The SP Willamette Valley Branch

[Marlin39]

Almost finished with Bud Smiley's Texaco (BarMills) and a kitbashed Walthers bulk oil facility. I am going to start kitbashing a background freight depot next.

Once all the structures are done I'll start the painful process of ballasting. I just hate ballasting.

 

[Marlin39]

I finished the "background" freight depot. Scratchbuilt from a lot of misc styrene "stuff" to fit the space.

Note to self.....building standing seam roofing takes a lot of patience and is not as simple as it looks.

 

[Marlin39]

The misery of ballasting is done. Ballasting is my least enjoyable part of building a layout. It just never looks good enough.

I tentatively placed the structures and will start the fun part, scenery, once the ballast is dry.

 

[Rico]

Yeah, you know what’s worse than ballasting tho?
Having to ballast again! I have some spots that didn’t take well plus a couple sections of track I have to redo.
Yours looks great tho, time well spent I’d say!

 

[santafewillie]

The misery of ballasting is done. Ballasting is my least enjoyable part of building a layout. It just never looks good enough.

I tentatively placed the structures and will start the fun part, scenery, once the ballast is dry.

Looking good. I don't mind ballasting myself.

 

[Guilford Railman]

Layout is coming along great!

 

[BigGRacing]

I tentatively placed the structures and will start the fun part, scenery, once the ballast is dry.

It’s looking great so far!

 

[Marlin39]

Started the scenery....finally.

The foreground is actually about a 2" ridge. It looks flat, but it's not. I'm going to try and cover the top of the ridge with static grass.

 

[Marlin39]

Spent a little time today working another 12". Still need to build a fence to block the shacks from the track, details, etc.

The white tape in the third picture is a framing border, for the concrete road and pad I am going to try and build tomorrow.

Sorry about the crappy photos. Lighting, camera, and my photographic abilities are sub par. Rocks aren't that washed out, dirt is lighter, etc.

 

[Guilford Railman]

Looks great!

 

[Marlin39]

My OLD phone actually took a better photo.

 

[Marlin39]

My first attempt at building a concrete road and pad. It's for a bulk heating oil facility.

I used the AK Terrains concrete paste. Texture is great, but I think my weathering isn't right. I'll blend it in a little more once the structures are in place.

 

[Marlin39]

About 80% finished with the heating fuel depot. Kitbashed together a Bar Mills "Earl's Oil" and a Walthers bulk fuel dealer.

Again, crappy camera makes everything look like.....

 

[logandsawman]

The misery of ballasting is done. Ballasting is my least enjoyable part of building a layout. It just never looks good enough.

I tentatively placed the structures and will start the fun part, scenery, once the ballast is dry.

Nice looking trees on the painted backdrop

 

[Marlin39]

Time for roads. I made a concrete road and pad earlier, for the bulk fuel depot, and an asphalt main road and freight depot pad.

I used the AK products for both. First time using these and I like the results after weathering. They produce very realistic results and texture. You can see the unweathered (and still partially wet) back half of the road and freight depot pad. They "gray" areas on the back section of road are actually wet still, not weathered.

 

[Marlin39]

Here's how I built a concrete pad for the gas station.

1. Tape off the pad.
2. Spread the concrete
3.Use a wet spatula to smooth and even it out
4.Scribe expansion joints every 10' and add cracks
5.Weather with chalks and add oil stains
The gas station was just placed for photos. I still need to add gravel on either side for access to the inner lane.

 

[AirbrushNo5]

Really coming together… from a blank board to this….Wow!

 

[Marlin39]

I was asked what I use for the ground cover, so here goes.

I purchase a variety of tufts, mats, turf & grass, ground texture, etc for Scenic Express. I mix and match a lot of Scenic Express brand, Martin Welberg, Heki, and Silflor products to vary the textures.

I use sifted dirt, after running a magnet through it, combined with sifted decomposed granite, for my dirt.

link below

Scale Model Grasses and Ground Covering

 

[Marlin39]

Basic scenery is done. Now it's time to add details.

 

[John from Indiana]

Video from Rapido. Zoom ahead to 3:00

I've had some EARLY 44-tonners and they would stall out everywhere. Your engine looks like it runs really great. Does it have some sort of stay-alive circuitry inside