Trains.com

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Pics of my latest diorama

2544 views
17 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Monday, February 11, 2008 3:38 PM

Act one: THE INVADING MUTANT GIANT TREES MARCHES.

In full array for battle they march in a single mass and bears down on a hapless family painting a fence.

Sorry, i could not resist.

 

Anyhow very good pictures!

The thing that did it was the man mowing the grass showing finer cut grass against the rows of rough left.

I am humbled and made mute by the display of modeling here.

  • Member since
    June 2005
  • From: Phoenixville, PA
  • 3,495 posts
Posted by nbrodar on Monday, February 11, 2008 3:31 PM

Terry,

Looks great!  Keep up the good work.

Nick

Take a Ride on the Reading with the: Reading Company Technical & Historical Society http://www.readingrailroad.org/

  • Member since
    August 2002
  • From: Wake Forest, NC
  • 2,869 posts
Posted by SilverSpike on Monday, February 11, 2008 2:21 PM

Terry,

Thanks for the tips on the foil and the speedy reply, I might just have to re-do my roundhouse roof with that technique.

Cheers,

Ryan

Ryan Boudreaux
The Piedmont Division
Modeling The Southern Railway, Norfolk & Western & Norfolk Southern in HO during the merger era
Cajun Chef Ryan

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Gainesville area
  • 1,396 posts
Posted by scubaterry on Monday, February 11, 2008 1:44 PM

I just started another thread called "Pics of my latest diorama updated w/flocked trees".  Check it out I flocked one tree and took pics of both to see if there was a major difference.  Wow what a difference.  Much more tree like with the flock. Thanks for everyones insight.  So check the new thread out and let me know what you think.

 

Terry in Florida 

Terry Eatin FH&R in Sunny Florida
  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Gainesville area
  • 1,396 posts
Posted by scubaterry on Monday, February 11, 2008 1:42 PM

Charlie - Tks for the feedback.  We have 6.5 acres of Oak trees and they are all around the house.  I was too lazy to put everything in the truck and drive out back were there is a 100 acre hunting preserve with a tree line a half mile away.  I think that would work better.  But your response does motivate me to load it all up an try it again. Tks

 

Ryan - As far as the tin roof goes I didn't have all the fancy stuff the author had so I was forced to improvise.  I had a roof section off of an old IHC Building that was corrigated.  I cut the aluminum foil into small sections.  I placed the small piece on the plastic roof and lined up the foil with the lines on the plastic roof piece and held it in place on one end with my thumb.  I then ran my other thumb down the strip to embed the lines in the foil.  I switched thumbs and did the same with the other end. I really learned to watch how much pressure I was putting on them as I glued them to the styrene roof with Tacky Glue. It doesn't take much to smush the lines. 

Terry in FLorida 

Terry Eatin FH&R in Sunny Florida
  • Member since
    March 2007
  • 247 posts
Posted by BCSJ on Monday, February 11, 2008 1:00 PM
 scubaterry wrote:

 



Your modeling looks pretty good Terry. But I'd suggest a change in the background for this picture. Remember that things in HO (this is HO isn't it?) are 1/87th the size of'real' stuff. So those trees in the background look like they're 87 times closer than they are.

To really integrate the foreground (diorama) with the background you'll need to get your diorama much further away from those trees. You'd need to be 87' from them to make 'em look like they're 1 foot away (from the camera). Since 1' away is either in front of or in the middle of the diorama. If the rear edge of the diorama is 3' from the camera and you want those trees to look like they're 90 scale feet behind the diorama you'll need to back off until those trees are 4 x 87' = 348' away. This will eliminate the background trees (and buildings are worse than trees!) looking like a previously unknown species of mutatant deciduous giant sequoias.

Also try to avoid showing obvious edges to the diorama or a direct connection from the diorama to the background. 

An article about this appeared in the April (I think) MR last year. 

Just a suggestion. (and  a nice job of modeling!)

Regards,

Charlie Comstock 

Superintendent of Nearly Everything The Bear Creek & South Jackson Railway Co. Hillsboro, OR http://www.bcsjrr.com
  • Member since
    August 2002
  • From: Wake Forest, NC
  • 2,869 posts
Posted by SilverSpike on Monday, February 11, 2008 11:46 AM

Terry,

Love the diorama, that scene is chock a block full of detail. I espcecially like the roof you did on the garage, I remember that article and you come really close to the one in that MR issue.

How did you get the corrugations in the foil for that roof?

