Earlier this week, I reached a turning point on my 10x20 around-the-walls layout; The final switch and track siding was laid and all hooked up. Then, I started the long awaited move into scenery. Oh, I still have a little tweaking to do on some of the track and controls, but for the most part all is in operation and working well.
For as much as I have read on scenery, and done some on a diorama years ago, a lot of this is now uncharted territory, a welcome change. It took 15 years just to get the layout to this stage (all code 70 or 55, and hand laid turnouts) which includes a move from a smaller room, and a heavy revamping of one side of the layout even after the expansion was made.
I'l post pictures as progress is made. but I wanted to tell someone, as this is a major turning point for me! Dan
Glad to hear a fellow modelr is making progress! Post pics soon, Dan!
The Cedar Branch & Western--The Hillbilly Line!
Congratulations!
BTDT and it's a great feeling.
If the scenery sounds a little uncertain, give several methods a trial run. There are a lot of choices these days, so pick the one that works. I like Sculptamold over styrofoam.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
It's great to hear of your progress..I'd like to see some pictures also.
I'm building a 4X8 N scale in my garage. I've only got the engine service tracks left to install and wire and I'm done with the "running trains" part. Using code 80 PECO flex and turnouts, it's taken since last November. One of the fun things about scenery planning is when on vacation or just driving around, I find myself taking pictures of culverts, tunnels, bridges etc. just so I have some idea what the real world looks like.
You didn't say, but we shall assume that trains run satisfactority on all the tracks. It's easier to fix track problems before doing scenery....
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
Hey Dan, Congrats on your golden spike, tons of fun ahead!
regards, Peter
Congratulations! That is, indeed, a critical milestone.
As for scenery, there are about as many ways to put it together as there are model railroaders who have tried. The nice part is that you can keep wheels rolling while you experiment.
Actually, I'm a little bit jealous. I haven't gotten there yet...
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - slowly)
Congratulations! I am hoping to have such a milestone before too many years pass.
Have fun,
Richard
Dan:
Pictures would be great, especially of the scenery as you progress.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Thank you for the replies! A few comments on them:
I'm not totally without experience in scenery, but am definitely on the steep part of the curve here. As far as trackwork and scenery goes together, only the track that is working perfectly is getting scenicked as I go.
I built this 1/25 truck shop diorama and used real dirt and screened gravels. I put them on dry, get them groomed to how I want them, then give a light soak with water with a li'l detergent in it, then a liberal soak with Elmers carpenter glue/water mix...
I liked how that worked, and the diorama has been around for 14 years now and handles wear and tear well. SO!!! I decided to use the same approach. First, though, yesterday I painted the rails brown with a rattle can, with the the door open with the blower going full blast. Done in about 10 minutes and left until the smell was gone. I didn't get gassed. That blower had the room like a hurricane, and I stayed up wind of the paint. So today... Dumped on the brown dirt, screened from my own yard, and layered on a gravel road with screened gravel from my driveway. Then while it was starting to dry, I added some more water/glue mix and used vehicles to track it up a little. Kinda like working the cream on a concrete pour. Poor picture, but that's a little toy front loader being used to make tracks. resulting tracks: The gravel road crosses a couple siding tracks and enters a lot on what will be an agregates and concrete supplier. In the lower left of the picture, it transitions to tabletop. More on that in a minute. Here is the area where this was applied, pretty dry now, some 6 hours later. I left the door open to outside and that blower fan blowing warm air into the room. A closer look. Note the transition to bare benchwork surface. There will be some buildings there, so I'll add the fill in around their foundations. I actually used DIRT as filler material on the layout. This produces undilations quite naturally. Note the feathered paint brush there, I did pretty much all the shaping of the dirt, gravel on the road and in the lot, as well as the track ballast with the brush. Again, a soak with detergent / water, then Lots of glue/water. To avoid a flood, I let the glue/water dry some and then add more where I think it's needed. Following a technique that worked well also on that 1/25 truck shop diorama, Some fine grit roofing material with adhesive tar backing looks good as a start for scale roads. It is very black as it comes off the roll, so weathering is definately needed. But the texture is good and it sticks itself to the smooth (masonite) sub-road. Here it is so far, on another section of the layout. So, all in all, I think going from no scenery to at least some here is a good start, and I like how its looking so far, huh? The next couple days I better get some honeydews done around here! Dan
I liked how that worked, and the diorama has been around for 14 years now and handles wear and tear well. SO!!! I decided to use the same approach. First, though, yesterday I painted the rails brown with a rattle can, with the the door open with the blower going full blast. Done in about 10 minutes and left until the smell was gone. I didn't get gassed. That blower had the room like a hurricane, and I stayed up wind of the paint.
