding and weathered painted wooden siding. I used some of the black tar paper roofing material on another kit and was impressed with the looks. I kept eyeing the Majestic Feed Mill and finally decided the roof would look better in the black color. So with alot of hesitation, I pried off the peel and stick tar paper. The job was not hard at all, considering that I had added carpenters wood glue to the adhesive already on the back of the material. I needed a little help from an X-acto chisel blade in a few spots, but it came off alot easier than I expected. So I have posted before and after photos of the Feed Mill showing the two different roof colors. Im happy with the black roof and the way it looks, I think it contrasts nicely with the depot buff wood siding and shows it off better. The corrugated tower was also done using the rusty and semi rusty products from Paper Creek.