I figured you would appreciate this gem I found. Watch out for them N-scale hobos.
I figured you would appreciate this gem I found. Watch out for them N-scale hobos.
ddavidv said:Trees: I hate making trees like many modelers. When I belonged to the N-trak club we actually had 'tree demerits' we used as faux punishment for member transgressions. Knock a guy's train over? 10 tree demerits! We all hated making trees so much nobody ever actually paid their fine but it became quite the running joke.
"You put a Penn Central caboose behind a UP steam loco? 500 tree demerits!"
It seems like I've made a ridiculous amount of trees . . . and yet it still looks pretty barren.
Today's additions also included a family "inside joke". Years ago, my nephew Joel fell asleep on the back of my parent's golf cart during a ride through the trails at my parents' home. At a certain corner in the trail, he just sort of rolled off the cart, fortunately uninjured. That corner is known to this day as "Joelzy's Corner". This sign was added today near the scenic overlook:
Today, I started working on the water park to go next to the train station. Got the building "roughed out" today. Still need to do the slides and the pool area. So far, I'm relatively happy with it. I've sort of been putting this project off for a while. 
Today, I built the "slide tower" for the water park. Hopefully, the crossed eyes aren't permanent.
So, it's now time to pick the collective "GRM brain". I need to figure out a way to build the "slide" portion of the waterslides. Each will need to have several curves/bends in it, and I'll have to be able to glue it down. So far, I've tried an failed with polystyrene tubing. It will bend (sort of) with heat, but tends to develop significant "kinks" and thin spots as it bends. My experiments with that today weren't productive. I thought about silicone tubing, which bends and doesn't kink as bad as polystyrene, but it also doesn't hold it's shape and it's tough to get silicone to stick to anything. I've ordered a few "bendy straws" from Amazon. I suspect they will bend ok, will at least sort of hold their shape, but I suspect they won't end up very "smooth", so I'm skeptical they won't work either. I don't have access to a 3D printer, so that's pretty much out.
Anything I haven't thought of?
EDIT: To complicate things, Michigan's current travel/business restrictions are pretty strict, so I'd probably need to be able to find it at Meijer/Walmart.
What about thin walled tubing, vynil or rubber? Cut in half, and painted m what ever color you like. Glue an 18 ga. Wire underneath so you can bend the tubing and have it retain it's shape. If it cannot be glued, tie through the tube with very fine wire to secure the 18ga. wire to the tube.
That's the best I can think of.
In reply to kazoospec :
What approximate diameter are you looking for?
Probably between 1/4 and 3/8th inch interior diameter. There's actually 2 different size slides at the park I'm modeling, a larger one for "tubes" and a smaller one with no tubes. Actually, perfect would probably be one 1/4 and one 3/8, but I'm not overly picky right now. Here's a pic we took during a recon run. As you can see, the yellow slide is smaller and has a lot more twists and turns that the red slide. I'm only looking for an approximation, not a replica.
If you could cut copper tubing in half, that would hold it's shape.
In reply to Appleseed :
Never really tried working with copper. I'd need to do some research on bending/shaping it. Cutting the tubing in half might be tricky too. But it's worth looking at.
You could bend the tube, then cut it open but leave the hard to cut bits uncut.
Because waterslides have tunnels too.
Got these in the mail today. We ordered a Jeep to go with "grandpa's cabin". We got two Jeeps (which are pretty darn cool in their own right) AND a "free gift" from the seller. The semi truck (free gift) is STUPID COOL. Of course, now I have to order a trailer to go with it. 
Seller's site if anyone is interested: https://scotts3ddesigns.com/
In reply to kazoospec :
You can bend copper that small by hand. For really tight turns, you could use 90 elbows. Just leave thm solid for "tunnels." a Dermel tool with a cutoff wheel would mke short work of it.
Yeah, copper tubing is what I was thinking as well. It comes in little sizes. Think brake lines or ice maker hook ups.
Jegs sells aluminum tubing in a variety of sizes that can easily be bent by hand. Bend to shape with a tubing bender, then split it with a cutoff wheel?
Tonight was a painting night. Got the first of the Jeeps painted. (Waiting on touch up paint from my dad to paint the other one with)
Also got most of the finish painting done on the water park building. This is one weird structure.
Got the slides done today. I ended up using the flexible straws. Not perfect, but they could be bonded to each other and the supports with superglue, held their shape while the supports were being built and could be used as a tube or cut open fairly easily. I honestly think it looks better in person than in pictures. 
Me, finishing up:
In reply to kazoospec :
I don't think its gonna work.
Dood, those waterslides look awesome!
Current status: Major assembly done. Still need to do some detail work on the roof, build a few tables and chairs and fill the pool. Got the lights hooked up, the hole dug for the pool and test fit everything before calling it a day.
Only got about an hour to work today, so I quickly cranked out some "beach chairs" and loungers for the pool area. I also added a purely fictional "Grumpy dad who hates waterparks".
People tip: you can buy unpainted figures on plastic sprue for far far less than pre-painted ones. A trick to painting them quick is to use a single small brush, OO I think was the one I used, and paint one part of the figure at a time. For example : blue paint on the brush. Figure 1 gets blue pants, figure 2 gets a blue shirt, figure 3 gets a blue hat, and so on. You are only running one brush and one color at a time. $1.00 acrylic paint from Wal-Marx works just fine.
Don't worry about variety. Once you mix them up, and spread them around, you'll never notice. I painted over 200 HO figures for a buddy in 10 lunch breaks at work.
T.J. said:In reply to kazoospec :
As long as you don't make her live on the wrong side of them, things should be ok.
Grandma don't live on the wrong side of the tracks! The tracks live on the wrong side of grandma!!!
Appleseed said:People tip: you can buy unpainted figures on plastic sprue for far far less than pre-painted ones. A trick to painting them quick is to use a single small brush, OO I think was the one I used, and paint one part of the figure at a time. For example : blue paint on the brush. Figure 1 gets blue pants, figure 2 gets a blue shirt, figure 3 gets a blue hat, and so on. You are only running one brush and one color at a time. $1.00 acrylic paint from Wal-Marx works just fine.
Don't worry about variety. Once you mix them up, and spread them around, you'll never notice. I painted over 200 HO figures for a buddy in 10 lunch breaks at work.
Funny you should mention that, I just ordered up 100 unpainted figures yesterday!
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