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1943 era model railroad layout


willysmb44
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I recently got the number plate to the left off eBay. It looks great hung on the wall, but its actually made from a plastic-covered foam is some type. It weighs about as much as a piece of like-sized cardboard, so hanging it up as a breeze (other than reaching up that high, over the layout). To the right of it is a reprint excursion flyer I got from the Avery (NC) county museum gift shop. The stock certificate is a real one from the Linville River RR (a subsidiary of the RR I model) and the plate to the right was an aluminum-cast repro I got off eBay and painted to look the part.

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The shed turned out okay, he says. Okay? It's incredible.

 

He says "okay"...Ha!, hell I cant even color inside the lines. Thats some AMAZING! detailing.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yesterday, I went to the Tacoma Trains hobby shop for the VERY last time, as they closed their doors for good at 3PM. Im very sad to see the place go as I bought all my track, many of my freight cars and lots of supplies from them during the layout build. Now, Ill have to go to Portland for anything comparable, but at least I wont need to go too often to hobby shops anymore as the layout is for all intents, completed.

I had been eyeballing a Whitcomb On30 diesel they had there for a very long time, and I finally decided to get it. Its a type of locomotive that the Army did buy during WW2 and used a few on narrow gauge lines in Europe and I have no reason to doubt they might have had them stateside as well (I know they had them in standard gauge). The ET&WNC had no diesels until 1968, but I will be adding some detail parts to this, probably painting it black and then lettering it for a US Army-owned locomotive. I will then be weathering it very lightly as itd be new at the time the layout takes place. I already have a good GI figure to put into the cab. It weighs a lot as its almost all metal and it runs great. I need to get the circuit board and speakers to have it as a sound-equipped locomotive. Here it is on a test run around the layout:

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  • 2 weeks later...
willysmb44

I don't think I've ever seen anyone taking photos of a magazine alongside the real layout the article is about, so I figured, why not, now that my layout is in a magazine?

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willysmb44

Thanks!

 

I made the signs for the heck of it, but the number boards and scale Whitcomb builders plates are for the new On30 Bachmann diesel.

These were printed on white decal paper, from Micro Mark.

Earlier, I did these decals on blank MicroScale decal paper, for the stencils that will go along the main 'carboy' of the locomotive.

I've decided to keep it in its yellow paint, and will paint the running gear and frame black.

A 1/43 GI figure will be sitting in the engineer's seat once it's done

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willysmb44

I finished the Whitcomb, with decals for the markings and builder plate I made myself.

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Later, I took this shot at night, using a cell phone screen for the 'moonlight'

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  • 3 weeks later...
willysmb44

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I moved the Civil War Memorial to a different location, near some trees. I think it looks a lot better where it is now.

I also completed a cow pen complete with hay bales, fence, and even cow pies.

 

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This just keeps getting better and better. Just amazing. Only I just don't want to know how authentic you made the cow pies!

 

Mikie

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willysmb44

I just don't want to know how authentic you made the cow pies!

No biggie, just a one-dollar block of brown Sculptey modeling clay, rolled and pressed into as close to the right shapes as I could, then baked in an oven for 15 minutes to make them hard.

Though I cant count the number cowpies Ive seen in my youth, I hadnt really been in a cow pasture in years, so I drove by one last night to make sure I had the sizes about right. Id forgotten how big they can get!

I have two Holstein cow figures, but I need to strip the paint off them to paint them in the mottled brown and off-white color of the breeds most often seen in the area at the time. My parents have told me that a couple of milk cows were pretty common in the war years in Northeast Tennessee, penned up.

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  • 1 month later...

Been playing around with shots taken in afternoon light and various other experiments. I call these my "WPA shots":

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