Well, seeing that I'm in time zone GMT+2, that puts me 6 hours or so a head of you. I'm always late or REALLY early.
Still plenty to do--the area directly sourrounding the tunnel needs work to finish it, blend the portal, and hide the gaps. Still more to do to hide the gaps from the removable mountain.
More progress: Tunnels 25 WP and 26 EP are roughed-in. I slung a bunch of Sculptamold onto those hillsides, and used my homebrew tempered hardboard tunnel portals. Since the mountain top is removable, I made the portals fixed. This leaves less to blend to hide the gaps. Pics when I have time (have to finish fixing the car!).....
More progress: (pics tonight) More blending done at tunnel 26, Tunnel 18 portal built, liner installed, the whole works installed at T18. Tunnel 19 portal roughed-in, tunnel liners installed at both tunnels, tinted sculptamold applied to walls to simulate bare rock applied to liners. Not bad for a weekend. I also painted the rocks I laid down previously. I used black food coloring to tint my cheap paint--not a good idea. Black is just dark purple. Rocks came out on the pink/purple side! I used india ink to tint the sculptamold, and will use it to tint the paint as well. Food coloring was on-hand, so I thought, what the heck, try it out.
Let ya build an HCD for me, when you return to the States!! :tongue: Looking good!! Bet it'll be even more impressive when scenery is finished!
Keith, It might be a few more years--but if it includes tunnels, it would be easy as pie. Don't mind the crazy yellow light--the ancient amber light fixture above the layout makes for horrible color shift. Still work to do at Tunnel 18 WP: The real thing:
Almost all digital cameras now days have the ability to adjust white balance to correct the color shift. The yellow tinge is because your camera is set to "Daylight" white balance. It's actually one of the easiest settings to adjust on cameras if you use the automatic settings. Fiddle around with the camera or download the online user manual (if you don't still have the hard copy) and find "Tungsten" White Balance, and the yellow will go away. But make sure to set it back to "Daylight" when you go back outside, otherwise your daylight pictures will look blue! Progress on the layout is looking great. Unfortunately, my ride through the tunnel district last week was just after sunset, so I couldn't get any more good photos (looks like you already have enough though). Either way, the layout is looking just like the real deal!
I know about the white balance, I think I just forgot to switch it. These are merely progress shots. Were I planning to publish them, I'd take more time and care in taking and processing them. Thanks for the attempt for more pics! I have traveled almost the entire Tunnel District on foot, so I have plenty of material. The issue now is detail shots at some portals that cannot be had from the train. It's no biggie, as it won't easily be seen, anyways. Thnks for the kind compliments, too! Here's Tunnel 25 WP: And the real thing:
I redid the face of Tunnel 19 last night. I was not thrilled with the way it came out. I also painted the tunnel liners and roofs flat black. Pics tonight! Tunnel 26 EP: The real thing:
Revised T19: And my low-tech tunnel liners; just scrap cardboard, braced and glued in, then slathered with sculptamold. This also shows the hidden wiring mes under the removable mountains.
More progress! I filled in the gaps at Tunnel 18 a bit better, and did a bunch of drybrushing of various grays and earth tone craft paints to get a better look to the rocks, then I sifted dirt I collected from on location, and applied it to full-strength white glue. I misted wet water over the top and allowed it to dry. The look isn't quite there, but closer. I need to cover the dark spots with more dirt, but I think I'll dilute the glue next time.
Over the past few weeks, I installed a ton of trees at Tunnel 18, did more scenery blending, added sifted dirt from on-location, greenery, and today, ballast. Here's D&RGW 3027 westbound at Tunnel 18 with a manifest freight:
Wow, that's looking great! The way it is currently looks like an abandoned tunnel. Looking forward to seeing more progress. :thumbs_up: