Modified Scenery

 It needed changing.

    After working on lots of other stuff my eyes kept calling me back to some of the scenery I had done in the earlier stages of this build. Too many trees and the ground cover did not look as good as I would have liked, so without a second thought all of the pine trees that had been planted were pulled out ready for faze two.

    I wanted add much more dept to the grasses and planned to spread out the pine trees as I had seen in many inspirational images from the Colorado area. This plan also called for more space so I can install some Scenic Express trees with some autumn (fall) colours and add more undergrowth as well.

   I did not take any shots once the trees were removed however as a reminder here is what the area looked like before there was any grass or trees.

   And here it the area is as it looks as of today. Lots more static grass using three shades and various lengths in an attempt to get some more depth to the look of the grass. The pine trees were then replanted in a better (well to me) position and spread out more than before. I then set about colouring the water courses for the creeks.

     There is lots more to do along this area however this is where I stopped until the mood takes me back.

Thanks for dropping by.

Rod.

So long ago

 It's been a while since my last post.

     I've been pretty busy on the Monarch Branch over the past several months during lock-down however I have been delinquent in adding anything to my blog since October.

     One of the industries I want to model in the town of Cedar Creek is a tie treatment plant. That's been more difficult than I thought as there does not seem to be a lot of info available of plants that existed in the early 40's or earlier.  I did finally find some images and a story that has assisted me to start moving forward.

     One point I read about was the small Davenport Gas Mechanical style loco that was used to push then remove the ties from the pressure treatment vessel. An aha moment, so that started the juices flowing and after several unsuccessful attempts to find a suitable loco a good friend said "I think I have just what you are looking for". I have a Roco HOn30 in bright dark blue with a yellow stripe and its yours.

    A few days later and it was in my hands ready for the work to start.

     Once the body was off I set to removing cast on details that I did not think suited my area. Items such as cast on headlight and reversing light, strange looking items on the rear of the body as well as removing the exhaust a roof vent.

    Stripping the paint took at least a week, however I was pleased to see it all off so I could start to add some details. I fashioned front and rear lights from styrene and made a new air cleaner, exhaust and muffler for the bonnet. Additional window frames were added along with window shades.

Here she sits with all the add-ons and primed ready for paint.

     Painting was next, I chose to paint this the same colour as I used on my ON30 Bachmann Gas Mechanical several years back. However I wanted to start with flat black in the corners and grill areas so as to help highlight these areas.

    I love weathering and rust, so this was going to cop it.

Done.

     Once the first colour was dry it received a light filter wash of blue oil paint and allowed to dry for several days. Rust was then applied generally over the whole unit and especially on the muffler using rust coloured oil paints.

   

    The next thing to do was add an N Scale coupler to the front. This meant some cutting and filing to get the M/T Body mount short shank coupler to fit. Once this was in place some styrene made to look like timber was added along with some NBW's to finish off the front. (Thanks to GM for this suggestion).

   Painted the chassis, springs etc, sat the body back on and she was all done.

All done and it runs.

    Thanks for stopping by.

Rod.