As well as adding the trees, I also had time to work on a few new details for the layout.
I have replaced the Hayes bumpers with piles of old ballast - the Hayes bumpers being too upmarket for a lowly branch line in rural Alabama. I still have some weeds and junk to add to the piles.
I also added some power lines to the opposite side of the tracks to the telephone lines. I have yet to decide whether or not to add the wires - previous experience showed that the lines will get knocked and the posts damaged.
Jon
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The tree planting is finally complete. After a marathon tree-making session which lasted into the early hours of this morning, I had enough trees to cover the remaining areas at the back of the layout.
Here are the first photos with all the trees in place
I've also been working on a few smaller details and sceniced the area around the rainwater culvert and started making a 'pad' to hold a chlorine (or propane) tank - I have several chlorine tank cars but only one to carry propane at present.
I removed the end-scene between the layout and the fiddle yard to get some unusual photo angles of the freight house
I also took an 'aerial' shot to show the overall appearance of the new scenery
CSX MP15AC switching cars in the east yard
Work on the trees and ground cover continues rapidly and tonight I finished the basic scenery in the East Yard. There's still a bit to do over the weekend, before I can add some flowers and weeds, but the end of the tree planting is in sight, after making what seems like hundreds of them.
Here are the latest photos around the freight depot.
We have Kudzu in NC, too. It is over running all the other vegetation along our interstate highways like a bad sci-fi movie.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
Yep. And some people eat the leaves like greens.
Johnnny_reb Once a word is spoken it can not be unspoken!
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I know they guy who's Grandad was instrumental to bringing Kudzu to Georgia.
I can't wait till the Kuzu flowers. I'm gonna make Kudzu Jelly!!!
When I drove back from Los Angeles a few months ago, I didn't see Kudzu west of Talledega, AL on I-20.
Rotor
Jake: How often does the train go by? Elwood: So often you won't even notice ...
Moving to the front of the layout, the grass and underbrush have now been laid as far as the freight house. The trees will follow just as soon as I can 'grow' them.
Thanks Johnny, but by the time I'm finished, there won't be any roadside that isn't covered in trees and underbrush.
The grass continues to grow rapidly on Sweehome Alabama as the green baize spreads eastwards towards the freight house. I also added the greenery to the small area behind the backscene, which is visible through the fiddle yard exit in the backscene.
First up, some photos taken from behind the layout with the backscene removed for to make the scenery work easier.
More photos to follow, taken from the front of the layout
Hey Jon
Ever thought about adding a road side junk shop (Fly Market)? I have one just up the road. A place called "Smiley's". Large bill-boards located along the road side here and there around town and such.
I also have people living in Gadsden Ala. and there is a large road side sell there called "Bargain Days". About the size of four soccer fields full of sheds full of used things and such for sell.
Well, the grass seems to be growing quicker than 'Chia Pet' and possibly even kudzu. It has already covered the next hillside and more. The trees are following rapidly behind.
Here's the next set of photos
The trees are now on the other side of the road bridge
I have also been working on the highway guardrails
Now to make some more trees
Work on the scenics is progressing rapidly now, in fact too rapidly to upload any progress photos for nearly a week. The backscene has had the sky repainted, the silos have finally got a name, the main road bridge has had some work done on it and I've planted a load more trees.
Here are some photos
I've also been planting some new grass seed. Lets see how quick it grows in the Alabama sunshine.
Beautiful detail! Keep it up. Love seeing your work. Would love to see the track plan.
Moving further eastwards, I have added the ground cover to the east yard and am just waiting for the diluted white glue to dry on the ballast, wood chippings and static grass, before starting on the hills with the Silflor grass
The hills de-nuded of the temporarily-added trees, enabling me to affix the ground cover and forest floor
The next big job on the layout was to separate the two main boards on the layout. The first task was to remove the lighting, the backscene and the small end board from the West Yard board, so I could 'jiggle' it loose from the East board
The joining bolts and wing-nuts were then slackened and the boards loosened apart. I had been careful not to lay the polystyrene blocks and plaster bandage across the board joints, so the two layout boards separated quite easily
I have added a few more foreground trees to the west board before commencing scenic work on the Eastern end of the layout.