Cheers,

Ryan

Ryan Boudreaux
The Piedmont Division
Modeling The Southern Railway, Norfolk & Western & Norfolk Southern in HO during the merger era
Cajun Chef Ryan

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Gainesville area
  • 1,396 posts
Posted by scubaterry on Monday, February 11, 2008 11:42 AM
Tls everyone for the compliments and the feedback. I was going to wait and do the moss with ground foam on top on my next tree. However I decided to go ahead and flock these trees and see what they look like. I will get to that today and post before and after pics as soon as I finish it. Again tks everyone for your interest.

Terry in Florida
Terry Eatin FH&R in Sunny Florida
  • Member since
    August 2004
  • From: Amish country Tenn.
  • 10,027 posts
Posted by loathar on Sunday, February 10, 2008 10:29 PM

Nice work!Thumbs Up [tup] I really like the building. The aged bare wood looks great!

Try putting some spray glue and fine ground foam on some of that lichen. I've been making some trees like that and they're turning out pretty good.

  • Member since
    January 2008
  • From: Big Blackfoot River
  • 2,788 posts
Posted by Geared Steam on Sunday, February 10, 2008 10:28 PM
Great scenes Terry Bow [bow]

"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein

http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/

  • Member since
    May 2004
  • From: central Indiana
  • 775 posts
Posted by philnrunt on Sunday, February 10, 2008 10:24 PM
  scubaterry- Great attention to detail, excellent work!
  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Rimrock, Arizona
  • 11,251 posts
Posted by SpaceMouse on Sunday, February 10, 2008 10:02 PM
Nice Terry, that'll drop int the new layout right purdy.

Chip

Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Gainesville area
  • 1,396 posts
Posted by scubaterry on Sunday, February 10, 2008 9:59 PM
Mr B tks for the help.

Lou - I agree about the moss being a little rough. These two trees were the prototype. As a matter of fact the book I read on how the author made these trees the last step was to sprinkle fine flock over the moss. But after finishing these trees I realized i had put the moss on a little too thick. I figured if I added more it would be worse. But my next tree will be done with less bulk of moss so i can use the fine flock to finish it out. Looking at all the old oak trees around the house here you see lots of daylight in between the branches and that is what I am aiming at.

TiF
Terry Eatin FH&R in Sunny Florida
  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Gainesville area
  • 1,396 posts
Posted by scubaterry on Sunday, February 10, 2008 9:44 PM
Well i went back and re did the pics and now they are huge.

Terry in Florida



In all the fartin around with the pics I left out one. Sucks having to mow that lawn.



TiF

Terry Eatin FH&R in Sunny Florida
  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: northern nj
  • 2,477 posts
Posted by lvanhen on Sunday, February 10, 2008 9:43 PM
Mr B, thanks for fixing the pics!! Thumbs Up [tup] Terry, great job!!!!! Thumbs Up [tup]Thumbs Up [tup] The only thing I can think of that would make it PERFECT would be some ground foam on the trees to hide the lichen forms.  My My 2 cents [2c] Smile [:)]
Lou V H Photo by John
  • Member since
    January 2008
  • From: Shalimar. Florida
  • 2,622 posts
Posted by Packer on Sunday, February 10, 2008 9:38 PM

Nice job.

I learned something by looking at that, Lichen's useful for trees.

Vincent

Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....

2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Bedford, MA, USA
  • 21,481 posts
Posted by MisterBeasley on Sunday, February 10, 2008 9:33 PM

People really, really need to see this:

 

 scubaterry wrote:

Terry in Florida 

Superb!  Wow, I really like the trees, and the building.  I hope you save a space for this scene on your layout.

By the way, you inserted the "thumbnails" rather than the full pictures.  Thats' why they were so small.  The "th_" in front of the URL's was the giveaway.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Gainesville area
  • 1,396 posts
Pics of my latest diorama
Posted by scubaterry on Sunday, February 10, 2008 9:23 PM

I thought construction of my benchwork would start soon but
unfortunately the project was axed by the latest round of budget
cuts.  So I decided to build another diorama to test my skills and
learn new ones.  The old garage was based on an article in the Nov
07 issue of MRR by Kathleen Renninger.  Basically scratch built
with aluminum foil, sandpaper, gatorboard and cut up railroads ties for
siding.  The two large oak trees were made with wire, drywall mud
for bark and moss for foliage.  And I finally found a use for my
1.97 old JD tractor from Wal-Mart.

Terry in Florida 












Terry Eatin FH&R in Sunny Florida

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Users Online

There are no community member online

Search the Community

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Model Railroader Newsletter See all
Sign up for our FREE e-newsletter and get model railroad news in your inbox!