The greenbrier logging and coal co

[OleSmokey]

The weather is messing with my body but we DO need the rain. so far from Midnight we have only had 3/100" of rain. Its all around us but not hitting us.
Anyway, I did get a bit done on the back side. My hands told me to quit for the day. shots below

 

[Smudge617]

A short video of some of my trains. They run pretty good!

I think that's the first time I've been able to see your layout in pretty much, it's entirety, I love it.

 

[OleSmokey]

I hate to say this but i 've hurt my arm again. Having hard time using it and sleeping is not fun. Lying on my back is the only position i can have. Not sure what has caused this new pain, but I think it has to do with my neck again. My left side is what hurts most of the time. That surgery i had back 3 years ago affected my left side. My left lung is parallelized. So is the diafram on the left side. On O2 all the time since. I have got to where i hate doctors. Won't let them come near me with a 20 foot pole anymore! Anyway, i am off the layout for a bit.

 

[OleSmokey]

My arm continues to bug me to death, but i did try and do some of the mountain. I will be taking the poly all off so i can treat it to another darking to get it wher it matches the other stuff i had on pasts layouts. Will be glad when i get the doctors opinion about my arm. No more surgery for me. They will have to try...something else.

 

[OleSmokey]

I did this last night. Still not what i want but i think i can make it work. Hope to blend it more once i have it all back down.

 

[OleSmokey]

I tried to see if i could wake up my old D70 Nikon camera. I found the emergency back up battery holder so i got some battery's to see if i could get it to work. I know the body is 17 years old so I was hoping to get lucky. I reset the body and formatted the memory card. It came back to life! Now its a remembering of how to work the features to get it to work for my needs. i have one shot that looked pretty good. Not great yet but i worked for 4-5 hours to get it this good. Given time it will really work better. I ordered a new rechargeable battery for it now that i know it works good. Should be here in a few days. I am so tired of lifting my tablet to take shots all the time. The camera is so much smaller and easier to use. I got one shot to show i am getting close to where i want to be. Its a bit dull so I need to work on it.

 

[OleSmokey]

Been working on getting it to look better. Changing ISO and White balance. I believe i got it!

 

[OleSmokey]

Here is two more. Both at f4 and 60f. The first is 3181, with flash. Second is 3182 without flash F4 at 60f. Both seem to look good. I will keep it up but i think i can't do much better than this.

 

[OleSmokey]

Enough playing around. I did work on the mountain. got it covered and some trees on it too. I am really disaponted with the woodsland scenics poly. That darker spots on the mountain is way thinner and nicer dark green. Wish i could remember where i got it at. It looks way more realistic Shots below

 

[OleSmokey]

I tried two more of the same area. Gee's what a learning curve!

 

[OleSmokey]

I finally got some work done to the layout. I planted trees, Pines and tall pines and orange trees in the field and barn area. The field is finished. Maybe some brush but will see. Animals... coming. Shots below

 

[Smudge617]

Enough playing around. I did work on the mountain. got it covered and some trees on it too. I am really disaponted with the woodsland scenics poly. That darker spots on the mountain is way thinner and nicer dark green. Wish i could remember where i got it at. It looks way more realistic Shots below

I don't know about that, where will you get the side of a mountain all the same colour, and consistency there's always colour deviation due light, soil, slope angle etc. I think it looks really good.

 

[OleSmokey]

That grass mat i had that is from one of the older layouts is about 1/4 inch high. The Poly is around 3/8ths to 1/2 inch high. Which one would you use in N scale? Color differences is one thing. Height of grasses in forests is another. It don't look right that forest growth at over 10 scale feet high. The smaller height is really still out of scale at about 3-5 foot heights. I have that back mountain to do yeet. I really don't want to use the poly but its all i have, So...i will use it. Now if i can tear it to smaller pieces.

 

[JeffH]

Yeah, N scale grass isn't easy to do in scale, lol. Even the shortest available static grass is 2mm, which is a little over a foot tall at scale. So it's more like prairie grass than a lawn. I've found the old ground-foam "fine turf" to be perfectly fine for N scale grass.

 

[Guilford Railman]

I've found the old ground-foam "fine turf" to be perfectly fine for N scale grass.

Same here…I wanted to use the 2 mm grass but I knew it wouldn’t look right.

 

[OleSmokey]

That seems to be all of us agreeing to that. Fine turf is the winner. I may use some poly up behind the scenes of the big mountain. I have been playing with the camera and after getting a new tripod i am getting a few better shots. I have been thinking of adding another 3 foot power strip so i can add more lighting. When i started the layout it was 5 foot long by 3 foot wide. Its now 9 feet by 40 inches. Those 3 lights on the track is not enough for this layout. I did replace the LEDs and it got brighter. Those leds were about 10 years or so old. It made a difference, but not enough. I plan to add another 3 foot strip and three more LEDs but in a different lighting k. The three i have are 5000k i want to get three 4000k bulbs fr the layout. With dimmers i can have better control of the lighting. Another thing is i am planning to add lighting to the buildings. So i want low to no lighting. I need my camera to be able to handle that kind of low light. Shots below I like the last shot. Good focus front and back. More natural lighting and focus. Laters

 

[OleSmokey]

Just for kicks i did one with lights as dim as possible and one with no lights in room. It got a little light fropm the window. I have a darklight curtain but it leaks a bit around the window.

 

[OleSmokey]

Well, enough playing around. I got to work and did some of the mountain today. And its not all the way done is looks a little like not a snow scene. Shots below

 

[OleSmokey]

Back at it again. All the mountain is covered and after drying, it will be tree time..Lots of trees!! Shot of the labors today

 

[OleSmokey]

They be trees here!!! Got most of the top done. Still have lots to plant yet. Taking a break as my fingers ae killing me. We have had over 3 inches of rain this week and its doing that right now. nuff said May do more later will see.