Jon Grant 4472 Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 Hello folks. In addition to normal stuff like going on holiday and redecorating the dining room, I have added some more scenery to the layout, in particular some rocks and hills. The rocks were cast from WS moulds and cut to suit, and the hills were made from plaster bandage shaped over carved polystyrene sheets. When dry, the plaster was painted with brown 'tester pots' from the local hardware shop (B&Q) and earth scatter was sprinkled on while the paint was wet, to give a basic impression of landscape. This will eventually be hidden when I get started on the grass and shrubbery ('Ni!') Here are some progress photos starting with the foreground stuff- Southern freight house in situ. Rock outcrop Rainwater outflow, yet to be detailed. East yard with rock outcrop Bridge photos to follow..... Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Grant 4472 Posted August 5, 2010 Author Share Posted August 5, 2010 The scratchbuilt bridge (thanks to Dale Burns of the Alrails Yahoo group for the photos) hides the gap through the backscene and the hills will eventually be heavily wooded to match the backscene photos. I also spent some spare time detailling and weathering the Proto GP38-2. The scenery continues behind the backscene and will eventually have its own tree-covered backscene Some overall shots to follow... Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Grant 4472 Posted August 5, 2010 Author Share Posted August 5, 2010 Finally a few overall shots of the new scene to bring things up to date. I will be continuing with the basic scenery around the freight house for a while yet, and will post more progress shots as I go. And finally a couple of Birmingham Southern locos. Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilM Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 Looking good! Seeing the transormation from bare boards has really inspired me to get on with something. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Harvey Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 I have never seen that loco around Selly Oak The layout is looking good keep the progress pictures coming. Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted August 5, 2010 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 5, 2010 Looking wonderful, Jon! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Peters Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 Looking great Jon. The idea of the scenery going behind the backdrop is good, I have done the same on my german layout, gives the effect of more there than there is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Grant 4472 Posted August 16, 2010 Author Share Posted August 16, 2010 I've spent the weekend finishing off the basic scenery on board one - styrene and plaster bandage hills plus plaster surface in the yard. Ive also finished off the ballasting in the yard. The area behind the freight house will be wooded, to blend in with the backscene The yard will eventually be overgrown, difficult to imagine at the moment. A couple of views from behind where the backscene sits Next for some photos of the painted and ballasted yard Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Grant 4472 Posted August 16, 2010 Author Share Posted August 16, 2010 Once the white bits were covered over, the scene started to look a little more realistic, even though there is no vegitation to speak of, although I propped up some old plastic trees behind the freight house to get a visual effect of what things might look like. In the first 2 photos, I temporarily placed a small patch of some of the ground cover I will be using - visible in the foreground I've also been patching a GP38 into CSX, although I still have to weather the crap out of it. Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Grant 4472 Posted August 16, 2010 Author Share Posted August 16, 2010 Lastly for this weekend, I took a few updated shots of the GP38-2 now that the bridge has been bedded in and the ballasting has been completed. I also remembered to turn on the DCC this time! Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted August 16, 2010 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 16, 2010 That freight house looks very nice indeed... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
squeaky Posted August 16, 2010 Share Posted August 16, 2010 Once the white bits were covered over, the scene started to look a little more realistic, even though there is no vegitation to speak of, although I propped up some old plastic trees behind the freight house to get a visual effect of what things might look like. Jon The freight house looks great! That box car is also nicely weathered. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted August 16, 2010 Share Posted August 16, 2010 Really nice work, Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcoRS1 Posted August 16, 2010 Share Posted August 16, 2010 it is looking very good Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Grant 4472 Posted August 19, 2010 Author Share Posted August 19, 2010 I thought I'd have a go at adding foliage to some of the bare trees, so I knocked out a couple of Autumnal/Fall trees this evening. The basic 'tree' is a flat plastic example from either Heki or Noch (I've had them for 20 years), twisted to shape. I glued some fibre strands to the ends of the branches, sprayed the lot with the cheapest hairspray I could find, then sprinkled some medium ground cover onto the tacky mess to represent leaves. Finally, I sprayed 'track dirt' to the undersides of the branches to tone down the 'in your face' COPPER colour. Here's some photos of the trees in 2 different locations. There will eventually be some ground cover. Back to the workbench to make some more. Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Grant 4472 Posted August 22, 2010 Author Share Posted August 22, 2010 I added a couple more trees to the layout using 'the sea foam/hairspray/ground flock' method. the scenery is starting to take shape. The trees are just added temporarily until I get some ground cover in place. Next - more trees Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gene Posted August 22, 2010 Share Posted August 22, 2010 I know I keep using the word awesome but hey...it works.....those trees look awse...really excellent!!! Your modelling skills just blow me away Jon...keep it up!!! Cheers Gene Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcoRS1 Posted August 22, 2010 Share Posted August 22, 2010 you MP15AC CSX switcher, is that an Athearn or Atlas, did you install the ditch lights? is it front and rear ditch lights is is sound equipped, is so who's? (guess if it is front and rear then my guess is QSI they are the only six function sound decoder). I want to do an MP15 AC or DC with UPY, but I want to have front and rear ditch lights and sound. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Grant 4472 Posted August 22, 2010 Author Share Posted August 22, 2010 you MP15AC CSX switcher, is that an Athearn or Atlas, did you install the ditch lights? is it front and rear ditch lights is is sound equipped, is so who's? (guess if it is front and rear then my guess is QSI they are the only six function sound decoder). I want to do an MP15 AC or DC with UPY, but I want to have front and rear ditch lights and sound. The MP15AC is an Athearn undec that came with an MRC sound decoder. That decoder stopped working after half an hour and never started again, so I junked it and fitted a Tsunami 645(non turbo). I thought about returning the knackered decoder for replacement but I won't be using MRC ever again. The tsunami only has 4 functions, so I had to fit front and back ditch lights in parallel. Thie means that the rear ditch lights flash when the loco is moving forward, but I can live with that. The other option would have been to fit a cheap 2-function decoder, just to use the additional functions. Here's a video of the loco to give you an idea of the sound. I slowed down the flash rate only after making the video. CSX MP15AC Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcoRS1 Posted August 22, 2010 Share Posted August 22, 2010 The MP15AC is an Athearn undec that came with an MRC sound decoder. That decoder stopped working after half an hour and never started again, so I junked it and fitted a Tsunami 645(non turbo). I thought about returning the knackered decoder for replacement but I won't be using MRC ever again. The tsunami only has 4 functions, so I had to fit front and back ditch lights in parallel. Thie means that the rear ditch lights flash when the loco is moving forward, but I can live with that. The other option would have been to fit a cheap 2-function decoder, just to use the additional functions. Here's a video of the loco to give you an idea of the sound. I slowed down the flash rate only after making the video. CSX MP15AC Jon I also have an MP15AC undecorated, I still have the nasty MRC sound decoder. time to find some decals and paint, I might as well make it my next project. will be a UPY How did you do the ditch lights? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted August 22, 2010 Share Posted August 22, 2010 Looking very, very, good, Jon! Good work, indeed - natural. Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Grant 4472 Posted August 22, 2010 Author Share Posted August 22, 2010 With the scenery and trees on board 1 coming along nicely, I thought I'd do a bit of catch-up with the scenery on board 2, which was starting to lag behind. Most of todays work involved glueing down the styrene blocks and cutting them to shape, messy but necessary. I also cut and fitted scenic fascias from foam-core and fitted them behind the styrene. Once the glue dries, Ill get working on the plaster bandage and a few more rock outcrops. Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Grant 4472 Posted August 22, 2010 Author Share Posted August 22, 2010 I also have an MP15AC undecorated, I still have the nasty MRC sound decoder. time to find some decals and paint, I might as well make it my next project. will be a UPY How did you do the ditch lights? I wired up the ditch lights to the decoder to test them - this photo is of a GP38-2, but the principle is the same. Once I'm happy they all work properly, I drill holes into the pilot and thread the wires through. I usually have to cut a channel into the plastic under the pilot so the wires don't stop the chassis fitting properly The finished ditch lights Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Grant 4472 Posted August 24, 2010 Author Share Posted August 24, 2010 A bit more progress - plaster bandage now covers the bare hills and the basic ground cover was sprinkled onto wet paint Looking from the bridge end Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcoRS1 Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Jon I really like the double bridge, it gives a very realistic illusion. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.