Mike Whatshisname

oh yea, BTW, I DO love your signage!!!!

Nice Job Dave! The scene really looks "alive" when you place the cars in natural positions like turning into the parking lot and staggered on the highway. And the fact that the cars are not placed exactly 1 inch apart in the lot just makes it a natural, eye appealing scene...

All great ideas here Rat. Keep in mind that 1/2 inch equals 1 foot in 1/24 scale. Most large posters are 24 x 36 inches so that would be 1 inch by 1 1/2 inches (if my math is right). I find Googling for specific posters and cutting and pasting the pics works best for me. Peace!

Thanks for the idea Luke. Grandstands are my next Dio project. I made the track modular so I could add them later. Well......Call this one finished.........Now to see if ican get in a couple more builds completed before the Southern NNL`s in Atlanta.

WOW Neal! Between a computer crash and then going on vacation, looks like I missed you finishing this one! Pure eye candy! I really like the depth you brought to the ground covering by using different colors of the dark, medium and light foliages by Woodland Scenics I assume? A "Neals' Restoration" sign, nicely weathered, would look nice on that building...maybe? The cars look awesome! I love the wooden slats showing on the second ford! Congratulations, Great job!!!!!!!

Still Waiting!!!

Great to see progress being made on this Ron. keep 'er coming!

Zuk, Maybe one door rolled up and the other left down would expose enough of the inside of the shop to get the idea of what is happening inside. I'd leave the door to the right up as not to disrupt the flow too much. Looks like you already have the hardest parts of the garage already finished. Time to start "decorating". Keep us updated!

Peace be with you, Barbo!

YO Neal!!!!! 2morrow has come and gone! Where are those pictures!!!!! I need some eye-candy!!!!

Len, Not sure exactly what you want to do but gluing sand is very easy. Doesn't matter what your base is, lay down your sand, wet with 50/50 white glue and water, spray liberally with some Windex and let dry for 48 hours. Comes out hard as a rock...

Looks great John. Are you bringing it to the meeting tonight?

Hey 8, Great job on the shop so far. Definately need some dullcote to tone it down a bit. The October, November 2007 issues of MCM have some great ideas on how to make realistic looking floors for a shop similar to this. Maybe some of those ideas will help.

Awesome job so far Neal! I love the colors of the cars. Can't wait to see this with some ground cover. Are you going to do it with the tall grass? What will you use for it if you do? Thirsty for more eye candy!

Ed, If the "boom" was on the Mack I'd do a wrecker similar to what you are saying. Since the Mack is carrying a small "T" that the boom is actually attached to, any more weight on the back of it would make it tip backwards. The only change I would have made would be to add weight to the front of the Ford with a large bucket-o-rocks or a 55 gallon drum attached with chain and fill it with water. Thanks, and believe me, Texas isn't the only place you would find a boom similar to what you are talking about!

Sounds like a good idea Len. keep us updated and don't forget to tease us with eye candy as you go!

Rick, The November edition of MCM had a great way to apply weathering to trucks. Just grind up some pastels, a mix of black, gray and white to give you a dusty effect, spray the area you want to dust with unscented hair spray (very lightly) and using a straw to direct the dust, blow through it lightly to get a dusty effect. It works great! Add some dirt to the tires and maybe some black acrylic paint mixed with some rubber cement and add that to the fifth wheel for a greasy oil effect. Looks great BTW!

Thanks guys. The "backboard" was an idea I stole from another person that built one of these years ago. I can not remember who it was but he had a pic on the cover of the "other" mag many years ago (80's-early90's?). It has been etched in my memory ever since. I've never seen it on a 1:1. I use the Sophisticated Finishes rust on most of the details along with some pastels. The SF product (available at Michaels Craft Stores) is very interesting as it has different shades of rust depending on wether the base is metal, plastic or resin. As you can see in this picture, the rust was done with the SF product. The shovel is yellow resin, the pick white plastic and the holder is brass tubing. You can see the different shades the SF has on different bases. Cool stuff!

Just finished this Monogram 1926 Mack up. This is the log hauler version. I actually started this project about 10 years ago..."Yes Virginia, you actually CAN start a project and go back and finish it years later". I built the boom T "tongue-in-cheek" as I thought a duallie "T" would be kinda neat. Of course, if you where to pick anything heavy up with the boom, the T would probably fall back unless the front was secured with a rock on the hood. So the boom ends up on the Junk Truck as an experiment gone bad... In person, the colors are not as bright and the truck is a bit dustier. The flash and lights from the photobooth tend to wash the dust out a bit. I still have a little bit of dusting to do yet. There is always room for more junk too! Just a couple more "new" ideas. I don't want to drown this one with junk like some of my others. I like how the wheel chocks came out. The gears under the boom are from the guts of an old VCR. I saved all the little motors from the VCR in hopes that someday I'll be able to figure a way to make them run and use them in a dio. This "C" clamp goes well with the "C" cabs (I guess that is sort of a theme with this...how many "C"'s can you find etc.). It is a watch band buckle that I found with a bunch of watch parts I bought years ago. Shotgun on the front seat. The springs on top are from the same VCR. Please ask any questions.

Great Lookin' Truck and absolutely love the steam engine. That travellic engine, is it a kit or part of a steam engine? I am train-illiterate!!!!

Looks great Gramps. Some oil spots, burnout marks and pot holes or rather repaired pot holes will set it off nicely. Looks like you have a ton of time into this. Superb job! ROCK ON!

This isn't your traditional diorama but there are enough things going on in the flatbed of this 1926 Mack AC to call it a diorama. I actually started this project about 10 years ago..."Yes Virginia, you actually CAN start a project and go back and finish it years later". I built the boom T "tongue-in-cheek" as I thought a duallie "T" would be kinda neat. Of course, if you where to pick anything heavy up with the boom, the T would probably fall back unless the front was secured with a rock on the hood. So the boom ends up on the Junk Truck as an experiment gone bad... In person, the colors are not as bright and the truck is a bit dustier. The flash and lights from the photobooth tend to wash the dust out a bit. I still have a little bit of dusting to do yet. There is always room for more junk too! Just a couple more "new" ideas. I don't want to drown this one with junk like some of my others. I like how the wheel chocks came out. The gears under the boom are from the guts of an old VCR. I saved all the little motors from the VCR in hopes that someday I'll be able to figure a way to make them run and use them in a dio. This "C" clamp goes well with the "C" cabs (I guess that is sort of a theme with this...how many "C"'s can you find etc.). It is a watch band buckle that I found with a bunch of watch parts I bought years ago. Shotgun on the front seat. The springs on top are from the same VCR. One thing I have noticed in using Sophisticated Finishes rust method. You will get a different color rust depending on what your base is. Looking at this next picture, the rust was all done with the SF method. The shovel is yellow resin from Rik at Scale Equipment Limited, the pick is a white resin from PSF (I think) and the tool holder is a brass tube slice. You can see distinctively different shades of rust on each. None of them were primered as I wanted to get different effects. Kinda cool! Please ask any questions.

Pen and posterboard??? WOW! Very realistic effect there!!! How about grinding some of those chalks up with a little dirt and push it under the bottom edges of the garage to hide where the posterboard meets the base? This'll give it even more realism.... Looking great!

Hans, There are kits with drivers with clenched hands in them. Perhaps instead of trying to get the hands around the wheel, how about cutting the steering wheel to fit the hands? You may have thought of that already. If you don't like the driver but can use his hands, you can always cut them off and put them on a different body. Just some thoughts.