Hello folks.
In addition to normal stuff like going on holiday and redecorating the dining room, I have added some more scenery to the layout, in particular some rocks and hills.
The rocks were cast from WS moulds and cut to suit, and the hills were made from plaster bandage shaped over carved polystyrene sheets. When dry, the plaster was painted with brown ‘tester pots’ from the local hardware shop (B&Q) and earth scatter was sprinkled on while the paint was wet, to give a basic impression of landscape.
This will eventually be hidden when I get started on the grass and shrubbery (‘Ni!’)
Here are some progress photos starting with the foreground stuff-
Southern freight house in situ.
Rock outcrop
Rainwater outflow, yet to be detailed.
East yard with rock outcrop
Bridge photos to follow…
Jon
Looks great, as usual, Jon.
David B
Thanks David.
The scratchbuilt bridge (thanks to Dale Burns of the Alrails Yahoo group for the photos) hides the gap through the backscene and the hills will eventually be heavily wooded to match the backscene photos.
I also spent some spare time detailling and weathering the Proto GP38-2.
The scenery continues behind the backscene and will eventually have its own tree-covered backscene
Some overall shots to follow…
Jon
Finally a few overall shots of the new scene to bring things up to date. I will be continuing with the basic scenery around the freight house for a while yet, and will post more progress shots as I go.
And finally a couple of Birmingham Southern locos.
Jon
**Jon…**Looks good!!
I really like the ex.Railbox/CSXT. Could you send me some pictures of it???
As usual, your new changes looks wonderful!
Hopefully, after you get the shrubbery in place, you won’t be tasked with chopping down a large tree with a herring 
Grin,
Stein
I did three railbox cars using similar weathering techniques, basing them on photos in the Railroad Picture archives.
You can see more of my modern freight cars by following the link to my Railimages albums using the link at the bottom of this post.
Jon
Jon, it’s amazing what scenery does. No longer the Plywood Central! But I know a lot of work is ahead of you. Enjoy it.
Wolfgang
Jon, this one´s turning into a jewel. Nice of you to let us participate in the making of it!
I’ve spent the weekend finishing off the basic scenery on board one - styrene and plaster bandage hills plus plaster surface in the yard. Ive also finished off the ballasting in the yard.
The area behind the freight house will be wooded, to blend in with the backscene
The yard will eventually be overgrown, difficult to imagine at the moment.
A couple of views from behind where the backscene sits
Next for some photos of the painted and ballasted yard
Jon
Once the white bits were covered over, the scene started to look a little more realistic, even though there is no vegitation to speak of, although I propped up some old plastic trees behind the freight house to get a visual effect of what things might look like.
In the first 2 photos, I temporarily placed a small patch of some of the ground cover I will be using - visible in the foreground
I’ve also been patching a GP38 into CSX, although I still have to weather the crap out of it.
Jon
Lastly for this weekend, I took a few updated shots of the GP38-2 now that the bridge has been bedded in and the ballasting has been completed.
I also remembered to turn on the DCC this time!
Jon
I thought I’d have a go at adding foliage to some of the bare trees, so I knocked out a couple of Autumnal/Fall trees this evening.
The basic ‘tree’ is a flat plastic example from either Heki or Noch (I’ve had them for 20 years), twisted to shape.
I glued some fibre strands to the ends of the branches, sprayed the lot with the cheapest hairspray I could find, then sprinkled some medium ground cover onto the tacky mess to represent leaves.
Finally, I sprayed ‘track dirt’ to the undersides of the branches to tone down the ‘in your face’ COPPER colour.
Here’s some photos of the trees in 2 different locations. There will eventually be some ground cover.
Back to the workbench to make some more.
Jon
Very nice Jon!
I’ve been following your work for some time now. I think this has been your best work so far.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for that Bob, it’s quickly taking shape. I can’t wait to get some more trees done and start adding some ground cover. So little time…
Jon
I added a couple more trees to the layout using ‘the sea foam/hairspray/ground flock’ method. the scenery is starting to take shape.
The trees are just added temporarily until I get some ground cover in place.
Next - more trees
Jon
With the scenery and trees on board 1 coming along nicely, I thought I’d do a bit of catch-up with the scenery on board 2, which was starting to lag behind.
Most of todays work involved glueing down the styrene blocks and cutting them to shape, messy but necessary.
I also cut and fitted scenic fascias from foam-core and fitted them behind the styrene. Once the glue dries, Ill get working on the plaster bandage and a few more rock outcrops.
Jon
Even at this point, your modeling is awesome! Simply incredible. The thought that you’re only partly finished and that its going to get even better still, is simply incomprehensible!
John
Thanks John,
The green bits in the last photo and most of the brown in the yard will not be visible, if everything goes to plan - Mother Nature and ‘Jack in the Green’ are coming.
Jon