Ground Scenery finished...

Just a quick update on the ground scenery that was completed tonight after drying this afternoon, and a few photos...

Zip texturing complete...

Jas...

Rail Ties painted & Ground Formed...

Well today was a major push forward for the scenery on the L&T Branch, although it was hard work as the temp was about 37 degrees with the humidity pushing around the 80 - 90% mark.  Not the most ideal conditions to be airbrushing and applying ground goop full of plaster and portland cement.

First point of call was the airbrushing of the railroad ties...

Colour is Polly scale (PS) Roof Brown, the mix is thinned 1:1 (Paint/Thinner).  All applied with an Aztec airbrush, after the paint had dried I went over random ties with a paint pen (Tie Brown) with a darker shade to highlight.

To finish I then went over the rail tops with a Maklin Track Cleaning Block, its amazing how even painting the rail & ties makes a difference.

Next stage was to add some Ground Goop (my term for Joe Fugate's Ground Mix), the mix is a combination of:

1 x Part - Portland Cement

3 x Parts - Patching Plaster

4 x Parts - Fine Vermiculate

This is mixed with water to a consistency close to that of patching plaster.  This was then applied to the areas with the masking tape.

Once this is spread out onto the layout and formed roughly to the contours required, I then use a wet finger to smooth out the mix and get the exact contour and blend it into the edges.

The last series of shots is almost dry, this mix sets up quickly in the conditions faced today.  Hence better to do this in cooler weather.

When this stuff sets it gets rock hard due the addition of the Portland cement.

Next stage is to add the zip texturing to the Ground Goop, the zip texturing is coloured Patching Plaster.  I use a tan coloured mix of tempur powdered paints.

This stage can be fairly messy as the powdered mix (which is sieved) is very fine and laid onto the GG using a sieve, so before starting I mask of the painted areas that you do want covered in the mix.

More to follow...

Jas...

LK&O RR - Layout Benchwork...

This is some seriously nice benchwork by a friend Alan Bailey on his LK&O RR layout.  This is the result of great time and effort in planning and construction.

This will be a rock solid foundation for a great layout...

Jas...

Here is a link to Alan's website:

www.LKOrailroad.com

More Masking & a Drainage Pit...

Hi all,

Well more masking today on the L&T, the main entrance against the backdrop and around the backdrop structures and unloading area are finished.

Next step is to add sanded grout for the ROW, with some ballast in between the ties.  Other areas will be either loose or compacted gravel.

One thing I did alter was the drainage ditch coming from the JL&T module, I have extended the ditch onto the L&T area near the scratch built crossing.  And because of this I also added a scratch built (Evergreen Styrene) drainage pit to receive any excess storm water run off.

The next part of this section will be to add the "ground goop", zip texturing to form the land contours. Then the ties and rails will be airbrushed & weathered.  Then zip texturing, and finally sanded grout to other areas.  Once all this will then be weathered further using an airbrush and weathering chalks.

Stay tuned.

Jas...

Base scenery begins on the L&T...

Hi All,

Well I finally have started on the base scenery for the L&T Branch at its entrance.  The track work has been completed, the crossing installed and working and so begins the first step of the scenery.

I've started by adding masking tape to the base cork sub road bed, this forms the bare base that is painted with tan colour latex paint (the method that Joe Fugate uses), on top of this the zip texturing material will be added.

Masking tape added to sub road bed...

Scratch built crossing completed, and ready for weathering & ballasting...

Hi all,

Well last night I finished up the last couple of jobs to finish off the crossing, I added the last of the styrene ties, a few more track pins and tested out the electrical side of the crossing.

The outcome of the previous posts relating to the power issues stemmed from two things:

Bad pick ups in a couple of Athearn units & Not enough feeders leading into the crossing.

So these have all been fixed, and we are reading to weather & detail the styrene and track.  Here are few photos of the finished crossing and area before we start adding the scenery and ballasting the track...

Cheers,

Jas...

L&T Branch Entrance ready for Scenery...

Just a couple of quick photos of the L&T Branch entrance prepped and ready for the scenery to be added...

All the hard standing areas are in, track work finished, operational and tested.

Time to break out the airbrush & weathering chalks and place an order with Scenic Express for some real rock ballast...

More to follow soon.

Jas...