mellowmike

Hey, thanks, Leader! I can now tell more about the car type. I thought the car was an MP (Missouri Pacific)... but now I see a third letter. I'm guessing it's an MRL now. Because of the BN in the data lettering below it. Same dysfunctional family. Hee hee.

Yep! I live in and around Spokane. So that's what you see behind my models. And no, I'm not dating the mayor. Hee hee.

Yep! The pic above that is on screen is just about actual size.

These photos are a bit big for this screen - so I'll just link you to them. :rolleyes: http://www.mellowmike.com/FR8_Cars/RBOX36843_A.jpg http://www.mellowmike.com/FR8_Cars/RBOX36843_B.jpg Hmmm... this one might fit...

Well... I paint the railroad colors on the model... and put the RR decals on... and weather up (i.e. dirty them up) with art supplies. But the graffiti itself is just taking crisp photographic images of the real thing and shrinking them - then specially printing them onto decal paper. So... I am not hand painting miniature versions of the graffiti. Sometimes I have to touch it up by hand. Notice above that my decal doesn't have the bright colors and the deep yellow of the original. I may have to do that with some yellow paint and a small brush.

Damn... you're the MAN, Hermdog! Okay.... let's see how good you really are then. I need this one: It's like the sister car to the one I did a while back. I shot this as it was moving, from a distance, and into the glaring Sun. Plus the pole was in the way as well. lightened it up as best I could... but I need closer, detailed pics of it in order to do it as a model. MM

Back to doing some tagged models after a brief absence: The whole car isn't the actual whole car - but I did the number! :rolleyes: http://www.mellowmike.com/FR8_Cars/BN749348_A.jpg

I don't have a train layout, by the way. I wish I did.... trust me! It would be pretty intensely detailed. Especially the urban areas.

Thanks to Everybody for the kind words, as usual. The freight cars I do are photographed on a little narrow diorama board - made just for the photo. Probably 2.5 feet long. The backdrops are real places around town. I used to take the board and car out to the location and stage the shot. Now it's easier to just merge a real background photo that I shot to my car/diorama. If I do it just right - there isn't much blending I have to do. I made the "dirt" on my board approximately the same color as the dirt on the surrounding real-life areas. MM

GV... shame on you, man. You haven't bookmarked it yet? http://www.mellowmike.com The new cars are here: http://www.mellowmike.com/FR8_Cars/Thumbnails_22.html

I liked the interesting faces on this car when I saw it in town here. So, I photographed both sides of the actual car, found the right model, and recreated it. There's some new images, including a Golden West box, a tank car, and a grain hopper on my website.