I have been wanting to get back into painting for quite awhile now.  Today I went to the train store to look for another older Atlas RS-3, since I already have the pilot conversion kit.  They didn't have one of those, but they did have a nifty Atlas RS-4/5 undecorated.  I figured I would pick it up and eventually get around to painting it up.  I picked up some PollyScale acrylics in 5 basic colors.  Then I headed home to drag out an airbrush and see what havoc would ensue!

Well, after accepting the 120 day challenge that was posted, I was able to complete one of my goals so far.  I was able to get more wood to finish the bench work.  Although running out, I was able to get a small 4ft section of plywood after my wife told me so I grabed it for only a few dollars.  SO for now, all benchwork was done, and the next step is a bit of cleaning and sorting what is going where, and then on to the pink foam.  So without further delay here are some new pictures...

My steers arrived yesterday from the folks at Aspen Modeling Co.

http://www.theaspenmodelingcompany.com/index.html

And they are indeed a good looking bunch of critters. Not only are they actual steers, not cows, but the modeling work is excellent.

The construction of my new N Scale layout will soon begin. The new home that my wife and myself started building in October last year is now complete, and I have been using the opportunity over the last few weeks to get a feel for my new train room and going over the track plan to decide what changes I need to make to the bench work of my previous layout to fit into the new space, ( considerably smaller than the space I had in our last house ).

Work continues on the mountain section - specifically the retention pond.  It's amazing how much time this is taking! In my last post I had completed the water pour for the pond and here's what it looked like:

PROGRESS UPDATES ON PAGE 2 - 7/15/2012

A quick "tweak" to my Iowa Interstate Grimes Industrial Track layout this week. But first, let me set up the story.

I read last months artical on making flower pots. I ordered the Noch flowers and went to Micheal 's for the jewelry cones. The flowers were no problem...came from Scenic Express in a few days ,however, Michael's didn't have the cones . What I did find were small necklace fasteners that screw together. When unscrewed the female end is a 1 ft x 1ft flower pot. with the clip removed it has a prototypical hole in the bottom.

This is the GS&M track plan for now.  I do not have the transition level or the staging yard track plan shown.  both not very exciting to look at.  We do have Red Mesa Mine and Knot Mine on the transition level as it pass around Noose aka Transition level.

The 2 track Main Helix runs from the stage yard located under the lower level up to La Grange.  The Main Helix is used for getting trains in and out of staging and can be back filled with trains during operations. Inner loop is down, outer loop is up.