With the arrival of my Tichy order I’ve started to make some progress on the NES. The first order of business was finishing the last structure for the town. I already had built and painted the little house, but until the windows arrived I was at a standstill. I managed to paint the windows and doors, apply a touch of weathering, plant some weeds and add a roof. Unfortunately I threw away my remaining shingles over the weekend (a delusional pre-Christmas cleaning tirade) and as I wouldn’t be able to print more until the second week of January I went hunting for a suitable alternative. I finally settled on some 320 wet/dry sandpaper. The roof lacks any definition in terms of the courses of shingles, but the texture and colour are right. One thing I’m still struggling with is the good ol’ three-foot rule. It strikes me that it would be virtually impossible to see the courses of shingles at 1:160 but many modelers elect to include them. I prefer my printed shingles, but this is a suitable stand it.
My fresh supply of windows also meant I was able to complete the little cabin I had built. Originally I built the structure for the town but wasn’t happy with the look – too rustic. I elected to set it off in a corner of the layout – no good reason for it – but I didn’t want to throw it away!
As for the cows; they were a stocking stuffer. My highly supportive wife always gets me a little ‘train’ something each Christmas, and the cows were one of her gifts. I decided that rather then let them collect dust, I’d add them. I wouldn’t have bought them, but she got such a kick out of seeing them on the layout I couldn’t say no. So, the NES now proudly boasts two Holsteins. Milk anyone?
0 thoughts on “House, Cabin and Cows”
Mike G says:
Ha ha! Two cows are two too many. I grew up on a dairy farm and that’s a job with no days off. My wife wants chickens. I say, “No livestock.” 🙂
About the shingles, I agree that in N scale you shouldn’t be able to see the actual texture of the shingles anyway. It’s perceived but there’s so little relief on a shingle that if you modeled it, you wouldn’t be able to see it anyway. I have some N scale plastic clapboard siding and you can see that there are lines but until you look up really, really close, you can’t see that they’re clapboards!
-mike
Model Railroader says:
HA!
I too grew up on/around a dairy farm – I hear your pain! (Chickens aren’t that hard ;))
Do you have any images of the clapboard as shingles? I’ve been staring at the clapboard wondering if it would made decent roofing…
All the best!