Thanks PK! Big photo update for ya'll today, presented in chronological order: So... I started, as before, with a layer of WS soil, which I also got into all the left over nooks and crannies along the river bank (the bit that I've done so far) so that 99% of all the white is gone. All I can say is, thank goodness I have a 32oz shaker of the stuff in the mail right now. That was followed by a scattering of Timerline Scenery's forest floor. They make the forest floor in two blends, a brown and a lite yellow brown color. I used both of them and mixed them together. The blends include little bits of deadfall which i find adds lots of realism to the product. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good solution for their forest floor. Later work included painting the bridge 'abutments' which have not even come close to meeting expectations so far. So, the paint was followed up by some vegetation to hide just about all of it. The photos with the bridge in place demonstrate how nicely you can't see them anymore, and now I am very pleased with them >.< Next up, I am waiting on some WS fall colors coarse turf (hopefully arriving today or tomorrow) which will get scattered everywhere to represent fallen leaves. I'm also going to run the turf through my newly acquired coffee grinder/spice mill in hopes of making it a bit finer thus making my 'fallen leaves' a bit more believable. When all of this is done, you should be able to see very little soil, if any at all. So why did I put it down in the first place? I'm just weird like that Hopefully have another, not so lengthy update for you tomorrow or the day after Cheers!
I like what I see, your going to have a very photographic layout. When will you be putting new videos up on YouTube it's been awhile since you've posted one.
Thanks As for another video, I hadn't thought about it since update five (below for those of you who may have not seen it, and may wish to) but you make a good point. So much has changed since then, I just keep forgetting how things were for that update. I'll try to get around to it after I get some red leaves down lol Video Update 5: [video=youtube;hAkWQ31FlZA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAkWQ31FlZA[/video] This was made a little over a month ago. Apparently I've been getting a lot done. Apparently, I really need to make another one. In other news, I got even more done than I anticipated tonight. Observe: This is roughly the third or fourth different method I've used to build landforms. Not sure if I like it or not. I'll probably go ahead and cover it with plaster cloth, or something similar. As always, inputs are welcome and well received. Always looking to learn and expand the knowledge base. Cheers!
My leaves came today!!! Not only that, but it's cloudy out which means the train room is about 78 instead of 88, which means I can open the door and air condition it ALL DAY!!! So, couple those two things together, and this is what I've gotten done so far: Overall I'm rather ecstatic Of course it will look a lot better a) when it's dry and b) when it's finished lol. Although saying that, for this scene all that is left really is tree planting. Which means I get to make some trees! Fun times in the Owen household
Video Update for anyone who might be interested in listening to me ramble on [video=youtube;xcVr7AobN7Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcVr7AobN7Y[/video]
The layout is 4x8. The helix proved to be... not reliable enough for me to be comfortable with sealing it away. I was going to relocate it external to the layout in its own accessible module, but then I was forced to move from a bedroom to the much smaller sunroom and there wasn't the space for that planned module. I still have the helix stashed away, so it may make an appearance sometime in the very distant future
Further Progress to report. Well, small progress at least. Laid some roads with the WS kit, painted them with the WS asphalt top coat, followed with a 320 grit sanding to give a fade effect. The light is giving a crappy effect in this first shot, but I may also have to repaint the road as there are a couple white spots in places. Either way, long way to go. Also, finished planting my hillside but for a few tiny things on the left. I'll post another shot when I finish this sometime tonight or tomorrow morning. I could have populated the entire hillside, but decided that it would use too many trees, hide too much of my beautiful forest floor, and, force too narrow a scene. So, this is how things are going to look, and I'm thrilled. My package of coarse turf finally showed up last night, so I've been able to make some new trees, and I've tried my hand at mixed blends (e.g. 20% yellow, 80% orange) but have yet to really achieve the results I'm after. We'll call it a work in progress at this point. The two trees in the front left of the above photo are products of mixed blends. Input, as always, is greatly appreciated.
I was asked by Hemi in a different thread how I make my trees. In the interest of keeping things organized, I thought it would be prudent to post that here. Firstly, so far, they are all SuperTrees. Somewhere earlier in this thread are a couple pictures of the two gigantic boxes I acquired, full of the suckers. I go through them and separate into two piles: one pile that is ready for paint, and one pile that is all bent, warped, and twisted, and needs boiling and setting. (Have yet to do any of that). I use a dark espresso brown out of a rattle can, and spray them outside on the landing ~20 at a time in my handy dandy $5 spray booth (made out of blue foam). Everyone else will tell you to use some dull grey brown color, and they're absolutely right, you should. I just wanted the extra contrast. After that, we hit the production line: The process runs from right to left. First, the tupperware of modge podge and the empty modge podge bottle. The tree tips get dipped heavily in the matte medium, then into the bottle where they are spun by hand to remove all the excess 'podge. When that is complete you have a tree that looks like this: After that it's the simple matter of cramming it into coarse ground turf. Once the modge podge has dried, the tree goes into the spray booth where it gets a good coating of hairspray, then it's either back for more coarse turf (different color) or up for a sprinkling of fine turf (namely JTT fall blends). I have yet to do any of the latter, but will provide a picture when I have. Ta-Da!
Thanks Hemi. Okay, now the hillside is fully planted: Been spending my morning making more trees (as I'm sure I will spend many a morning, afternoon and night *sigh*) and I have ~35 ready to go, but as of yet, nowhere to put them! Better get back to work... Cheers!
Today's endeavor: Make a road that looks like this, but two lanes wide. So far, not so great: too much gravel, but then again, I've seen some roads like this that had a lot of gravel, so I might be able to live with it. Still need to add the leaves. Something I'll probably try is sprinkling a lot of 'soil' fine turf over it, brushing it into place, and then after securing it (matte medium) going to work with the weathering powders to get the color and effect I'm after. If anyone has any thoughts or input regarding this matter, I would be most grateful
Yet Another Update Thank you! And yes, they will, and do for that matter. I have enough trees up to frame one complete scene which is pretty awesome. Big news for today, save for the lone industrial spur, all my track is finally laid and secured! Call it the golden spike if you will. This of course means the bridge is permanently in place and in my opinion it looks pretty amazing Also, finished up on my rural two lane road, planted some more trees, and marked out where all the utility poles are going to go (ugh) Pictures: In other news, finally landed myself a new job, start the 29th, and so things will slow down significantly after then-I promise!
Thanks! Right now I'm doing some ballasting, having done some track painting, and later I'll be doing even more ballasting -_- not fun. Hopefully back to the good stuff tomorrow, which means me spamming the board with more pictures!
Just seven more days of not working, so making the most of things while I can. As mentioned ^up there^ today was spent mostly ballasting. Had some elevated track that wasn't anywhere near cork (due to elevation change after subroad was down), so had a bit of an interesting time building a mound up to the track: After finishing the whole elevated loop, I took some time to run some trains, and then got back to some semi fun stuff, and built myself a mountain: Tomorrow after the golf I'll hopefully get around to plaster cloth for that. Following that, I hope to paint the berm by the river and cover it in soil, forest floor, and fallen leaves. The project after that is to pull the big mountain module off, paint the inside of it black (rattle can) and then find a place on the dining room floor to work on the mine scene. I've decided to make it an abandoned mine, so have to figure out how to overgrow it without a static grass applicator. If anyone has thoughts on this process, I would love to hear them. Cheers!
Spray painted the inside of my mountain module, took advantage of taking it off the layout to do some scenery in the living room (not a popular decision with the females). Have now stuck it down permanently on the layout, which is a big step for me, because now all the landforms are laid out and I just have to throw some plaster cloth over everything. The mine was abandoned half a decade ago, and has become rather overgrown, and now is of course covered in autumn leaves. Still some more ground work to be done in this area. Hopefully I will get the plaster cloth done and painted black before Monday when I go back to work and things slow to a crawl.
I just want to know one thing. Is there AnUnrealChrisOwen lurking about out there somewhere?? P.S. Nice progress on the layout!
Looking good. Wouldn't mind seeing a better pic of that mine scene... maybe a bit closer to see the detail of what you did? Seems like every pic is miles away. Still nice work!
