Off Topic – Unwanted Tenants in Covered Bridge

1-beforeOne of my first construction projects on my backyard layout was a covered railroad bridge where the track swings around the corner where the fireplace juts out from the back wall.

 

 

This was one of those spur-of-moment projects where there is more assembling than planning. I am really amazed that it turned out as well as it did.

Since the weather here in the Central Valley has brought early summer temperatures I thought I’d get the layout in shape for running trains. Much to my surprise I found that an unwanted critter had taken up residence in my covered bridge and what’s more will make it impossible in the short term for me to run trains.

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Notes on Detailing with Props – Part 4

1-beforeI like adding little embellishments to things, like the brake wheels discussed in part 3. Looking at the backwoods HLW flat car that I run with my logging consist, I felt that it needed something more. I decided to put hooks on the posts and run a chain along one side.

 

2-thechainFirst I tackled the hooks to which that I would be attaching the chain. I wanted to add a tiny hook to top of each of the four corner posts on the flat car. For this I use links from the largest chain I have on hand. In this case I have a 10 link per inch (lpi) purchased from my LHS.

 

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Notes on Detailing with Props – Part 3

1-brake-wheelIn other articles I’ve discussed how to kitbash MOW cars in the HLW Mini Series, gondolas, and flat cars, then how to spiff them up using props.

Adding a break wheel is something I’ve been meaning to do for ages but only recently found the time.

 

3-wheel-pawlLooking at Ozark Miniatures I found they offer a 16 inch wheel and lock pawl set. All you have to add is the post to mount it all on. The Ozark part I purchased for 1:20.3 scale comes as a two part set.

 

 

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Notes on Detailing with Props – Part 2

1-tinyaxesSome time back I purchased a number of nifty items from Ozark Miniatures when I was outfitting my Bachmann log cars and one of the items was a pack of (2) axes. They’ve been floating around my craft table for longer than I care to admit without ever being painted and added to my rolling stock as props.

 

It was high time to get these props integrated into my backwoods logging rolling stock.

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