What I've Been Up to Lately:Passenger Station Diorama

Thanks Darren for the compliments.

I will have to admit that I was surprised and pleased at how the water came out. I will have to do a second pour. In examining the stream I found a few crevices and a couple spot along the banks where the “water” did not flow into. Realistic Water is thick so it doesn’t always flow into such areas. Also there maybe a little shrinkage as it dries. I intend to fill in these pockets and go over the stream with a very thin layer (less than an 1/8 of an inch) to smooth things out.

Now I just need to get to the LHS and buy another bottle. I finished off the bottle I had. This stream did not take much RW, the bottle was left over from a previous layout.

 

Not a problem, I enjoy watching/reading these kind of topics since there are so many images so you can truely see the work that has to be put into these projects. It gives me the feel that I am stopping by your house every weekend to see what you have done.

 

The first pour of Realistic Water has dried. It does not seem to be deep enough so I will be doing another pour or two.

 

I finished adding spackling to make the highway bridge approach.

 

Well, I made pour number 2 and here how things look a day later. The Realistic Water still has a slight milky appearance since it is still drying.





Here is the painted retaining wall for the highway bridge approach. It is nothing more than a strip of wood painted to look like aged concrete.

 

The water depth looks much better...

 

Thanks Darren!

Here is stream after 3 pours of Realistic Water. Next is to use some Water Effects to shape some waves.

 

I started to lay out the roadway but realized that my ground was lacking the proper elevation. So out came the spackle and I had to build up some of the area in question.

 

I began working on the roadway portion of the diorama. For this I am using Woodland Scenics Paving Tape and Smooth-it. First I placed the paving tape along the edge of where the road is going.



I mixed up a batch of the Smooth-it according to the instructions and poured it. The stuff was messier than I thought it would be.



In accordance with the instructions I waited about a half an hour for it to dry and then I removed the paving tape.



BTW I am still waiting for the Water Effects to dry clear to post about my so-called effort to make waves in the stream.

 

Looks like it is slowly coming together...

 

Thanks Darren!

Yeah it finally seems to be falling into place.

I am still waiting for the Water Effects to dry clear. Last time I used it it took about 10 days.

Here is how the stream looks with the milky waves.



Here is the roadway after being painted with Folk Art Dark Gray.



I painted the roadway with a heavy coat of Folk Art Charcoal Gray. I then wiped it off with a paper towel. I laso painted the roadbed for the trolley tracks with Folk Art Acorn Brown.

 

Now I glued the highway bridge in place.



Using a yellow paint pen to add the double yellow. However I screwed it up. To fix I dabbed some Charcoal Gray on the roadway and then using a paper towel I wipped down the roadway with the paint. This faded the line and made it look like an old line.

 

Using the yellow paint pen I completed the double yellow line. Using a white paint pen I did the shoulder lines.





I need to weather the white lines a little to tone them down. Also I am not worried that they are a little squiggly and not perfect. I have learned that in real life it is almost impossible to paint the edge line along the edge of a crumbling pavement and have it straight.

I still have some overall weathering to do to the pavement.

 

Your pavement is beginning to look real, but I will have to slow up to go over the bridge, or my tires might blow out on the bump where the bridge starts! I'll sue!!!

 

Thanks Watash!

You will be happy to know that road crews have made the appropriate repairs and transition should now be smoother.

I laid the trolley tracks and attached the trolley bridge.





Here is a perspective shot.

 

I have weathered the trolley track and ballasted it. I purposely did a bad job of it and left gaps between the ties and not enough ballast on the outside. Around this area in the more rural locations especially trolley tracks were always poorly ballasted. In many cases the mud and muck would fill in between the rails.





I also used a fine point Sharpie to add cracks to the roadway.

 

Now it looks like the real thing! Excellent job done well!

 

Thanks for the compliments!

I finally got around to adding the first layer of turf. It is Woodland Scenics Green Blend.

 

Tompm. Looks great! How heavy is this module?

 

Thanks Flash

I would guess it weighs about 2 to three pounds. It does not feel heavy to lift or move around.

I now have added another layer of turf. This time it is WS Medium Green Coarse Turf.