This one was in the cards…or ON the cards…or, something like that…
Card TABLE anyways…[swg] This is the placement phase to check clearances etc. The station will be at track level. The 2 bungalows will be raised about 2 inches and the red villa another 2 inches above that. Behind the red villa will be a tunnel.
My rendition of the AF Union Station. O gauge in my favorite colors too! [swg] Trees are sisal rope or loofah. Flowers are sisal rope, green dust and bits of painted sponge. While a circle of O31 would have fit, I stuck with O27 because of some issues with age-ed engines.
The next step is to strip away the woodgrain contact paper from the table surface so I can start building the terrain risers. I haven’t decided yet what to do about the tunnel. I could use Life-Like mountain paper which gives a similar illusion to what Lionel did on Scenic Railways back in the 20’s. Or, I could try to hand paint it. Wether or not I end up using fish glue doped felt is another story! [(-D]
That is way cool Becky! I really like the miniature AF station. You are one of the most creative person currently in model railroading! Keep up the great work!!!
Very nice, Becky! Your buildings are fantastic, a perfect complement to the Marx trains. I love the trees, too. Looking forward to more photos as you progress with this layout.
Very nice affect. You did a very nice job on the buildings . I wish you would write a step by step article with pictures on how you built them. I have to confess some ignorance on the materials you used on the trees. What is “sisal rope” and “loofah”?Also, what is “fish glue”? Where would you get those things? Micheals maybe?
With a premade “kit” structure, I print the parts on 65 pound cardstock and cut out the parts with an X-Acto knife and scissors as you might expect. “As is” they make excellent models. But I wanted lighted structures so I went a bit further. I removed the windows from all 4 walls and traced the walls onto illustration board, which you can find at craft, art, stationary and office supply stores. It’s 1/16th inch thick chip board much like cereal box cardboard and often has one white side and one natural gray side. To amplify the lighting, I face the white side in and glue the walls on the less pretty side. But before I glue the walls to the i-board, I insert replacement windows with all the individual sections (panes, lights, muntins) cut out and I back each window with vellum, which can also be found in the store where you got the i-board. For large surfaces (like printed walls to i-board) I prefer 3M’s Scotch brand non wrinkling glue sticks. They have a low water content and the glue won’t warp the board nor will it soak through the cardstock and damage the printed graphics. Just be careful that too much doesn’t get on your fingers! That WILL mar the surface! [:P]
The station, the bridge and the large villa are a different story. There are no kits out there that I’m aware of for making them at home. Books, catalogs and magazines are an excellent source for info but you may be surprised where I get most of my best info from. Ebay. Bungalows, villas, stations, tunnels, landscaped plots, even complete scenic railways show up on ebay from time to time. If you’re using the windows os, all you
Well, I’ll tell ya. I sent in a few pics of Disneyland at least 3 different times by at least 3 different methods and never got any response or even an acknowledgement that the pics were received. So, I don’t know.
Do not feel too bad about the silence. I sent an article to Carl as well and I have not heard a definitive “yea” or “nay” either. Perhaps a write-up similar to what you have here with some elaboration could help sell the idea. For reasons detailed in other posts, prewar is not a major priority for them although that is one of the areas where CTT differs from OGR. I think your efforts are fantastic in my humble opinion.
Becky look at it this way it may not get in the mag but you definitely have a good following here on the forum. Your post always seem to gather a lot of lookers and comments. Like Mike said keep on training we enjoy it.
I think you are very talented and innovative. You have taught me alot and I’ve been in this hobby for several decades. I printed out your reply to me about your construction methods and saved it for reference. Thank you for your hard work on that, by the way. If you are a member of LOTS, LCCA or TCA, those organizations are always looking for articles for their publications. Maybe you could write for them?
Yesterday I stripped off the vinyl woodgrain from the table and started building the land forms.
We’ll assume that the owners of the railroad are they who live in that hilltop mansion! [:D]
Today I picked up supplies including 10 loofahs (loofii??? [swg]) so I’ll take some pics as I make more trees. I also decided that since I wasn’t sure it would work 100% the first time around that I’d go with white kraft paper for the mountain instead of felt. But that doesn’t mean I can’t overlay the paper with the felt at a later date.
I’ll also be using Rustoleum hunter green latex gloss and Woodland Scenics fine turf: burnt grass which I keep in a mason jar.
I start by carefully cutting down the side of the husk just to the side of where the inner core connects to the outer husk. I find that a rocking motion with almost no down pressure on the blade cuts through very well and minimizes the risk of cutting yourself.
With the husk removed, it’s easy to see all the little pockets where the seeds were.
I trimmed the core down with scissors at this point to a reasonable facimile of a tree shape.
Now’s the time to start glomming on the paint. A stiff brush makes it easier to get the paint to flow into the voids in the seed pod. I usually start about halfway along the pod and work each “section” one strip at a time from halfway to the point. Then I dunk it:
This is were the mason jar comes in handy as it helps with dust control. I like to dig around in the foam with the loofah and get it around to the side I’m trying
Thanks for your time and trouble in sharing this good information about your technique for building trees. I have a area on my layout where this will work well. I will be looking forward to seeing pictures of your latest layout when you get it finished. Your work looks very professional, like you have had some art or graphic design training in the past. Anyway, thanks again for schooling us on your techniques.
I’ve included a tunnel. But it’s very short! [:D] Anyhoo I built up the “mountain” with foamcore, newspaper and white kraft paper.
Then it was time for paint. Here’s what I used:
First layer, Georgia Clay:
Then the blue:
Light green:
Dark green:
Yellow highlights:
And finnaly the white snowcap:
A reasonable facsimile! [:D] I still have to paint the back side of the mountain and a bit of the hillside. I’ll make portals out of the same tan cardstock I used to make the bridge posts. The rest of the raised area will receive the same paint and foam treatment that I used on the table surface. Then it will be pretty well done! [:D]
Well, there ya go! Doesn’t get much simpler than a square circle on a flat surface. I wanted to whip this one out before Christmas, but as you may know I got a little backlogged! [swg]
Yet another wonderful effort. The sum is definitely greater than the parts and the parts are very well done indeed. Thank you for sharing your talents with us.
