John; Your cattle pen and ramp is very well thought out and constructed. I like the modular concept, as it allows you to configure it to different locations. “Sewing” it together with wire should also give it a fair amount of strength. Alas, both of my railroads have gotten out of the livestock business, although the Brandywine & Gondor Railroad still ships the occasional hatchling dragon. 
(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/davemeashey/BnGDtrans1.jpg)
Best wishes, David Meashey
Dave, what do you feed these dragons, if not cattle? Virgins?
John, I like the way you have put that cattle ramp together. How long has it been in the weather.
(I will be so glad when I get this splint off my fingre, it takes tiwec as lomng to tyupw with akll the nmistakes.}
Steve;
Even though the B&G RR is set in the Fourth Age of Middle Earth, there are still enough nasty critters running loose there to feed young dragons. The best thing is that most of the nasty critters will not be missed if they do become extinct! The hatchling in the photo is being fed the haunch of some big reptilian critter.
As in our own world, virgins are a very rare commodity. They are not to be wasted on dragons.
Have fun,
David Meashey
Thanks guys. The thing is about two years old, has been out one summer - I brought it in for the winter. The photos were taken when it was new, but it still looks the same. Paint and weathering were done with 3 coats of acrylics.
Paint: 1. White; 2. med grey; 3 pale grey. Rubber cement or something was used before the various coats as a resist to create patches of peeling paint. This was either peeled off or left alone to create lumpy effects on the otherwise-a-bit too-smooth dowel-elements. Rough sandpapering got into this mix somewhere as well… I tried to put the barest boards where the wear would have been greatest, eg the 7th pic. above.
Then finally weathering with mud and shyte and undoubtedly a little mossy green here and there.
John; Back in my OO and HO days I found a way to “model” bovine calling cards. The food pellets sold for small rodents, like hamsters, are primarily dried and compressed alfalfa. That is almost the same raw material the cows use for their fertilizer production. I crush the pellets and add some brown stain. An examble is shown below. The wagon is from a OO Ratio kit, and it is about thirty years old, but the “load” still looks pretty good - at least to my eyes.
(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/davemeashey/Manure.jpg)
Anyway, thought you might like to know. Best, David Meashey
John Le Forestier said:
Thanks guys. The thing is about two years old, has been out one summer - I brought it in for the winter. The photos were taken when it was new, but it still looks the same. Paint and weathering were done with 3 coats of acrylics.Paint: 1. White; 2. med grey; 3 pale grey. Rubber cement or something was used before the various coats as a resist to create patches of peeling paint. This was either peeled off or left alone to create lumpy effects on the otherwise-a-bit too-smooth dowel-elements. Rough sandpapering got into this mix somewhere as well… I tried to put the barest boards where the wear would have been greatest, eg the 7th pic. above.
Then finally weathering with mud and shyte and undoubtedly a little mossy green here and there.
All that weathering could have been accomplished just by leaving it out in the weather for a few months until it reached the proper “temperature.” Then just seal it with a clear UV resistant acrylic.
I did that to a USAT caboose and received many compliments on the “authentic” job of “weathering” that I had done.
Dave: LMAO!!!
Steve: Many of my structures are left out to weather summer and winter, or even built of weathered alleywood (see Mik’s article) in the first place. Saves me the bother, as Hans-Joerg said on another thread. He understands me well! I fussed over this one for the fun & experience of weathering it, etc., but that is uncharacteristic of me. Actually, I don’t fuss over models too much any more. Life is too short. At that I didn’t try to make it authentic - but as DM said, so I could manipulate the parts to fit wherever in a construction toy-type way.
If you saw the state the rains, the winds, the weeds, the falling sticks, and the 'coons have left my backyard RR in lately, you’d either laugh, cry with me, or at least understand why I don’t sweat the small stuff! My priority is still the laying of new trackage. I have a freightyard laid out and waiting for the build.
Right now, though I have to get out there and get things looking right for that upcoming open house of mine …
Laughing all the way!
I gave up scheduling open houses or club meets. The last two were disastrous! Two years ago I had a really bad sinus infection and had to cancel at the last minute, and last year, I had gall bladder surgery the day before the club meeting that was to happen at my place.
I think I’ll take a few years off to recover…
Steve I understand feelins on the subject! I like your tag line, when we were in Germany the AFN guy tried to pronounce Puyallup, the wife and I were nearly on the floor, he didn’t even come close! As far as leaving buildings out, I don’t we have 2 leged tree rats with sticky fingers! Lost two plastic buildings that were not viewable from the house, so I now attach them with nice long screws! They can not be lifted that way.
Paul
Oh Steve, do take care of yourself. No more meets for awhile. This is my first ever open house, and I’ve only ever attended one before in my life. Two clubs are holding meetings here that day, so hopefully I’ll be too busy to get sick! For better or worse, I’m looking forward to the experience. No guarantee that I’ll ever do it again, dunno. Not stressing over it. Don’t even remember what stress is anymore…
My wife calls squirrels tree rats… What’s a two legged tree rat, Paul? And both of you guys should try Welsh. Check out their map for some place names. Now there’s a family who can’t spell, AND they talk funny. And no, I wouldn’t know for sure how to pronounce any of those WA names. Only ever heard tell of three of 'em.
Do they rhyme with anything familiar to a NORMAL person?