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Scenic update for Sweethome Alabama

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Posted by jon grant on Thursday, June 2, 2011 6:40 PM

A few more photos of the ground cover


Now to add some bushes and trees


Jon

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Posted by jon grant on Thursday, June 2, 2011 6:24 PM

Into June, and the work on Sweethome Alabama begins again, after a short hiatus while Sweethome Chicago was prepped for exhibiting a couple of weeks ago.

I chose the area just to the right of the silos for treatment, to continue the scenic progress along the back of the layout from left to right. So far, Silflor scenic matting has been glued to the hill base and loose leaves have been glued in place.


Jon

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Posted by jon grant on Thursday, May 12, 2011 6:51 PM

Packers#1

Thanks! I've never heard of the sea foam technique for super trees, although I have a box myself

Sea foam is the rawe material for Super Trees. I get mine in the UK as either 'Forest in a Box' or Forest in a Flash' . I choose suitable shapes/lengths, spray with cheap hairspray (the more lacquer the better) and sprinkle ground cover over the tree - repeat as often as required.

I sometimes give the finished tree a light spray with track colour, just to tone  the colours down a bit.

Jon  

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Posted by Packers#1 on Thursday, May 12, 2011 6:34 PM

Thanks! I've never heard of the sea foam technique for super trees, although I have a box myself

Sawyer Berry

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Posted by dragenrider on Tuesday, May 10, 2011 9:07 PM

Jon, you captured the look!  Well done with the slopes, washouts, and trees.  It captures the feel and look of the deep south.  Now you just need an old hound dog.

And, of course, I like a nice expensive shrubbery! 

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Posted by jon grant on Tuesday, May 10, 2011 8:40 PM

Packers#1

 definitely the South my man, any insight into the types of trees and where you got them/how you made them?

Some of the trees are 'sea foam' Super Trees, and others were made from wire wrapped in tape, with polyfibre branches, as in this thread...

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/t/190271.aspx 

Jon

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Posted by Packers#1 on Tuesday, May 10, 2011 7:22 PM

Bow Bow Bow

definitely the South my man, any insight into the types of trees and where you got them/how you made them?

Sawyer Berry

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Posted by jon grant on Tuesday, May 10, 2011 1:02 PM

I've added some trees, flowers and a colour light signal to the small board. I originally had the trees much more tightly packed, but removed over 15 of them as I couldn't see the wood for the trees.

Here are the latest photos


Jon

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Posted by jon grant on Wednesday, May 4, 2011 5:38 PM

I made a bit more progress on the grass, completing the coverage on the small board. I also bedded in the bridge and started adding bushes and shrubs


Now to continue with the bushes before adding weeds and trees

Jon

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Posted by jon grant on Monday, May 2, 2011 6:44 PM

I added a dirt/gravel access road using torn up pieces of Silflor scenic matting, glued down with household glue. I had earlier added some DAS modelling clay to simulate bare patches, but these seem to have been covered up


I'll continue with the grass until the area is covered, then add some bushes and weeds. The bridge has only been added temporarily, as it is easier to work without it in place.

Jon

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Posted by jon grant on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 8:21 PM

Taking the bull by the horns, I am going to jump straight to the next board that butts-up to the area just forested. It is only 21in x 15in but includes 2 roads, a bridge and a stone loading platform.

The first photo shows the board from the back - the backscene will cover the white area


The next photos show the part of the board that joins onto the area just next to the silos - just visible are the brass aligning dowels.


These photos show the whole area to be scenicked - the wood bridge will sit at the far end, as a view block for the hole through the backscene into the as-yet unbuilt fiddle yard


The last photo shows the front of the board (maroon) and the stone loading dock


Now to lay some tarmac

Jon

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Posted by jon grant on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 7:50 PM

papasmurf

HI AGAIN JON:  papasmurf here from the old railroad forum. as I looked at your successive photos of scenic detail added with each, it made me immediately think of Miracle Grow Plant Food commercial I just saw on the telly and made me chuckle, LOL. This is meant in the best possible way, as I think your scenery looks SUPER GREAT; wish yours truly could do half as well, when I get my bloody HO layout finally started, shortly. TTFN....Old Tom aka papasmurf in NH

Hello Tom,

Miracle Grow has nothing on what I use - the sequence of photos in this thread represents a period of just over 24 hours to get from bare hill to dense Alabama forest. Must be something we put in the glue over this side of the pond.

Looking forward to seeing some progress photos of the NH layout, or even a small module to get back into the swing of it - the wooded area in this thread is under 2ft long by 5 inches wide. It would fit nicely on a lap tray, sitting in front of the telly - the best way to model.Smile

My next scenic adventure is to plant a forest on the 21in x 15in board that fits next to the one seen here - see my next post

Jon

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Posted by papasmurf on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 7:30 PM

HI AGAIN JON:  papasmurf here from the old railroad forum. as I looked at your successive photos of scenic detail added with each, it made me immediately think of Miracle Grow Plant Food commercial I just saw on the telly and made me chuckle, LOL. This is meant in the best possible way, as I think your scenery looks SUPER GREAT; wish yours truly could do half as well, when I get my bloody HO layout finally started, shortly. TTFN....Old Tom aka papasmurf in NH

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Posted by jon grant on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 1:41 PM

I got the trees and temporary backscene added late last night, so the scene is pretty much complete, although I may darken the clay erosion slightly. I also added some flowers to the grass and have a few other plants to make and add later.

Details will be added to the yard area later, but for now, I want to concentrate on the tree-lined areas at the back of the layout

 


Jon

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Posted by Packer on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 8:03 AM

Where are the rabbits?

Looks great, even the coloring of the clay is pretty good.

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Posted by richhotrain on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 7:37 AM

Looks real good.  Pretty much looks like the real thing.

Rich

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Posted by rrinker on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 7:37 AM

 Is a herring involved?

It really does capture the look of a partially eroded hillside. It seems a bit harsh at first but if you look at actual pictures of similar formations, it's really spot-on.

             --Randy

 


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Posted by MisterBeasley on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 6:38 AM

A shrubbery, eh?  You must be planning on running your layout at Knight.....

I'm curious about the clay.  Does it harden up after a while and become a solid scenery base, or does it remain somewhat soft and pliable?  I could see advantages and disadvantages either way.

I really like the bare, "washed out" clay on the steep sides of the embankment.

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Posted by jon grant on Monday, April 25, 2011 7:10 PM

I added some forest floor scatter, weeds, bushes and some dead trees to the grassy hill. The scene is starting to come together.


Next job will be to plant some trees.

Jon

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Posted by jon grant on Monday, April 25, 2011 3:53 PM

Once the silos had been bedded in and the track inside the shed ballasted, I added a few mud landslips from the Das modelling clay which, when dry, resembles the colour of Alabama clay.

I also tore up various Silflor grass mats and glued them to the sub-base in small patches, varying the colours as I went. The next job will be to blend in some forest ground cover before adding some bushes and trees.


Now, fetch me a shrubbery....Ni!

Jon

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Scenic update for Sweethome Alabama
Posted by jon grant on Monday, April 25, 2011 3:31 PM

I have been working on a few trees recently and am now ready to plant them. however I needed to add some grass and forest floor before I could plant the trees.

The area I chose to treat first was the small hillock to the left of the silos, being only a couple of feet long by 5 inches deep. The first task was to bed the silos into the scenery with 'Das' modelling clay.


I also made a couple of retaining walls using 'Wills' random stone sheet, to represent the road access to the loading area behind the silos. I also covered the clay with Woodland Scenics 'earth blend'


Jon

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