Rick's Layout Extensions

Drawing #1

Drawing #2

Drawing #3

Friday 3-26-10 Work Session at Rick's

What a night we had at the Richlawn Railroad! Tonight was labeled "Delicate Demolition" as we were removing a wall right next to the railroad.

In attendance were:

Coalfinger Ken

Concrete Keith

Glue Bob & his guest Brian

Steve-bay

Band Camp Mark

Here's the gang all serious and everything. The gentlemen next to the door is Bob's friend, Brian. He also is from the Great White North and a model railroader (and a very nice guy!) Mark is out of the picture in the lower right. We split into two teams with Keith & Ken inside the train room and Mark and Steve in the closet. I ran tools to the guys, took pictures, and provided moral support.

Here Keith gets right at it tearing out the drywall inside of the room. Ken mans the trash bag and the team made short work of the wall.

Bob & I gave Brian a tour of the railroad while the de-construction when on and it was great talking to Brian. He is the proud owner of Bob's previous layout, which has been sitting dormant for a few years. Bob is going to visit him and get it back in working order.

What's this? Me working? In a rare moment Bob snapped this shot after the guys "forced" me to do some cleanup work. So this is what it feels like to work!

Wall.....what wall? The guys are putting the finishing touches on the demo.

The Wrecking Crew! After the wall was down the plastic was removed covering the track and we ran trains.......without problem! This was a testament to the great care and workmanship of the team. If I had attempted this project by myself it probably would have taken a week and something (or somebody) would have been damaged. Thanks, guys!

Here's a little video of some of the action!

Trees, please!

Recently we were at Scott's for a tree clinic where we learned a number of ways to make "homemade" trees. One of the methods used floral wire twisted to make the tree armature. I really liked that method and have made a few trees to practice and see what the final product looks like. The pictures aren't very good, so you can see the real things when you visit.

NOTE: To really see the detail you will need to click on the pictures and use the zoom in feature.

Here's a completed tree with poly fiber covered with various shades of green ground foam.




This is a different tree using the same method.


I tried applying the poly fiber and foam using two methods: 1.) Apply the poly fiber to the tree first, spay with adhesive, and then sprinkle with the foam. The problem with this method is that some of the spray adhesive gets on the limbs, so you end up with "leaves" directly on the branches. 2.) I made little clumps of poly fiber first, sprayed them with adhesive, sprinkled on the foam, and then applied to the tree. I'm still debating which I will use.



A shot of some of the armatures and finished trees. I coated the trees with a mixture of plain white glue, concrete liquid concrete color (gray) and a thickener (secret ingredient). After the coating dried I scribed lines in the material and then dry brushed on dark gray.

A close up of an armature.

It takes some time to make trees this way, but they come out fairly nice and are cheap. Sounds like "TV time" project to me!

Raffle Layout 2011

Dear Mr. Goodwin;

It is with pleasure that I reply to your request about having the number one operating group in Georgia, the North County Interchange Operating Group provide the Division with a raffle layout for 2011.  Our team has met and decided that we would be most willing to help in this endeavor, and in fact, have already finished!

We feel that one thing that could help sell tickets, other than the quality of the layout, is the notoriety of the layout.  Often the layout is not finished in time to do any real marketing.  The layout we propose to the Division is not only complete, but has its own fan club!

We will be providing the Heart of Georgia Layout....most commonly known as the HOG!

This trend setting layout design has been made popular all over North America, published in Scale Rails, discussed in the http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HOGRR/ egroup, written about on the http://hogrr.blogspot.com/ blog, and has become quite popular nation wide.  You won't find a more famous layout anywhere and we already have the photos with which to market it.

The layout is owned by member Steve Berkheimer who has so kindly agreed to part with it for the Division.  While there is extensive costs in the layout, Steve is willing to accept $1,500 for materials of construction.  The only thing missing will be the DCC system which Digitrax donates every year.  Because the layout was not build as a raffle layout, we do not have receipts.  Rest assured that much more than $1,500 went into it, especially on the highly custom locomotives.

Our team will spruce up the layout and maybe add some additional detail over the next year and will have it ready for the next train show.  It is in great operational shape and has been shown at two Piedmont Pilgrimages where it ran flawlessly.

If the Division is amenable to this offer, please let us know and we'll begin work immediately.  Photos are attached.

Highest regards,

Scott G. Perry, CPM

Embroidered Shirt Order:

Style: blue polo with embroidered logo over left pocket area
Cost: around $22 each.  High quality Outer Banks polo with embroider art charges, freight, etc

Scott: XXXL, 2 shirts
Rick: XL, 1 shirt
Bob: XL - 1 shirt
Paul: XL - 2 shirts
Keith: XL - 2 shirts
Ken: XXL - 1 shirt
Wade:
Steve B.: L - 1 shirt
Mark: XXL - 2 shirts
Mike:
Steve R.: L - 1 shirt

Total:  12 shirts

Scott Perry’s Blogs

The Model Railroader’s Notebook

A guide to hints, tips, techniques and products related to the hobby

The Dixie Central Railroad in HO

A portable sectional layout designed for benchwork, scenery and trackwork skill development

Building The Okefenokee Swamp Model Railroad in On30

Exciting coverage of the On30 Okefenokee Swamp Railroad, a model train layout constructed in On30. This unusual layout is based on the prototype Hebard Cypress Company and the Waycross & Southern Railroad that occupied this large Georgia swamp in the 1920's.

