The making of a Mastodon. I have been kit bashing a Bachmann Consolidation to yield a 4-8-0 to model the Huckleberry, a mixed train in Virginia.
You have a nifty steamer there, Russell. Nicely imaged, too. Here is an H-8 Allegheny arriving at Seneca Falls Sub.
Nice, guys!! Russell, you never cease to amaze. While others moan the absence of a commercially built model, you just go right ahead and build your own. Ben
Thanks Kurt, Ben and Coverton. It will end up a little longer than the prototype but I did not want to shorten the piston rod and valve gear rod. However, it will be close enough for me. They still have one running at the Strasburg Railroad. http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/tr_src475.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3348/3580387832_bccce82d0f_b.jpg
Nice work! I took a couple shot of my trestle progress. More scenery details have been added. More yet to come:
RS11 Laser Decal Numberboards I have access to a laser printer at my train club. It is very easy to create these decal numberboards. I am still experimenting for the best methods to apply them.
Great pic! You've done a wonderful job of blending the transition from the modeled scenery with the middle distance tree flat (tree flats?) and then the photo backdrop. PhotoShop or other software magic? Any tips or suggestions so others can obtain such beautiful results?
Yes, great pic. But there's no middle element. It goes model to background plate, this guy just knows how to do scenery!
Been working on a DPM kit the last few days. The M.T. Arms Hotel. I wanted the building to look like it hasn't been cleaned since Methuselah was a kid. I think I've succeeded.
It also looks like it hasn't been occupied since the Eisenhower administration- kinda like a lot of hotels in a lot of downtowns.:thumbs_up:
Thanks! Mystere is right, there is no middle photo. This is the original... I started by opening the layout photo and the background photo in Photoshop. I then drag the layout photo on top of the background pic. I used the magic wand and selection brush tools to remove the parts of the layout photo I don't want. If you don't have photoshop none of this will really make much sense! A more detailed description of these technique's is in the July-August 2008 N scale railroading mag.
Mark: Definitely! I thought there was a middle layer or layers because the edge of the trees where they form the skyline directly above the cows on the left of the pic seemed much more distinct yet the leaves themselves were not as finely detailed or lacey as the modeled tree above and to the right of the brown spot (probably a cow?) on the right hand side of the picture...so I assumed the left side trees were a pic that had been photoshopped somehow and formed either a digital layer on the photo backdrop or was an actual print that had been carefully trimmed and glued to the backdrop. The bushes just to the right and slightly above the handrail along the side of the loco have a gray edge, suggesting it was another cut edge of a photo that had been placed behind a modeled hill and in front of a photo backdrop. Whatever the method (middle layer or no middle layer), this is wonderful scenery, and I'd love to learn how to do something similar on my layout.
Westbound manifest passing McClelland Asphalt Shingle at Richlands West If you want a really good free photo edit software, try Paint.Net See ya Larry http://s527.photobucket.com/albums/cc354/ClinchValley/
Envirodude: We must have both been composing at about the same time... Thanks for your description of how you worked your magic. I have several places on my layout where I want to make a smoother transition from modeled scenery to photos and ground foam trees mounted on a foamboard tree flat and then transition to the blue sky and horizon haze painted on the backdrop...like this. My daughter recently gave me the 7.0 version of PhotoShop which her boss gave to her when their office upgraded to the newest version. I'm looking forward to learning some new tricks.
