Back to Concrete! Well, this is that time of the year again, crazy work pressure, hell lot of itty-bitty-tiny problems like mosquitos in an opera house! So, I am in my foul mood again, not being able model, not being able to do any 'prouction' to my level of expectation. Why don't I just get paid for things that I like to do? Life sucks! Anyway, whatever time I could manage since the last post, I focussed on putting some 'skin' on. Though the major infrastructure work for the layout is complete, it still looks very naked due to unfinished concrete work on the docks. So that's my next focus, no matter how much time it takes. I changed my approach a little bit since I started putting 'concrete' on the docks nearly 10 months back. Initially I thought of using cardboard for larger area between the tracks and styrene strips between the rails - and then coloring them. Then when I discovered the awesome paper kit from scalescenes - dock TO16 - dock edge. Below are the prints, two shades - block concrete with tire marks - for more busier part of the port and plain concrete for not so much accesseable areas. Now first I had created the base using better quality cardboards better than last time, I mean) to bring the level of the rest of the land to the track level. the upper portion of the picture below. No notice that in the mean time I installed the rails for the container crane and covered the area in concrete. Once the level is set, I used tracing paper and carbon paper to trace out the outline of the area that needs to be covered and then trasfered that to a very nice piece of water color paper of 520 GSM - costs over $4 for a A2 size sheet! These are far better choice over much cheaper cardboard that I used earlier - they tend to bend, glue don't stick properly, becomes mellow with humidity and paint, so though over 6 times costly, my choice was these professional papers for the concrete this time. Once the shapes fit properly between the tracks after some fine tuning just above the track shoes, and leaves just the top of the tracks to the weather, I pasted them on the appropriate concrete paper (Blocks or normal) based on which part of the layout they are being installed. Let dry for a few minutes and then cut out the shape from the sheet of paper, apply glue on the underside and on top of the track shoes and flush fit them precisely between the tracks. Let the glue dry for a bit for concrete to it's actual effect.
Here is the overall look of the front side of the port now: Oh! by the way, we have painted the sky blue in the mean time too! I have also plugged all gaps between my paper hills and the background using my newly discovered modeling material paper clay - the thin white part just between the hill and the background. I am sure it will look good once painted and blended with the scene
There are some people getting paid for what they do. However, the first person who can figure out a method we can all follow to achieve that goal, will be the richest ever known on this Earth!
Tell you what: lets make a deal, I'll let you know if i get any info on that, and what say you do the same? (after all, if i am on my way to be the richest one on Earth, it cant hurt to share! )
Yay! Let me send you all the N scale stuff I have in my wish list for last 5 years - you just buy them, put them in a 40' container and ship it to me! Thanks Joe.
New (And Hopefully Final) Home for Wrightsville Port! Ok. This time I felt as good as the day I started building this layout, if not more. Last weekend we shifted to our new apartment, and finally was able to present Wrightsville Port with it's designated and long awaiting corner - and I hope that she doesn't have to move to another unknown place again anytime soon. I finally got the chance to provide dedicated lighting for the layout - two spot lights and two lamp sheds. the light simulates bright day light and can be switched to Morning/Evening mode by switching off the spot lights. Here are some photos of the whole layout. The space below the layout has been made into a storage place for all stuff related to model railroading! Now In case you are wondering looking at the above photos, yes, the space below the staging has been converted into a bookshelf. Design and concept - Mouli. Given the recent visits in the house, the book shelf is now definitely a bigger attraction than the layout.
And now here are some photos of the layout after it's operational once again. My personal take is, the lighting efforts have paid out!
Wonderful stuff. The lighting really pays off. :thumbs_up: Dedicated lighting is one of the must-haves on my next layout.
Just love the way the layout fits into the room! Lighting is so crucial to an enjoyable pastime in railroading, and you have pulled it off well. Truly a pleasure to watch your progress!
Thank you so much! Glad that you like it... Yes, I never realized it so well before how crucial lighting can be in model railroading! IT changes everything, especially for photography. I also have a pretty bright fluorescent light in the room and I sometimes use that to experiment - the effect is radically different.
Scenery and Backdrop! OK - this weekend was productive after a long time. Task was pretty simple - finish coloring the remaining scenery and paint the backdrop. Below are some photos:
My next target is to finish all ballasting, applying ground cover on the scenery and finish making some home made trees before the weekend.
I am trying to take one step at a time everyday. A small progress for today - a layer of ground cover around the lighthouse... I particularly like the 3rd one!
[h=3]More scenery done![/h] All right, the crazy year this 2012 is proving to be, it is becoming more and more difficult to tap all the nodes all the time! So I decided to wrap the updates to the blog only when a considerable amount of progress is made. Sine the last post, the basic layer of scenery is complete around the oil dock and the trestle, as well as the background hill. The tracks are colored and ballasted, ground cover applied. Here are some pics:
Next step would be to finish the concrete work on the grain dock (the above photo), put some bushes and trees on the hill, and possibly start with the grain silos and the conveyor belts. Oh! also the structure for the coal transfer facility and the trestle.