CSX GP38-2 switching cars in the west yard
Hi Jon.
Kudzu now that's a plant. YouTube - Kudzu: It'll grow on you It's the plant that is eating the south, it would make a great b flick horror movie. If you stand still too long never a grove of it. It'll grow over you. That stuff can grow a foot or more a day. You can find old buildings in the south that have kudzu is all over it. To see the building you have to go inside as the out side is covered with the plant.
Jon,
You use the Silflor matts alot. Do you prefer them over a static grass applicator? Is it just easier to work with? Is it because you want a bumpy, long overgrowth type of look that can be achieved easier with the matts? The results are simply amazing.
Best,
Chris
Thanks for the information and the links, John.
No, I've never been to the USA, let alone the Southern states, so I rely on useful information from fellow modellers such as your good self
Kudzu seems to be the invasive weed of choice in Alabama, but I'll have a go at modelling some Honeysuckle as well.
Have you ever traveled to the southern USA? One of the plants that you see growing wild all over the place is a vine called "Honeysuckle". Usually you see it all tangled up in other vegetation and bushes. Generally not in tress so much though unless they're bent over and also entangled in the lower vegetation.
Honeysuckle is deeply engrained in my memories of growing up in the south (Southwest Virginia and middle Tennessee), and its smell is enough to bring back many pleasant drives with my family in the mountains as I was growing up.
Wikipedia, Honeysuckle:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeysuckle
Usually more of these varieties (Wikipedial classifies several as 'invasive' species):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonicera_japonica
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonicera_maackii
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonicera_morrowii
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonicera_subspicata
Another thing you often see growing wild are blackberries and raspberries. I don't know if it's that way as far south as Alabama, but definitely in Virginia, Tennessee, West Virginia and throughout the Carolinas you see it growing wild-- even on the side of the road, and definitely along the railroad track right-of-ways. I recall many happy times going up to the mountains to pick 'em with my family when I was a kid. We'd find a patch growing by the side of the road and then stop and have a picnic lunch and stuff our faces with berries!
Wikipedia "Rubus" (Blackberry / Raspberry family):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry
John
jon grant I made a start on scenicing the slope in at the front of the layout today. Usual method of gluing grass mat to the base and adding some bushes Jon
I made a start on scenicing the slope in at the front of the layout today. Usual method of gluing grass mat to the base and adding some bushes
Have you ever considered doing a sort of "cut-a-way" diorama to show off and illustrate your various techniques? Such that a viewer could start at one end seeing the bare bones and then the progression of elements and techniques as they get layered onto the scene? You have a talented eye and an incredible gift for modeling what you see. My jaw drops every time I look.
jon grant Jon
How did you weather the structure so perfectly? I was noticing in one of your other closer-up photos of it, that it just appears so naturally weathered. The coloring around the "rings" are so well done, not to mention the rings themselves are so crisp and sharp. And on the overall surface areas there are no obvious paint drips or splotches-- but wonderful "dirt & mud" splotches-- and all the fabulously subtle color gradations are so spot-on... how do you do that?
And the detailing in your "woody" areas-- especially the dried leaves and such. How do you do that?
What do you use for your photo backdrops?
Your modeling abilities are superlative-- proper adjectives to describe it are simply lacking!
Beautiful! And impressive! Keep it up! Would love to see a track plan for Sweethome Alabama.
I'm a big fan of your work, especially as I model the south (central Arkansas.) I always look to your stuff, either video or images, for inspiration.
Your work is so realistic. Do you have a web site?
Keep it up, it's more than great.
Packers#1 definitely the South my man, any insight into the types of trees and where you got them/how you made them?
definitely the South my man, any insight into the types of trees and where you got them/how you made them?
Sawyer, RUGBY PLAYER
GO PAC GO!
All of the pictures look great. Oh, and Sawyer, ya got it wrong.. It's
GO MOPAC GO
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
I added a few trees to the bare hillside tonight to give some height to the scene. Tomorrow I'll add some bushes, flowers and weeds