"Tumbleweed" -- A Micro 2x3


HayManMarc

HayManMarc

Member
Hello, Train Stars!

Welcome to my Model Railroad Development Log! I figured I might as well document my run at making a layout. This way, when I get stumped about something I can't figure out, I might have a couple of you interested by then and get some quick answers! (haha! Ulterior motives and all that.)

So anyway, I've decided to make a 2' by 3' micro-layout. I'm choosing to go with an Old West theme. I'll just have a small town front and center on the layout, with one small siding for the freight dock. There will be a mountain and tunnel, and a Monument-Valley-looking area in the background, with a small river cutting through.

Kinda like this... (rough draft)

Western_Town_003.png

Western_Town_004.png


I'm using foam board and plaster for mountain making, 2" foam base with a frame made with old barnwood one-by's that I'll stain and varnish. I'd like to do something special with the frame, like make a drawer in it, or something.

I'm going to attempt to scratchbuild all the buildings. A few of your basic old west town buildings - saloon, sheriff/jail, train station, general store, blacksmith, stables, and a few homestead cabins.

Anyway, I'll write more later. Thanks for looking and I appreciate your comments!
 
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santafewillie said:
Make sure that the mountain on the left has access from the back for when (not if) there is a derailment there. I am most interested in the scratchbuilt structures and I will be following along.
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Oh, yes -- will definitely have an access panel for the mountain. I'm trying to grade up an inch from front to back then down again on the other side, but in the pic up there it looks really steep. Might have to either do less height in the back or make a longer slope (or both).

Scratch builds will be basswood models. I just watched a video of a guy's finished products and they look awesome. I probably won't get as detailed as his, but you never know. Here's the vid...


Good stuff!
 
Well, it's been a Long Time since I've done any modeling... AT ALL... so I thought I better start with something I don't care so much about. So, I started a test subject to trial my landscaping skills...

20230120_220744.jpg


I'm out in the shop, in Washington state, and the shop isn't heated. It's cold out here, but I have a little propane heater I can warm my hands on, or, if I need to, there's a wood stove. (However, I've been too lazy or distracted to worry about the wood stove. Besides, there isn't any readily available, burnable wood to burn.)

Doesn't matter. I have an agenda.

There, in the foreground, is my creation... the "Diorama of Rediscoverance," drying ever so slowly in the unheated shop. (35° - 25° F nights, lately) I used a plaster-based paper mache dipped with paper towels covering crumpled up newspaper. It's on a 1/2 inch piece of OSB with cardboard staple-gunned to its base for the mountain edges. Pure potential.

In the middle area... I had a wild hair to make planks out of popsicle sticks. So I made a jig and sliced a bajillion popsicle sticks exactly in half with a box knife. I decided to try to stain them, so that soon after, I could start building a structure of some kind. Well, I learned (actually, re-learned) that oil base does not mix with water. (Derp.) I tried to dilute an oil-based wood stain with water, and even though I already knew deep in my heart that it wouldn't work, I soaked the pieces anyway. There was that little voice in my head saying, " you don't know, it MIGHT work..."

Yeah.

So I have some acrylics now, and will try again. On a future day.

The background... well, that's just the rest of it, and beyond.

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Part 2
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I'm done buying crap!

Today, I bought paints, wooden BBQ skewers, wire, and more wire; for painting, making mountain trees, and making town trees. I've already purchased a bunch of stuff from ebay (and elsewhere online) in my frenzy-of-flight last week as i wallowed in my newfounded/rekindled ModelRailroader ecstasy. I've spent enough (too much) money. Let me state for the record, "I'm done doing that."

(For now.)

Available time is slippery, but I have goals: A cabin at the base of that mountain, a "virgin try" at making plaster-of-paris rocks and homemade trees...and finding out how the rest of this Diorama will turn out. Let the chips fall where they may.

I think my next thing, tho, is properly taking care of those popsicle sticks...well, after I open these packages I received in the mail today.

Thanks for reading. Keep on track and I'll be back soon.

---HMM

((Afterthought: Oh, whoops. I still need to get ground covering materials. I wanted to try out static grass (static-grass virgin here, also), so I guess my "buying" isn't quite over yet. I remember a long time ago seeing a DIY static grass dispenser... maybe I can try that.))
 
HayManMarc said:
((Afterthought: Oh, whoops. I still need to get ground covering materials. I wanted to try out static grass (static-grass virgin here, also), so I guess my "buying" isn't quite over yet. I remember a long time ago seeing a DIY static grass dispenser... maybe I can try that.))
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I would look this thread over before you go buy anything, hopefully it will help, but feel free to ask questions.

modelrailroadforums.com

Static Grass help

So yesterday I picked up a static grass applicator, Woodland Senics, and some 12 MM light green static grass. I only tried a small small area on the layout, maybe 2 square inches, but it did not work so well. I used a tack-like glue and tomorrow I am getting some regular white glue which I will...
modelrailroadforums.com modelrailroadforums.com
 
Trying my hand at wire trees...

20230126_073531.jpg


I'm not completely satisfied with the result, but not too bad for my first try. I think the wire I used was a little thick. I tried regular old rubber cement to try hiding the look of the wires, but it didnt work as well as i hoped. The paint turned out to be glossy, so i need to hit it with a matte finish. Haven't purchased any foliage yet, so the greenery will have to wait.

I tried again this morning at work with some electrical wire and that turned out better, but I made it way too big.

I'm getting closer. Practice makes perfect, right?
 
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Marc - Just a thought, about three weeks ago you posted that you were done buying crap, then lamented that you needed ground cover. When I first started in model railroading in the last century, we made ground cover with Rit green dye and sawdust. This was before the days of ground foam and static grass. It was actually quite passable.
 
Yes, thanks, Willie! I found some tutorials on making sawdust ground cover with paint. Also found a way to make foam ground/tree cover with a sponge, wire brush, and paint. But life has been busy lately, so time has not been on my side. When I get something accomplished, I'll add to this devlog. Until then, I'll be lurking all of your topics. :)
 
santafewillie said:
Marc - Just a thought, about three weeks ago you posted that you were done buying crap, then lamented that you needed ground cover. When I first started in model railroading in the last century, we made ground cover with Rit green dye and sawdust. This was before the days of ground foam and static grass. It was actually quite passable.
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Wiilie,

That just brought back a childhood memory. When i was a kid, I spent a few weeks every summer at my Grandparent in Streator. Il. Their yard butted up to the Burlington Northern that served Thatcher's, and Owens glass factories. I would collect the white sand that would leak out if the hoppers at night while sitting. I would use food coloring to tint it and use that for parking lots, and other terrain. Was a poor kid that had to use allowance and paper route money for Blue Box kits!
 
Oh, hey...

Anyone ever use vermiculite for ground cover? I was looking at a bag of it and it has a nice small grain and color. (And super cheap, comparatively.)
 
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