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The "Loco and Service Shops" Scratchbuilt in O Scale. Karl.A

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Comments

  • Karl,

    If I was one of the judges, I would have given you a First Place. Your modeling is the best.

    Steve
  • Thanks Brett. It was indeed a great honor to receive the Mt Albert award. Being judged by your peers and another modeler was much more satisfying and rewarding than the popular vote side.

    Thanks very much for your comments Ken, Joe and Steve.
    Yes Ken I have revived my Loco thread and will be updating with old progress pictures up to this point, thanks for your continued interest and support.

    Karl.A
  • edited September 2015
    This is high on the list of best models I have ever seen, and that is quite a large number as I have studied a lot of them over the years. The colouring and weathering of everything in the structure from walls to windows and doors to the nine million details and their placement is incredible.I spent a lot of my time in Houston admiring (drooling over) this diorama.

    I vote this "Best of all the Shows in the last 5 years" which is all I can remember.

    There were a lot of pics taken of this so we'll try to get some of them posted here. One from my cell phone attached.

    Congratulations and well done Karl.

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  • edited September 2015
    Thanks very much Mike for those extremely kind words. It was great to spend time with you and talk modeling amongst other things.
  • Here are some nice photos taken by John Siekirk when we took the diorama outside and balanced it on a bollard in the daylight for some pictures. Thanks for the photos John and kind words, it was great to get together with you at the show.

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    Karl.A
  • edited September 2015
    Just keeps getting better and better Karl. That small horizontal air tank is just wonderful. Amazing detail work...can't say enough...
    Ken
  • edited September 2015
    As you will see John can get much better closeups with his camera, but here are several more angles to see Karl's great model. More later.

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  • That sure turned out nice.
  • Wow.......just plain Wow.......
  • Mike, thanks so much for posting these pics, I really need to get the thing back outside and take some for myself, I'm just enjoying looking at yours and the others right now. Hard to believe they are phone pics.
    I'll step back in tomorrow with some shots of my own now that I am back home...

    In a day or two I'll backtrack with progress and interior shots... pls keep posting yours.

    Thanks for the comments Bryan and Muddy, very appreciated.

    Karl.A
  • Karl, this is definitely one of those perfect 10 models. My hat goes off to you. From what I've seen so far it really does rank up there with some of the best models. The stack of pallets is one thing that really stands out to me. I see these everyday at my job and yours looks no different. That to me is where you take this model to a realistic state.

    Simply amazing.
  • This thing is so good it makes reality look like it's missing some details!
  • Yep...saved every picture to my computer so I can use them for ideas on future builds. Just Awesome...

    Alan
  • Thanks for all the great positive comments guys. Some in progress shots of the inside.

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    Karl. A
  • edited September 2015
    Karl,

    Congratulations on your award. It is a beautiful model.

    Maybe you could share your finishing techniques to get such convincing rust on the wheels I see in your pictures. I see black and brown but there seems to be blue in there too. It may be from the picture and not from the model when you see it in person. How do you do it?

    Best regards,

    Mitch
  • Hi Karl

    I spend some time away and come back to see this wonderful piece of work. Well done my friend. I absolutely love it.

    My question is, how did this only place second in the diorama category?

    Really inspirational stuff buddy.
  • There are no judges at the National Narrow Gauge Conventions model contests. It has been that way for 35 years. Contest winners are determined by popular vote, and in past years "Best of Show" was a category that voters voted for. Not sure how "Best of Show" was selected this year, since it was not on the ballot. Perhaps the model receiving most votes of all the categories. That wouldn't be a good way if some categories were closely contested- the winner of such a category might not have nearly as many votes as a virtually uncontested category.

    Eligible voters included registered attendees, spouses (free), vendors and spouses, free convention staff members, layout tour and modular layout volunteers. While many voters are highly qualified, many of the voters have never built a model. Popular vote is what it is. Whimsical, caricature, artsy, cute- all are eligible. It isn't apples to apples.

    If anybody had a better way it probably would have been tried by now. The NMRA has forever used a judging system where each model is scored as to "Finish and lettering", "Scratchbuilding", and four other criteria. Points are awarded so that a model could score up to 125 points. This may be considered a fairer system, but it can be flawed and also has its detractors.

    Hey- this forum is about modeling- forgive my rambling.
  • edited September 2015
    Thanks for the explanation Mike, definitely not rambling and very informative for those that go to shows, thanks for taking the time and effort to explain.
    Thanks also for the other comments by everyone else, they are appreciated..

