For the small gaps in the cookie cutter where the elevation only changed slightly (1/2 to 1 inch) I just used Sculptamold to smooth the terrain. For the large gaps in the cookie cutter I plugged the holes with scrap pieces of 1 inch Dow foam (same as to build the mountains), before applying sculptamold.
For the flexible foam by the yard and the pieces of flexible foam on the mountains and around the tunnels I glued this to the foam mountains with DAP Latex caulk.
For the flexible foam that forms the rock face leading up to the bridge I cut it to fit between the two pieces of cookie cutter and wedged it in and glued it with latex caulk on the top and bottom. I didn't use any backing in this place.
The Virginian Videos part 9 and 12 show how they did this. One tip. The flexible foam is quite thick. Don't be afraid to trim it to make it thinner when attaching it if you feel it protrudes too much.
When gluing up the flexible foam rocks what did you glue them to? Did you fill the gaps in the cookie cutter with foam? I am talking about the open gaps between levels. I know everyone didn't use foam. But, I am getting ready to glue them up.
Moses,
I built all my mountains with 1 inch foam and then used sculptamold to shape and contour them. Some areas got a fairly thick layer (e.g next to the yard) and some areas just got a thin layer to provide a smooth contour. Sculptamold takes paint well. I then painted them with some brown paint I had left over from some inside painting before either planting the puffball trees or applying ground foam.
I found sculptamold very easy to work with. I applied it with a 1 inch drywall knife and used a 2 inch drywall knife to smooth and contour it. You get about 20 minutes working time and can get varied surfaces from rock faces to extremely smooth just by working it after you have applied it. Applied thinly it takes about a day to dry, thickly it can take up to 3 days.
Cheers,
Steve
I laid out my foam for the ridgeline and hills, then covered them with crumpled newspaper to form the contours, then covered with plaster cloth. I then painted the cloth with Polly Scale Earth colored paint as a base color, then covered with puffball trees. For the truck dump area, I stacked the carved foam, then covered with plaster cloth. Gaps and seams I then filled with Sculptamold...
BTW, for all of you who wish to look at my progress photos from start to finish, plus ask me questions personally, please check out my website for the layout at: http://hitopbranchmodelrr.com/
I prefer to answer questions there under a blog post I have specifically for questions, as I look at that daily, instead of looking here infrequently now. All my pictures of construction are on my "layout photos" page. It would be nice to see some responses and questions over there....:)
Chuck, on my layout I used the black poly fiber from Micro Mark, as it's what MR used, and it portrays I think more of an illusion of depth. However, Roger I believe used the green poly fiber, and his trees look fine...
I think I can speak for all of us almost done or finished that we appreciate the compliments....:)
Moses45,
My large mountains were made from a foam and cardboard strip skeleton covered with plaster cloth. Some of the very small hills were made from foam covered with sculptamold. All my terrain was then painted and then turf and puffballs applied. If you're carving hills from foam, then I would cover with sculptamold to fill in gaps and paint before applying puffballs.
Anxious to see your pictures with foliage.
Roger
My Layout Pics
When you guys made your layouts, did you overlay the foam mountains with plaster cloth or did you just glue the puff ball trees directly to the foam?
Its coming along nicely Mick. I enjoy looking at the different ways people are building (or have built) this layout,
I appreciate the response from you guys, and the extra information. You guys are a HUGE help. I don't want to hi-jack a thread, but maybe I'll post a picture of my meager 4x8 layout at some point when it's a little further along, as there are MANY things you guys have done in this thread that have helped/inspired my layout.
I have a very small freelanced coal mine area on my layout that is not big enough for the full coal mine kit used on the Virginian layout. I just happen to get that exact kit, pre-built, from a garage sale of train stuff while I lived in Florida and wondered what in the world i was going to do with it. So.. I ended up "kit bashing" it a little bit and making it into a much smaller mining area to fit my needs.
Anyway, thanks again.
Chuck
Chuck,
The BOM for the puff ball trees is:
a) Woodland scenics burnt grass 1344
b) Woodland scenics Green blend 1394
c) Scenic express 801B light green turf.
I believe I was the one who gave the link for Virginia quilter to get the poly fiber. I didn't try this, but at the time was looking for a cheaper alternative to Micromark. I used the back but believe the dark green would work as well. In the end you are looking for the illusion of depth if you don't cover the puffball completely with the ground foam. Roger used the dark green and I can't tell the difference from his to mine from the photos so it may be an equivalent substitute. If you want it a lot cheaper, a supplier that does quilting supplies would be your choice.
