Mark, I use those plastic tops from coffee cans. Yes I drink too much coffee. The reason I like them is they aren't clear but let light pass through them.
Finally finished the roofing and its ready to paint. The shingle lines aren't wavy as the photo shows. All lines are straight. Maybe some of you digital camera users can tell me what I did wrong.
That "wavy" effect you see in the picture is called "ALIASING".
It's an artifact of digital imaging. There are many ways that could have happened... not sure which applies to you. I'm guessing the picture was originally much larger and you resized it down to this size, and that's when you got this effect. It might not be anything you did, but the program that you used instead and/or the settings. If you want to, PM me with exactly what you did (and software you used) and maybe I can help you a little more.
That is an incredible station. I follow the progress of each of your projects. You really have inspired me to give scratchbuilding a try. What did you use for the shingles on the station. I am trying to figure out a way to make n scale asphalt shingles for a scratchbuilt station I am contemplating. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Been watching this thread progress with anticipation and amazement. It is always a pleasure to watch you take pieces of cardboard and make such realistic things. You never disappoint us.
Thanks folks.
Eric. For this roof, I cut 1/4 inch strips of paper with a pencil line 1/8th to divide it in two. I then use a small pair of scissors to cut up to the 1/8th inch line. The space is random and is somewhere between 1/16 and 3/32 of an inch. I then glue it to the roof then overlay the next strip 1/8th up much like real shingles do. I know they are still too big for N gauge, but my fingers can' handle any smaller and even the way I did it takes a long time to cover the roof. Thanks for the info about aliasing Alex. I guess the settings I have to use to get the photo to the size that the Gauge allows for uploading causes the problem. The MGI photosuite program I use is set to cut back the photo to 50% in quality.
With all said it still gives a reasonable photo.
Here is the station set on the corner Ntrak module I am making.
The cork roadbed is in place so far.
Robin,
I did something similar with shingles, but instead of using the sissors I used a couple pieces of scrap wood to hold the shingle strip in position on my chopper so that the near side of the blade (the part that doesn't usually do any cutting on the chopper) would cut the notches. Worked fine for me, and a lot easier.
Yes I have dash10
but the size is too big for N scale but should look great in O scale
I tried one of those wobbly wheel cutters but it still didn't look quite right.
Now a thought crossed my mind that overlaying strips of pinking shear cuts may work. Will have to try that.
Thanks for the idea dash10
The lights come on as the day ends. There are seven light bulbs in this station.
The backdrop just has a coat of primer on it as Spitfire says we will paint them when we get together next summer.
Beautiful, Robin! Looks like it would be real cozy to sit inside that station and have a friendly chat with the station master.
I could imagine some white stuff around that station - from outside you hear jinglebells, and then from far away the lonesome wailing of a steam whistle! (Whoa - gets me goose-flesh! You really triggered my romantic vein with this pic! )
Just an idea: This could be a wonderful motif for a Holiday card (unfortunately without sound...)