Mike : Most realistic photos yet seen on this forum, they are fantastic, good on ya !
HarryHotspur Mike - That is incredibly good work - the snow and everything else.
Mike -
That is incredibly good work - the snow and everything else.
I agree. The snow just enhances already terrific scenery. Nice job.
Steve S
WOW! That is great scenery! Great job Mike!
I had in my mind snow all over like it is in Canada for almost six months a year, but I can see by your photos that a little goes a very long way if done right. Very nice!
Thanks for the suggestions, alot of times I get these BIG ideas and dreams and get excited without thinking it through.
Thanks, Sheldon
Hi again!
My previous negative comments were made with the thought of a layout covered with snow - like scenes from "The Polar Express".
Having remnants of snow here and there is a whole different scenario, and obviously that can be done with great success.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
- Harry
mikelhh does the best early winter scenes I have ever seen. His snow even melts in due time
Modeling a plausible winter scene is a challenging task, especially if you plan to go for a scenery deeply covered with snow. Just sprinkling on WS or Heki snow products over existing terrain won´t do it. Snow piles up in the oddest places and those drifts have to be carefully planned, considering the predominant wind direction on your layout.
A friend of mine used plaster mixed with white glue to form the snow scenery and painted the surface with a white latex paint, to which he had added Heki glitter. Looked very nice!
A word to weathering. Nothing looks more awkward than having build a nice winter scene and running clean locos and rolling stock on the layout. In winter, there is always a lot of dirt covering the engines and cars, even snow covering the pilot, couplers etc. To be honest, I would not even attempt to catch that look - I´d never make it look right.
Reputedly, John Allen once did a snow scene on part of his G&D layout, using sifted flour for snow and flat, 'overcast day' lighting. The photos were good, but he ran into a problem that caused him to vacuum up the snow and revert to a warmer time of year.
His birds started flying south...
I have a permanent snow scene planned for the ski resort at the end of the Harukawa Dentetsu, if I ever build out to that point (on an upper level reached by a sidehill train elevator.) Holdeth not thy breath. The second level is on my 'to be built' list - a dozen lines below my operating tunnel boring machine...
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with a re-named North Coast electric railway)
"JaBear" Gidday, In the January and February 1996 issues of Model Railroader, Rand Hood did two articles on modelling winter scenes, that may be helpful if you can access them. Cheers, the Bear.
Gidday, In the January and February 1996 issues of Model Railroader, Rand Hood did two articles on modelling winter scenes, that may be helpful if you can access them.
Cheers, the Bear.
Here it is...
http://books.google.com/books?id=wZpt6ldjXasC&pg=PA20&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
if you want to do a winter layout, go for it. Just be careful of color bleeding through the snow. If you go with the white out after a blizzard look then place a plastic tarp or sheet over to reduce the dust and be ready to spend more time cleaning then otherwise to keep that fresh winter snow look. I like the idea of doing your scenery as if it is winter and either a storm is about to happen or a small one has passed.....so small banks of snow built up here and there or a light dusting ontop of the scenery. Good example would be Mike Confalone's Allagash Railway even though his is in spring.
I'm onto my second winter layout. I've used Woodland Scencis Flake Snow and Heki Glitter Snow. They go nicely when mixed together- less glitter than flake. I have also mixed up a concoction of artists texture paste, white paint and a touch of blue. It takes some experimantation because it can end up too dazzlingly white.
I agree with Steven S that small piles of remnant snow work better and are easier to maintain. It's surprising how fast they look grimy, which is similar to the real stuff, of course. The biggest hurdle for me has been representing bare trees convincingly. It's much harder than making leafy ones.
I place my remnant snow piles in shaded places
Some refurbishment was going on here:
This is how the snow looked after maybe a couple of months:
From a modelling challenge viewpoint, making patches is much harder than sprinkling the snow everywhere, or painting the layout "white"
If you want to represent some melting, you can glue the snow down, then wash some mucky grey around its edge
I hope this gives you some ideas.
Mike
Modelling the UK in 00, and New England - MEC, B&M, D&H and Guilford - in H0
Hi!
I would quickly advise you to reconsider. If you have a mountainous terrain, maybe do some snow at the higher elevations, otherwise forgetaboutit..............
While there is a lot of "stuff" out there that would look like snow (from a distance), its just more trouble than its worth. I've been around train layouts since the mid 1950s and have yet to see one with a winter setting work out.
Forgive me for being negative, but it is what it is.............
One big con. Dirt and dust are much more apparent on white snow. You might want to have most of the scenery without snow and have small mounds of snow around to suggest that it's winter.
Hey guys!
Looking at doing the scenery on my layout as a permanent winter theme! Would like some info on the pros and cons of this decision, and if anybody has done this, What did you use for snow?
Thanks
Sheldon