The depot...

Got the Fallberg depot built, painted and some weathering done. Since this is going to be used on a layout in the Caribbean, it needed a more rusty roof to go with it. Next up will need to be a freight shed.

Dock and crane

A base of Pollyscale and Apple Barrel paints. Weathering done with Vallejo and Ammo of Mig washes. Weathering has changed alot over the years..

Crane and something new..

Work continues (in fits and spurts) on the Fallberg depot.

I built the crane for the dock. It's a nice little model that will need some detail. The undercoat is Mineral Brown, then a coat of Ammo Chipping solution and then Medium Yellow. The Chipping solution allows you to flake off the paint with a wet paint brush after it has had a chance to dry. I've got the base of it done, just not photographed. I'm going to apply rust and some other washes to it next.

I also got a new toy. I've been considering a fine airbrush for some time and have been looking at alot of the major brands. Iwata, Badger and others were considered. But for the last 30+ years, I've used Paasche airbrushes with no complaints. Parts are easy to get, they are made here in the USA and I've sprayed all sorts of paints with them.

I have had a H model external mix model for all of those 30+ years. I'm on my second one (the first died a horrible death) and it'll spray anything. I bought the Millennium when they released it for acrylics. It too is a work horse. Easy to get a fine spray with.

My new brush is a Talon. Made to do very fine lines. It came with three spray head/needles (0.25, 0.33 and 0.66mm) and a fan cap for wider spray. Best part is there was no need to swap airhoses or buy adapters. And for $100, well worth it. I'm getting used to it but it is very nice!

Okay, enough yaking. I'm gonna go get a couple of washes on the crane before bedtime.

Depot work...

I've been away from the railroad stuff for awhile and hit the mid model blahs on the M-RAP, so I dug this kit out.

The is the Fallberg Station, designed by John Olsen for his HOn3 layout way back. The details of the kit can be found here... I picked it up on Ebay a few years ago and found it while looking for something else. It's a neat little kit that will keep you busy for a few nights.

I've assembled the walls and crane Hydrocal castings make up the walls and dock, which is 1 piece. The walls were assembled with Tacky Glue. I then painted them a base of grey, then a wash of Model Master Burnt Umber and Pollyscale Dirt. The crane will be painted first with a Boxcar Red then Ammo of Mig chipping solution will be over sprayed, so when I goto paint the yellow, I can chip it off and get a good rust base.

The crane is an interesting detail. Took a minute to get figure out where everything goes.

Next up, paint the crane, door and window frames and do somemore weathering to the building. Instead of the printed roofing included with the kit, I'm going to use Plastruct corrugated metal sheet stryene for the roof and weather it.

More to come!

Forward!

Gotten a little done on the MRAP. Most of my time has been work and other projects.. .

MRAP progress...

Among other things, I did get some work done today on my MRAP. Chassis is done, now for paint..

A little this, a little that....

So many things, so little time..

Getting hooked on scale models again. Mostly modern US military (1/35) and big rigs (1/25).

 
Also trying some different weathering products on the trains as well as the other stuff..

The military modelers really have some great stuff to use.. The three here are...

Vallejo, great washes and acrylic paints...
http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/en_US

AK Interactive, part of Vallejo. Weathering sets for alot of different modeling types. Make sure you look around...
http://ak-interactive.com/v2/

And Ammo by MIG. A new line with alot of good sets and supplies as well.
http://www.migjimenez.com/en/

There is a US distrubutor, but they're stock is behind what is available from over in Europe.

Also, make sure you look at The Weathering Magazine. Lot's of good info in here...
http://www.migjimenez.com/en/36-english-version

Have fun!

Change change change...

Man, almost an entire year since I posted anything. But life does get in the way. The job I took last year has kept me busy. Getting into unplugged woodworking has also been taking up time, along with the garden. Then, my first grandson showed up Dec 1st.

So, it's time to get back into modeling. I moved my bench into a closet set up to make my office bigger. After measuring the work space I use, I figured out that when I'm building I use a 24" x 30" space. Everything else is storage. So, I've made a 25" by 36" bench to build on. All the parts, glues and whatnot go above on shelves. The paint booth is next to the bench. Here's a picture of it after getting everything done this weekend..

Right now modeling is going to be split between railroads and plastic models (modern US Mil hardware, big rigs and EMS) I have plans to start a shelf layout this spring as well. I'm leaning more towards an N scale industrial layout, but I haven't given up on narrow gauge just yet.

More to come when I get further along..