My Two Layouts... (The NCR Shelf & Canton)

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I realized I don't have one of these threads here, probably because my progress is glacially slow, but, here's the kickoff.

I wrote up an explanation of the two concurrent (kinda) layout projects I've got going on my site:

http://conrail1285.com/news.asp?storyid=78

I'm going to write up a full article on the shelf's progress at some point, but in the meantime, here are three pics (also in the writeup):

[MichaelWinicki]

Nice pics Ed!

[Philip H]

Bout time old' mAn - of course this means I'll need to do at some point.

[davefoxx]

Ed,

I really do like how you have carved the foam substrate to capture rolling hills and avoided many level spots on your layouts.  That said, if you won't remove the Christmas lights, at least keep them out of your pictures.   

DFF

[Coxy]

Thanks for the pix Ed. Nice to see more folks modeling the Mojave!! 

[GaryHinshaw]

Thanks for the pix Ed. Nice to see more folks modeling the Mojave!! 

+1!  Some of the best desert scenery I've ever seen.  As long as you have it in that state, stick some Trona Baldwins on there and take a slug of photos.  You'll pick up all kinds of new followers.  But seriously, I hope this thread spurs you to further progress.

[Dave V]

Me gusta!

Love the texture with the grout.  I wonder, though, if you maybe should have masked that track before you sanded everything.  Nevertheless, unlike the other posts on the subject, I think you have that dry winter soil color just right, especially with the dull and diffuse winter lighting you intend to replicate.

I'm loving all the rail fan shots you can set up in such a short distance.  Simple grade crossing with house and store (gas station?), stone culvert, leafless tree line, Interstate overpass...  All very typical, mundane, and exactly correct for the locale and era.

What about Canton?  Last year I remember it was part "blank canvas" and part extended workbench/shelf.  Any roadbed/tracklaying yet?

[PAL_Houston]

Nice.
Question:  How do you keep up with 2 layouts?  Are your weeks longer than my weeks?

[wm3798]

You need to take your bike up the NCR trail and take a big canvas bag to collect some shards of local rock.  Embed them into the finish layer of scenery goop, then start planting your dead trees.  You must have a million trees now that you've been making a few every night for the last 6 years...



I still contend that the base soil color is too light, but then again, back when I would drive up the abandoned right of way in my Super Beetle to get hammered with my high school buddies, it was always dark...

Lee

[w neal]

I think I could learn a thing or two from you Ed. Great stuff. I really like your "vision". Will be watching indeed!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Thanks guys.

Lee, you're absolutely correct about the rocks, I'm just waiting for a sub 90deg day to go do it. I want to take the dog, but when it's that hot, he goes on strike. As far as the color goes, look at the dirt next to the ballast, and back along side the engine.

Paul, the answer? Barely... one of them is currently just serving as my work bench (3 hollow core doors for $15 at the Re-Store got me the best modeling work bench ever).

Dr. Dave, Canton is still in planning. I need to use it as a work shop while I work on the shelf.

Dave Esq, Replacing them with track lighting is in the to-do, I think I need a hand doing it though. Lately Terri's been watching House Crashers, so she might just be up for it... and thanks for the terrain comment, that's something that I think is absolutely key to modeling, well, anywhere. I also did my best to avoid sharp transitions too, say from a hill to a flat. This type of thing isn't so important if the entire terrain is going to be covered by foliage (bushes, trees, etc...), but I don't have anywhere to hide, so I've got to get it right.

[Philip H]

Ed, I. An help with the lights - providing you have a good circuit to connect to. Otherwise we'd hard to run new wire, and they takes time.

[tom mann]

You must have a million trees now that you've been making a few every night for the last 6 years...

Wow, its been 5 years:  https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=12793.0

Amazing how time flies!   

[Philip H]

Ed, I. An help with the lights - providing you have a good circuit to connect to. Otherwise we'd hard to run new wire, and they takes time.

Geez, auto correct makes me look drunk when I type!

[wm3798]

He has the lights.  I delivered them to him personally over a year ago.

He'll need a new circuit.  600 watts of track lighting don't take kindly to that old cloth insulated 14AWG he's got in that old fire trap.

Should be able to fish it through the ceiling tiles provided the rafters above the ceiling tile run in the right direction, which I believe they do.

Lee