Scenic update for Sweethome Alabama

[Jon Grant 4472]

Into June, and the work on Sweethome Alabama begins again, after a short hiatus while Sweethome Chicago was prepped for exhibiting a couple of weeks ago.

I chose the area just to the right of the silos for treatment, to continue the scenic progress along the back of the layout from left to right. So far, Silflor scenic matting has been glued to the hill base and loose leaves have been glued in place.

Jon

 

[Jon Grant 4472]

A few more photos of the ground cover

Now to add some bushes and trees

Jon

 

[Secondhandmodeler]

The variation of your ground covers, weeds, bushes and trees is amazing. It really looks nice and random in an orderly sort of way!

 

[RW&C]

That looks seriously legit. If I didn't recognize the WS rock face I'd totally fall for it.

 

[Jon Grant 4472]

I added a few trees to the bare hillside tonight to give some height to the scene. Tomorrow I'll add some bushes, flowers and weeds

Jon

 

[Cjcrescent]

Jon,

As always, your work is very impressive.

Now all you need to do is take your trees, in an area, twist them until all the limbs are stripped or broken, any structures in that area should be de-constructed, down to the bare walls, and scatter the debris all around.
Then you can have the same areas of tornado damage, as we have here now.

 

[ho/ttothemoss]

wow! great work.......

 

[Jon Grant 4472]

I made a start on scenicing the slope in at the front of the layout today. Usual method of gluing grass mat to the base and adding some bushes

Jon

 

[AVNMechanic]

Wow, looks great, very realistic!

 

[TH&B'er]

I thought for sure that second one was a prototype photo! Fantastic work!

 

[Rotorranch]

Jon that really is looking real good. Now all ya gotta do is model enough Kudzu to cover it all up!

Around here the Kudzu will catch a slow moving freight!

Marvelous scenery! Can't wait to see more.

Rotor

PS... I'm waiting for the Kudzu to bloom here. I'm going to make Kudzu jelly this year.

 

[ChevelleSSguy]

That really does look very nice.

 

[Jon Grant 4472]

I have added a few more foreground trees to the west board before commencing scenic work on the Eastern end of the layout.
CSX GP38-2 switching cars in the west yard

Jon

 

[Jon Grant 4472]

The next big job on the layout was to separate the two main boards on the layout. The first task was to remove the lighting, the backscene and the small end board from the West Yard board, so I could 'jiggle' it loose from the East board

The joining bolts and wing-nuts were then slackened and the boards loosened apart. I had been careful not to lay the polystyrene blocks and plaster bandage across the board joints, so the two layout boards separated quite easily

Jon

 

[Jon Grant 4472]

Moving further eastwards, I have added the ground cover to the east yard and am just waiting for the diluted white glue to dry on the ballast, wood chippings and static grass, before starting on the hills with the Silflor grass

The hills de-nuded of the temporarily-added trees, enabling me to affix the ground cover and forest floor

Jon

 

[Steve B]

I'm very impressed Jon, that does look stunningly brilliant mate.

 

[Enola Yard Tim]

How deep is that area?
Hard to tell where the backdrop starts, very nice Jon!

I agree, the depth is really nice, but I bet it's only about 10 inches, at the most. This is spectacular scenery!

 

[Jon Grant 4472]

I agree, the depth is really nice, but I bet it's only about 10 inches, at the most. This is spectacular scenery!

The overall depth of the layout is 21 inches from front to backscene. You get a good idea from this photo

Jon

 

[Jon Grant 4472]

Work on the scenics is progressing rapidly now, in fact too rapidly to upload any progress photos for nearly a week. The backscene has had the sky repainted, the silos have finally got a name, the main road bridge has had some work done on it and I've planted a load more trees.

Here are some photos

I've also been planting some new grass seed. Lets see how quick it grows in the Alabama sunshine.

Jon

 

[Jon Grant 4472]

Well, the grass seems to be growing quicker than 'Chia Pet' and possibly even kudzu. It has already covered the next hillside and more. The trees are following rapidly behind.

Here's the next set of photos

The trees are now on the other side of the road bridge

I have also been working on the highway guardrails

Now to make some more trees

Jon