1943 model train layout

[Lee Bishop]

I moved the civil war memorial into some trees, and I think it looks way better there.

Adjacent to that, I just completed a cow field, complete with hay pen, water bucket and cow pies. All I need to do now is to finish painting the two cow figures I have for it:

[Carolinamv]

Amazing!

[Lee Bishop]

It’s not exactly an update on the layout itself, but I consider the room as part of it, as the layout dominates the room instead of being a little part of it. For over a year after the layout took shape, the back wall in the room was totally bare. Before the layout was there, this room was mostly for housing/displaying my WW2 collection and looked like a small museum, so for me it was odd to have a bare wall for so long. With that in mind, I got some RR-related stuff (added to 1940s-related stuff as the layout takes place then) over the past few months and decorated the place to look more display-friendly.

The 'war job' poster is a reproduction, added to the wall yesterday. The number plate on the right of that was nabbed very inexpensively off eBay. It’s made from a plastic-covered foam substance. It's as light as a piece of like-sized cardboard and was easy to hang up and looks great on the wall (I assume it will fool a few people who see it without knowing the story ahead of time) and is a great replica of the ET&WNC's # 9 number plate. The reproduction 1939 poster to the right of that came from the Avery County Museum in NC. It dropped right into an inexpensive frame I bought on the following morning and it was up on the wall in a few minutes. Dir3ctly below that is an original 1880s ET&WNC stock certificate. The certificate to the right of that is an original stock certificate from the Linville River, an ET&WNC subsidiary. The painting above that is a Howard Fogg print. The 1943 builder's plate to the right of that is an inexpensive aluminum reproduction which I painted and weathered. And to the far right is a frame with various pins from railroads, museums and various places I've been (including unit insignia from my Army days on the bottom row).

[Lee Bishop]

I took these a couple of hours ago with my cell, noticing the afternoon light...

[Lee Bishop]

I finished these figures yesterday, one 1940s boy scout and two GIs in their Class As and a pilot. The pilot, I really don't think works on a stateside RR in the South during the summertime, but I have to remind myself that plenty of non-Air Corps people in the Army wore A-2 jackets anyway. I think I'll keep him on the front of my Whitcomb locomotive for now...
The painting was done with the smallest brushes I could find but I might go back and re-try to the SGT stripes on the two eventually.

[Lee Bishop]

My layout has been in two magazines since I last posted:
Online Trackside Model Railroading: https://www.tracksidemodelrailroading.c ... /jan-2018/
They also did a DVD which looks great:



In this month's Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette (though I don't have my own copy yet, weeks after subscribers got theirs and someone was nice enough to take these shots for me):

[Joe Gopan]

Beautiful. We should all be so talented.

[Lee Bishop]

It's hard to believe...

Two magazines on hobby shop shelves at the same time with articles I have written; the March/April 2018 Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette and the 2018 On30 Annual (which just came out a few days ago)!

[yd328]

Incredible work! Do you post on the model train forum? I'm sure there would be quite a few interested in your work.

Gary

[Mark Jesic]

Really ejoyed looking at this post. My compliments go to you and your Dad for the skills and patience you have shown here.

[Lee Bishop]

Thanks for the kind words!
My Dad, in all fairness, only made the 12-pounder field gun barrel for my Civil War memorial. I did everything else (as my parents live on the opposite corner of the US from me and sadly, have never seen the layout in person and very unlikely ever will as they’re in their 80s and don’t want to fly anymore).

I was experimenting with late-afternoon light through an open window again...













I took these last night:

[Lee Bishop]

What is essentially a staging area with scenery passes on front of a window. When the sub is just right, and I can get some decent shots if I open the blinds. Everything looked just right last night for my cell:

[waayfast]

Sheesh!!! What an incredible job!! Just amazing the degree of talent here. I have done a bit of model building and like to think I do OK but this is light years beyond just plain cool.
My hat is off to you sir.

Jim

[yd328]

Lee,
I posted a link to your layout here
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=168161

great work.
Gary

[Lee Bishop]

Last night, I was standing on a stool on one side of the layout room to see something and then I realized I could see the entire layout. I managed to get this with my cell, the only photo ever showing pretty much the entire layout. Only the far wall to the left is missing, and that's just a backdrop and some trees. But for the most part, it's all here:


FYI, there's a photo from the layout in the current issue of O Gauge Railroading magazine...