Shelf Layout Lighting

 Next step in the shelf layout project is to add some lighting.  My room is pretty well lit but I really wanted to highlight the layout.  I am hoping to achieve a shadowbox effect.

The light fixture I selected are from Commercial Electric. These are LED, like most things these days, and come in several different lengths.  I used a mix of 2' and 4' fixtures.  The nice thing about these is they are linkable.  This allows so several fixtures to be daisy-chained together off of a single power cord and switch.  This really simplified the installation.

The overall effect is pretty good but not quite as bright as I had hoped.  I think this will work out fine but  might look into some additional lighting down the road.

Finishing the Shelves

 Once again, I have let several months pass without a blog update.  I have actually been very busy with the hobby, I have just been lazy about posting.  After my last update in August work continued on the new shelf layout.  By the end of the month the shelves were all installed and the foam tops installed.

The shelves are made of particle board with melamine coating. This makes then very hard and slick.  To glue down the foam insulation board I used Loctite Power Grab All Purpose Construction Adhesive.  This stuff worked great.  It is a little tough to use from a tube for this size project so I have to go back and get the caulking gun tubes.

Before I glued the foam down I prepped the ends of the foam boards and the joints in the shelves.  I wanted to make sure the shelves and the ends of the foam did not get glued together incase I ever need to take the layout down.

In order to make sure I got a good bond to the shelf I weighed down the foam with some books.  This worked out great and the foam is not going anywhere.

After the shelves were installed and the foam added I realized that my inside corners were just too sharp and were going to be an issue.  I had some scrap wood so I cut some triangles to make a better transition.  Some scrap foam was added to bring it up to the level of the rest of the layout.

I wanted to make sure the inside corners were as sturdy as the rest of the shelves so I used heavy framing hardware to attach them.  This does not move at all.

I am much farther along with the project now and I will be posting a couple more updates very soon. One thing I wish I had done different at this stage is the inside corners.  I realize now i would have make them much larger but they will still work.  Stay tuned for more updates.

New Shelf Layout Project

 It has been a couple of months since my last update.  It is crazy hot in Phoenix this  time of year and a garage layout is just a form of torture.  Way to hot out there to do much of anything.  The reality of this has inspired me to move ahead with my in-door shelf layout.

The layout will be located in my home office/study/den. This room is about 11'x13'.  There are double entry doors along one wall and a window on the wall directly opposite. The room needs to continue as an office as I work from home. This means a U shaped shelf layout will be the best fit for the space.  The layout will be about 55" off the floor to allow for easy access under the layout for desks and work bench, etc.

I wanted to have lots of surface area for buildings and scenery as well as interesting track layout so the majority of the layout will be 24" wide.  The span across the window is a concern as the window is nearly 5' wide.  Because of this I limited the deck width to only 12" to minimize/eliminate the need for extra support across the window.

I started the project on the right side of the room on one of the long walls.  The layout will have a 12" wide shelf on the top for storage but more importantly for a lighting valance. 

For the top shelf I used simple stamped steel L brackets.  These are screwed directly into the wall studs.  These types of brackets are cheap and hold a lot of weight.  

This wall has studs that are spaced 24" on center so the brackets are 24" apart. Each bracket is carefully placed to ensure it is level with the previously installed brackets. 

The shelf is a 12" wide particle board style that is coated in a plastic material with a plastic edge. These are made for closet organizers and are cheaper than real wood.  With the ample support the shelf is stable and will not sag or warp.

It already has a finished look with little effort.  So far so good.

With the header shelf in it is time to move on to the main layout shelf.

Since this shelf is so much larger and heavier the brackets are bigger and it gets and extra bracket at the end.  The main weight is carried by the triangular brackets, of which there are 4.  There are also 4 L brackets used mostly to prevent sag and add to the stability.  Leveling is CRITICAL.  

I used the same manufactured wood material as the header shelf and it has the same finished look without much effort.  They are sold in 8' lengths but I cut each down to just under 7' to ensure the seams did not overlap the brackets.  I also cut the corners off where the shelf meets the corner of the room to allow for power cords.  In addition, the shelf is mounted about 3/4" from the wall to make the actual width 24" and for additional cord access behind the backdrop.

Here is the finished phase one with 1" blue foam on top.  The foam is not attached yet but has been trimmed to fit.

So far this is exactly as I envisaged it.  

