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This is one of my best model photos I've been able to produce.
The Engine, tender and boxcar were placed on a small winter diorama that I built.
The "steam" was produced by using the old cotton ball trick.
I made the trees from some weeds that were dried and trimmed to the desired shape.
Snow is just standard baby powder.
Wow! Quite truthfully I wouldn't have know it was a model if you hadn't said so. Some may argue that the trees clutter the scene, but I feel they make it that much more realistic.
How exactly does the cotton ball trick work? It appears as though some is suspended in mid-air...do you just drop it while taking the photo, or is it actually held there by something?
Nate,
Thanks for the kind words.
The "cotton" trick works by stretching a cotton ball to form a cloud.
I used a Q-tip in the stack and spread the cotton ball over that.
The cotton higher up in the trees is just placed on the tree branches.
Yes I have to agree the smoke adds a very nice effect and the the trees add texture ( if that's the right word) to the scene. One little question is that a car buried in the snow under the trees, looks kind of like a wheel well there?
Cheers Willis
You are correct.
There is indeed a car buried in the snow.
It was to give the impression of an old field car that had run it's last field
and had then been abandoned when it would run no more.
Very nice shot. I you added one more boxcar to hide the couplers, you wouldn't be able to tell it was a model. I like the forground trees too, nice touch.
