This a a shot of my recently completed Diorama. My wife is a Trooper so I thought it appropriate and she got a kick out of it.
Another shot for you folks that didn’t see it the first time around.
Finally licked the new pic posting technique.
Terry
Great scene Scuba! So who got stopped, the truck or the VW bus?
Very nicely done!! I think I remember you asking around about female officer figures.
Ryan - It’s hard to see from this angle but the truck is on the highway. Of course those “Hippies” in the van got pulled over. Yep never did find any female figures to convert to FHP duty. Terry
Terry,
The “hippies” in the van are really you and your wife, right? [swg] BTW, how’s that Bowser locomotive kit coming along?
Tom
I was an Army brat and my dad thought long hair was way bad. I still remember his choice words to me when the Beatles hit the states. In my ignorance I mentioned that George Washington had long hair. OOPs wrong thing to say. Anyway I couldn’t pass for a hippie as I gots no hair.
As far as Bowser I now have the 2-8-2 and a Challenger on back order and have had for sometime now. No end in site. I bought and assembled a Hobbytown RS-3 (90% done). That was a blast. I also ordered the other set of NYC FT’s. I am going to have a big addition to the roundhouse here sometime soon.
Terry
Ah ha! Dang “hippies”…
…officer must have pulled them over for a broken tail light and then upon approaching the vehicle there must have been on overwhelming stench of that illicit herb, known to be transported quite frequently in VW vans with broken tail lights…
Yep you nailed it! The funny thing is that was the third time they got pulled over today and the highway is only like 40 inches long. It’s apparently the most heavily patrolled 40 inches of highway in America. If you notice on the second shot a CHP Motorcycle cop (on loan from Cally) has a sporty car pulled over. I’ll have to pull the ole Diorama out again and play with it. I just got in a bunch more vehicles and LPB’s.
Terry
I believe I’ll keep off that streach of highway and take the back roads. LOL Mike
This is really nice work. Where the cars are pulled off the highway it looks like they are on gravel. I’m getting ready to make some gravel roads and was wondering what you used for the gravel?
Jerry
Jerry I used good ole very fine white beach sand. I put it down and used white glue/water to set it. Once dry I dribbled on some india ink wash to darken and highlite it some. It turned out quite well. Terry
I like how there is the 70’s vehicle parked next to the more modern ones [:)]
James My layout is the 50’s era NYC/NKP so all of my rolling stock and most of my vehicles are for that period. I bought the Patrol cars etc just for the Diorama. I tried to keep the diorama neutral so I could put anything on it. But of course the NYC GP-9 kind of gives it away. I have fun posing different scenes. Terry
Wow! That is a well protected stretch of real estate huh! Got to hand it to the local authorities though…“to protect and to serve” motto holds up nicely on that 40" stretch. And great use of real sand, are you getting it from the play sand bags or from local beaches?
Ryan
I was fortunate enough to have lived in Pensacola Florida for 15 years. Pensacola Beach is world famous for very fine, very white sand. When my wife and I moved down here to the Florida Keys two years ago I brought a bag “O” sand with me. No beaches down here, all coral heads and vertually no sand. I think any light colored sand would work however. I toned it down after the glue dried with an india ink wash. I used it for the “Look out Point” area on the diorama as well as the shoulders of the road. It was a real pain to get it exactly right before glueing. Ballast is much heavier and stays put but this likes to go all over the place. But the results make it worth it.
Terry
Terry,
We just moved from New Orleans in January and it was tradition for us to make the 4-5 hour drive to Gulf Breeze, Pensacola, Navarre, Destin, or Fort Walton at least twice a year during the summer months to soak in the great beaches. Yes, I agree, the sand is the best, they are some of the best beaches in the world! Having been to beaches along the Atlantic, Pacific, Hawaiian Islands, and Yucatan beaches of Mexico, I can safely say that the Florida Gulf Coast beaches are some of the best I have seen! Some people call that kind of sand “sugar sand” because it is so fine and pure.
When you applied the sand did you try to wet it first with “wet water” then apply the glue/water?
Ryan
Yes I have made the trip to NO airport more times than I care to remember. I am a small city guy myself. Anyway I used the exact same method on the sand that ones uses on ballast. But the problem as I mentioned before is the lite weight of the sand. I found I had to spray the wet water on carefully from about 12-14 inches above the sand to keep it from getting “bomb” craters and moving around. More of a lite mist than a spray. It took longer to completly wet but the sand stayed put. As far as the glue mix I use a large 60cc syringe and let it drip slowly in one spot and it wicked around good. I would then move to another spot until all was done. I ended up with small areas that needed to be smoothed over. The one thing I learned was with this fine sand DON"T mess with it once you have it like you want it. I kept going back and trying to adj a part and ended up messing up the whole section and had to redo. Next time I will “set it and forget it”
Terry
And now the NO airport is not what it used to be after Katrina.
I bet it is a bear getting to set the way you want it to look. And being so fine I am sure it takes a lot of skill to set it up without touching it to much.
Thanks for the tips on using fine grain sand for layout scenery.