One of my recent kits was the Erie Power Shovel from Rio Grande Models Ltd.

I weathered it by dry-brushing with a couple of colors, starting with brown and ending with rust.  I then used my India ink and alcohol wash to color the wood and darken the rest of the model.

I have spent quite a bit of time lately working on a module, building the backdrop.  I used luan plywood for it, though in hindsight I think I should have used masonite instead.  The major reason is how flexible the tempered hard board (Masonite) is compared to the plywood.  I primed it and then painted it blue.

I hot glued the two tunnel portals to the backdrop and the roadbed.  The circuit board in the middle of the picture is the reversing unit.

The link to this video was emailed to me the other day.  I was really impressed with the quality of the model railroad used as the stage for this commercial.

Enjoy!

I finally completed the large slab car model by adding the steps and by adding weathering.

Recently I decided to try another casting method.  This time around I used the Platinum Silicone system from Tap Plastics.

I decided to use the blanket casting method since this material is more expensive than some of the other forms.  The blanket method uses up to a third less casting material.

I mixed up a small batch according to the directions and painted it on the part after I glued it to the styrene.  I then thickened up the rest of the material using the thixotropic agent and spread it over the part (the instructions recommend painting the thin mixture on and waiting a while for it to set before adding the thickened coat).  Skipping this step did affect the final quality of the casting, but it didn’t really matter for this part.

After the material hardened I decided to pour a plaster backing to hold the blanket mold when I am casting parts.  I used a plastic package to create the mold and taped it in place on the styrene.

The final step was to mix the plaster and pour it into the prepared mold.

Here is the end result, a blanket mold for producing roofs for small boxcars.  It has good enough detail in the mold to add very fine texture to the cast part.