Making a new module: snowy scene

I've been working on a new module for the last few weeks. Some of my favourite adventures have been winter railroading in the Rockies and Sierras, so I set about recreating this. It is 2.5' x 1' and is loosely based on the following Marias Pass scene:


First off, I measured up some wood, cut it and glued it into a very simple frame. I trimmed a sheet of 2" polystyrene insulation to size and glued it to the frame using some "pink stuff" polyurethane wood glue (great stuff, very strong and sets solid very quickly.)


While drying I marked out my track locations, then cut some cork roadbed to size and glued it too. I then worked out where the various scenery elements would go:


I decided on a sloping hill behind the scene, some kind of frozen water feature, and small hills on the front at each end. I also wanted a small cluster of items around the switch, such as a signal shed, propane tank and most importantly a switch heater.

I roughly sawed some poly to shape and stuck it down. The mess was incredible!

 

Foam down it was time to attack it with the surform tool:


More incredible mess. Finished result:


I decided that the water feature would be a large frozen puddle, I figured it would be less work than a steam haha.

With a rough scenery shell now made I smeared over a thin layer of plaster of paris:


Once mostly dry the plan is to come back and smooth it off with wet fingers. However I ended up absorbed in an episode of Merlin and forgot until it was almost too late! No big deal, it'll all be well hidden by the time I'm finished.

 

I decided now to build the signal shed. Some rabid googling and rough calculations with an N scale figure, then some quick drawing on the computer gave me this:


I printed him out and glued him together, than gave it a quick coat of paint. Very rough, but it'l do. I also made a barely visible switch heater assembly and turned up a propane tank out of an old pencil. While at it I trimmed some ME concrete ties and glued them into a stack.

Finished array of items:


There they are roughly in place. My track is now cut and trimmed, soldered together. The pin is holding down the end track as my 5 minute epoxy (can't live without this stuff!) sets.


At the other end, a similar story:


That's all for today. Tune in tomorrow for a tree production line.

 

Very nice! Can't wait to see the finished product!

 

This is looking good. I cant wait for the next installment.

 

Modeling anything in the Sierras or Rockies is going to need a lot of snowy conifers. I had a few 55-packs of Heki conifers on hand, however these are quite short. Nothing jumped out at me on ebay as being worth my money, so I set about making my own. After some more prolific googling I settled on sisal rope trees, rather than furnace filters; I just couldn't get the filters to look right.

I started by buying 3' of sisal rope from the local hardware store and some 22 gauge wire; I wanted thinner but that was the best they had. I figured if it was too chunky I'd use some stripped electrical wire.

First step is to comb out the sisal rope; girlfriend very kindly donated one of her many combs for the job I warned her it would never be the same again but she said she was willing to make the sacrifice! Oh for understanding partners!


This was combed till reasonable straight and chopped into approximately inch long chunks.

I then cut some wire to length and in the drill spun up a trunk.


Fibers were inserted:


Then grip the end and gun it:


Boom! 1x tree.

 

Partner and I set up a bit of a production line in the lounge and soon had it down to 2 minutes a tree. Two hours later we never wanted to see sisal again, but we had a grand stack of 60 trees ready for trimming and painting!


Next step is to trim these into a tree shape. Before trimming I grip the trunk and brush all the fibers down towards my hand. This stops the tree from having that spooked-cat, hair-on-end look and instead we end up with realistic heavy looking limbs.

A quick encounter with the scissors and we end up with:


Then I attack it with some flat matt black spray paint:


Once dry it is given a quick trim again, and another brush down.

Then I mix up my "snow paint", a mixture of acrylic gel medium (used for giving paintings texture) and white acrylic paint, with a little water to thin it out. I then put a small amount on a large brush and brush from the top to the bottom of the tree. This picks up all the ends of the branches. In places I selectively load up branches where the snow would've gathered.

Once dry, the result is pretty convincing:


Another trim and they're ready for planting. At the same time I gave my Heki trees a bit of a touch up; out of the packet their snow is a very dull gray and quite fluffy. So I brush them up with the snow-paint too so that they match mine.

60 trees won't be enough I imagine, but it's certainly a very solid beginning. Combined with the 100+ pre-made Heki trees and my forest is starting to look quite promising.

 

Thanks for the comments guys, I hope you enjoy the final result too

Hemi, your snow scene and the "let it snow" article was part of my inspiration Deciding on what to use for snow deserves an entire post of its own. I tried quite a few different methods before deciding on one; I think because I'm modeling deep fresh snow the usual methods aren't always suitable. I will delve into that tomorrow.

 

Hi Mad,

Your module is coming along well. The tree making process looks like Colonel's technique that I have used. Works great. I am not familiar with Mike Danneman's snow process, but I am sure that it is top notch all the way. Not trying to hijack your thread but I placed a couple of jpegs of my N scale Christmas/winter module. I used backing soda and think that it looks very much like a new snowfall. Looks good but I can't say that it is good for the tracks and I have been told that it effects the electrical conductivity.

At any rate here are the jpegs, an overall and a closeup of the house with inflatables in the yard and on roof :









I am going to toot my own horn and say that this module won Best of Show 1st Place at the 2002 Oklahoma City Train Show.

