Hi, all! Lost a good friend yesterday. Not a lot of work on the layout. I did get the facia seams taped and U.S. 53 laid out and painted. And found a new-to me way of modeling corrugated steel. Any guesses? Terry
I didn't know it was posted elsewhere - and yes it is a cool idea. Looking for ideas and inspiration for use in our hobby world is fun AND frugal.
What about using concrete? Or something like it. I had to do some repairs around my window - some of the mortar had cracked and broken off. I went to my local big box home repair shop and they have mortar in a tube. Caulk-gun sized or smaller. No mixing, just squirt it out, and it has a rocky texture to it. You could try that?
Week #4 Update This week, I had to address two significant issues before I could make any progress on my WLP2 project tasks. First off, I had to fix some track that had popped up due to benchwork shrinkage caused by several weeks of very low humidity in the Atlanta area. As you can see by the first photo, this was a significant pop. Surprisingly, I only had to nip a tiny bit off the ends of the rails to get this track to settle back into position: Next, I had to build the spline roadbed for the Emerson house track. I had delayed building this roadbed because I thought I could use 2" thick foam sheeting for the track and scenery base in this area. However, I decided my standard spline roadbed for track and cardboard web for scenery was the best approach: Finally, I was able to complete the cardboard web between the tracks and the backdrop all the way to the north end of the Emerson scene. The flat area is where a residential neighborhood is located adjacent to the tracks: Next up will be to complete the cardboard web between the tracks and the fascia. But that's for next week. Jamie
Mortar in a tube sounds interesting. Would the texture be too coarse? In N-scale the texture of simulated concrete needs to be very smooth. When I mentioned making simulated concrete to my wife, she suggested oven-bake polymer modeling clay, which comes in many colors and textures. Different colors of the clay can be mixed together to make custom colors. Bake it for 30 minutes at 250° to harden. I've seen crafts made with this stuff. It's very hard and seems durable. One of the main suppliers of oven-bake clay is Polyform, which makes the Sculpey line. Polyform also makes a product called Mold Maker. You use it to make an impression of an object you wish to reproduce. Then you bake the Mold Maker to harden it. Then you can use it as a mold for Sculpey clay, Plaster of Paris, or other materials. Has anyone ever used these products for Model RR projects? It sounds like they could have lots of uses. - Jeff
I've never used it for model RR stuff, but Sculpey is great stuff. I used it for a school design project a few years ago. I'm going to have to keep an eye out for Mold Maker, that sounds like a great tool.
Due to other commitments work continues at a slower pace. A local Train show... and also real work. I had built a raised platform for the rear part of the city scene. The idea is to blend the printed background with a parking area on the right side. The grey for the tarmac is a very close match to the background but my lighting for photos ruins the scene. A building will cut the scene in half. On the left of the red building you will be able see the backyards of the backdrop buildings. The backyards will be a mish mash of usual 'railside behind building' type of detailing. The second photo is what the platform looked like after I repainted it - it's Gatorboard with styrene trim and face. I had originally painted the trim and face with aged concrete for the concrete wall but it turned out too yellowish (as pictured above). It will all be dirtied up prior to permanent installation. I am having a one heck of a time uploading photos to Railimages since I switched my system to Win 7 - hopefully it is not at my end. Error 2's and not wanting to upload all day long. I'm happy with the progression of my building so far - and look forward to seeing more of everyone's work. I even tried a little water treatment with high grass.
Track Weathering Attempt I wanted to try some track weathering, and the photos below show my first attempt. (The red overspray is from an earlier, unsuccessful attempt to paint the rails, so please try to ignore it.) This time, I started with a wash of light gray acrylic craft paint thinned with isopropol alcohol. I applied the wash to the ties with a brush. Then I used a Floquil "Rust" paint marker on the sides of the rail. I need your opinions as to whether or not this approach has any merit and if my results are any good at all. This is Atlas Code 55, by the way. Thanks - Jeff
The backdrops come from a company called 'Sceniking' here in Ontario Canada. I was very pleased with the result. http://www.sceniking.com/
Ok, I get it now.. in case you're all wondering WHY I was asking.. the images didn't show up for me until today LOL So, I'm in the loop now. :thumbs_up:
looks great to me! You could paint some individual ties maybe? but overall I think it looks very good. :thumbs_up:
The ties look good - maybe throw on a different shade every so often on the odd tie. And an oil/grease line down the center or a blotch/big puddle stain where a piece of equipment has been sitting awhile.
