9/30/09 This and That

 

Not looking to take on anything major today, I took on some small projects that have been in the queue for a while. First and foremost, painting the inside on the tunnels black.

Above  is the before picture. As you can see, the inside of the portal is the white foam core board with planning lines drawn on it. It’s been that way since I built the mountain and has been getting on my nerves for a while now. So I finally grabbed my trusty black poster paint and had at it.

Below is the after photo. It doesn’t look remarkably better but it doesn’t look any worse either. So I’ll call it a draw. While I was at it, I cleaned some plaster off the tunnel portal. That had been driving me nuts for a while too. I also cleaned some stray Earth Undercoat off the highway overpass pier. For this, Woodland Scenics actually recommends hot salt water. I was a bit skeptical but gave it a shot. Low and behold, it worked. I didn’t take a photo so you’ll have to take my word for it. Funny how the more progress I make with this layout, the more anal about these little things I become.

 For my last trick, I installed some crossing gates on the upper-level grade crossing. These are just cheapie Bachmann train set accessories but with some modifications, they work pretty well. The main mod is clipping the base from the flashers and gluing said flashers to the gate. I know it’s too early for major detailing but I just didn’t feel like taking on anything big tonight.

Addendum: I eventually got tired of these gates and replaced them with Cornerstones. (See you in about 2 years!)