Carl

 

Nice work Carl, the baking soda gives a nice texture while still looking smooth.

To prepare my module for snow I started the slow process of building up a base for the snow. To start with I wanted the snow nice and level with the tracks, as per the original inspiration photo in post #1. I grabbed the nearest caulking gun and squirted out big fat beads along the track, then with a putty knife and some water smoothed it off nice and level.

To simulate piles of plowed snow, I crushed up some dried plaster and embedded it in the caulk while still soft:


To disguise these moulds I mixed up some sloppy plaster and drizzled it over the top. Much sanding, filling, more sanding, painting, smoothing, sanding followed. At the same time, I experimented with snow materials:

• Woodland Scenics snow, sprinkled over 50/50 glue/water: far too coarse for N scale. Each grain of sand was the size of an N scale human's foot!
• Woodland Scenics snow, sprinkled then wetted down: does not stay where put. The wetting process smooths things down a bit, but still very coarse result.
• Sifted plaster, misted with water: Looks very convincing while dry, but as soon as I started misting water on it, each grain of plaster puffed up in size and the finished result was quite rough. It also dries a gray color. This could be because I used regular Plaster of Paris and not Hydrocal? I've read that dental plaster is even better as it has the finest grains. Hemi seems to have had good success with this method, so not sure what I was doing wrong.
• Snow Gloop: From Dave Frary's excellent "Realistic Model Railroad Scenery" book, this is a mixture of thick medium and white paint, carefully placed over the scenery. This worked well for building up snow banks, especially when misted with water afterwards to smooth it off. By mixing in some matt acrylic varnish, it dries with a nice matt finish. The main problem with this is that it looses a little volume when drying.
• Plaster: In "Terrain Modelling" by Richard Windrow, he suggests using runny plaster over scenery to give that heavy, contour hiding, style of snow. This worked well, however it still needs to be colored.
• Thick white interior paint: Good for slowly hiding detail as it tends to gather in low spots. Mist with water to smooth out some brush strokes. Dries very white.
• Flat, matt, white spray can undercoat: On a whim I decided to try a can of matt white paint. All I could get was undercoat, however this worked perfectly. The paint dries very hard, with just a hint of texture.

So my final snow recipe is:

1. Caulk/acrylic sealant to build up banks around track; plaster would also work fine.
2. Layer of plaster, sanded until smooth all over.
3. Spackling to fill in any smaller holes. As it starts to set I use a wet finger to smooth it out, and then sand it smooth with some 400 grit wet & dry.
4. Snow Gloop or almost-runny plaster to build up snow banks around buildings.
5. Another pass with the sand paper.
6. A thick heavy spray of cheap matt white undercoat.

The white spray undercoat has a few secondary benefits: it is every so slightly off-white, giving the scene a nice overcast look to it: in the middle of a blizzard things are very grey:


The other benefit is that it falls like snow, to gives horizontal surfaces a good heavy coat while leaving vertical surfaces like the sides of rails nice and relatively untouched.

Here is the business end after spaying, you can see the unmasked area around the track is a different color.


You can see how the snow looks good and lumpy, while still being very easy to clean

While at it, I installed the first signal and a snowed-in equipment box. I think the box is a little too snowed in so may move it.


Tomorrow I will start planting trees
--Michael

 

I really like what you have done. The snow is right and the trees look top notch. I messed up my trees by flocking them. Regards Aj

 

Simply amazing work and detail! A lot of wonderful ideas.

 

After all the preparation, it is finally time to start planting trees! The process is pretty simple, just poke a hole in the plaster shell and stuff in a tree.

Here is the start of my forest:


Soon all the trees were used up. 100 trees sure don't go far, but the result is very pleasing:


I also poured the small lake/puddle using epoxy resin, heated slightly in a water bath to get it to flow better and let any bubbles escape. This was finished with some stippled matt varnish to give it a textured icy look. Not perfect, but ok from a few feet away.


Time to make up another batch of trees. My "endless" supply of sisal rope is quickly coming to an end!

Here is the module at the end of the evening:


--Michael

 

THAT LOOKS SUPER!

 

Looks great. I wouldn't mind a module for photos, since I doubt my layout will be scenicked for a while

 

Oh yes, definitely need a snow dozer! Got any plans?

 

Time to plant the other signal. I prepared it by gluing on the surface mount LEDs and the magnet wire, before attaching the brass tube for the mast and putting a bit of epoxy glue on the back to secure it all together. A quick paint and it was ready.

Here is the signal ready for planting. The 1/8th inch brass tube helps get the thin wires all the way through the scenery base without getting caught.


While I was at it I added some snow around the point. Always fun putting bits of plaster around delicate moving objects!


Then it was out the garage to prepare it for another coat of my flat white undercoat "snow". I wrapped the signals and point blades to prevent them getting painted.


And finished result:


By leaving the top of the paper tubes around the signals open I was able to dust a little snow on the tops of them. I quite like the effect. I'm now probably half way through, lots more trees to make, track to wire up, signals to connect, ends and fascia to add, background to paint... phew! But it's really starting to take shape, looking forward to running the first train soon.