Phase 2 is spanning the window.  This was a challenge as I did not want to have to engineer addition center support across the span.  This was an experiment but it worked out.

Once again I started with the header shelf.  Since I would have less support for this section I switched to actual 1"x12"x10' lumber.  Wow! This stuff is expensive. Real lumber is much more ridged and will hold up over time where particle board will not.  This shelf is held up with 4 L brackets.  

After a some re-adjustment of the header brackets I got a nice, level span across the window.  This made the installation of the layout shelf easier. The layout shelf got the heavy triangle brackets and is nice and solid.

Phase 3 will be the installation of the shelves on the left side of the room.  This will be a couple weeks down the road.  Until then the window shelves will not be screwed onto the brackets so it will be easier to level the new section.  It will also allow me to make any length adjustments easily.

Stay tuned for more updates on this soon.

More Weathering Examples

 Work continues on my weathering experiments.  Here are some of my latest efforts.  This really takes some practice but even with very little experience you can get some nice results.

This car is the first where I made use of oil paints.  I only have Windsor & Newton Burnt Umber but there is a lot you can do with just this one color.  Before using the oil paint, however, I did some work using acrylic paints.  The rust spots are all done with acrylics and allowed to dry.  I then used the oil paint to do a wash.  Once that was allowed to cure, I went back and applied the rust streaking with the same oil paint. This has become one of my favorite techniques. It is VERY easy.  This car was finished with a dull coat.

These two covered hoppers were done in very similar fashion.  Both started with some stippling of rust colored acrylic paint. I used a very coarse packaging foam as the applicator as this had very wide bubbles to give a good texture.  The UP car got much more of the stippling, and an additional color, than the Rock car got.  After the stippling they both got acrylic washes of very thinned acrylic paint.  The UP car got a more brown wash an the Rock car got grey.  For the final details I did the oil rust streaking on the UP car and the Rock car got some thicker grey acrylic spill marks.  Both these cars were finished with a dull coat.

This hopper got almost the exact same treatment as the box car above.  I always use acrylic paint on the wheels and trucks but I do vary the colors from car to car.  This car was finished with a dull coat.  This is an important step when using the oil paints but you need to wait several days to ensure the paint thoroughly dries.

This car has a lot of techniques going on.  The first step was a thorough dry-brush of light blue over the entire body.  This is particularly important on the roof to give a nice faded look.  Next is stippling of rust colored acrylic paint with a focus, again, on the roof.  Next are some rust scrapes and spots with different rust colored acylics.  The car then got an acrylic wash followed by and alcohol wash.  Each of these washes were dried with the aid of a blow-dryer.  Finally oil based rust streaks were added.  This car did not get a dull coat.

This car is an extreme example of what you can do with mostly alcohol and ink. I started with a dry-brush of an appropriate reddish color to lighten things up.  I then used my Lance Mindhiem India in and alcohol wash. With is applied with a dropper and then allowed to run over the model. It is then QUICKLY dried with a blow-dryer.  As the alcohol dries it will produce this extremely faded effect.  You could leave it just this way but I went back and added an acrylic wash of a light brown over the top.  DO NOT varnish or dull coat this as the effect of the fade will be ruined.

This car was painted like the Santa Fe car above but I added in more acrylic rust work and some rust streaking.  I then dull coated it and the alcohol fade was basically removed.  Fortunately it still looks good so no need for re-work on this one.

I am really starting to fall into a groove with my weathering so it is time to change things up.  I need to add more oil colors to the line-up and I still need to try some pastels and pigments.  I have seen some interesting results on YouTube of using some rattle can spray paint to produce some airbrush-like effects.  So much more to try!

First Weathering Project

 OK, it is actually the first model railroad weather project in about 27 years but you get the idea.  I am dedicated to providing quality content for all my readers (OK, I don't have any readers but I will still post quality content).

The subject of this project is a Burlington China Red Double Door PS-1 box car manufactured by C&BT Shops.  This is an old kit, probably about 25 years old or more.  I was not overly impressed with the details but I am sure it was considered a good kit at the time.  Below are pictures of the assembled model.

The model came with metal wheels but they required assembly and don't roll very good.  Replacing the wheels is not an option, you would need to replace the trucks as well.  I will just stick with the originals.

The ladders and other fine details are quite chunky and really out of scale.  I was not a fan of this car after assembly.

Roof detail is good but those ladders really stick out!

