Montana Grain Elevator Completed
Montana Grain Elevator is finally completed. I received a 30’ Rix grain bin for Christmas. The only problem was, I needed it to be a 44’ bin. Good thing the internet is so handy. Within a few weeks the 11’ extension kit arrived. A feed pipe from the elevator head house was cut to the proper angles and attached to the top of the bin. Then a concrete base was cut from high density foam used in the RC hobby. This material is easy to cut and can be sanded to final shape. The bin received a gray primer paint coat and appropriate weathering consistent with the rest of the structure.
Click on any photo for a larger view
On the elevator office, I added a sign for the Sapphire Four and Ceretana Feeds. This the same sign that appears on the side of the elevator. The sign was created in Adobe Illustrator and resized for the side of the office. Then I printed the sign on normal paper on an ink jet printer. After the ink had dried I gave the sign a light coat of Dullcoat to seal the ink on the front. The paper then flipped over and the back sanded with a fine grit sand paper until the ink started to show through. The sign was then cut out and adhered to the side of the building with Mod Podge. The office received a final round of weathering with acrylic paint and powders. A good video for attaching signs to building can be found here on YouTube. “How to post up posters”
New Cattails for Creek
While attending the Ophir, Tintic and Western Train Show at Thanksgiving Point, I found these cattails from JTT Scenery Products. The new cattails are in the photo on the left. The old cattails in the photo on the right are from SceneMaster Botanicals. They are laser cut paper that you fold up into the final shape. While they are nice, they are not as realistic looking as the JTT cattails. Installation is as simple as drilling a hole and inserting them into the scenery. The JTT cattails are a few dollars more in cost, but are well worth it.
A New Locomotive for the Northern Montana
Another new edition from Christmas was this Atlas U23B from eBay. The Northern Montana Line is dominated by EMD locomotives. The list includes F7A, GP7, SD7, GP30, SW1, GP38 and an MP15AC. Waiting in the wings for a decoder is an Fairbanks Morse H10-44. So it was time that GE was represented on the layout. “U-Boats” were never assigned to the Northern Montana. They did make it as far west as Harlowton. They were usually brought in from the east on the trans-continental trains heading to the west coast. At Harlowton they were cut-off at the start of the electrified district. The “trans-con” trains were then handled by “Little Joes” and EMD diesels until the end of the electrified district at Avery, Idaho. Since it is possible that do to motive power shortages, a “U-Boat” could end up on the Northern Montana. I figure it’s my railroad, I can do what I want! The U23B in the photo below has had the decoder added and is ready to begin service. In the future, I will add details such as a strobe light, fire cracker antenna, all-weather cab windows and electronic bell. At this point I don’t have all the parts needed to complete the task. Once all the details have been added the engine will get some touch-up paint and a nice weathering job.