    A quick peek inside... more later.

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    Karl.A
  • edited September 2015
    Karl, That first pic is the money shot! That one image paints a very clear picture of the entire thing...oozzzing top notch, quality and well thought out fine scale modeling, simply brilliant!....Ken
  • edited September 2015
    Thanks for those kind words Ken.
    Lets have a look along the outside of the front wall, then, we can take it off and go inside.

    Wall on.
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    The water tank with a pump (not plumbed in yet) which supplies the boiler. Note the hanging axes and splitting wedge on the wall/barrel. Also there's a shovel leaning agains the post for removing the ash but is hard to see in this angle.

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    The boiler maintenance area, with air tank and various maintenance tools. (not completely detailed yet.)

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    A small general work area for minor repairs, note the handcart having a wheel replaced on the bench. General log car clutter, brake cylenders, brake shoes, log bunks, springs, etc..

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    The end of the front wall and delivery doors for the machine shop. Note the cable reels,red barrel and ladder are positioned to hold the front wall tight in place.
    A general junk pile of old car parts. also some old ties and rails to be reused elsewhere. Notice the old ties have oil and rust marks and spike holes from their previous use.

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    The front wall was designed to be removed for viewing of the interior. To do this seamlessly several details were attached to the wall. a) so they didn't obscure the view and b) so that when the wall is in place they key in and make the join invisible.
    Removed wall...

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    View from the front with entire front wall removed and boiler roof. the section of wall behind the boiler is a separate section which is keyed into the workbench and yellow barrel and the top is locked in place by the boiler roof to make it all tight and seamless.

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    Now that the front wall is off we can go in for a closer look at the machine shop and engine room later.

    Karl.A
  • Karl, had no idea the front wall was removable...genius my man. The details are incredible. Love all the can labels...Oh and if you don't give that blue foam board a coat of paint I'm going to come down there and do it myself!:) So, so nice Karl...
  • Thanks for the continued kind words Ken. I took the wall off several times at the show for peope to take pics and see better, I should have just left it off for viewing. Mike Engler suggested this but it was already late in the last day.

    As for the blue foam edge, at 1230 am just before heading off on the 8 hr drive to the show I made and painted the frame for it to be seen at the show. If you look at mikes great pics on the previous page you can see this frame/finished edge.

    I took it off again when I got home, don't forget this dio is only 50-75% finished. But, I wanted to show it anyway.

    Thanks again, more pics later.

    Karl.A
  • Karl, you're working too hard...loosing your sense of humor!...I'm just messin with you regarding painting the foam, trying to find something to poke at you about because there certainly isn't anything in the diorama to use. A real honor to have such a great response and you aren't even done with it yet. Will await more images...Ken
  • The shots of the interior from front to back show an amazing depth to them. All of the scenes look extremely realistic.
  • Karl,

    I close my eyes, put my hands together against my chin and reverently bend at the waist to the Almighty modeller. A wise man understands humility and I think you have just reached that level in your lifetime.

    Great work!

  • Karl-
    Honestly, I had forgotten that you were working on this project and then I saw some pictures from the NNGC.
    Damn! Simply incredible! To say that you've set a new standard would be an understatement. So much to see and digest within every inch of this model and it all comes together flawlessly.
    Even using the most critical nit-picky eye I can muster, I'm hard pressed to spot anything in need of the smallest alteration. Scale, color, texture, highlights, shadows...
    You nailed it!

    Since we all are our own worst critics, maybe it'd be best to ask where you aren't satisfied with the results (if such an area exists). Forget contests or awards...just personal evaluation so far.

    I too am at a loss trying to explain how this is not a "Best In Show" model.
    SMH
  • Super awesome Karl. Just to follow up on an email I sent you, how did you get the neat affect on the bed of the Wheel Barrow?

    Alan
  • Amazing work.
  • edited February 2016
    Thanks for all the very kind words indeed. Sorry its been awhile on the update.
    Here's a few progress shots of the back wall. I'll try and find some earlier ones, but these can do for now.
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    Great question Bill, I'll throw in comments as the pictures move around when I get past the progress shots.

    One thing in these shots I would change but I cant get back to it now I don't think, the fire extinguisher should have a label on it but I couldn't find a suitable one so I moved on. Wish I hadn't now.

    Karl.A
  • Wow...amazing detail! Spent 20 minutes studying your pictures. How did this not win at the NNGC??
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