Trees (2)

My tree experiments are starting to come together. I'm getting better and faster at building the trees. The grass area on segment two needs a few more trees. 

Since I'm using LED bands for lighting, the shadows on the backdrop are quite undefined. I haven't decided yet whether or not I like the effect.

Trees

Slowly, I'm getting the hang of it. I'm working on multiple trees in parallel, so that the glue can dry on one tree while I'm working on the next. This is the first tree that I'm reasonably happy with. The branch structure looks believable and it has no oddly angled bulges. Still missing flock and leaves. 

But, what a fiddly and slow-moving job. I was very close to throw these things out of the window in the last few days...

Untergroeningen: Trackwork (5)

[ Untergroeningen posts ]

[ part 4 ]

I left off working on trackwork in Untergroeningen with Segment 3 last July. Wow, time flies! A couple ops sessions later, I spread AR&M #1332 on Segment 2 last week. My main concern here was to intergrate the paved platform with the surrounding ballast.

I was not super-happy with the result, so I took a few days to let it grow on me, and decided today that I'm fine with it, so out came the matte medium to glue down the ballast.

I used the opportunity to add some more ground cover to the gravel base, too. A short while later everything was soaked in glue and I left it to dry. 

Untergroeningen: Trackwork (4)

[ Untergroeningen posts ]

[ part 3 ]

In the early 1970's Untergröningen station was more or less covered in ballast and small gravel, which is the look that I'm trying to replicate here. After laying the track, I was quite concerned that I'd have trouble representing the prototype.

However, after I started to sprinkle Arizona Rock & Minerals ballast #1332 around the tracks the concern turned into excitement. The tracks are slightly raised above the base with just a little bit of shoulder. The real rock provides some color variation which helps the overall scene.

This afternoon I finished ballasting the segment and applied Matte Medium to glue everything down. Unfortunately, the alcohol and Matte Medium washed some of the rock dust off the ties and rails. I might come back later with weathering powders to compensate.

For now I need to wait again and ... don't touch until the glue is dry!

[ part 5 ]

Basic Scenery for Untergröningen (2)

[ Untergroeningen posts ]

[ part 1 ]

The trackwork for Untergröningen segment three is complete. Time for getting basic scenery done to match the first two segments. The prototype location has a lot of gravel around the tracks. I'm using Woodland Scenics Fine Grey Blend (B1393) for this base layer glued down with white glue.

While I'm working on the segment, I'm watching a cab view video of a freight train traveling from Untertürkheim to Nürnberg via the Murrbahn. It's nice to see the prototype locations. To my horror, I saw that the freight shed in Backnang has been torn down. What a pity, I had planned to take more photos and measurements during my next Germany trip.

Next comes dirt and grass. Fine dirt from the backyard, Scenery Express 2mm Late Summer fibers, with some Noch 6mm Wildgrass fibers for accents.

I don't know yet when I'll build the ramp for the tail track, nor how big it's going to be. I finished the scenery into the right hand corner so that it looks complete. This area will need to be adjusted when I build the ramp. I'll worry about that later.

Here's a view of the current state.

Untergroeningen: Platform (3)

[ Untergroeningen posts ]

[ part 2 ]

Taking a break from rebuilding the tracks on Segment Three I decided tonight to paint the platform on Segment Two. I'm using Woodland Scenics Asphalt Top Coat, which is easy to use and has a very pleasing asphalt color. I find it fascinating how a little bit color can change the scene.

A source of frustration in this area was Track One. At the station building the track is embedded in asphalt. Building track embedded in pavement is always a challenge on Maerklin layouts because the center studs get in the way. I've tried various approaches for this in the past (e.g. the railroad crossing in Emsingen). Here I filled the gaps between the ties with very fine sand, leveled it to the top of the ties, and glued it down like ballast. The Puko-Strip from WeichenWalter sticks up slightly above the ties. I was concerned that the difference in texture would be jarring, and that I couldn't get the top of the center studs properly cleaned after painting. However, cleanup was easy and here's Koef III creeping slowly over the track embedded in asphalt. The texture difference is not as bad as I feared and the center studs are barely visible.

Untergroeningen: Platform (2)

[ Untergroeningen posts ]

[ part 1 ]

Scuptamold is very easy to work with, but it produces a lumpy surface structure. That's fine for scenery but doesn't work for the platform. I topped the Scuptamold with a very thin coat of Spackling Paste applied with an artist's spatula. After the spackling dried I rubbed it with my finger tip to make a smooth surface. Ready for paint.

[ part 3 ]

Basic Scenery for Untergröningen

[ Untergroeningen posts ]

Moving on to basic scenery in Untergröningen. I started with making asphalt for the road and the Raiffeisen lot.

 I cut templates from newspaper and transferred the shapes to styrene sheet.

I used textured spray paint on the styrene sheet to create slightly irregular surface, and spray painted in grey. Weathering the asphalt will come later.

Then it was time for the transformation. I love this step when brown paint is replaced by scenery texture. I made a time lapse video for the fun of it.

Here are some photos taken when I was done.

[ part 2 ]

Kurve: Rock Outcroppings (5)

[ Kurve posts ]

Last week I ballasted track. This weekend I gave the rock face a quick dry-brush for highlights.
For the steep hillside next to the rock I'm planning for low-flung weeds, creepers, ivy, small bushes, and small trees. Today I started with the weeds and ivy. This is mostly Scenery Express Superturf. I love that stuff. It has a nice texture and irregular body.

