The past few months, I've had no time for modeling due to a lot of "real life" obligations. I'm finally starting to get a little bit of time, and have used it for a couple of upgrade projects on my 1/24th scale In-ko-pah Railroad...

One of these upgrade projects was replacing the lights in my structures with LEDs. Originally I used grain-of-rice bulbs, which are cheap, easy to use, and fit into even very small, scale fixtures. Unfortunately they keep dying on me, rather mysteriously and inconsistently. Some have lasted for years, others need almost constant replacing.

I'm getting LEDs in several sizes from this source:

http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/bl-212.html  

If you want to see how I installed some of them, go here:

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Lighting.html


So far I've only converted the lights in two structures, the rock shop and the bakery. I coated the LEDs in the rock shop with a bit of glossy white paint. This dimmed them slightly and gave them a somewhat warmer, soft glow. The lights in the bakery are a bit harsh, in part because there are so many. I may paint the LEDs in the bakery, or remove a couple of them, or both.

Here are some night photos so you can see how they look:  




The rock shop is on the left, the bakery on the right:

LOL!

After thinking about it a bit, my guess is that the handles are so it can easily be moved when the shallow hole fills up. (The bottom of the can is cut out.)

Thanks!

BTW, one of the more amusing things I saw on this trip was an open-air toilet made from a small steel drum (looked like about 20-30 gallons), with a toilet seat bolted to it, and handles made from horseshoes:





I can't help wondering why it needed handles -- perhaps to keep the user from "blasting off"??

I may try modeling one of these for a mine on my railroad. An O-scale 55-gallon drum would probably be just about the right size in 1/24th.

I finally finished posting a report on my latest adventure, exploring old mines and ghost towns in Nevada and the Mojave desert:

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/Nevada_Trip_2014_Part_One.html

Lots of good modeling reference here, especially mines, mills, etc. Railroad-related items of interest include a cabin made from a narrow gauge box car at Buckhorn Mine, and a wooden Las Vegas & Salt Lake RR caboose at Rhyolite. I also got detailed photos of a Skagit B-20 Logging and Loading Donkey, which was being used to operate a steep aerial tram at the Gray Eagle Mine.

I've also added a lot of new photos to my Modeler's Resource pages:

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/Modelers_Resource.html

These are images of weathered wood, metal, steel drums, and much more -- all great reference for modeling and weathering.

Thanks guys!

I shot some new pics of the railroad today... First, a couple of overall shots:







In this shot, a passenger train is about to cross Serenity Canyon on the high bridge, while the "Tin Lizard" railbus crosses on a lower level:




And here they are passing the town of Mineral Ridge:




Enjoy!

I've just posted the first new video of my railroad since 2011...

Enjoy a ride on the In-ko-pah Railroad, my unique, 1/24th scale outdoor model railroad! Climb aboard a freight train pulled by a 4-6-0 steam locomotive, and watch the beautifully detailed desert scenery roll by.

You'll see the ruins of abandoned mines and miner's cabins; and you'll pass through Dos Manos and Mineral Ridge -- two old mining towns. Thrill as the train crosses spindly wooden trestles and high plate girder bridges! Hear the locomotive as it chuffs through the darkness of the route's many tunnels! You may even catch a glimpse of the railroad's ancient Model T rail bus giving someone a tour.

http://youtu.be/MhLOskIuqDg

Quote from: utdave on August 18, 2013, 06:14:32 PM
i quess you didnt get to the Northern railway  there.  i might be going this week    DAve

Nope, I usually go to see the Nevada Northern but I stayed in the western side of the state this year.

However, on this trip I found out that the Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge #18 is being restored for operation, in Independence, CA! I would love to see that loco run!

I've just finished posting a report of my 2013 Nevada/Mojave ghost town trip on my website! It's not directly railroad-related but there's a lot of great reference material for mines, mills and other structures:

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/Nevada_Trip_2013_Part_One.html


My 2013 trip was a real adventure in every sense of the word! I saw some wonderfully preserved sites, many historic ruins, and a mine big enough to drive a car in; ancient log cabins and fascinating machinery; thunderstorms, flash floods, wildlife encounters, and a blue sphinx!

I also had a variety of car problems, a near-disaster, and my first-ever call to 911, and being on the receiving end of Mineral County's Search and Rescue! I visited many interesting sites, most of which I'd never seen before, and a few I had not seen in many years.


