Finally some scenery photos

[Erik W]

Promptly after finishing the first scenery section on the layout, my house was struck by lightning.  The strike fried the computer.  Now that the computer is up and running again here are some scenery shots from the Moffat Tunnel end of my layout.  I just sceniced a 2 1/2 foot section to test out the techniques I plan on using.











Erik

[pbrooks]

All I have to say is, Wow! 

Awesome modeling, Erik.
Makes me want to see more!

How did you make the conifers?

Thanks or sharing,

-Phil

[Ryan87]

Nice!

How did you make the Aspens?
I need a pile for my Nothern Ontario Layout...

Cheers,

Ryan Laroche
Winnipeg, MB

[atsf_arizona]

Nice shot, Eric.  I especially like the ballasting job.   Rest of scenery looks great too.  Thx for sharing.

[SecretWeapon]

Fantastic !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MrKLUKE]

.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Thumbs up.

Although, I think paying a little more attention the forest areas (forest specific groundcover instead of just grass) will give results that far outweigh the time spent.

[ljudice]

Erik: Great work - really captures the area nicely!!! And the best model of Moffat's east end I've ever seen!

Jeff: the Moffat has a ventilation system which is housed, with control equipment on each end and also has one of or the main water tunnel for Denver, so there is probably some equipment area for that as well.

[tehachapifan]

FANTASTIC!! ;D

Extremely well done!

Russ

[Boiler-man]

What you have done looks GREAT! ;D

[Erik W]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Ed, any suggestions for forest specific groundcover.  That's just the area I thought could use a little "tweaking", especially under the aspen trees.  I'm open to suggestion. 

Phil, the conifers were made following Bernard Kempinski's method for modifying Heki trees seen here:
http://www.geocities.com/bkempins/TennPass/InProgressGallery3/index_2.htm

Ryan, the aspen trees were made from a dried flower called Candy Tuft in the natural color I bought at the craft store Michael's.  I trimmed off tree sized pieces, airbrushed them yellow and hand painted the tree trunks white.  I then used a small brush and dabbed dark brown paint on the trunks.

I just added some crossbucks for the dirt road and will add a couple of photographers railfanning at the portal itself.

Here's a prototype photo of the east portal of the Moffat Tunnel.


And here's my version under construction.


Erik

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Erik

Forest floor just happens to be my area of expertise! (Or so I like to pretend).

I currently use real leaves ground up REAL fine by Rockingham Junction Models. I don't think they're making them currently, so I'd suggest just investing in a dollar store or good will blender adding some dead leaves and water, and setting it on "puree" "frappe" or anything else that ends in "e".

But before you go and do that, take a good look at pictures of forests in that area. This technique works for me being eastern, but aspen and pine forests may need different techniques.

[bsoplinger]

But before you go and do that, take a good look at pictures of forests in that area. This technique works for me being eastern, but aspen and pine forests may need different techniques.

You definitely want to take a look at the forst floor where you're modelling. But even in the east, where the forest is primarily pines (usually higher elevations here) the floor is much different than that under a mixed or mostly deciduous forest. The pine forests here are very bare, almost no green growing ground covered except in the deepest late spring and early summer. Often that's only where a tree has fallen or by the side of a road, where extra sun can get down into the forest. The pine needles are acidic (I believe) and make it hard for things to grow.

[Ian MacMillan]

Erik, that scenery looks pretty damn good!

The Forest Floor that I gave Ed a test sample of is based off of northern New England forests, generally 60% Maple/Birch and 40% white pine causing a 100% leaf littered floor year round.

[DKS]

Erik

Forest floor just happens to be my area of expertise! (Or so I like to pretend).

I currently use real leaves ground up REAL fine by Rockingham Junction Models. I don't think they're making them currently...

Lately I've been experimenting with materials from The Driftwood Scenery Company (http://www.driftwoodscenery.com/), mixing some of their stuff with some finely-ground leaf stuff from JJT Tree (http://www.jttmicroscale.com/index.asp). The results so far are have been encouraging (this is Z scale, but most scenery is "scale-less"):



I'm modeling the northeast in early summer, when greenery is at its thickest. This area is about the size of a business card:



More details on these pages:

http://jamesriverbranch.net/part_6a.htm
http://jamesriverbranch.net/part_6b.htm
http://jamesriverbranch.net/part_6c.htm