SPA Modeler

There is Gettysburg to visit if you have not seen it, Carlos. I imagine you making the trip one day, and taking photographs of that slumbering field where so many died. There is also a much smaller but no less poignant Fort Necessity from the French and Indian Wars where a very green George Washington was given his first command—a place where the trees are so dense I am certain your soldierly instincts would be raised to the terrors of close quarters combat with no room to maneuver.

I've been wanting to go to Gettysburg for years now even though it's an easy 5 6- hour drive from me. Springfield, home of the Basketball HOF is north of Gettysburg,

Of course, Gettysburg Battlefield is known to be haunted on these hallowed grounds.

Tom, you should go. It’s really an experience.

Tonight we build a little. . .



Have a gander at some Eighties vintage styrene and Delrin like fine wine with knockout ears and gates on all parts, most delicate, too. Crispy, classic, made in U.S.A. tooling.



Need Gorilla CA though. This ain’t plastic for the regular Tamiya crowd. It’s tough, and oily and probably about right for applications of weathering. There is depth and sheen; oily and stressed and ready for something spooky.



Mr. Super Nipper and 320 Grit “Electro-Coated” Abrasive. Hey that’s what they called it. Sandpaper is for carpenters. This is model building, and abrasives are our friends.

Took me two nights to assemble. Anything called “easy” by someone is usually anything but. Was not easy. Squaring the internal braces was a chore, but worth the finished results. I have added weathering with oils. The aesthetic with rail ties is deliberately uneven. I usually trim the ends of every 4th or 5th tie a little shorter to give a more realistic appearance as well. In this case, I kept the bridge ties as they were.

Although I know better, to look at this, one would think...geez, only a couple of hours work. Well done, Bruce.

Lyle, thank you so much. I am sure you would have found this a bit easier than I did. You have a background in a design and engineering. Initially I was flummoxed by the lack of instruction until I realized “Google is my liege!” After a few minutes of visual searches I had this:



You can see how these internal structures are faithfully duplicated within the bridge, including the bracing detail:




I know I was thinking about leaving the bridge color as is, with only the addition of weathering, but I realized that the metal surfaces were too light and the bridge ties were a rather loud shade of brown by comparison. Therefore I needed to “paint it black,” I turned to water soluble oil paints, which are the most expensive paints in my toolbox, yessiree. At fifteen bucks a tube these represent one family pack of chicken breast per tube. And I like chicken.



Smack my Daddy but that oil paint was the ticket. I was experimenting in a completed situation, and that bracing inside is rather delicate. I decided to ignore the interior and concentrate on the exterior. What is not seen is not my problem here. In terms of a complex color I decided to mix a very dark green with Payne’s Grey which is almost “full black” in scale.

Bruce, that looks über cool !!

- Kari

Kari! Thank you so much. So much gratitude for your glue tests. I suggest you check out this...



This really, really, really helps the CA bond. The rail ties are made of Delrin which is a hard, shiny plastic. My Dad would probably have squirted Liquid Nails on a scrap of wood then used a toothpick to spread it on the ties, but Roket Tricky Stick plus CA did it... and I could see this combo taking on even the Dragon’s slicked up plastic too.

A project like this is when the old Floquil & Polly Scale railroad colors come in handy. That had a nice color for both the ties and the rails. Combines them with your oil weathering and you are stylin’n

Carlos! That is the truth about Floquil! I thought about contacting you or Mark. I know if I tried a midnight raid on Kahn’s Keep I would end up with mind controlling slugs in my ears. I thought about asking Duke too since you both scored some of that new old stock with you about a year maybe two years ago, I believe. Time... funny thing. Tru Color online is too expensive for me. I seem to have a five buck rule: five bucks for the bridge, five bucks for the glue, and five bucks for track. I was going to try some India ink as a final dressing on the ties once the oil paint cures.