Cheers
Hi All,
Here is an update on the N&W. I have been working on a combination of structures and scenery. Structure wise I have completed the Grandt Line Warehouse, nearly completed the Blair Line Truck Dumps, and have started on one of the Blair Line Company Houses. This is my first foray into Laser Cut structures so am on a steep learning curve.
On the scenery front I have painted all the track, ballasted in the tunnels and have started to frame the hills in foam and paper in preparation for plaster cloth.
Regards,
Mick
Hi Chuck,
Although I have not got to this stage yet I have started to look into it as in Aus it is more difficult and expensive to get hold of the model specific stuff so I am looking at alternatives.
In your case have you seen the latest MR Thin Branch Video? Neil B gives a good run down on Puff Ball Trees in it.
Chuck, Of the three of us that have reached the puffball stage, I believe I am the only one that wasn't able to get the black poly fiber. I used the dark green poly fiber from Micro Mark and feel they came out pretty well. I haven't seen pufballs made from the black poly fiber in person to be able to say if or how much better they are. As far as materials go, you need the poly fiber, I only used one bag but the others used more than one, lots of white glue, I recommend buying a gallon jug of it, multiple colors of Woodland Scenics and/or Scenic Express fine turf to suit your taste.
Good luck with your railroad project!
I have been following this thread pretty much from the start and you guys are all doing some amazing work on your Virginian layouts. I would like to build this layout, but and right in the middle of a freelanced 4x8 build that I've been working on for around 3 years. Anyway, there are some seriously talented people in this particular thread alone.
My specific post to you guys is in reference to the puffball trees:
Obviously MicroMark does not sell/carry the Black Poly Fiber anymore
-My question is.. what are you guys using now?
I see that they do carry a Dark Green and a sort of Olive Green Poly Fiber. Would the Dark Green work as a replacement for the black, in the case of making the color forest canopy on the Virginian layout?
I also saw where someone posted a link to a fabric site to a possible suitable replacement product... is this it:
http://store.virginiaquilter.com/stores_app/Browse_Item_Details.asp?Shopper_id=87787171318398778&Store_id=890&page_id=23&Item_ID=1105
And the last question is in regards to one of the posts where I was reading someone talk about a list of materials MR had, or posted, that had all of the items needed to make the puff ball trees for the Virginian Layout. If they provided this list.. I can not locate it anywhere. I can't find it on the website, in any of the videos that show how to make the puff balls... no where. Is it listed in a specific printed magazine article?
Just curious, as it's easy enough to figure out. The main sticky wicket at this point is getting my hands on the appropriate poly fiber so that I can make some puff ball trees of my own.
Thank you up front for your responses.
Moses45 Steve, you do your share of heavy lifting on this forum. Thanks to BOTH of you.
Steve, you do your share of heavy lifting on this forum. Thanks to BOTH of you.
Moses could not have said it better. Both Steve and Mike probably saved me a ton of posts about this structure. Kudos to both of you.
John
Mike's picture is worth a thousand words Or in my case 10,000.
Now everyone knows why I didn't become a technical writer.
Mike, you are the bomb. Thanks a ton. This is my first Walthers kit and I gotta say they build a nice one. If your photos are going to show the same cuts as your altered drawing, don't worry about photos.
Dear Moses,
I made the cuts in accordance with MRs diagrams when I built the Mine and only had major problems with Part 14. As a result of the problems I found here are some pics that hopefully explain where I think the correct cuts to Part 14 should be.
Here is the diagram in MR with a box roughly around where I think the cut should be.
Here is the same box transposed on the instructions. If you do the cut as I have suggested you will not have the problem that I , and I think Steve, encountered with an uneven surface for Part 10 to adhere to and there will be a spot for the lone support, Part 52, to attach to with out trimming. I would still be conservative with your cuts so that you can trim back to fit rather than having to fill.
Hope this helps,
Mike
Moses45 Just another question. If I flip the part over and cut as in the magazine, would the cut be in the right place? I am just trying to visualize.
Just another question. If I flip the part over and cut as in the magazine, would the cut be in the right place? I am just trying to visualize.
I am currently doing up some photos to explain where I think the cut should go. Stand by.
Regards, Mike
Thanks Steve. I will print your reply out and go downstairs, where the magazine and model are, and look it over.
