Well, not really brand new, I'm just another convert who got to play with trains as a kid. Had a couple HO layouts, and have some G-scale stuff, but don't really have the geography of our property that lends itself to garden railways. Anyway, I'm also on a RV forum, and one of the fellows there got back into modeling (N-scale) and prompted me to do the same, after 40 some odd years... So I like steam, and I'm using the Rockies as my source for info, since I live on the doorstep (Colorado Springs). I'll try to find time to post some photos from a recent steam excursion I got lucky enough to ride on... (You haven't lived until you get to go through a tunnel riding in an open air car immediately behind the locomotive!) And here is my progress, started right around the first of 2011, to date: Ain't that a mess? There are two scratch built trestles just before the tunnel on the right. All the rocks are formed using aluminum foil... Ballast is decomposed granite - why not, we've got tons of it around here... and it's on a door I had laying around, so put that to use! There will be a couple of mines located where the masking tape sits now, mostly from kits with a gazillion teenie parts.... But, don't tell my wife, I'm having a blast!! Al Schlafli (more to come)
Welcome to TrainBoard! I think most of us have made our empires look quite similar at more than one time. Excellent! Please keep the progress reports coming! Boxcab E50
Welcome to the Trainboard AL, looks like your off to a great start. You should have a blast on here as well; lots of us N scalers here. I look forward to seeing your progress from that point. Njoy it's built rite in. RVing huh; way to go I'm looking for a VW Westfalia now to restore and travel the country in myself. LOL but don't think I better bring my nscale layout once I find it.. But should fit lots of finds from my trips. Glen
Thanks for the welcome! Here is some further work. Your critique is welcome! - I think I need to train the trees to stand straighter... - Probably try to color the rock to match the decomposed granite above it? - Not too fond of the bright green "grass" from Woodland scenics (look in front of the left most tree) How to tone this down? (I tried bleaching a sample from the bag, I got green colored bleach, but did not seem to affect the "grass) - Photos do a good job of revealing patches I've missed - I can go back and fill those in... And I get the feeling I'm doing an "Indian layout"... that is "Apache here, Apache there" Ideas on how to better blend the different areas???? The dark brown "cut" in the upper right will lead across a creek to a couple of mines... Al S.
Progress! The mountain is coming along. First waterfall done, second not quite finished. There are three beaver ponds now, with fisherman planning on testing the waters soon. I apologize for the awful colors, thanks to CFL (?) lights. It really looks much more realistic than the colors show.... Here's a long shot.... First beaver pond is left of Glue, with ModPodge drying as this is typed. Thanks to HuskerN for the idea on the "aspen" trees - they started as grape (!) Candy Tuft from Michaels. Here's a shot looking toward Mt Puppyfoot Campground (sign on top of campground office to follow). Mt Puppyfoot got it's name from the unusal rock formation seen at the right edge of the photo... A closer shot - only one camper so far... And lastly a shot from the other direction. I found that if you don't like your creek, it's easy enough to lift a corner (once it's cured), and deftly yank the entire creek up. (I don't believe that's where "Up the Creek" came from) More to come... Al S.