Since this is really just a practice model, as are all of my 50-60s cars, I am not too concerned with how this turns out.  I will be using materials and techniques that I have been using for a while as part of my war gaming hobby.  I am pretty comfortable with these materials so this will be a good place to start.

Most of this is pretty common stuff.  The Army Painter Strong Tone wash might be the most challenging to find but is readily available online.  The isopropyl wash is the Lance Mindheim wash he outlines in his book.  I used the weakest solution for this project.

Below are the steps I followed with pictures.  I kind of remembered to take pictures of all the steps.

Start by removing the trucks.  This allows easier access to the bottom of the car for painting.  If you a better planner than I am you might do this during assembly.

Paint the bottom of the car, the wheels, and the trucks brown.  I used Burnt Umber but just about any brown will do.  The next step is to drybrush a medium orange color on the entire red portion of the car.  This is to represent the fade of the red.  You could also use something in the pink direction for the fade.

After the orange drybrush you will have something like this.  I went a little heavy on the roof but in retrospect I should not have bothered as the grey mostly covered this.  The next step is to apply grey with a make-up sponge.  This will be mostly just on the roof panels.

The grey has been applied.  You can see that almost none of the orange made it past this step.  The goal is to make this look like the paint has fade almost completely off the top of the car.  You could add some surface rust at this point.

The final step is washes.  This is really several steps all rolled into one and I did not get pictures of the process.  I started off by covering the entire box car in strong tone wash.  This is a dark brown acrylic wash.  You might want to do a dull coat before applying washes as the water based washed might bead up and not provide even coverage on very smooth surfaces.  Once the strong tone was nearly dry I applied the alcohol wash with a dropper.  The alcohol will react with the acrylic paint in interesting ways.  I sped up the drying by blowing on the model but I have added a hairdryer to my tools.  The faster the drying the more of the fade and oxidation look you will get.  Slow drying will result in the clumping of the pigments into interesting patterns.  Experiment with this and you will get some interesting results.

Below are the final results of my efforts.  I am very pleased with how this car turned out.  The weathering has helped me not notice the model's other issues.  So much so that I really like this car now.

I have been having a lot of fun weathering cars and trying new techniques and products.  I need to get some pastels and pigments and I really want to, finally, use my airbrush.  Lots more to come.

Bachmann EZ Track Upgrade How-To - Powered Re-railer

 My Bachmann EZ Track upgrade project is progressing and this time we have a very challenging section to work on - the powered re-railer.  This is probably the worst piece in the EZ track collection. It is a horrible design and it doesn't work very well as a re-railer and it is needlessly complicated as a power track.  Having said that it is the piece we have to work with so here we go.

The basic track piece is from a design I used as a kid in the late 70s except mine didn't have the roadbed and the connectors were round rather than the spade style.  They really should have done a proper redesign of this a LONG time ago.

This seems to be the newer style of this section as it has the index pins to hold the track in place.  If these were the only areas where it was glued it would be very easy to get apart but it's not going to be that easy.

Where the re-railer meets the roadbed there is glue almost all the way around.  You will need to take your time getting this apart.

I used a sharp hobby knife and a small flat screwdriver to gently separate the track from the roadbed.  Start in the middle just like the other sections.  You will get a pop when the center index pen comes loose but you will still have to carefully work all the glue spots apart.

You can see how many location they used to glue the track to the base.  Clean off an excess glue and smooth an nicks from the knife.

You can see how the terminals are connected to the rails.  This is a good time to mark the terminals in some way so you know which is which.  A notch on the plastic or something like that will be very handy in the future.  I, of course, didn't think of that until I had reassembled it.  It does seem like the near side rail is always the right terminal.

Taping is the same as the other sections.  I wanted the 'ballast' to flow farther up to the wood sections so I did a little more taping.  If you do it this way the track section will be taped and painted twice but I like how it turned out.

Base painting is done.  I used brush on paint to fill in a little on base around the re-railer.  If you don't do this you will have a nice black line all the way around the re-railer.  I used the same paint to paint the sides of the rails and to dry-bruch over the wood.

Reassembled and weathering washes ha been applied.  I think this looks pretty good.  I think I will try and build some sort of track-side shack or something to hide the plugs.  These do not look right to me as grade crossings as a lot of people do.

I think in the future I will design my own power section from standard track sections.  An idea for a future project but for now this will do nicely.