I spent my free time this week cleaning the wheels of my equipment that ran on last weekend's Houston S Gaugers layout. By the way, the North Yard chassis-equipped RS-1 I built ran the entire time the show was open for the two days (about 16 hours total) with no problems. The Tsunami decoder started blinking occasionally near the end of the day on Saturday (after 10+ hours of continuous running). Usually that's a sign that it's getting tired (i.e. overheating). I had set the decoder's volume to almost the max, but in a large, open mall it was useless. I think for a venue like that in the future, I am just not going to bother with boosting the volume. However, having the light in the cab on is entertaining for the kids, so that they can peak inside as the engine goes by.
If you took a look at the photos I posted on the HSG web site this past week, you may have noticed a handful (21 to be exact) "conifer trees". I built those the Thursday before the show. This week I planted them more permanently on my home layout. I have done that for each show. It gives me the motivation to get out into the garage and build a handful of trees for the public show. I then take those trees on put them on my layout. The editor of Model Railroad Hobbyist had a free video several issues back where he showed how he made his HO-scale conifer trees. Near the end of the video he showed how he made the "forest" look more full by using something similar to Woodland Scenics poly fiber and squeezing it in between and behind the front trees, near the ground. It made quite a difference from the look of it. After I planted the trees on my layout, I used W.S. poly fiber and sprinkled it with dark foliage foam (using diluted white glue). I then applied that in a similar manner to what he showed in his video, and it really works! (I haven't taken any photos yet, but I will soon). It makes the forest look more dense. You can still see the individual tree trunks, but they are more obscured. I also used some very fine steel wool (you can get a bag of that a $1 store), spread it out like poly fiber, and (since it is black or dark gray already), I just shoved in the back behind some trees near the ground, to act as some loosely-defined bushes or low-growth. That worked as well. - Peter. -- Peter Vanvliet ([email protected], or [email protected]) Houston, Texas "It is easy to give up; anyone can do that..." http://pmrr.org/ (my model railroad - RSS feed <http://pmrr.org/rss.xml>) http://fourthray.com/ (my company) http://houstonsgaugers.org/ (model railroad club) -- [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