North County Interchange Operating Group

The NCIOG is a Model Train Building and Operating Club Located in the North East Atlanta Suburbs. This is a Round Robin Club with Limited Membership.

The Heart of Georgia HOG Layout in HO Scale

My Better Beginner's Layout that features operations and simple construction to help new modelers get the most out of their layout!

Layout Design Service

Follow Along With Me as I Designs Model Train Layouts!

Traintools - Model Train Tools Digest

Descriptions, Ratings and Demonstrations of Modeling Tools

The Georgia Northeastern in HO Scale

Watch as I design I. D. Jackson's version of the Georgia Northeastern, a modern 3rd class railroad that runs in north east Georgia.

Baltimore & Ohio II in HO Scale

Layout Design Event Featuring the B&O's Cumberland and Mountain Divisions

Modeling Water on Train Layouts

Join us as I test techniques, tools and products while building water scenes.

The Georgia Southern Railroad in HO Scale

Look at Dan Berman’s Layout, Designed by Me Just For Dan

White Pass & Yukon in On30

Welcome to Scott Perry's next On30 adventure! A small layout in On30 based on Alaska's White Pass & Yukon Railroad.

Peñoles Mining Company in On30

This is a small mining layout based on a real 30" railroad. Follow along as we design the layout.

03-06-10 Scott's House - I See Trees of Green

My apologies to Louis Armstrong

A lighter than normal turnout due to Glue Bob's sister being in town and Packrat Paul crossing the pond.

Attendance:

Gator Scott
Coalfinger Ken
Steve-Bay
Popsicle Rick
And our newest member! (drum roll please...)

Mark "Band Camp" Weiss!!!!

Tonight was tree night! We sat around a craft table and tried our hands at various tree techniques. Here's how it went:

Here's Scott putting the drill to a tree winding up the jute fiber. And yes, we did have to sing a verse from the Beetle's song "Hey Jute".


Ahhh! You are such a beautiful little tree!!!

Rick started us off with a tree that he bought on Ebay from seller EVERYDAYGOODZ. Apparently he sells a lot of trees. This one was a bit bright for my taste but it had a very nice structure to it. Check him out on Ebay...

http://shop.ebay.com/everydaygoodz/m.html?_dmd=1&_in_kw=1&_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1

So we threw all the supplies on a big craft table in the basement and got started. We were using Joe Sullivan's recent guide to tree making and using some other techniques. Mostly we were experimenting.

It was kind of like an old quilting bee...bunch of old ladies sitting around talking about Louis Armonstrong, old movies, Rick's lack of hair, and Mark's days as a flute player. Yes, the knickname will stick!

Ken is building a fall layout and brought over a bunch of fall foliage. He built some great trees using some carefully mixed colors.

Band Camp tried his hand as well. He built several nice trees including a jute twist conifer that will look nice on an N-scale layout.

The table was a wreck, but we had a ball. Glue Bob gave me some pre streteched and colored jute for the twist trees. My first two were horrible as there are some tricks to twisting them. But the last one look fantastic!

Here are some of Ken's colorful fall trees in N-scale.

Here is Scott's last twisted tree. A little blurry here, but it looked good.

A more full twisted tree and two nice armatures made by Steve who really seemed to get the hang of working with florist wire. I never did master it.

Armatures, Scott's first twist tree and a few of the Joe Sullivan trees.

Rick's trees turned out really nice. He had a great balance of limbs and color. We kill him last.

Mark or Ken's (I forgot who) made some very colorful trees. The one on the right looks incredible.

It was a great evening now that it has warmed back up a bit. Scott got to show everyone the progress on the Dixie Central, the lack of progress on the Swamp and a few projects in the shop.

Coffee's still hot if you want some.

Track repair on the Richlawn Railroad

Guys,

Check out the latest on track repair on the railroad. Thanks, Ken for pointing this out!


http://richlawnrailroad.blogspot.com/2010/03/track-rework-in-thru-plate-girder.html

God bless,
Rick

Getting Ready for the Baby

Marie, as you know, is about the size of a roundhouse and is due in six weeks.  We are all very excited!  And nervous.  Ok, I'm nervous...they aren't.  But they should be.  I guess...

Anyway...

My schedule will be a bit up in the air over the next month and a half, so I apologize right now if I miss a train show, Friday meeting, or whatever is planned.  You just don't know.

But I'll be sure to post the new addition's picture here!  And here's hoping its a boy!!!

Bob's Amazing Layout

I stopped by Glue Bob's house tonight to pick up some stuff.  It was the first time that I had seen the finished rock cut and trees...

OUTSTANDING!

It looks just like the real thing!  And then to get to watch a 50 car train go around the layout!

Always fun to visit Bob and Halina!