Earwicker

I'm working on the detailed scenes now. I bought a bunch of kits and details: Built a retaining wall for the loading dock. Cheap construction to fit the theme. It will have earth fill behind it, and will be rusting. Primed this and a bunch of other things I'm working on. This flatbed truck needs a severe weathering: And a glimpse of the unfinished front scene: More to come, including wrecked rusty cars!

Thanks for the kind comments. These are pictures of an abandoned small layout I documented here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/94537-ho-layout-canyon-diablo/ I became a little dissatisfied with the premise of the layout, so I've recently moved on to a new layout that is consistent with Freemo and so allows for expansion and a bit more realism (i.e. lonely single track snaking through the American landscape, which is what really attracts me at the moment). It can be found here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/118161-apple-springs-canyon/

My first contribution to this thread. How realistic are my models? Not very. But lots of fun all the same.

Thanks for that Adrian, that's a great help. That first link is exactly what I was thinking of. (I think I meant mobile home but didn't really translate properly into the American vernacular.)

Thanks, that's a great discussion. Having now finished he basics of the layout I'm taking it down and moving activities into the spare room where I can work on the detail over winter. Here's a blurry video of the layout in operation. Not bad for three months work.

I set this up today and worked on the presentation and had a lot of fun running some trains around. I hope to show this at a train show here in October. Currently the legs are at Freemo height but this isn't ideal for viewing for vertically challenged folk, so I'm thinking of making an alternative set of legs for the show. What is consensus for the ideal height for kids etc?

So, moving on. Lots more progress. This is where the a diorama called Desert View Salvage is going to live. It's sort of a blank canvas at the moment: The company is a small (probably struggling) salvage yard in the late 70s that receives drop offs from the local community (car wrecks, old appliances, general scrap) and salvages it. The business is served by a gondola and a box car that are dropped off by the local rail company, filled up and then taken away. So for this I need a company office/residence (probably a converted caravan) a place to load the box car (I will build a retaining wall and embankment next to part of the rail) a crane maybe with a magnetized thingymajig to put the salvage on the gondola, a small shed for tools and valuables, a fuel tank, metal fuel barrels for liquids from the cars, lots of junk, rusted cars, rubbish, etc. and an angry looking guard dog. I'm looking for a 1/87 crane form the 50s-60s. Kibri make one, but I can't find one yet. I may have to scratchbuild something. Also looking for a Doberman or German Shepherd in 1/87.

A big weekend of work on Apple Springs. Lots of plaster work, painting, and generally making it presentable. Once the basic scenery is down, I plan to work detailed dioramas on the various scenes. I plan to have back scenes on these four modules, but I also want to be able to sit in the center if I feel like showing it that way. The back scenes will be painted on 6mm MDF that can be bolted to the back of the modules. I haven't painted landscape scenery in a while so I might have to practice first. Here is where it stands at the end of the day's play:

That looks the business! Now, where to source one in NZ. I don't think NZ even has a Roco dealer.

I'd eventually like to be able to run things from my tablet/phone. I know there are apps you can use to interface with DCC. I need to educate myself first though. Does anyone have suggestions on a system that allows this (and doesn't take a rocket scientist to install and operate)?

Thanks. I ran the new locomotive today. Nothing ever seems simple in this hobby. It lurched its way around the circuit (but happily made its way through the tightest bend). But then it stalled on a join. And then it wouldn't go at all. Faffed around for half an hour with no result, and then ended up manually resetting it after which it went again. I guess the stall must have upset the chip or something. It lurched around a bit more so I spent an hour cleaning the track after which it ran fine. Impressions: it's very loud. So it should be able to be heard if I show this layout later in the year I guess. It is a bit dodgy going though the Peco code 80 switches at higher speeds. It looks very imposing lumbering around the track and should look great with a suitable train behind it. I've been using an NCE digital controller for the last few ears, but it's beginning to become an annoyance. I might move on to a new set up. The local hobby shop stocks Digitrax so I might look at that for convenience. It costs a bit in this part of the world though.

I accidentally just bought this Broadway Limited paragon 3 Norfolk and Western locomotive. It's way too big for the layout, and the wrong era and location, but whoa is it beautiful. Next year's extension for the layout might have to be a coal line in the east.

