For the past few years I have been working on my home layout. The layout is a German themed. A while back, there was a webcam I followed in the town of Frankenstein Germany. The webcam is now offline, but I did capture numerous screen shots to use as inspiration for the layout. I am actually attempting to duplicate the scene. Below is one of the screen shots. Tonight, I had some time to actually get back and work on the scene. I concentrated on the backdrop. Below is the results. I am really liking where this is going. This is just the first pass on the painting and I will be adding more detail to the scenery. But again, I love where it is going. Once done, we will have a complete how to article in Ztrack. Rob
Actually not too much on the scratch building. I found a number of Luetke buildings that are very close to the prototypes. I actually used a Google earth image to assist in placement. What I can't wait to do is start adding the vegetation and trees. I think this is really going to pop the scene! What is crazy is that this scene is on 1' in depth! The power of Z scale! Rob
Fantastic Rob, I really enjoy seeing different projects, I have to get moving on updates. By the way google earth is an amazing resource. I have been thinking of making a yard and google earth allows you to see all sorts.
I agree! You can actually see the Google Earth printout in the upper left corner of my photo. It really has allowed me to get into the scene and position buildings correctly. That include the little garage in front of the Church which really showed up well in the satellite view. I would love to see more Z scalers using such tools to try and model prototype scenes! Sometimes I just follow rail lines on Google Earth and it is amazing some of the scenes you can come across that would look awesome on a layout! Rob
All me on this scene. My Dad and I have worked on the back drops together. We both have degrees in Fine Art. My father is a professional artist and former art teacher. I don't have time to paint anymore, but it is something I plan to get back too. Doing the back drop was a lot of fun last night. I will be doing more blending once we start adding the scenery. Rob
I started applying the static grass and lichen base for the hillside. I use Mod Podge flat to hold the lichen down. You can see it is still wet in the photo. My next steps is to apply various shades of green foams to the top of the lichen to complete the scene. I will also blend it in the grass areas. Scale trees will be installed in areas to continue the scene and add more detail. The static grass was applied using on of John Cubbin's Grassinators. You can see it in the back. I also really need to vacuum up the loose materials! Happy New Year! Rob
New update. The lichen has been covered with a mix of different color ground foams. The next steps is blend the colors of the hillside into the background. I also am going to start adding the foreground details such as high quality trees, bushes, etc. Rob
If this is the Frankenstein between Mannheim and near Kaiserslautern, I have traveled that line many many times. I dont do the Reserve thing anymore, so have no more reason to go to through that neck of the woods. If you were to pick a perfect place in Germany with steep rolling hills and lots of tunnels and trees and cool old buildings,to base a model railroad off of, this would be it. If I would have known about this last year, I could have taken pictures. There is also a very nice train museum in nearby Neustadt.
Kelly yes it is! There was a great webcam focused on this tunnel. I use to watch it everyday and fell it love with the scene. I could not believe the variety of trains that ran on the line. Everything from TGVs to Swiss, and Hungarian locomotives. It was amazing. I captured many on screen shots for part of own research. I know I had to model the scene! The webcam is no longer there. I really miss it. I can see hillside has since been cleared and I suspect they are putting in grapes again. At the turn of the century it was covered on grapes so this would make sense. I would love some recent photos if you every get back through the area. Rob
If you get a chance to come to Germany, around the corner is a BIG wine fest http://www.duerkheimer-wurstmarkt.de/. Again there is the train museum at Neustadt, I got to ride in the cab of a T-3, and an old VW rail van. The ICE and the TGV both go on that line, from the point there to Paris on the ICE it is about a 2.3 mile ride. Funky old train station building sits right next to the track, and I often thought it would be the one place I would try and model, if I were to make the proverbial "German" railroad. You are doing a great job on it, I recognized where it was from the scenery.
Google Earth is amazing. It really showed me how to lay these structures out. The little garage in front of the church was found via satellite. I could see hints of it in the webcam, but the overhead showed me out to place it. What a great tool! Rob
It's looking very good Rob! do you have more pictures of your layout? I really liked to see the rest of your layout. I've seen some pictures on the net for some year ago but can not find them anywhere on the web
