Hello all... had a little time to start roughing in the canyon forms; I was quite fortunate to be able to score (at no cost!) some walk-in cooler and freezer insulating foam that was left over during one of our new store construction jobs...it makes building 'up' the canyon go much quicker! It's not quite as dense as the blue and pink foamboard, but it's pretty close...I'll still use the blue and pink for the detailed rock, but the white foam provides a great foundation. After installing and shaping the basic forms, I'll start carving and adding the unique rock strata. Thanks for looking, Bruce
Hello all, and Happy Thanksgiving! I'm using a wee bit of free time to trial the carved rock formations that help identify this canyon and NEEd to be represented on the layout... Some of you may remember the test piece I constructed from blue/pinf foam to determine the feasibility of carving the foam (it was based on a New Mexico formation in the Rio Puerco/Black Mesa area of New Mexico, noth of Laguna-McCartys) and, although successful in proving my idea, I wasn't happy with the obvious glue joints between the stacked layers of foam...I've decided to eliminate that by stacking the foam vertically and carving the entire formation in a flat sheet...a knife and hot wire tool can be used to define horizontal sedimentary and layered strata (as well as paint)...to create more depth, I'll use three layers of foam-this will give me quite a bit of relief. I'll post some more pics shortly...photobucket is giving me fits! Bruce Here is a rough carving of the 'innermost' layer of rock...a pic of the formation to be modelled is on the screen in the background this is the first 'draft'...I'll carve much more detail into the foam later.
Hello all, and Happy Thanksgiving! I'm using a wee bit of free time to trial the carved rock formations that help identify this canyon and NEEd to be represented on the layout... Some of you may remember the test piece I constructed from blue/pinf foam to determine the feasibility of carving the foam (it was based on a New Mexico formation in the Rio Puerco/Black Mesa area of New Mexico, noth of Laguna-McCartys) and, although successful in proving my idea, I wasn't happy with the obvious glue joints between the stacked layers of foam...I've decided to eliminate that by stacking the foam vertically and carving the entire formation in a flat sheet...a knife and hot wire tool can be used to define horizontal sedimentary and layered strata (as well as paint)...to create more depth, I'll use three layers of foam-this will give me quite a bit of relief. I'll post some more pics shortly...photobucket is giving me fits! Bruce Here is a rough carving of the 'innermost' layer of rock...a pic of the formation to be modelled is on the screen in the background this is the first 'draft'...I'll carve much more detail into the foam later.
Here is a pic of the middle layer... and the two layers sandwiched together to give a rough idea of what I have in mind.... and a pic of the area where this particular formation will reside.... I will add a third, 'outermost' layer of rock...really, more like individual pieces, rather than and entire length of foam... once the layers are glued together, I'll carve even more relief into the formation before gliuing in place...once I'm satisfied, I'll use sculptamold and celluclay to blend the base into the scene.... these type of layered, eroded rock formations will just 'out' from all of the canyon hills/walls...in my mind, the most difficult part of the process will be getting the 'coloring' correct! Thanks for looking, Bruce
Hello all... So very little time to model during the holiday season...only in tiny bits and pieces...divided between rolling stock builds and layout scenery.... Here are a couple of shots with one of the basic rock forms 'roughly' in place...I've determined that the carved foam will suffice as the basic form...with sculptamold/celluclay additional relief...the foam can be carved only 'so' much...I can't get a true 'rounded' edge...the celluclay will allow me to really 'wind' and 'water' erode the rock formations.... Hope to really get into the scenery after the holidays! Thanks for looking! Bruce
they look really great. very nice work. I think that once they are painted that they will look outstanding.
Hello all... I haven't updated this thread, simply because I've haven't done anything of progress on the actual layout until now..any precious little modelling time has been spent at the workbench on rolling stock and locomotives... I've been down with the flu for a couple of days, and finally decided to bit the bullet and actually do something on the layout!...to this point, I hadn't actually laid any of the track on the lower/westbound line through the canyon. I really don't like laying track...ugghhh...seems odd considering it's the main component in a model railroad...I just find it monotonous...especially soldering terminal joiners! I had purchased a large amount of Atlas Code 55 flex a few years ago, so I have all the track I'll need for the foreseeable future. I drop feeds between each section of flextrack, and I solder my own terminal joiners; for me, it's easier to drop feeds this way and replace ties after gluing the track. I like having feeds every 30 inches; when I eventually convert to DCC, I'll have plenty of electrical continuity. I'll also be able to cut gaps between feeds and create separate blocks for a future surroundtrax system (This little layout is perfect for such a system). For such a small layout, these is a ton of work to do to get the scenery to the detailed state I want, but nothing can proceed until track is down, tested, wired,and painted. Here are pics of the first 4 sections of flextrack down... and the other side....I have a LOT of work to do here! Thanks for looking, ~Bruce
Amazing what a little scenery does. Even incomplete, one can get a sense of 'vast expanse' out of how the eyes are influenced.
Hello all... knowing that I don't have too much time for the layout, I did a few things to improve the look cosmetically until I DO have more time (I'm thankful that I finally completed track laying on the Westbound line!) The layout had undergone a number of concept changes since I first put foam on door-from trackplan to area modelled. What has helped me to visualize areas I want to model is using mock-ups as stand ins for the actual features that will be on the layout...some will recognize the 'test piece' butte residing on the left side of this portion of the layout-standing in for the topographical feature that will eventually be there. Also, a foam and paper girder bridge and abutment are standing in for the more prototypical pieces that will eventually be on the Eastbound line; even a couple of foam bents are holding up the Westbound trackage where a ballasted deck timber trestle will reside. I even cobbled together a rock formation that will reside on the near side of the approach to the girder bridge from scrap foam in a few minutes at the workbench just to see if it will work for the permanent formation to come (it works great and is a great way to use all of the foam chips from previous landform building). There will be another rock outcropping on the opposite side of the track. Anyway, while the layout waits for me to add more and more, the bare white, pink, and blue foam really sticks out like a sore thumb and prevents me from really being able to visualize the scene and give me the feel of the area. So, without doing any actual modelling or landscaping, apart from roughing out the basic shapes of the right side mountain and the dry wash, I simply painted all the bare foam on this side of the layout with my base earth color. It's only temporary, of course, and the final color hues will be much more varied, including the various colors of the basalt formations which will be thrust from the eroded hills, and be the signature feature of the layout. I even painted the visible areas of 'route 66' a gray color (the roads aren't even roughed in yet, but their locations are fixed. Having everything in an earth color serves a number of purposes: it allows me to get the feel for the area, it reminds me of the look i'm trying to achieve, it gets rid of the hideous white, pink, and blue foam, and it helps when I photograph locos and rolling stock. Of course, as soon as I start the scenery process, the effect will be ruined, but it is easier on the eye when I'm in the office/hobby room. Here are some photos of the layout this morning to give an idea of where the layout is at this point. I have a PA powered Eastbound, and an F3 powered Superchief running on the Westbound trackage. It's nice to see two trains running on opposite tracks in the same frame-the main reason I eventually chose to model the Kingman Canyon area. Thanks for looking, ~Bruce
I may have to rip out my logging empire and try some SW ... the rocks are amazing .. I can almost imagine the engineer's pushing thru this terrain in summer and winter - rains ... mighty stuff indeed !!!
