Figures for Ron

Today I decided to do some dark side modelling.  I painted up a couple of On30 figures for my buddy Ron Newby who is modelling a nice logging railroad in narrow gauge.

 The figures are from down under.  As the names on the package were Zelda and Matilda.  Since the period was the 1920s rural, the colours had to be durable and hand washable.  Blues and browns were common as they handled the dirt and grime of the outdoor work.

 The backside views show the depth in these figures.  They were still difficult to paint as the surfaces were rough.  Even after priming there were several mold flaws

 The painting consisted of a base coat of blues and brown.  Then darker shades were done in the shadow areas.  Highlights were white along the upper most edges and applied as a glaze or wash so the main colours shows through

The faces were done by a base coat of flesh followed by w wash of Warhammer flesh wash and highlighted with a lighter shade of flesh.

All in all it was a nice way to spend a few hours as figure painting is very relaxing.

FNGer OPs session Oct 2010

Last Friday's ops session was a blast as the guys put the layout through it's paces.  Thanks Ron, Fred and Paul for the action photos.

Here are Mike, Bob and Joel operating their trains from the Elspeth Tower yard throat.

 

 Ron and Chris are switching in Richmond.

 Looks like Joel, Bob, Monique and Fred are having a good time.

 First ops session for Paul.  He came all the way from Montreal.  Hmm.  Ops Train Orders.

 Chris is contemplating his next move as Joel looks like a happy camper.

 Mike manouevers his power into the yard as Bob waits to move the mixed freight with its lumber empties back to Shelby.

 From across the layout Ron looks like he is intently planning his next switch move.

 The coal drag moving past the newly completed lake scene.

 Bob and Joel are discussing thir approach to switching out the propaine facility.

 The coal drag is approaching the crossing at Port coal mine.

 Mike likes to stand on chairs to watch the ops session.  Me I am just having fun looking at my layout in full ops mode.

How long is this thing Bob.  Looks like it will take awhile before we can follow the coal drag into Shelby.

 Here I am at the beginning of the night hand out the train orders.

 Joel giving one of his special man with a thousand faces looks.  A mad wrestler I think.

 Shelby yard looks like it is in the middle of some car sorting.

 Coal drag at hamer's Cut.

 Ron is showing Mike his new Camera with the panorama mode.  I have my Red Friday support the troops shirt on.

 Mike and Paul look like they are discussing my lumber dealership.

Fred and Monique are switching Robin Hood Flour

All in all the layout performed well.  Looking forward to having all the FNGer folks back soon.

Painting the benchwork

Big Job but short entry.  Lela and I painted the benchwork prior to the ops session on Friday.  We used a grey blue primer to match the ceiling.  Then I taped off the partical board layout surface/edge and used a large round brush and punched in my tree and background paint mix using black and yellow to make green shades,  This gave some foreground green to match the layout scenery and added depth to the layout.  The resulting rolled edge on the 2X4 benchwork was effective.

Further progress at the Farmer's Coop

Had a good day and did get a chance to make some progress at the farmer's coop.  Basically I added some doodads and spent the time priming and under painting the parts

 Here is an overhead shot looking at their placement.  I think a bunch of barrels and sacks as well as brooms and hand carts would work as well.,

 I painted the Shell gas pumps one for regular and one for premium.  Some weathering will tone them down nicely.

 Placement of the stuff on the platform does take some thought.  This looks somewhat logical.

Closeup of the pumps painted in basic shell colours.

For Olav I added a shot of a train entering the yard to give you some perspective of what the action will look like.

This is eye high from the edge of the layout

 The box car at the loading dock.  By providing a U shape structural component the eye is drawn into this platform which ties the whole scene together..

A little more painting and weathering and I will plant all this stuff into place.

Farmer's Coop

Here is mu latest project.  I am starting a new farmer's coop located on the north end siding in Shelby.  The kits are from the left overs of stuff I had lying around

 The platforms are from plaster that I had used in a clinic last year.  The Farmer's Coop building from a garage sale and the warehouse is part of a walthers cornerstone grain elevator kit.  The decals were from various sources and the sign was made from styrene and strip wood.  Acrylic paints were used for the platforms.  A combination of bragdon powders and AI were used to streak the building and age them.

 Here you can see the complete siding.  I wanted low profile building so folks could operate the turnouts at the north end.  makes for easy uncoupling as well.  Some farm vehicles for sale are quite common

 Hm.  Looks like I need some more dirt and foliage on the backside.  Photos really help identifying these issues.

 This profile shot is taken from across the room near the port coal mine.  Shows clearly how the scene blends through to the backdrop.

Now some doodads.  These gas pumps are from an old plasticville garage (vintage 1960s.  I also have some crates and stuff from Sierra west.  I will have to post them later as they all need a good paint job.

The other side of the Lake

Well here I am at the other side of the lake.  I started by gluing down pink foam with carpenters glue.  I weighed it down while drying to ensure there would be a good bond.  I shaped in an oval as I wanted a drumlin from the ice age.  I would want a flat top so I could put in a FOS SCALE radio station.  Hmmm Another project. 

I shaped the foam with a box cutter.

 Next I added some celluclay to the backside of the drumlin.  It easy easier to work from back to front.

 I then used a pallet knife to press some shape into the rock and land formations.

Here you can see the other side as it approaches the lake.  It is a little thicker here because I will be building a road down to the lake.



 This is a closeup of the road going to the edge of the layout.  The celluclay  was smoothed to make a road surface through the rock.

 Next I added some dirt and ground foam as described in the previous posting.  Diluted white glue and wet water makes it all blend together.

 Here it is showing the road down to the lake.

 Then I added dirt to the top and some spirea trees, super trees and some bottle brush conifers.  All had been treated with ground foam.

 This high Angle provides an indication of the separation between the track and the water.

 This is the backside.  The closeup shows the celluclay as rock coming through the earth.

 Here is a shot of the little bay near the road to the water.

 Now you can see the foundation scenery for the radio station.  All these layers makes it look like the train is moving through the landscape and creates depth.  The bench work is three feet here.

 A little more to the right.  The lake track and GE plant.

 Looking from the left side of the drumlin to the farm.  Scenic blocks for the main line are created by the foreground conifers.

 A lower angle indicates a spot for a structure in front of the conifers.

 The drumlin at 1,000 ft

 Drumlin at 30,000 ft

 This shows the backside.  There is plenty of room left by the track for easy cleaning and maintenance.

 From high above the layout you can see the shape of the lake relative to the track work and locomotive facility.

 From atop the BNSF servicing you can see the curve as it swoops from the corner in front of the farm

 A little more to the left you are now seeing CN Elspeth at the yard throat.

 The farm scene has lots of depth now.

 The corner is masked and I can visualize the end product now.



Track cleaning time

Time to run some trains.