So today... Dumped on the brown dirt, screened from my own yard, and layered on a gravel road with screened gravel from my driveway. Then while it was starting to dry, I added some more water/glue mix and used vehicles to track it up a little. Kinda like working the cream on a concrete pour. Poor picture, but that's a little toy front loader being used to make tracks. resulting tracks: The gravel road crosses a couple siding tracks and enters a lot on what will be an agregates and concrete supplier. In the lower left of the picture, it transitions to tabletop. More on that in a minute. Here is the area where this was applied, pretty dry now, some 6 hours later. I left the door open to outside and that blower fan blowing warm air into the room. A closer look. Note the transition to bare benchwork surface. There will be some buildings there, so I'll add the fill in around their foundations. I actually used DIRT as filler material on the layout. This produces undilations quite naturally. Note the feathered paint brush there, I did pretty much all the shaping of the dirt, gravel on the road and in the lot, as well as the track ballast with the brush. Again, a soak with detergent / water, then Lots of glue/water. To avoid a flood, I let the glue/water dry some and then add more where I think it's needed. Following a technique that worked well also on that 1/25 truck shop diorama, Some fine grit roofing material with adhesive tar backing looks good as a start for scale roads. It is very black as it comes off the roll, so weathering is definately needed. But the texture is good and it sticks itself to the smooth (masonite) sub-road. Here it is so far, on another section of the layout. So, all in all, I think going from no scenery to at least some here is a good start, and I like how its looking so far, huh? The next couple days I better get some honeydews done around here! Dan
So today... Dumped on the brown dirt, screened from my own yard, and layered on a gravel road with screened gravel from my driveway.
Then while it was starting to dry, I added some more water/glue mix and used vehicles to track it up a little. Kinda like working the cream on a concrete pour. Poor picture, but that's a little toy front loader being used to make tracks.
resulting tracks: The gravel road crosses a couple siding tracks and enters a lot on what will be an agregates and concrete supplier. In the lower left of the picture, it transitions to tabletop. More on that in a minute. Here is the area where this was applied, pretty dry now, some 6 hours later. I left the door open to outside and that blower fan blowing warm air into the room. A closer look. Note the transition to bare benchwork surface. There will be some buildings there, so I'll add the fill in around their foundations. I actually used DIRT as filler material on the layout. This produces undilations quite naturally. Note the feathered paint brush there, I did pretty much all the shaping of the dirt, gravel on the road and in the lot, as well as the track ballast with the brush. Again, a soak with detergent / water, then Lots of glue/water. To avoid a flood, I let the glue/water dry some and then add more where I think it's needed. Following a technique that worked well also on that 1/25 truck shop diorama, Some fine grit roofing material with adhesive tar backing looks good as a start for scale roads. It is very black as it comes off the roll, so weathering is definately needed. But the texture is good and it sticks itself to the smooth (masonite) sub-road. Here it is so far, on another section of the layout. So, all in all, I think going from no scenery to at least some here is a good start, and I like how its looking so far, huh? The next couple days I better get some honeydews done around here! Dan
resulting tracks:
The gravel road crosses a couple siding tracks and enters a lot on what will be an agregates and concrete supplier. In the lower left of the picture, it transitions to tabletop. More on that in a minute. Here is the area where this was applied, pretty dry now, some 6 hours later. I left the door open to outside and that blower fan blowing warm air into the room. A closer look. Note the transition to bare benchwork surface. There will be some buildings there, so I'll add the fill in around their foundations. I actually used DIRT as filler material on the layout. This produces undilations quite naturally. Note the feathered paint brush there, I did pretty much all the shaping of the dirt, gravel on the road and in the lot, as well as the track ballast with the brush. Again, a soak with detergent / water, then Lots of glue/water. To avoid a flood, I let the glue/water dry some and then add more where I think it's needed. Following a technique that worked well also on that 1/25 truck shop diorama, Some fine grit roofing material with adhesive tar backing looks good as a start for scale roads. It is very black as it comes off the roll, so weathering is definately needed. But the texture is good and it sticks itself to the smooth (masonite) sub-road. Here it is so far, on another section of the layout. So, all in all, I think going from no scenery to at least some here is a good start, and I like how its looking so far, huh? The next couple days I better get some honeydews done around here! Dan
The gravel road crosses a couple siding tracks and enters a lot on what will be an agregates and concrete supplier. In the lower left of the picture, it transitions to tabletop. More on that in a minute.
Here is the area where this was applied, pretty dry now, some 6 hours later. I left the door open to outside and that blower fan blowing warm air into the room. A closer look. Note the transition to bare benchwork surface. There will be some buildings there, so I'll add the fill in around their foundations. I actually used DIRT as filler material on the layout. This produces undilations quite naturally. Note the feathered paint brush there, I did pretty much all the shaping of the dirt, gravel on the road and in the lot, as well as the track ballast with the brush. Again, a soak with detergent / water, then Lots of glue/water. To avoid a flood, I let the glue/water dry some and then add more where I think it's needed. Following a technique that worked well also on that 1/25 truck shop diorama, Some fine grit roofing material with adhesive tar backing looks good as a start for scale roads. It is very black as it comes off the roll, so weathering is definately needed. But the texture is good and it sticks itself to the smooth (masonite) sub-road. Here it is so far, on another section of the layout. So, all in all, I think going from no scenery to at least some here is a good start, and I like how its looking so far, huh? The next couple days I better get some honeydews done around here! Dan
A closer look. Note the transition to bare benchwork surface. There will be some buildings there, so I'll add the fill in around their foundations. I actually used DIRT as filler material on the layout. This produces undilations quite naturally. Note the feathered paint brush there, I did pretty much all the shaping of the dirt, gravel on the road and in the lot, as well as the track ballast with the brush. Again, a soak with detergent / water, then Lots of glue/water. To avoid a flood, I let the glue/water dry some and then add more where I think it's needed.
Following a technique that worked well also on that 1/25 truck shop diorama, Some fine grit roofing material with adhesive tar backing looks good as a start for scale roads. It is very black as it comes off the roll, so weathering is definately needed. But the texture is good and it sticks itself to the smooth (masonite) sub-road. Here it is so far, on another section of the layout. So, all in all, I think going from no scenery to at least some here is a good start, and I like how its looking so far, huh? The next couple days I better get some honeydews done around here! Dan
Following a technique that worked well also on that 1/25 truck shop diorama, Some fine grit roofing material with adhesive tar backing looks good as a start for scale roads. It is very black as it comes off the roll, so weathering is definately needed. But the texture is good and it sticks itself to the smooth (masonite) sub-road. Here it is so far, on another section of the layout.
So, all in all, I think going from no scenery to at least some here is a good start, and I like how its looking so far, huh? The next couple days I better get some honeydews done around here! Dan
Dan,
That looks really good. The tracks are especially well done and they're hard to do. Never tried it with dirt before, though.
Thanks, Mike. In this case the tracks were fairly easy, but it's about timing. Ya gotta wait till the material is dry enough to be firm, but not cured. Then add more glue/water and use a free rolling vehicle. It looks better in person too.
Dirt is surprisingly easy to work with. And what could be more plentiful or cheap? Or realistic looking? I thought the dirt I was using was pretty devoid of organic material, but there is some in it. I live in the "high desert" of Oregon, the dirt is dry and kinda sandy, but fine. I suppose any dirt would work, especially clays. Dan