Will's workbench

Great stuff Will. Especially - I think - the latter shots where you are down to more eye-level height.

 

I think the last view is very good. I like that you can't see much of the train at any one time. The sense of depth in that shot is also superb. Much of it comes from the "staggered" rock surfaces, of course, but IMO the shadows and the curving road also really contribute to this. Really inspirational!

Some nice photos Will! I think that the smoke effects look quite nice ... I think you're being a little hard on yourself... looks good to me. The lighting effect is nice, although perhaps the shadows need softening a bit, at full scale there would probably be a bit more light bouncing around to lessen the shadows' depth... due to the real distance of obtject to shadow... which this scale isn't going to allow.... looks good though. I'll check your pro account (which I agree is worth the small amounty of money).

Jon

Thanks Mikkel, it's surprising how little depth there actually is in that scene - probably about a foot. I hadn't thought about the staggered rock planes in those terms but I can see how that works - they clearly have relief and it's not apparent how thin the layers are in this view. I think it would help to have another car in the foreground to make the perspective clear.

 

I'm looking forward to doing some more work on the river - I think maybe a tint in places, then one more coat of pouring medium to get depth, then I can start doing the white water and surface ripples.

 

One thing I've wondered about is whether the road is too light, and if so how to make it darker. Any ideas in this area would much appreciated - I had a quick go with powders but they tended to stick to the surface in places and make it look "wrong scale" dirty.

Great stuff Will!

I'm not a great fan of diesels or continental railways BUT, this layout has something that grabs my attention.

I'm still not sure of what it is but it's got it in bucket loads!

 

Absolutely fantastic workmanship and I'm jealous!

 

Cheers!

Frank

Looks great Will...and that last shot is terrific...

 

How was it received at the show?

Looking back to this blog post http://www.rmweb.co....-meet-the-bird/ where you included a picture of the road I would say that the colour is not far wrong for the worn bits, but there are some less worn bits between where tyres have made the most contact. The variation in colours only need be very slightly darker. I'm sorry I can't help with a method.

brillant work

Superb photos Will!

 

Your smoke looks even better than the stuff they use in magazine articles - somehow more opaque.

 

The final photo has nothing to give it away as Z gauge, it could be H0, or even full-size if there were some railings between the road and river!

 

Amazing how you can create such a great scene so quickly - it must be very satisfying.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

Thanks all. I think the road is close for summer. Maybe this is a job where I really should get the airbrush out and learn to use it as opposed to trying to work around it with powders and drybrushing?

 

On the last photo, I think the Noch car is a bit of a giveaway - it's not a very nice thing, I need to find some better road traffic. And I do have some lovely Scale Link railings but I'm waiting until I've done a bit more before fitting them because they're very delicate.

 

Part of the reason for trying the smoke is that I've grumbled about the wispy white stuff before and I thought I should put my money where my mouth is and have a go. Doing it in B&W is a good way to make it easier though - I'm not sure if my effort would survive the transition to colour.

 

It is satisfying doing things quickly, but also fraught and stressful. I kind of have to model this way because then I actually finish things (not that this layout is finished, but you know what I mean) as opposed to leaving them as started half-projects and flitting butterfly-like to the next shiny object.