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  • Thanks, Karl. That cheers me up. I realized I had readers when people began commenting to me directly. Are you the genius who built this? If not you, you must know who. This is modeling at its best.

    The system will not allow me to post the photo. I'll send it to Brett to forward to you.



  • copy and post the link, it will show up here.
  • This was the photograph that steamrollered me! (bet you didn't know that was a verb.)

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  • And I already have the water tower. I'm ready, bring it

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  • edited August 2018
    Yes, indeed, that's one of my pictures.
    (I did know that was a verb.)
    Thank you for the kind comments.

    Karl.A
  • I started my kit today, which I'm calling Neal's Fabrication for Neal Cassady. I completely disregarded all instructions, of course. My spray can was like a border collie fielding stray barrels, tanks, and drums as they tried to run off. Actually quite some fun as they danced around.

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  • A few bottle photos for Karl. The label is for Thunderbird. When I road freights, 17% fortified Thunderbird was the holy grail of beverages. Nothing could be worse. The thought makes me shudder. And I was 17 years old, the ONLY time I tried it.

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  • Thunderbird was what we used to drink as teenagers in the UK, cheap to buy and strong. Ha
    Thanks for the pics.
  • You are WAY tougher in the stomach and tastebuds than I was or am. Wow! Did they offer both the 12% and the 17% in the UK? What I did drink on the freights was Bushmills because the square bottle fit perfectly in my pack's side pocket.
  • edited August 2018
    When I rode freights . . . I guess I'll have to get used to typos on this forum. What is the point of not allowing us the correct after 1 hour? Karl, don't explain it all again, please. It is what it is.

    Who knows which company sells ready-made track that is the most realistic and reliable for On30? Where should I purchase it? Switches as well. Thanks!

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    Phone booths have such emotion for me. I think this is why. Hopefully poems are allowed?

    This is from my fifth book of poems titled Thirst & Consequences [italics]:

    SHE

    She who stood before me naked;
    "Isn't my body perfect,"
    She'd say and it was.
    She in her last year of art school,
    The girl I hitchhiked a thousand miles
    To see when I was seventeen.
    Before I left I had inspected my face,
    I had a few issues, an uncertain complexion,
    Maybe I should wait a month or two
    Till my skin cleared;
    She so doll-like and blemish-free
    from upscale Chappaqua, New York.
    I hitchhiked a thousand miles in winter
    With my pool cue and my freight-riding sack
    Packed inside with handmade gifts for her,
    Things I had labored over.
    "I wish you had a sports car," she said.
    While she was attending painting classes
    I'd either be in the freight yard wandering,
    Angling my complexion to the January sun,
    Or in one of the two poolrooms.
    (But how do you win a sports car on a pool table
    In Providence, Rhode Island, in 1974?)
    She the first to put the mouth to me
    And she choked badly in my moment,
    Thereafter eyeing it suspiciously.
    She who kicked me out after a week,
    After my meager money was gone and
    The pool balls had stopped dropping.
    How can a seventeen-year-old choke
    When he is playing for the woman he loves?
    She did—I did.

    He heard I was around and wounded,
    (I'd called his ex-wife looking for him)
    And in a decrepit yellow ex-mail van
    He found me and offered the Wendell woods,
    A tiny cabin chained to a massive pine tree.
    No well, a rusted-out wood stove, gas lamps,
    The January wind keeping that chain taught.
    My complexion cleared right up.

    Over frozen rutted dirt roads, there
    The lone pay phone at Lake Wyola,
    The single light above it now,
    A small shrine in darkness,
    The frozen lake the wind had blown
    to white waves in the moonlight,
    Black Label pounders between our legs,
    Oh, I had to call her,
    Damn, I had to call her,
    Just had to.

    And after the miles of fierce dirt roads
    And the coins pressed hard into the slot
    And standing there shivering in the
    Forever wind of our belief in salvation
    And then me whispering her name when
    She answered.
    Whispering it again with
    All the humility and fear of what I felt.
    And she said,
    "I can't talk now, I'm with someone."

    He gathered me up out of the snow,
    I'd tripped somehow leaving the booth
    And I looked out again over frozen Lake Wyola.
    And I looked at him and I said,
    I should have known
    I should have known
    Damn it, I should have known.

    I should have known the second time too,
    When I hitchhiked to see her again,
    Though, at least, the distance was down
    To two hundred miles.


  • Gas at Penobscot Falls, 1956.

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  • Eric,

    That is a great mini scene in and of itself. Especially love how the 1942 Ford Tamiya kit was built as a taxi. Great idea. That adaptation of the kit goes into the "Why Didn't I think of That" file!

    Later, Dave S.
  • What a great little scene. The weathering on the vehicle and gas pump is top notch.
  • Great work and wonderful scene.Love those barrels and that Taxi is killer!
  • Excellent Eric. The pump and hose look great!
  • The taxi was made by my great friend Lee Turner, who is a genius modeler and has taught me the little I know.
  • edited October 2018
    Can anyone tell me for CERTAIN what colors these tanks would've been painted in the late 1940s or early 1950s? These still need a quick wash of color which will fully show the weathering through the hue. The only thing of interest in these is I achieved the affect without separating the tanks in about 15 minutes total time. Mostly washing of acrylic in rust and black tones dabbed on very thin and wet, then shaken around in a SW box lid. Dumped out onto plastic foam. About 4 quick coats. The start was simply spraying all at once with gray primer and then misting on a few left over metallic colors.
    For those as impatient as I am.

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  • Unfortunately, you can't throw a finished SW build in a lid and weather it like that.........
    But then again, it would spoil all the fun. Even for the impatient mortals ...
  • Wait until you see what I did to all the tiny drums and boxes!
  • Robert, do you like the look or not? Don't be shy, I'm a grown boy.
  • Drums ands boxes. 15 minutes—tops!

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  • And overview:

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  • With a little color, the tanks will look great.
  • But, PLEASE, what colors would be correct for the era? Early 1950s.
  • "Gas cylinders are often color-coded, but the codes are not standard across different jurisdictions, and sometimes are not regulated. Cylinder color can not safely be used for positive product identification; cylinders have labels to identify the gas they contain." from wikipedia... and that is today. There were even less standards in the 40's and 50's so there is no correct answer to your question. The most common colors can be found online if you like.
  • Do these work? I just winged it.


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  • Easy enough to change them. The blue wore away quicker than the other colors. I guess blue is oxygen.
  • Any ideas for one last color?
  • Weathered some bits today. Amazingly well done casting. Not sure how they could be better!

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  • Those tools, etc...look great and you got some nice highlights.

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