Keith, PM me some details, please! I might be up for a trade.. I would LOVE to have a 'Grande Jordan. Curto, Thanks for posting that snippet. Never knew it was such a health hazard, but like coal miners, the dust is bad for you. All the more reason to use sparingly, don't raise dust, and glue it down solid.
Update: The snow product does not like the amount of glue you might dribble onto ballast. It likes to be gently misted over until slightly soaked with IPA, then a glue/water mix ever so painstakingly applied, drop by drop. Again, it does not like a ton of liquid. The plowed chunks of snow along the ROW stayed mostly intact when treated this way, the snow between the rails and over the ties also stayed put. It takes a ton of patience. It took me an hour to apply the alcohol and glue to about 4 feet of track. And I have a small layout. We'll see in the morning, when most of the liquid has dried, and I clean the railheads and flanges just how well it worked this time.
As the old saying goes, you learn best from your mistakes. In that case, I'm learning a LOT! A few commandments to making a snow scene: 1: Thou shalt not use ground foam beneath any snow product. It shall bleed though, and cause thyself many troubles. This shall include thine trees, scenery base, shrubbery, etc. 2: Thou shalt not apply too much glue to snow product on thine right of way. Snow product shall not remain how/where it was placed. Thou shalt gently mist IPA over installed snow until slightly moistened. Thou shalt also apply glue mix slowly, drop by drop until the area is slightly soaked. 3: Thou shalt not disturb snow material while soaked with glue mix until most of the visibly liquid has diminished. 4: Thou shalt not allow the ROW to completely dry before cleaning out flangeways, and railheads of snow material. After it has dried completely, it shall be nearly impossible to remove. Thou must always check thine tracks with a large-flanged locomotive and railcar that normally runs acceptably on regular ballasted track. 5: After thou hast cleaned undesired snow material from flangeways and railheads, thou shalt clean the railheads (and wheels of the test loco/car) with track cleaning solvent of your choice to prevent snow material from being permanently bonded to railhead. Mike Danneman built his layout using Atlas C80 track. I used C55. The amount of snow buildup between the rails on my layout is much less visibly mounded, unlike Mike's. I might add more snow between the ties where I disloged some during the flangeway cleaning this morning, but the tracks are about done.
This is the overall scene so far: This is a closeup of the ROW: And this is the first revenue train through the blizzard's aftermath: Still much to do. More gesso to blend the two "white" tints in the snow, more gesso to cover the green ink bleed through, and a bunch more trees to go yet.
Thanks, everyone! The scene is taking shape better than I expected. Keith, Need many more trees still. Would love to add another 100 just to the snow scene. Most on the hill, but some foreground trees are needed as well. Jerry, no 3 miles hikes in 2' of snow required to get these shots! Love it!
Looking excellent Jere! Finally got some "ballast" down lol,good to see.Btw,those 50's are way too clean.
Thanks, Jason--I know, the SD's are way too clean. They came straight from the paint shop and into revenue service back in 2008. Haven't done anything to them since.
It's been a long time since I posted an update, a long time since I did any work on the layout! Gross Dam Rd now has a grade crossing underway. Using N scale 4x6 wood strips, stained with a stain marker, and a NWSL Chopper II, I cut a gang of them to scale 8 1/2' long. Using a NWSL Detail sander, I sanded some of the heads from the spikes along both sides of the rails where ties would be installed. Using wood glue, I installed the ties to finish the crossing. Now I need to slap a layer of spackle or something to smooth everything out, sand/paint, and sprinkle on some dirt from on-location to finish the crossing. Pics later.....
More work on the SPS included rough scenery for Tunnel 19. I slapped a layer of ground foam on, installed a few trees, and actually ran trains for the first time in a long time.
Tunnel 19 still needs rocks to be painted/weathered, portal weathering, trees, details and stuff, but it's coming along: My faithful model railroader engineer in training: Gross Dam Rd:
Hemi, good to see you back, and good to see you "training 'em young"... I've got to get started on my grandsons... Regards, Otto K.
Nice work Hemi! One thing I used lonng time ago was talcum powder - use the unscented version for snow . you can try different settings on the shaker opening to get the effect you want from a dusting to full blown fury. mist - shake - mist .