Kurve: No more Pink Foam

[ Kurve posts ]

My goal for today: No more pink foam. My Scenic Express order arrived yesterday with a Heki Flokstar XL, which I put through its paces today. I'm quite pleased. The Flokstar is more powerful than my homebuilt Grassinator and easier to handle. The cable to the grass hopper could be a bit longer. I tried grass fibers up to 6mm length, and they land on end, standing nice and straight.

I started with the inside hill.  There will be tress on top, so this area should be thick with undergrowth.

I moved on to the hill on the outside of the curve. There will eventually be trees here as well.

With ground cover the cut looks quite nice already.

Since I was on a roll, I took off the painters tape from the track and painted the rails.

Mission accomplished: No pink foam left.

I primed and painted the module sides earlier in the day. This is Craft Smart Dark Grey.

This module started its life as a temporary filler, but with scenery progressing I'm growing quite fond of it.

Kurve: Rock Outcroppings (4)

[ Kurve posts ]

Whoops. One of the washes I made last weekend turns into a nasty green when dry and viewed in daylight. It's only paint, so this was fixable, but it was annoying and it took a little while until I was sure I got it right. The solution involved washes with Craft Smart Suede and Ivory, and cleaning up the color around the rocks with Golden Brown.

Kurve: Rock Outcroppings (3)

[ Kurve posts ]

Completed rock face in the cut

I was on the right track with texture, and continued chiseling both sides of the cut this afternoon.

Texture done

When I was done with chiseling I realized that I had held the chisel at a 90 degree angle to the hill side, so that the rock strata are perpendicular to the hill. On both sides of the cut. It's not quite as noticeable on the right side in the photo above, because that side of the cut is steeper, which implies the layers would make a ~60 degree in the middle of the cut, instead of continuing consistently from one side to the other, and the railroad dug through the hill. I'm going to blissfully ignore that mishap, but now you know. There will be grass and bushes to make this less obvious.

Now that I had rock texture that looked about right, it was time to work on colors. I planned to use the common rock face approach: Paint plaster with a somewhat light rock color, add a black wash to enhance the crevices, highlight the edges. For the light rock color I made a yucky mess from acrylics I had available to arrive at a light mustard color (Anita's Sunshine Yellow, lots of Craft Smart White, a little bit of Black, a few drops of Golden Brown, thinned with water 2-3 parts color to one part water). After the base color was dry, I made a wash from Black with some Golden Brown and stippled it over the base color. For the highlights I lightened the base color with white and more Sunny Yellow, added a bit more water, and lightly (not quite) dry brushed the rock in a top-down, bottom-up motion. At this stage the rocks look like this.

Base color, dark wash, and highlights

This is way better than my first try, but still a bit bland and too homogeneous.  Multiple passes of dropping spots of dark wash in random places lead to a more uneven appearance. I made another wash this time from Craft Smart Terracotta, stippled that on in random places, followed by more dark wash in more random places. And eventually I ended up with the look in the lead photo of this post. That's good enough for tonight.

I also remembered a lesson I had learned years ago when building Steinle: The plaster sucks up all water and the appearance can change dramatically when a wash dries. Be patient. Try something, then wait for the plaster to be thirsty.

Kurve: Rock Outcroppings (take 2)

I decided to redo the rock outcroppings in the cut because I was not happy with how the first attempt worked out.  This time I worked horizontal strata into the plaster mix with a small chisel. I pretty much just hold the chisel horizontally, make a shallow cut into the plaster, and chip away a small amount of material, place the next cut parallel to the previous cut, and keep going ...

Within minutes I get a much more satisfying rock texture (left and middle) than what I had before (right). This looks much more like the sedimentary rock I wanted to represent here.

Kurve: Rock Outcroppings

I'm planning to add grass, creepers, bushes, etc to form a rather overgrown thicket on the slopes of the cut. In a couple locations rock could peek through the bush cover, so I slapped some Mold-a-Scene plaster into the scene a couple weeks ago, and worked on the scene on and off in the evenings after work.

Hmmm, yeah, looks like someone slapped some Mold-a-Scene plaster on the slopes of the cut. Maybe this will look better once fully dried and painted.

I'm not quite convinced yet ...

The paint is too dark, and gets darker when enhancing the crevices. I like the effect, but the color balance is way off from what I have in mind, and the crevice effect disappears when the tint dries. The rocks are also not sharp-edged enough. I'll try to enhance the edges, and start over with a much lighter color. Most of this will be hidden under bushes and other greenery when the scene is complete.

Kurve: Basic Scenery (2)

[ Kurve posts ]

Landforms are roughed in and got a thin coat of Scuptamold. I added some brown paint to the Scuptamold to avoid the "there's white in my scenery"-effect later when the scenery gets damaged. As described previously, I used a large artists spatula to spread the Scuptamold mix.

The first batch applied on the module. I will need a few more batches ...

The Scuptamold covers up the pink foam layering and allows a better assessment of the landform. ... Before I started I modified the right hand side of the inside curve hill. It's not a major change, but I like this better now.

Time to let everything dry and tend to other projects while my workbench is occupied.