Seaboard Central 2.0

[Rich_S]

Dave,
   Have you ever tried painting on a wash of Lamp Black before applying the ground foam? What I've started doing is spraying on the wash using a spray bottle. You just want to turn the plaster gray, what I do is fill the spray bottle with warm water then add just a drop or two of Artist Acrylic "Lamp Black", spray the plaster just enough to let it turn gray and let dry. To my eye, it makes the plaster look like rock. Just a suggestion and you probably want to experiment on a section that can easily be removed if you don't like the effect.

[Noah Lane]

Dave-  I have found three sections of that guard rail (surely, there must have been four in the original pack). I know the fourth will come up eventually, but I'll go ahead and mail the rest of your package on Monday.

In the meantime, I googled 'Kudzu' as it's a plant I'm not so familiar with, living in Nor Cal. And I found this great image for ya:

[davefoxx]

Noah,

That kudzu is awesome . . . of course, because it isn't my backyard.  Seriously, I haven't seen that picture before, and it's helpful for guidance where I want to continue the kudzu on the layout around the highway bridges.

DFF

P.S.  Thanks again for the guardrails.  Take your time mailing it.  There's no rush or any need to go out of your way.

[Bendtracker1]

Dave that's also a good shot for your Powerline idea.

[davefoxx]

Agreed.  That's just wild (no pun intended).  It's probably been done, but I don't recall anybody modeling that before.

DFF

[OldEastRR]

About your slopes ... if you want to, check out the term "angle of repose" (geology/civil engineering) and how it applies to the types of soils you'll find in the area you're modeling.

[davefoxx]

Good idea, OldEastRR.  But, I generally have always tried to keep the slopes on my layout under a 1:1 rise/run (forty-five degree angled slope) anyway.  There's just that one small spot where it goes above that by the bridge abutment.  It really doesn't concern me, and it'll get covered with kudzu to disguise it.  I don't want to cram the space further between the road and the tracks (and urbanize the look) with retaining walls.

DFF

[OldEastRR]

Cribbing isn't urban. In fact, by using logs you'd have a 19th century look. Have one or two logs cracked or sagging with fill spilled out and you get the look of age.

[davefoxx]

Granted, that I had a stretch of work where I worked twelve days straight and we were out of town two out of four of the last weekends, but I also have not touched the layout in almost a month.  Motivation came to screeching halt after I really screwed up the weathering on the next stretch of road through Aberdeen.  I accidentally over applied the chalk and then spent over an hour scrubbing and trying to get it back to a reasonable looking facsimile of an asphalt street.  I was so disappointed with myself that I just walked away from the layout for several weeks.  Now, taking a fresh look at it, I think that I can do a little blending of chalk weathering (lightly applied this time!) to minimize the remaining streakiness and reapply the highway striping to minimize the mess.

Here's a long distance picture that doesn't expose most of the sins:


In the meantime, I did finally find the second Deluxe Innovations Twinstack decorated for Sealand with NYSW markings on eBay at a reasonable price.  This is perfect for the Seaboard System in the mid-1980s.  Go to 1:32 in the following video and wait for the coal train to get out of the way.

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As you can see in the following crappy videos, I've got the cars operating well empty despite their light weight.  Now, I'm just waiting on the delivery of the announced Sealand containers by Deluxe Innovations.

DFF

[Philip H]

Of all the 1980's COFC stuff, those are my favorite. Can't wait to see them trailered and weathered up!

[davefoxx]

Of all the 1980's COFC stuff, those are my favorite. Can't wait to see them trailered and weathered up!

Me, too!  Thanks!

DFF

[Bob Bufkin]

Dave was thinking of you when i saw this yesterday.

[Philip H]

Caught this one today

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[wm3798]

Don't forget Kudzu Jesus...

[basementcalling]

Dave, nothing wrong with how those roads look. Very typical small town. Well captured I say.

What this thread needs is more kudzu.