Without too much background I've recently gotten back into model railroading and this is my first attempt at creating a scene. The main point of this was to learn by doing (and spending way too much money on Woodland Scenics' stuff).
Any feedback and comments is more welcomed.
I snapped a few photos in progress of my methoids.
Welcome to the forums!
Looks like you are on the "right track" (pun intended). You will find that each type of scenery (forrests, fields, Applachian, desert Southwest) each have their own challenges.
You will also find your own preferred level of "more" scenic additions. As you add more and more layers of scenery, you will discover where your personal choices feel that you have enough. To do this you will come to that layer that looks like a little too much. At that point stop adding layers and don't add quite as much to the next sections you do.
Good luck,
Richard
drdking
I think it looks really good. You have a nice balance of colours and textures in the ground cover. The tree also looks great.
Maybe add some grass tufts and paint the rails, but you are definately on the right track.
Dave
Edit:
I forgot to say to the forums!
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
For a first effort that looks pretty respectable. It shows attention to basic neatness, which is a major hurdle for many beginners.
If I could offer some recommendations (since you asked)...
To show what I'm talking about, here's a prototype scene that I worked from:
Note how the track and ballast sit on top of a deeper fill composed of other material.
Here I added a base layer of fine sand for the start of ground cover (any thin spots in the grass will reveal sand instead of painted plaster), and used a different color for the roadbed. The edge of the roadbed wasn't built from plaster; I just piled the sand in place and glued it in about the same manner as ballast. The dirt road is also sand piled up and shaped.
Next I painted the track (Rustoleum camouflage brown) and added grass and other vegetation.
Finally I did the ballast. If you want to add more grass and such around the track and roadbed you can do it now. You can also apply more ground cover material if needed to deal with any excess ballast that may have gotten where you didn't want it.
Rob Spangler
I'm glad you started this thread and enjoyed your other photos as well. At some point I'm going to start scenicking, and as I've seen earlier advice, plus your approach, i'm convinced I need to start with a practice off-layout trial scene. I did handle my grandson's small layout, but was unhappy with the dirt & grass additions, including how they darkened when the glue was applied, so I need to understand that better.
Rob and others, your examples are always very helpful.
Good luck with the ongoing work.
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
Great start for a beginner. Great thread. I wish to approach your thread from a different point of view. In my opinion, you openned a new door and will discover the fun part of RR Modeling. From this point on you Will look at many things differently. I started looking at many photos and studying Why I liked this particular setting. Noticing many tid bits of what others have modeled as well.
So anyways.. I'll throw some tid bits out there from an Artistic approach.
If I were to tell you "Great now do this with a setting of limited rain and with drier scrub and brush." You might have to consider how water settles in the low areas providing a greener pasture and water run off. You might notice in puddles that water settles there and is the very first sign of grass growing, with a browner outer edge of lesser green radiating into a brown / dirt.
If I were to say.. and end this thread with the very thought.. I'd say.. "Create that scene".. that one view for the viewer when they walk to the correct angle..they see that perfect shot.. training ..guiding the eyes to the very thing you are accenting.
When you look at a movie.. or photography of a Forest.. notice how the camera man always tries to demonstrate each and every individual tree.. (few tree trunks touching one another (not having over-lapping lines). Trees.. largest are usually up front (unless its a central view point) with smaller trees radiating back into the background. Notice how trees (photography) (movies) are always in 'Odd Numbers" 1 tree ..3.. 5 trees.. but for some reason.. there are never even numbers. It just looks wrong. Rocks.. try to place them in odd numbers as well. Rocks.. large boulders do not sit on top of the ground, they should be partially buried.. as to give off that appearance of time.. age.. weather and errosion.
Colors.. whether they be trees.. houses ..rocks.. what ever.. you do need to place brighter colorful objects up front, with duller colors towards the back. And / or to accent that perfect view to train the viewers eyes to what ever you want to demonstrate.
Colors.. sizes.. lines.. numbers all play an important role in creating that perfect shot. Placement of objects.. at times.. is merely creating a triangle of rocks, trees ..whatever. Always seems right to the eyes and the brain. If you look at landscaping in real life.. you might notice trees are placed strategically... in a triangle. Same goes for the placement of rocks, usually done in a triangle and odd numbers. Even with a Bonsai Tree.. the triangle is there... of Earth Man and Heaven. The basic triangle.
Now there is no rule etched in granite as far as being creative, and what does make it.. and doesn't, but this is to open new ideas for you and to create that 'perfect view' that trains the viewers eyes to what you want to demonstrate.
Create that perfect scene. Great start.. thanks for sharing.
Looks great! Thanks for posting!
The one comment that comes to my mind, based on the Woodlands Scenics stuff I've been doing, it is that flattening the plaster cloth on top of the subterrain roadbed should have made that area flatter before you started the scenery look. Part of why I mention this is, when working on an actual layout, you will want to put down track and test it out before you do the black foam trackbed and the ground coloring and foam.
Others have commented on refinements, such as painting the track, considering water movement, and the like. I think you could find actual real-world track that looks like this.
Are you satisfied with how it looks? What would you do differently? In the end, you are the final judge of your own work. If you are content with it, it doesn't have be a good-enough-for-cinema level of detail.
I was recently re-reading the Tony Koester book, Realistic Design and Operation. One of the things he notes is that, when you get to a layout where you can actually run trains, you might get so into the operation that the scenery isn't that important. Perhaps you don't care to weather anything, you just want a backdrop to running the trains that fits with what you are doing. That's all that really counts: Your own satisfaction.
Thank you everyone for the replys, compliments, and advice.
I realize I forgot to say in the original post, but I am actually really pleased with how it turned out, especially under good light. Overall lighting in my apartment isn't that great so while working it looked much darker. Don't misunderstand I see tons of things wrong, or that don't look right to me, but I _think_ I know why. I'm currently working on a few other dioramas to try out and test other environments. However for a first attempt at it I think it turned out well.
With the limited space in my apartment, and the fact that I'm graduating college next year I don't have space to do a full size layout so these small attempts are both great to practice, try different techniques, and something that I can take into my office at work at display.
I definitely want to try some of the things you all said, especially about painting/weather the rails, and different types of ballast. I picked the ballast I used not for any prototype reason but because I liked the color on the hobby store shelf. I've started making side trips out to some of the local railroad lines to see how they look in real life. However I live in central Pennsylvania and I'm not sure this is the prototype I want to model after so I've been filling up my search history with railroads around the country.
Nice work so far! I'm on the steep part of the learning curve with scenery too.
One thing I've found...I sift my own ballast free, from my own well worn gravel driveway. Using different sized screens (collanders, perf sheets, frying pan spatter screens), and flushing some of the resulting grades with water can give you a variety of sizes of gravels for all kinds of uses. Mainlines have better big chunky ballast. Yards and sidings, lesser so. In some sidings, the ballast is barely, if at all discernable. So screening your own gravel, ballast, and as someone mentioned, dirt as well will save you money and look more like the real thing, because it basically is.
If you haven't already, check out the how to videos presented by forum member Luke Towan. Excellent stuff! Dan