The Atlantic and Southern Build, Part 1

[tct855]

T~,
          Are we still talking modeling? ha.    T...

[ACL1504]

T~,
          Are we still talking modeling? ha.    T...

Yes, of course. Tongue in cheek here however. The Judge is the official Ticket Agent for the Atlantic and Southern so he does have a voice of sorts.

TEL

[ACL1504]

Yesterday, I was playing around with the new camera and was trying my hand at forced perspective of a scene.

Here I have a Pennsy 2-8-0 consolidation.



Here I have an ACL 0-6-0 switcher.



What do you think?

[deemery]

Looks good, you should look for some small (O Scale) item to place in the foreground.


dave

[ACL1504]

Looks good, you should look for some small (O Scale) item to place in the foreground.


dave

Dave,

Thanks for stopping by and posting your thoughts.

Actually, I was kidding! The loco in the first photo is an On30 which runs on HO track. The second loco, the little switcher is an HO scale NWSL 0-6-0. It was the very first brass loco I painted way back in October 1979.

And, it still has the original paint job.

Tom  

[donatode]

You didn't fool us....(well, maybe some of us)!!!!

[KCS Trains]

Tom,

I haven't done it myself, but what if you put a mirror at the end of the road to make it look like the road continues.  I've read about the use of mirrors in this regard and I invite other comments on the use of mirrors.  Now we only need smoke!!  (Get it???)  Phil

[GPdemayo]

Darn.....you got me and I've even run that loco.....

[ACL1504]

You didn't fool us....(well, maybe some of us)!!!!

Donato,

Thanks for stopping by. Could have fooled me said he!

Tom

[ACL1504]

Tom,

I haven't done it myself, but what if you put a mirror at the end of the road to make it look like the road continues.  I've read about the use of mirrors in this regard and I invite other comments on the use of mirrors.  Now we only need smoke!!  (Get it???)  Phil

Phil,

Great question and comment. I actually have an answer as to why there is no mirror at the end of the road. The end of the road can be viewed by the visitor straight on. So, that person would see themselves in the mirror.

When I carved the road in the blue foam, I made it crest at the driveway of the cracker houses. The road continues down and away to the right giving the impression the road disappears to the right behind the hill.

I appreciate the thought and you stopping by.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Darn.....you got me and I've even run that loco.....

Greg,

I love ya butty but you are just to easy!

Tom

[ACL1504]

One of the things I needed was a guard rail of sorts between the track and the highway. I didn't like any of the commercial ones sold by Walthers or others I saw. That meant I had to come up with a scratch built one.

I decided to go with scale 8X8 posts. The 10X10's were just to big and the 6X6's didn't look appropriate either.

According to FDOT (we don't need to go here as we've already solved that one) the guard rail posts are 27 inches high. Well, phooey, I just made mine 3 feet.

I painted the 8X8's with full strength Floquil Reefer White and set them aside to dry. When dry, I cut the in five scale feet sections. I measured two scale feet from the bottom of each post and scored each side. I then shaved the corners at the line and below.



Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

I then took a 3/32 drill bit and measured two scale feet from the tip. I rolled a small piece if blue painters tape around the drill bit. More on this later.



I measured every scale 7 feet and made a black mark with the marker.



I remeasured once again to make sure I had all the marks an equal 7 scale feet apart.



Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

I then drilled the holes in the plywood using the black marks as my guide. The reason I used the blue tape on the drill bit so I would only drill down two HO scale feet.

I then took two of the posts and inserted them into two of the holes. The shaved corners gave me a snug fit and I could make adjustments if needed.



Also, by marking the posts at the scale two foot, I was only able to push the post into the plywood that length leaving the three feet above the plywood.

More in a few. Diet Pepsi time.

[ACL1504]

I removed the two posts and made 39 others for a total of 41. I then made, from the top of each post, a mark at the 1 and 2 inch. I used a #66 drill bit and drilled two holes in each post.

I inserted one post in each hole drilled into the plywood.



I used K&S Precision Metals .032 (.61mm) music wire and pulled the wire through each post. After just using the wire in the top hole, I realized this wire was to big and out of scale.

I then used Detail Associates #2506 .019" diameter brass wire. This was easily pulled through each hole and proved to be/appear correct.



This gave me the guard rail I envisioned. I removed the brass wire and painted it with full strength Floquil Old Silver. When the wire dries, I'll insert it back into the post.

More on the guard rail tomorrow.