Progress on Sweethome Alabama

[jongrant4472]

I have been adding scenery to board 1 (of 3) of my modern-era layout and making good progress, so 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 gluing 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

[jongrant4472]

A bit more progress - plaster bandage now covers the bare hills and the basic ground cover was sprinkled onto wet paint










Looking from the bridge end








Jon

[sd45longhoodfoward]

you got the talent i must say! looking great John!!!
are ya listening to some skynyrd as you work on your great layout?I just love that NS GP 38-2

[sprailtrax]

Wow man. Your modeling is SUPER.
Love the photos of your progress on your layout.
While i model "HO" SP/BN based on Oregon in USA i too love the deep South USA.
Brilliant.Thanks

[jongrant4472]

Aug 27, 2010 2:01:30 GMT -5 sprailtrax said:

While i model "HO" SP/BN based on Oregon in USA i too love the deep South USA.
Brilliant.Thanks

I also have a soft spot for the BN





Jon

[jongrant4472]

After making a few random trees for Sweethome Alabama, a few of the guys on the Yahoo 'Alabama Railroads' group (Alrails) suggested that I needed plenty of 'Southern pines' on the layout, for it to really feel like Alabama. A quick Google search later and I had several photos of Southern yellow pines (Loblolly pine) and the 'shortleaf pine'.

I gathered together some bits of sea foam and a box of WS 'forest canopy', chopped a few bits off and glued a few bits on, stuck some medium ground cover on, and ended up with these.


First trees on the layout




First Southern yellow pines






Although they're a first attempt, they sort of look the part and I'm quite pleased with them, but I have now given myself the task of making about a hundred more for the layout. D'oh!

Jon

[jongrant4472]

Hello all

I have spent the last week or so making more trees for the layout and repainting/soundchipping/detailling/weathering a GP40 into CSX (the loco had been painted for SP) The number reflects an ex-Western Railway of Alabama loco.

I also detailled and weathered the ex-Family Lines GP38 in a bit of spare time.












Jon

[jongrant4472]

I couldnt decide which style of CSX patch style I preferred for the Family Lines GP38 so I did both.

One side has a dark grey patch low on the cab side for the CSX number and the FL lozenge has been whited over. The other side has a lighter grey patch for the CSX number covering the yellow and red trim on the cabsibe and the FL lozenge has been covered over in red paint. (the actual loco - an ex-CRR loco - had the low dark grey patch on the cab side but the writing in the FL lozenge was still visible.

The guys in the paint shop must have been checking to see if the foreman was paying attention!












Lastly I overexposed this shot of the GP38 but it produced an interesting shot, so I've included it here




I will now have to take a month's break from Sweethome Alabama while I get Sweethome Chicago ready to show at Manchester exhibition at the start of October.

Jon

[Randy Earle]

The whole setup looks great Jon.

[icghogger]

Your trees are amazing, Jon, very realistic!! You certainly have achieved the look of Alabama country side (with the exception of Kudzu vines!!). Keep up the good work!!

[quadk]

Jon this Alabama layout is just as amazing as the Chicago. Nice work

[kcs1967]

Great work, I like the Seaboard locomotive, and like others before me, the trees are awesome.

[icghogger]

Sept 6, 2010 20:12:26 GMT -5 @espeeaussie said:

Jon, Perhaps you could start a forum and call it the Diesel Treetailer. ;D LOL ;D

I, too, think you should share your tree-making methods with us. In return, I can show you how I make those kudzu vines! ;D

[diesel]

wow Jon, You've got trees hills and backdrops down! That is one of the nicest painted backdrop paintings ever!

[jongrant4472]

Sept 7, 2010 11:51:24 GMT -5 diesel said:

wow Jon, You've got trees hills and backdrops down! That is one of the nicest painted backdrop paintings ever!

Thanks, but it's a photograph - 6th photgraph down

larcproducts.com/AutumnSeries.html

Jon

[jongrant4472]

Sept 7, 2010 9:24:14 GMT -5 icghogger said:

In return, I can show you how I make those kudzu vines! ;D

Yes please . It'll also come in useful for my next layout based near Meridian, Mississippi - I want to model some IC/ICG and Midsouth GP10s.

PS I'll knock up a tree tutorial soon

Jon

[jongrant4472]

I shot and edited a couple more videos for Sweethome Alabama, after adding yet more trees on the layout, this time in the foreground of the East Yard.

I have included a bonus featurette in episode 4, showing some 'speed modelling', when I accidentally left the camera running while I added a few trees and bushes to a somewhat barren area.

Here are the links to the videos and some photos of the area modelled

www.youtube.com/user/JonGrant4472?feature=mhum















Jon

[jongrant4472]

I had a go at making a larger tree tonight and took some progress photos as I went

Starting off with a basic home-made twisted-wire former, I glued some WS poly fibre to the ends of the branches and teased the clumps out. This creates a 'candy floss' effect, as suggested by some wag at the model RR club this evening.









I sprayed the tree with a tin of 'track colour' to mute the garish colours and darken the branches, teasing out the poly fibre after the paint had dried.





Once done, I mounted the tree into a block of expanded foam (as used by flower arrangers) and set to it with the hairspray - away from the layout and in a well ventilated area - it smell's like a 'tart's boudoir'.




More to follow...


Jon

[jongrant4472]

I applied the hairspray to a small portion of the tree at a time and sprinkled on some fine Hornby 'Skaledale' ground foam using 'burnt grass' first, followed by 'autumnal mix'.

I also added some Silflor ivy to the trunk





The finished tree has now been placed on the layout, although I may be 'borrowing' it for a revamp of some of the trees on Sweethome Chicago - look out for that topic soon.




Jon

[kcs1967]

Great job on the trees Jon, I have done similar with the twisted wire, I flux the entire thing and flow solder on to it, it definitely makes for a durable tree.