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Check your prototype roadbed. There are cross-section drawings available on the web, somewhere. Also, I would say that, in general, the roadbed will take up about twice the space you allotted. If you look at any prototype, it is really very wide. In modeling, I think the extra width/shape is...

SD90 Nice pictures. These are the first pictures I have ever seen of the new idea of converting old road beds to hiking/jogging trails. Looks nice. Do you know if any work was done to the trestles to get them ready for people (other than the obvious railings.)? Where is this fire? Is...

Nice "narrative." Really a good idea to present your technique.

What compatibility? If they are coupled together, they HAVE to run together. :D ;)

Jim: Excellent model and excellent detail. Looks like an HOn3 brass engine. Why is it called a boxcab?;)

Blake: I like it! Stirrups look good! Now, did you drill the holes from the bottom and stick the stirrups up that way? Walkways look very good. Did you build the whole walkway all around? Did you use any part of the original frame?

Blake: Also, how about adding steps at the corners? The walkway is too thin to do this. Maybe add some styrene blocks and then put the steps in that? It might look strange because the styrene did not run the length of the car. Anyway, very nice kitbash.

Blake: Very nice tank car! I did that, too, and decided it was too much work primarily because of the wire around the tank. The ladders were easy. How did you do the wire? It really looks nice.

The junk pile is scratchbuilt. I just take a piece of styrene the size of the area I want the junk to cover. Then I stack misc pieces of anything on it. This is where you get creative. You can cut up specific things (axles, trucks, etc.) or, you can cut up anything (Lightbulbs, ladders...

This has been a most instructive thread. I like the concrete and I like the old building/abandoned area concept. You really see a lot of good ideas on The Guage.

Dick: Good question. I think that we are looking at the end of one of the Fine N Scale crushed auto stacks. All of this was under construction at the time I took the picture about a year ago. The I beam load car is one of the N Scale of Nevada steel mill gons. That one is several years...

Steve: I like jmarksbery's sign the best. My idea would be to make the name and the shamrock dominate. Then, add those other details. I made a sign that had a lot of neat slogans, times, etc on it. I felt that the impact of the sign was lost in the detail. You had to stop and read it...

I was going to put this in the Bashing list, but this is peculiar to N scale. Dick Billings of Fine N Scale came up with this idea. For a machinery open load, go to the O scale lost wax castings/brass steam details section. Take one of those huge cylinder/air pushing parts, paint it and set...

Looks good. In fact, very good for concrete. I am unable to get the spackling in between the rails; I use plastic and it leaves gaps because I have to leave room for the wheel flanges. Apparently you have solved this. Do the wheel flanges touch the "concrete?" Also, how did you scribe the...

Blake: Very nice diorama. I always thought military models were the best dioramas because they paint everything. I think it makes it all look uniform like it fits together.

Here are some photo examples of the painted sand technique I wrote about in an earlier post. Here is the sand and track before painting. You can see how uniform it looks. I buried the ties in the sand so it is all level. Here is the painted sand. The unballasted two-track main line is...

Very interesting subject. I have a 20 x 30 ft N scale layout that is all track and I have a lot more ballasting to do. But I do have some experience, so far. Fine is the size you want for N scale. I used Arizona Rock and Mineral for the mainline. It was expensive (24 bags), so I looked...

Really. really nice! Who makes the tractors?

As an additional technique, if you dry brush the ties from above, very little of that color gets on the sides of the rails. I spray paint the flex track a rust color (for sidings) and then dry brush an off white on the ties to make them have a very aged appearance. I pretty much bury the ties...

I have information that it is a rivet punch that is missing the punch and die set. I would believe that. There are some places for set screws and the screws are missing.