Steamroller

Hi all,

I've been playing around with a small steamroller I have. Nothing special, really, just relaxing a bit and taking a break from the "Metamorphosis" project. 

The little roller measures about 6,5 cm long by 4 cm tall (2,5x1,5 inches), and is quite new. I bought it some time ago, and it was just sitting on a shelf gathering dust, but today I decided to take a few pics of it and have some fun editing them.

By contrast, the building in the background is quite vintage: an old, rusty, metal train station used for 0 gauge toy trains. I think the combo came out quite well, and it was definitely fun to do!

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Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

The "Metamorphosis" project update: a white metal radiator takes shape.

Hello everybody, I hope you're doing well! Here's a new, pictorial update for my ongoing "Verwandlung" project';  a room box dedicated to the immortal Franz Kafka and his famous story "The Metamorphosis".

Today I'm sharing the work on a white metal radiator. It consists of a kit which was easily assembled, but which took many layers of paint to get to the final result. I think it was worth the effort, though. It will be added to the room box in due course, but I thought it would be nice to share it with you already.

This image and above: the radiator -still unassembled- after receiving two paint layers.

This image and below: the final result!

This is it for now! I hope you liked it, and look forward to welcome you again here for the next update on this special project!

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Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

The "Metamorphosis" project update: a nice window is installed.

Today I'm discussing a window I installed as part of my current 'Metamorphosis' project. And although discussing 'a window' does not seem particularly exciting, I do feel that it deserves some attention. What I like about this particular window style, is that it has one panel opening outwards, instead of the usual sliding panels. Somehow I felt this would be more suitable for my room box, which is supposedly part of an apartment building. So I ordered it online, and waited with great anticipation.

When it arrived, I noticed that, although the window was beautiful, its finishing could have been done better. For instance, the perspex of the fixed windows came separately, and didn't have the wooden jambs needed for the inside face of the window, i.e. the side facing the interior of the room box. So basically I had to do them myself with thin pieces of wood. More wood was needed anyway, because the walls of my room box are 1 cm (0.39 inches) thick, which is much thicker than your average room box or dolls house wall. Adding extra wood on the inside 'bridged' the open space and created a perfect fit!

This image: the window didn't have any jambs on the inside, so I made my own.

This image: the wood looks lovingly weathered!

I'm pretty happy with the end result. The window looks lovely and wonderfully weathered. And all that extra wood makes it more interesting to look at, as well as quite realistic!

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Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

The Beauty of Machinery.

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

A Very Special Train Track.

Last week I paid a visit to my friend Mitchell, a fellow toy train enthusiast. He recently moved to a new house, and laid out an electrical O Gauge train track which he was very eager to show to me. He also had some items for me which I needed to pick up, so I jumped into my Einser and drove to his new home.

 

I must admit that I wasn't prepared for what I saw: a big, fully functional electric track full of vintage toy trains and wagons, coaches, signs, buildings, figurines, etc, etc. In other words, a very special train track indeed!

 

I spent a few hours taking in everything I saw. The guy has done such an amazing job, and he's not even finished yet (or, as he said: a good train track is never finished!). It is truly magical to see these old trains (some are close to 100 years old) running over the tracks with their head lights on. The sounds, the smell, the sparks, the charisma they have is simply indescribable!

It was a joy to listen to him talk about these old trains, because his knowledge is truly vast, and his enthusiasm contagious. It does help that he spends time working on real steam engines (in fact he's a locomotive fireman, often to be found at the helm of these powerful metal monsters), because he knows everything about train tracks and track changes, traffic signs, etc, which helps in adding more realism to his own track.

At a certain point I asked him if I could take a few pics, which I did, and later on decided to dedicate this blog to him and his track. The pics were taken very quickly, so it wasn't like a photo shoot or anything, but I still managed to get a few 'presentable' one's, which after some working on them I'm sharing with you here.

This image and below: the engines have working head lights, which light up the track in the dark. A very special thing to watch!

Mitchell and I share one thing in common: we love vintage toy trains that really show their age. We love the rust, the dents, and the scratches that time has left on them. These give them character, a 'personality' that makes them truly unique. When we buy these items, we leave them as they are, and wouldn't in our right mind dare to even think of 'restoring' them (for example by re-painting them) because we know that it would kill the magic and charisma that they possess. That evening I felt like a child again. Thank you, Mitchell, for allowing me a front seat view of your incredible train track!

This image: Mitchell's oldest coach, dating back to the early 20th century, hence more than 100 years old.

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Thanks for visiting, and see you next time!

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.