I recently joined this forum and all I can say is WOW!! I can't believe how well all of this looks. From the benchwork to the hills everything is phenomenal. I hope my layout is even a quarter that good. Maybe I can use your example to convince the CEO to let me have more room downstairs for a bigger layout biggrin: Or facilitate a move to a better basement roof (house).
Thank you all, gents! The basement was my pound of flesh for getting the Boss a nice, new house for our retirement! She has complete control over everything upstairs, but the basement is all mine - even to no storage allowed! The Oakville sub occupies all but a 10 X 12 hall/exercise room and an adjacent bath. About 1100 square feet. The bad thing/good thing is it's a walk-out - I would have preferred no windows for layout purposes, but I gotta tell ya, it's sure nice to be able to look out at the back yard while working on the layout!
I'm kind of playing catch up at Oakville. Oh, I've been working on the layout steadily, but what's exciting (or photogenic) about ballasting a large yard? Today's first shot shows the completed island in the main room - no detailing yet, just the rough scenery in place:
And now we move to the south or staging room, where I have begun the scenery where the track disappears to staging. Here's the frame: Followed by the cardboard lattice: And the rag material hot glued to the lattice: Finally two coats of joint compound and I've placed some rock castings. Note there will be NO tunnel portal visible - you won't be able to see around that bend. I must say I'm very pleased with the rag over lattice method as opposed to the plaster soaked paper towel over lattice - it's far neater and a lot less hassle overall.
Nice work Jim.We recently had a visitor come to our club in Murfreesboro and he said he had been to your house first and was amazed at your layout.
I love to watch the jaws drop, Thom - that's almost as much fun as running the layout! I've had several visitors in addition to family, and I must say they have all been respectful. Anyone who wants to see it live is welcome as long as we can agree on a time - and this is not usually a problem. Jerry, my entrance to staging is very similar to your Franklin Canyon scene, except not quite so open - kind of using selective compression to block the view of where the tracks disappear. And Dave D that's a Backdrop Warehouse backdrop. I've blended the scenery to match. The photos from which the backdrop was made are in the prototype's area. The camera sees it differently each time, it seems, dependent on the amount of internal/external light.
Your layout just looks great and I like your backdrop. Please tell us what you used for your backdrop.
They are from Backdrop Warehouse. The panels in the main and north rooms are the two Tehachapi panels flipped and repeated every twelve feet. The south or staging room uses their Caliente panels, again, flipped and repeated as required. Since the south room IS Caliente it's most appropriate. I unfortunately can't model Caliente closely since terrain needs to rise steeply at the end of the horseshoe in order to mask the entrance to staging. Now if I just had ANOTHER room...jeez! Who ever thought 1000 square feet wouldn't be enough! Guess I'll live with it!
Thanks, Bob. I've found it to be quite different from the plaster soaked paper towel routine. I don't even need a dropcloth on the floor any more. And joint compound is cheap and easy to use - tools easily with trowel/putty knife and wet brush, reasonably lightweight, and nice and stable when dry. The rags are quite inexpensive also - I think I got enough for the entire room for ten bucks - and putting them on the lattice is one of the faster parts of the process.
Jim, even though construction for my new layout won't begin for a couple of months or more, I've been collecting info on various techniques and I like this idea. A couple of questions: 1) What is your dilution ratio of water to joint compound? 2) Using painter's rags does that add much weight or is it negligible? Your layout is looking fabulous BTW!
I really enjoyed reading through this layout. It looks great! I sure hope I get an invite to come visit sometime. Man there sure are some talented people on this board, I hope to learn from! you've made me reconsider my layout into nothing more than a mountainous view maybe of the BlueRidge area
Thanks, Charles. The rags might add a fraction more - I think negligible - than soaked towels, but it is SO much easier to use! Dilution rate depends. I like to put on a thick enough coat to hold trees. On this last section, I put it on generously and undilted with a 4" drywall knife, then finished it with a wet paintbrush, rewetting as necessary. I use an old 2" sash brush for smoothing. The second coat largely fills in the cracks where it was thicker and makes the lattice pattern disappear. I just keep on putting it on until I like what I see...
Thanks for the kind words, Guzman. You are welcome anytime you're in the Nashville area - we're about 30 minutes south. If you'll email me well in advance of a possible visit we can work out the details. The Blue Ridge would be neat also. Some of my favorite country!
Awesome work and really love the scenery. Thanks for showing us your progress. Please keep it coming.
There is another option to the rags that I have tried in the past. Head down to the fabric store and get some cheap muslin you can get it for about a dollar a yard and you can cut it to what ever size you need.
GOOD suggestion! For a buck a yard you couldn't go far wrong! Although I tend to follow my wife around those kinds of stores, when I'm thinking of something I normally think in hardware store terms as opposed to fabric store terms...maybe I should go a bit more outside the box! Thanks!
Jim , how thick can you put the drywall compound down before you get cracks? I assume that it is couple days work for an area? Craig