More progress. I moved on to the grass for the next section. I'm starting to experiment with the process and I think this part came out more naturalistic than the first part I did. I think the key is building up height and variation in the grass. Also more experiments with bushes. I've intentionally made this scene very vibrant just for the aesthetics of the thing. It's winter, and the recent rains have brought the desert to life. I made some grass tufts. Delicious plate of tufts! Applied them and also some more telephone poles. And finally I did a little work on the road. The spur that runs to the edge of the board is where next year's project will connect.

Abandoned box car sitting on a siding and some telephone poles. This is an old car I had. I weathered it up a bit. Half way through that process: Placed on the layout with a little grass and watnot to place it in the scene: And then I played trains for a bit: My locos and rolling stock really need weathering because they have the ugly fresh out of the box look, so I might tackle that job next. Happily, painting and weathering is my favorite thing. I'm also an aircraft modeler so I get a bit of practice: Thanks for looking.

Hi Ray, the freemo standard we designed is simplified. Basically all that matters is the height from the ground to the rail head (with some adjustability), the track gauge and code, and the mode of electrical connection (banana plugs). Any of these modules will connect to other such modules (though the scenery will not flow obviously) but the intended connection is the stubby siding that runs to the edge of one of the modules that you might be able to see in pictures above. The idea is to have this unit as a four sectioned module at one end of the layout or as an end to a branch line. This is when and if I manage to meet with the group again.

Here's my progress this week. Mostly layers of various kinds of static grass and then some Fine Foliage bushes. I quite like the look of this stuff for bushes. White balance is a bit mucked up on these pics because the light in the garage is inconsistent. I'll st up my photography lights soon.

The layout now has a name (at least this part of it). Apple Springs Canyon is a slightly fictionalized location in Northern Arizona. The period is winter 1979. Over all, I'm tempted to call the modular layout "Rust Never Sleeps." There is some musicological/sociological relevance to this title and era, which I might expand on later (or which maybe can be easily guessed).

Relaxing on a Friday night after work with a glass of wine and playing with trains.

More colour. I started with Woodland Scenic blended turf for a base and then some Noch static grass for the tufts. The colour is a mix of the light green and straw colour they do. Next application after this dries I'll do some straw itself for highlights. I'm absolutely going for the Winter look with a bit more vivid green, because I like the contrast with the rocks and sand. Speaking of those, I can see some sports in the photo that need touch ups. I'm consulting this guy's videos for reference. They are very nicely composed videos.

A quick update. I'm now working on this in two halves. The front canyon scene is getting the treatment at the moment. I've ballasted and weathered the track, and started to mess around with some track side detail. The tank is a Walthers kit. The theme for this is late 1970s rust and decay btw so there will be lots of rubbish, rusted cars, etc. The SD40 will receive some serious weathering at some stage, along with the rest of the rolling stock. I'll also set up my photo lights and get some better pics when I have a bit more progress. Lovely weather at the moment too. Time for a beer.

Thanks, I'm looking forward to seeing it too! Lots of progress. Finished carving the rocks and colouring them. Pretty happy with the shape and colour. These pictures give a really bad impression of the depth of colour in the rocks because of the poor light and white balance. I had to stick a couple of bits of rolling stock on there to give a glimpse of what is to come. Next up is the ballast and then the grass and foliage. This is Northern Arizona so there is a bit of grass on the scene rather than sandy desert.

I spent the last couple of hours starting on the rocks. Sorry for the blurry pictures.

Small update. The layout got a layer sand glued down, and once this had dried, a thin plaster layer to give the basic desert surface. Next up is rock carving (mostly for the steep banks in this scene) and more plaster work and coarse sand for the details. And then some colour!

More progress. I painted the track and filled, sanded and painted the fascia. I'm almost ready to begin on the scenery proper. The fun part! (Well, it's all been reasonably fun so far). Stay tuned for rock carving and fun with sculptamold.

Lots of progress. The hills plastered and track laid. I just have to tweak the track and run the wiring bus and it is good to go. Then I can concentrate on the scenery, which I'm really looking forward to and which will probably take up most of this year. But this has already been a lot of work. I'm lucky my girlfriend is so patient because I disappeared into the garage for literally days. Some pics: