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Some more incremental progress (pictures included)

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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 9:19 AM
 johnandjulie13 wrote:

 lionroar88 wrote:
John,
No I am a graduate from the Erie campus and I have multiple family members that alumni and season ticket holders.

We have been season ticket holders for Northwestern for many years.  If you ever plan on making a trip to Chicago for a game, let me know.

Regards,

John



John,
I only make it to one home game every year or so. My parents and sister go to most of the games (all home, some away), and they've been to and love Northwestern's campus. Not sure if I'll ever make it there, but will look you up if I do. Susan isn't much of a College Sports fan and seeing that we have Season Tickets to the Ravens it makes it difficult to go to many college games... we are hoping to go to the Alabama/PSU game in Alabama in a few years...
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Posted by ChiefEagles on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 10:59 AM
Wes, don't break a bone.  Not a good way to get it.  Brent is right.  Also we have a Medical Supply place in Raleigh [probably several] on the highway to Rolesville.  They have it [yellow pages will help].  I also get those cotton swabs [Qtips] with wooden stems from there.  They hold together better than the Qtip brand.  

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Posted by Wes Whitmore on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 11:56 AM

Sorry this topic has changed directions.  I just tried to slip a question in there and bam! 

I am going to pick up a little bit of the stuff from hobby lobby just to get my feet wet, then get the bulk of it elsewhere.  Chicken wire will come from ace. 

If I had made this layout one level without inclines, it would have been a lot easier!  What fun would that have been though.

Keep posting your progress so  I can learn from your mistakes and successes.

Thanks,
Wes

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Posted by johnandjulie13 on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 12:48 PM
 Wes Whitmore wrote:

Sorry this topic has changed directions.  I just tried to slip a question in there and bam! 

I am going to pick up a little bit of the stuff from hobby lobby just to get my feet wet, then get the bulk of it elsewhere.  Chicken wire will come from ace. 

If I had made this layout one level without inclines, it would have been a lot easier!  What fun would that have been though.

Keep posting your progress so  I can learn from your mistakes and successes.

Thanks,
Wes

Please post pictures of your results.  I too, like to learn from others. Wink [;)]

Regards,

John

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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 2:07 PM
 DJSpanky wrote:

 lionroar88 wrote:
Nah... just really board... nothing to work on here at work and not much happening on the LoI day front... other than Tyrel Pryor is not signing today and is making an Official Visit to PSU either today or tomorrow. My personal gut feeling is it is down to PSU/tOSU.

Well, if he really wanted to play for a great program he'd come to RU. 



Laugh [(-D]
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Posted by johnandjulie13 on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 4:22 PM
 DJSpanky wrote:

 lionroar88 wrote:
Nah... just really board... nothing to work on here at work and not much happening on the LoI day front... other than Tyrel Pryor is not signing today and is making an Official Visit to PSU either today or tomorrow. My personal gut feeling is it is down to PSU/tOSU.

Well, if he really wanted to play for a great program he'd come to RU. 

RU? RU what? As in RU serious?Big Smile [:D]

John

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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 4:50 PM
 Wes Whitmore wrote:

Sorry this topic has changed directions.  I just tried to slip a question in there and bam! 

I am going to pick up a little bit of the stuff from hobby lobby just to get my feet wet, then get the bulk of it elsewhere.  Chicken wire will come from ace. 

If I had made this layout one level without inclines, it would have been a lot easier!  What fun would that have been though.

Keep posting your progress so  I can learn from your mistakes and successes.

Thanks,
Wes

 

chickin wire?.... boy your going to go the old school way....lol 

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Posted by dougdagrump on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 5:39 PM

Wes,

If you go the Chicken wire route be sure that it is well grounded to prevent a signal problem if you use TMCC.

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Posted by CB&Q on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 5:56 PM

 

 

   John are the light fixtures just a normal ceiling light ? it seems as most of the light is being disperesed to the entire room you may need can lights about 4-6 directed at the exact areas you wish to light. how far away is the ceiling from the table top of layout. I really didn't see that great of an improvement. flouresent lights not good for true color and some say it will dull your train equipment colors as well. try using a 200 watt bulb to what you have now and make a round tube out of card board and aim the light at the layout you should see a drastic difference. keep us posted as to how this turned out. 


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Posted by johnandjulie13 on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 6:10 PM

Hello CB&Q 

Thanks for the input.  As you seen in the original post, I added a flourescent light (and have since added a second).  I now have two flourescent light fixtures with a total of four 32 watt bulbs (2900 lumens of output each) and two halogen fixtures, each with a 150 watt bulb.  On the last picture I tried a timed exposure (20 second shutter time) with the flourescent lights off.  On the advise of some others, I have purchased three incandescent "spot" lights that have clamps and can be moved as needed.  I did not use those last night, I was just interested in seeing how the picture would come out with just the two halogen lights illuminating the track.  Since I have been focused on my scenery I have not been experimenting with my photography.  But I will continue to post pictures as I strive to improve my technique.

Regards,

John

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Posted by johnandjulie13 on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 8:00 PM

Hello All:

I have made some additional progress on my layout.  I believe I am now achieving the look I want for my landscaping but I would like feedback from others as to confirm whether I am on the right track. 

As can be seen, I am about two thirds finished with my large hill.  I am trying to figure out what I am going to do about desiduous trees before I add any vertical growth.  I have ordered a couple from Scenic Express to see what they are like.  I have also ordered some SuperSage from ScenicExpress but I am leery about making my own trees.

I am basically blending dark brown, yellow and green fine foam.  The brown and yellow are from ScenicExpress and the green is from Woodland Scenics.  In my opinion the Woodland Scenics is easier to work with because the Scenic Express foam tends to clump together making it more difficult to spread evenly.  On the other hand, the pieces of wood and other stuff pictured is from ScenicExpress ("Dead fall forest debris") and I think it does a great job of providing a nice thick realistic texture. 

Regards,

John

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Posted by Jumijo on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 5:57 AM

John,

That looks awesome! You really did a great job on those hills, and that's not just a lot of rah rah talk. They look very realistic. You've blended all the colors and textures superbly.  I'm quite impressed. Just remember to scenic all the way up to the roadbed.  Wow!

By Jove, I think he's got it!

Deciduous trees can be made easily from dried Caspia and other weeds/flowers. I picked some and bought others from Michael's. And for evergreens, try Hobbylinc. I just bought 24 spruce and pines (5-6" tall) for $23. That's less than $1 a tree and they look great. Check out all the Bachmann Scene Scape trees.

Hobbylinc Bachmann Scene Scape Trees 

John, in all sincerity, you are doing an outstanding job with your scenery. Please keep posting photos of your progress.

Jim 

 

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by ChiefEagles on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 6:32 AM
Looks great.  Hope to get mine "grassed" in the near future.  My next project is get the garden started and seeds in the greenhouse.  Always something coming up to prevent that work.  Keep it going since you have the momentum going.

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Posted by fifedog on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 6:59 AM
Looking good, Johnboy.  Try rolling Scenic Express trees in fine Woodland Scenics ground foam.  One box will go a long, long way.
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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 7:49 AM

Good NIGHT! That looks awesome... I may have to contract out the scenicing of my layout to you and Jim! Wink [;)] Tree duty goes to Fife - he plants trees quite fast.

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Posted by johnandjulie13 on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 8:38 AM
 Jumijo wrote:

Deciduous trees can be made easily from dried Caspia and other weeds/flowers. I picked some and bought others from Michael's. And for evergreens, try Hobbylinc. I just bought 24 spruce and pines (5-6" tall) for $23. That's less than $1 a tree and they look great. Check out all the Bachmann Scene Scape trees.

Hello Jumijo:

Thank you for the kind words.  I do feel like I am starting to get the hang of it.  There is no substitute for experience.  After I tried putting the material on, it become easier each time I did it.  Thank you for the tree links.  I was able to get 17 pine trees (three different types, various sizes) from Scenic Express for ten bucks.  We'll see how the SuperSage experiment plays out...Shock [:O]

Regards,

John

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Posted by johnandjulie13 on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 8:41 AM

 ChiefEagles wrote:
Looks great.  Hope to get mine "grassed" in the near future.  My next project is get the garden started and seeds in the greenhouse.  Always something coming up to prevent that work.  Keep it going since you have the momentum going.

Hello Chief:

Welcome back.  Thank you for the compliment.  Now, if you lived in the north, the winter weather would allow you time to be inside to work on the railroad.  Wink [;)]  There really are advantages to having four seasons. Big Smile [:D]

Regards,

John

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Posted by johnandjulie13 on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 8:44 AM

Hello Fife:

Thanks for the suggestion.  Someone else also recommended spraying some adhesive on the trees and sprinkling foam on them to give the trees a multi-colored look.

Hello Brent:

Thank you.  It is not planting the trees that takes a long time, its building them. Wink [;)]  Since I have no real prior modeling experience, every landscaping step has seemed to be insurmountable.  But, in the end, that has been part of the fun.

Regards,

John 

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Posted by RockIsland52 on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 1:46 PM

John,

I have to agree with the other posters that the landscape is really working out.  Looking at the pictures you posted, one can appreciate the progress you've made with both colors and textures as Jim pointed out.  Very realistic looking.

You captured what a real hill looks like with the varied colors and varied textures.  Green to dried out with smatterings of dirt/rock.  When you look up close, I like the way you ran the "growth" in and out along the rail bed and white stone.  The part dirt/part scrub detail was great at the bottom side of the hill.  And the added tree trunk (?) debris would what one might expect in real life. 

I also like the way you layed the track and radiused the curve, leaving room on the corner to construct that hill out of what would be a dead space.  Landscaping such as this on the exterior edges of the board.....great backdrop.

And also the mountain on the backside corner.  The varied contour on top of the the mountain reminds me of our (timeshare) deck view of the New Hampshire White Mountains this past summer, though the mountainside was nearly solid trees.  You appear to be running the inner loop back out toward the board edge to meet up with the outer loop running behind the mountain.  Some posters note they like to be able to run two trains where they split, one goes out of sight for a few moments, and then they join back up.

I had a 30" landscaped curved mountain tunnel on my last layout, accomodating both inner and outer loops.  The fun factor was high because of the trains disappearing and then reappearing.  

What did you say your board dimensions were?

Jack      

IF IT WON'T COME LOOSE BY TAPPING ON IT, DON'T TRY TO FORCE IT. USE A BIGGER HAMMER.

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Posted by johnandjulie13 on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 3:12 PM

Hello Jack:

Thank you for the nice comments.  It is still a work in progress, but I feel like I am moving in the right direction.  My layout is 6' x 9'.  Unfortunately, the camera angle of the picture you are referring to is a little misleading.  Here is a drawing of my layout:

 

The tracks you see in front of the large hill/small mountain is one of the tracks to my freight yard.  While my layout is small, I am trying to have a number of different scenic elements to make the layout appealing and interesting.  The large hill separates the yard from the passenger platform, has a tunnel effect of allowing the trains to disappear and also gives some justification of the track curving as it winds through the hills.  All of this, in your words, will hopefully help give a high fun factor to running the trains.

Regards,

John

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Posted by Jumijo on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 5:10 PM
 johnandjulie13 wrote:

While my layout is small, I am trying to have a number of different scenic elements to make the layout appealing and interesting.


Follow the link below to a thread over on the Model Railroader forum. A fellow named Dave Vollmer has created a spectacular small layout (N) on a hollow core door. His use of scenic elements to divide his layout into several interesting scenes sounds very similar to what you wish to accomplish. He's packed an incredible amount of detail into a very small space. And his use of scenery really does work to separate the scenes.

Great Small Layout with Super Scenery 

He has a link to his homepage on all his posts. It has a lot of great photos of the construction and sceney phases, as well as finished shots. Even a video can be seen there.