I hope you'll enjoy reading about it. If you discover any broken links or other issues, please let me know. Also I'd appreciate hearing any suggestions as to how I could improve the site or make it easier to navigate.

I recently came across some photos I shot back in 1998, at the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum in Campo, CA. There are a lot of great shots of former SP steam locomotive #2353, which saw use on the San Diego & Arizona Railway. In the late 1990s this beautiful loco was running excursions. Since sometime around 2000 or so, it's been out of service due to the need for a new boiler. Anyway, I've posted these pics to my website, hopefully some will find them useful for modeling reference or simply enjoy seeing this great steel beast:




You can see the rest of the pics here:

http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/SP_2353.html

Enjoy!

Here are some pics of my latest progress...

First up, I recently finished converting my Bachmann 4-6-0 to battery power, and also installed an Aristocraft "Revolution" receiver in it. While I was at it, I also made a few small cosmetic changes -- I painted the cab roof silver, to better match the rest of my rolling stock. I also painted the cylinder ends black, and I added some subtle weathering. The heaviest weathering is on the stack and smokebox:







I also finished repainting and lettering a Bachmann coach, the second car of my passenger train. I have a third coach in the works, and a fourth planned:








Enjoy!

Does anyone happen to have a spare set of windows for a Big Hauler passenger car? I have one of these cars I want to paint and letter for my RR, but it sat outside too long and the windows are now yellow.


You can contact me at raydunakin@aol.com

Thanks! I guess I should have been more clear -- the photo of the hoist house shows the door and window frame AFTER they were repainted.

I didn't have a "before" photo to show how badly it was faded. Suffice to say, real-life weathering is the enemy of "scale weathering". The new paint, including scale weathering, is now protected by Krylon UV resistant clear coat, a wonderful product which I was not aware of when I built my early models.

Lately I've been trying to get some projects done that have kind of languished for a while...

First off, I finally finished my the first passenger car for my 1/24th scale outdoor railroad. It's an old Bachmann combine that I repainted in my RR's colors and lettering. The decals were provided by Stan Cedarleaf.

I had started this several years ago, and the thing's just been laying around in pieces for a long time. I added aluminum tape to the roof to simulate the look of sheet metal roofing, then painted the roof dull silver. I also removed the couplers from the trucks and added body mounted couplers, as well as metal wheels.

I had planned to replace most of the plastic details and add some additional details, but decided against it. I'd rather wait until I can build something from scratch, and then go nuts with the details. Anyway, here's how it looks. The paint is actually burgundy, but for some reason it looks very red in the photos:




At the moment, it has no interior lighting because I lost those parts. At some point I'll put in LEDs. I also have a couple coaches that I plan to repaint to match, for a complete passenger train.

Next up was to refurbish some of my oldest structures. The hoist house of the Cliffside Mine needed a little work -- the paint on the door and windows had badly faded, and the door had fallen off. They look much better now:





The ruins of the blacksmith shop, at the abandoned Monolith Mine, was also faded. Here's how it looks after touching up the paint. Someday I want to build a replacement for it using my current modeling techniques:




The biggest job was refurbishing the water tower near the town of Dos Manos. The supports were made from real wood (western red cedar), and most of the paint had peeled off. The wood on top of the platform was heavily weathered and worn. The tank also needed repainting. Most of all, the original spout needed to be replaced -- not only was it beginning to fall apart, I was never happy with it to begin with. Now I have the skills to make a better one.

In this photo you can see the old spout, with the new spout below it. The old spout was made from cardboard tubes coated with fiberglass resin, and spray painted silver. The mounting brackets were crudely made from brass rod. The new spout is entirely made of brass:





The prototype for my model is an old San Diego & Arizona RR water tower located at Dos Cabesas, in the Anza-Borrego desert. The prototype has an unusual, hinge-like hardware. Without any good photos of the tower when its spout was still intact, it's difficult to determine exactly how the spout was attached, and how it operated. My original spout worked but did not seem very practical or realistic. When I built the new brass spout, I tried the configuration shown in the next photo:






That didn't really look right, and didn't work very well either. So here's the configuration I settled on:






Here's how the finished tower looks, with new paint and new spout:













The foundation has small brass pins sticking up, which fit into holes in the ends of the support timbers, to hold it in place.