parking lot

That parking lot looks really pretty good. Thanks for the link, I'm going to have to check them out!

The lot does look good

until you slap down an Atlas Ford F-150 and realize the lines are for short European Cars!  I'll still use it because they also have some blank asphalt (called Tarmac over the pond) that I can put in the open areas to spread it out.  I may aosl try printing at a larger size to see if that gets me more space.

brickwork

I downloaded one of their free builidings, and printed out a page on a color laser printer. The brickwork is really pretty good, I could see this as a great way to build inexpensive backdrop/background buildings.

thanks for the link!

You're Welcome.

Interestingly enough, their link was in the September Model Railroader (which I got yesterday) in a two page Article on cardstock kits in modelrailroading.  Hum, maybe we're on to something.

If anyof you are following Lance Mindheim's current layout project, you probably already know this - he's using high res pronts of photos of actual buildings in his chosen local to make the buildings on his layout.  Same sort of idea, and it is what actually got me thinking about using such papers for certian things (plus I can't make road with plaster or joint compound that look real enough).  He laminated the photos over a 0.060" styrene core and it looks really great on the web.

More food for thought.

Weathering in N scale

Phil,

Glad to see you're weathering up some cars. Got your note on the SHPX car.  Jinx! I'd be interested to see what you do with it. I used acrylic paint and A1 weathering powders. I painted small rust patches in burnt umber then used a little rust powder on the tacky paint and pulled the streak down with the brush. I like the texture you get from the powder on the paint - it looks rough like rust. Just one approach of course.

One thing is really surprising me in looking at weathering is the lack of pictures of roofs, tops and ends of cars. There are endless shots of the sides which is a good start but the lack of overhead shots is a big gap. We often spend a lot of time looking at the tops of our models so it is important to get them right and reference shots really help.

I see you are starting on the RBOX car. I have found that these are mostly faded and tagged with graffiti, they don't seem to turn into rust buckets like cars from other roads. I just bought a couple of Athearn RBOX cars. They have galvinized silver roofs. Consider painting some rubber cement on the ribs and edges of the roof of your car then once that is fully dry, paint out the exposed yellow on the roof with antique silver, then peel off the rubber cement once the silver is dry. You'll end up with some nice exposed galvo areas where the yellow paint has "flaked off". Those patches can be given a light weathering treatment with some acrylic paint and powder. Just a thought.

Cheers,

Coxy

Thanks Coxy

All good suggestions.  I'm working with Bragdon weathering powders and Badger acrylic paints, but can robably manage some of your suggestions.

As to tops of cars, my office sits 13 stories up from the CSX mainline that runs into DC from Maryland.  I've been trying to remeber to bring in my digital camera and get some top shots, but its tough to do both because of the height, and because of that pesky work thing.  Expect some of those to appear shortly.