Jim 

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by NewbieLady on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 6:06 PM
Beautiful, John!

I'm not even attempting making hills with plaster cloth yet. Your hills look INCREDIBLE! REALLY natural. I have to get some fine foam to try after first sprinkling some of the course. I love the brown areas. What an improvement from the first kelly green hill you tried! This is impressive. If you went from that to this, maybe I'll get better with practice. VERY nice. Please keep posting as you go!

Newb
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Posted by Jumijo on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 7:26 PM

NewbieLady,

You mentioned that you were thinking of purchasing "Earth" in the fine ground foam. That's what I used. The fine version, not the course.

Jim 

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by johnandjulie13 on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 9:23 PM

Hello Jim:

Thanks for the link!  Dave Vollmer has an incredible layout.  I can't believe the layout is only 36" x 80".  I have bookmarked his site and will be going over his information with a fine tooth comb.

Thanks again.

John

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Posted by johnandjulie13 on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 9:35 PM

 NewbieLady wrote:
Beautiful, John!

I'm not even attempting making hills with plaster cloth yet. Your hills look INCREDIBLE! REALLY natural. I have to get some fine foam to try after first sprinkling some of the course. I love the brown areas. What an improvement from the first kelly green hill you tried! This is impressive. If you went from that to this, maybe I'll get better with practice. VERY nice. Please keep posting as you go!

Newb

Hello Newb:

Thank you.  You do not need to worry about improving, I saw the pictures you posted a couple of days ago.  For ground cover, the fine foam seems to work much better than the course foam as you can blend the colors in a more natural way.  While I will keep posting pictures, please make sure that you continue to share pictures of your layout. 

Regards,

John

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Posted by PostwarMan07 on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 10:12 PM
 johnandjulie13 wrote:

Hello All:

I have made some additional progress on my layout.  I believe I am now achieving the look I want for my landscaping but I would like feedback from others as to confirm whether I am on the right track. 

 

Those dead trees look awesome.  Well done john!

John W
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Posted by johnandjulie13 on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 7:56 AM
 PostwarMan07 wrote:

Those dead trees look awesome.  Well done john!

Hello John:

Thanks.  It is a Scenic Express product.  It works great.  The look is enhance further as I start placing trees on and about these areas.

Regards,

John 

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Posted by phillyreading on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 8:08 AM

Have you ever thought about going with overhead tract lighting? You can move the fixtures on the rail and adjust the angle of the light fixture as well, can use 50 or 60 watt flood lights. Personally I feel it would be cheaper to use than halogen lighting as halogen tends to have very high power consumption and can got very hot close to the bulb.

I like your layout scenery and how you decorated it! Wish you could help me with my layout.

Lee F

Interested in southest Pennsylvania railroads; Reading & Northern, Reading Company, Reading Lines, Philadelphia & Reading.
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Posted by johnandjulie13 on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 8:32 AM
 phillyreading wrote:

Have you ever thought about going with overhead tract lighting? You can move the fixtures on the rail and adjust the angle of the light fixture as well, can use 50 or 60 watt flood lights. Personally I feel it would be cheaper to use than halogen lighting as halogen tends to have very high power consumption and can got very hot close to the bulb.

I like your layout scenery and how you decorated it! Wish you could help me with my layout.

Lee F

Hello Lee:

The plan is to finish the basement in the next couple of years.  Once we get to that point, we will make a determination regarding the best lighting solution.  My assumption has been that the basement (which will also have a play area) will have dry-walled ceiling with recessed lights.  Additional track lighting would be added (as you have suggested) to highlight the layout.

However, until we reach that point, I am trying to get by with what we have.  Actually,  the two flourescent fixtures and the two halogen fixtures provide excellent lighting.  My only issue has been taking pictures.  But with some practice and trial and error, I believe my results are improving.

Thanks for the comments regarding my scenery.  Like my photography, there was a bit of trial and error involving the landscape as well.  Smile [:)]

Regards,

John

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Posted by ChiefEagles on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 5:30 PM
Great work John.Approve [^]

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