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So in a moment of enlightenment...I looked at the remainder of the hard board panel and said to myself, "Steve, paint the top portion of that the same way you painted your backdrops and there is your portable backdrop!!!" When viewing, shooting video or photographing from the inside out or around a corner, you simply lean it against the outside of the layout and its perfect. Now when shooting shots looking from the inside out or around the corner catching trains round the bend, there will be sky behind them...and not the dresser or a blank wall.
On the last post of the previous page there are some more scenery shots I just posted...I hate when something gets posted at the end of a page fearing people will miss it!!!
Looking great! I love the ballasting in the second pic. Also, really like how each scene does tie together. It's really inspiring, love following your progress!
Hello, my name is Stephen and I'm addicted to trains. HIIIIIII STEPHEN!!!
So...I posted some photos of the layout progress on Facebook and a friend of mine responds asking if I would like to buy some trains. He said his Dad recently passed away and had some trains he would like to sell. I thought to myself, 'Yeah, probably a bunch of Tyco crap' but I responded in interest and after a few days he sent me some pics. 27 pics to be exact of what he said isnt even half of his dads collection.
And how good was the stuff? IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!! Several REALLY nice Kato BNSF locos and three separate 6-car coal hopper sets (BNSF, SF, BN). Just a crap load of really nice items. I responded, telling him that I really liked some of the pics and my wife told me that if I found a great deal I may be able to pick some stuff up but I wouldn't be able to offer close to fair value. He said that he has the receipts for the items, but just isn't sure how much they are actually worth. There went my plan of slow playing my hand.
So...sometime we are going to get together in person and see what we can come up with. At the least I want those coal hopper sets!!!!
My point is...in the end I have 18 locos and about 140 freight cars and I STILL WANT MORE!!! Now I have this unsatisfied feeling till I get my hands on some of that stuff. I'm hopeless. lol
Alright...the bluff is drying...this looks awesome. lol
Honestly, you wouldn't believe how easy this was. Simply cut your foam to size, glue layers if needed. Cut at foam with kitchen knife and keep in mind it won't look right until the next step.
Then, get three squirt bottles and some white, grey, and black acrylic paint. Put quite 70/30 water to paint mix in each. Start with white, let dry for 30 minutes. Then do grey, let dry for 30 minutes. Finish up with black...and it doesn't take much black to get the desired effect.
The first scene lacks ballast only and second pic will be heavy woods from where the path goes off the layout down to the camera. Top of the bluff will be scenik'd.
Done. You can't fail and this all took about 90 minutes.
I went back over again with the grey and black and it made a huge difference for the better. Gotta see how it looks after drying.
This will likely be my last update for a bit as I have to play a show with a friend who is coming to town from St. Louis and my parents are coming to visit this weekend. So I gotta clean up this damn room as it is an holy mess. That and the second layer of joint compound is drying.
So...I'll definitely be on here everyday though!!! lol
Thanks, but I can't take credit. I scoured the YouTube for tutorials on the subject and this method seemed to be the one that yeilded not only the best results (to my eye) but also the fastest, easiest, AND cheapest. Win.
It was really so easy.
Anywho...
I did a LOAD of scenery tonight as I am trying to round this sucker out within the next two weeks and I think I may even beat that actually. Anyhow...that said, even though I did a lot of track testing in my yard, apparently I've developed a dead spot on the spur that goes into the building on the grain storage facility!!! DAMN!!! Of course this wouldn't develop until after I had pretty much done all the scenery in that area and laid the black ballast for the spurs (which looks amazing, btw).
So luckily the ballast isn't glued so it wont be hard to fix. Just an annoyance. Oh well. This was the last spurt of activity on the layout for the next couple of days as my parents are coming to town, a couple of overnight shifts, and a concert to rehearse for and play on Friday night.
Gotta clean this room up...its soooooooooooooo bad. Styrofoam all over the place!!!!
So I go to bed and I'm just so pissed that I have to do another feeder in the yard. Its on my mind so bad that I decide at 3 am....lets just go do it and try to be done by 4 am. Obviously, I'm a nightowl.
Anyways. I go through the whole process and about an hour later I'm ready to run the switcher down the spur and LOW AND BEHOLD...it dies again. I hang my head in disgust...dejected...and pretty pissed. So I go to tinkering around with the track...touching this and that...both points look tight...what is going on!?!?!?!
So...I push the loco through and by accident I touch the one of the rails (sorry, I don't know all the terms for turnouts) and the rail moves the LAST LITTLE MICROMETER to the other rail and my loco begins to move!!!
I'm like, what the hell?!?!?! So I start squeezing the rails together and releasing them and sure enough the loco would stop and start in perfect timing. I think...well, surely a piece of ballast has got stuck between the two, but no!!!
Then I see it...
One of the ties on the parallel siding was touching the bar that slides the points back and forth just SLIGHTLY...so I trim that tie about 1/32 of an inch and its good to go.
Nuts. But I'm relieved...and I guess I got some good practice on running feeders!!!
Amen, brother. I was lucky to have noticed that...I was beginning to really worry bc for the life of me it was making no sense!!! After it was all said and done, I wasn't even upset...more amazed by what had just happened. And with that, I'm finally going to bed.
Rule of thumb, it is almost always the last thing you will look at and it will almost always be the easiest to fix Now that's what I call experience speaking!
Glad you found the problem though and, if nothing else, you have an extra feeder for power.
No matter if you are working on a model train, auto or earth mover if there is no clear indication of where to begin trouble shooting the problem eliminate the cheapest and easiest fixes first.
Amen, guys. Too bad we can't always identify what the easiest fix would be from the get go.
Anywho...A lot of progress has been made on the scenery with much more still remaining. I usually don't run trains while working on the layout. I like to lay the track, test the track, and leave the trains alone for the most part until the layout is finished before I get to play with it. I may run a loco with a car to test railroad crossings or whatever.
That said...my parents are coming to town and they sent me some money for Christmas but never knew what I did with it. I bought trains...duh. lol. So I have the trains set up to run through one scene that is nearly completed for them when they arrive in a few minutes. I tested them last night and lets just say going with Peco flex was a great choice. I never have derailments. (knock on wood)
When their visit is over I'll get around to posting pics and cranking some more work out.
A lot of work has been done over the recent days...my parents leave tomorrow and really were impressed with what is done so far. My wife helped do some scenery last night on what she has deemed 'our house' and really did a fantastic job.
The front scene is nearly 80 percent complete only lacking trees, details, and patch up work for a seemless presentation.
The scene a long the side of a bluff only lacks trees and is one of my favorites so far.
The other small town scene has a long way to go. But tonight I painted the pavement which ought to spring a lot of progress.
The wilderness scene is about 50 percent complete and will move quickly over the next week or so.
So, I'm thinking the layout will go live within the next three weeks or so.
Today, I stopped by a friends house who I had previously mentioned who had some (well...A LOT) of trains for sale. I picked up two BNSF 6 car sets of coal cars and a BNSF diesel as well. A value of 220 dollars and I walked away with it for 120. Can't complain. Some good lookin' stuff.
It was my 20th diesel and I believe my freight car roster is at about 155. He set aside a bunch of stuff for me to come by and pick up as time goes by. Good break.
Last night, lacking the motivation to work on the layout as it was a long day, I started cutting into the fake Christmas tree to get an idea of how many trees it would yield, fearing it may not be enough. Those fears were laid to rest when I realized I will get hundreds of conifers 5 to 10 inches tall. Made one with some WS fine turf green grass and really liked it. So...good deal.
Now that's what I call experience speaking!