Moses45 I am just getting to building the mine. It is my understanding that the cuts to part# 14 are wrong. In the magazine it shows the removal of the lower left, including the window. What is the correct way? Do you remove the lower right, including the window? I went so far as to scan the parts and glue them to foam board. Taping them didn't work so I just gave up on the mockup.
I am just getting to building the mine. It is my understanding that the cuts to part# 14 are wrong. In the magazine it shows the removal of the lower left, including the window. What is the correct way? Do you remove the lower right, including the window? I went so far as to scan the parts and glue them to foam board. Taping them didn't work so I just gave up on the mockup.
I think there are two errors that I will help you visualize. The first is the piece is oriented incorrectly. Flip it 180 degrees with the bottom still up and it should be orientated correctly. Leave the cut where it is shown on the page. The second :If you look at the picture on page 38 of the magazine you will see two ridges in part 6 approximately 1/3 of the way in from each end. These run left to right on the page. The long cut is shown on one side of one of the ridges (the side close to the bottom edge). This is the wrong side. The cut should be on the other side of the ridge closer to the middle of part 6. If you cut as specified you will happily assemble not noticing anything wrong until you come to part 6. Look at the right hand vertical cut on part 6. It is right next to a window. If you cut there part 6 will be too short by about 3/16 inch (due to part 14 being too long).
I cut part 14 as specified and was lucky I did not cut part 6 until I was ready to use it. When I was it would not fit. I did the final cut over the window and plugged the hole with a piece of scrap. Once it was painted, you could not notice it.
One other thing they don't tell you. If you install the bases (part 16) to the supports (part 15) you will need to trim the bottom of the base closest to the main building to make it fit. You can see this has been done in the photos.
Mike found this error so may be able to give a better explanation if mine is unintelligible.
Steve, all of my cars are weathered to some degree. I've been doing these for some time. I learned using several of Pelle Soeborg's books, some techniques from a friend of mine, plus some experimenting on my own using a scrap car. I primarily now use Bragdon or AIM powders and oil paint......
airborne101 Steve, Well, the poles are in minus the wire. The wire really looks nice, and to scale, however, it is extremely thin. Walther's recommends you start at one end of course, with tying a loop in the wire around the first pole's insulators. I tried this for perhaps a half hour without success, so decided to leave the wire off, especially since the area is so small and confined, I feel someone's hands would get in there accidentally and rip it down. Photos of the pole lines are on my website....
Steve,
Well, the poles are in minus the wire. The wire really looks nice, and to scale, however, it is extremely thin. Walther's recommends you start at one end of course, with tying a loop in the wire around the first pole's insulators. I tried this for perhaps a half hour without success, so decided to leave the wire off, especially since the area is so small and confined, I feel someone's hands would get in there accidentally and rip it down. Photos of the pole lines are on my website....
Steve, Thanks for the advice. Your poles look slightly different to mine, so even though they are branded the same, I guess they changed them. When I look on your website I notice quite a few of your cars are weathered. Was this something you had done before or was it your first attempt ?. If so what resources did you use to learn how to do it. This will probably be the next thing for me/
MikeB16 If you are thinking of doing MR's modification to the mine then the cuts described in the May 2012 issue to part 14 (the floor) are on the wrong side so double check before you cut. I fell into this trap, it was not catastrophic but required a bit of trimming and shimming to overcome. Regards, Mike
If you are thinking of doing MR's modification to the mine then the cuts described in the May 2012 issue to part 14 (the floor) are on the wrong side so double check before you cut. I fell into this trap, it was not catastrophic but required a bit of trimming and shimming to overcome.
Dear Mike. Tell me about it...
I never quite recovered from it, so ended up having to adjust the walls which left one wall with half a window at the end that I had to plug. I thought it was just me until I read your post, went back and looked,and thought jeeze.... In their defense though, they did recommend making a cardboard mock up first, which I did not do.
It all worked out in the end...
Dear John,
Looks like Steve beat me to the punch. I also have a scanned copy if necessary.
I also noticed your post reference Rodger's Yard and my advice is to fit as many yard tracks as possible. MR's is probably the most efficient and I adapted it to Code 100 for my purposes. I am not sure how much you guys have been affected by the Atlas shortage and if that has affected Snap Switches but you can test with other makes using templates, I know Peco have printable templates for most of theirs, to try options out before financially committing.