Essex branch HO v4

[nuno81291]

Hello asshats,

I have started on a new horribly oversized shelf just to get out of the armchair and do some actual modeling. Simple plan...going to be fairly modern, freelanced location in New England. Aiming for winter/mud season for this since I never modeled that before. Lots of work in progress, figured I would start a thread to get feedback.

Regards,

Mike

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Awesome. I take it you're familiar with Mike Confalone's Allagash? It's quite inspirational.

[nuno81291]

Yes quite familiar- if I can achieve 10% of the overall modeling skill displayed I would be very pleased... Very inspirational.

[nuno81291]

doctors orders to stay in have me working more on the layout... finished the first full pass of the overcast sky...very much like how it broke up the monotony of the blue under layer, and reminds me much of the average 'blah' day up here in the mountains.



here is an overview with the majority of the layout in picture.

here is one section I did a bit of static grass...it is sort of dark for my taste, unsure if I should try to paint some of it, scrape it, or add some more ground cover to make it seem a little less uniform...perhaps some scissors, and autumn leaf colored ground cover will help to break up the monotony I created (yes I looked at many reference photos...heavy handed with the applicator...oops!)




On to the next mess...



Here you see the abomination that is currently my stream scene. I goofed up and poured way too thick a layer of gloss medium. I mistook liquitex and envirotex and went for the gloss medium (realized my mistake after I poured...oops!) Oh well... this is my reference photo for this scene http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=351107&nseq=216

I think it will be salvageable if I let it set up and then go ahead and maybe pour envirotex over the whole mess and then add acrylic medium or gloss gel to simulate the ripples present. I need to do some more tests with snow to get a convincing look..thinking about painted/plastered styrofoam like Mike Confalone for snowbanks, but perhaps some white sanded grout on top of a form could give a similar effect..not trying to blanket everything but to show various levels of snow decay/blackening etc.

here are a few more photos to show a few other angles of the scene so far.




In this last one you can see I messed around with the grout dirt/gravel road by coating it in the gloss medium...I am eventually going to get around to modeling ice patches/wet patches on the pavement and some of the dirt/gravel areas so I figured this would be a good spot for a test...needs another layer of dry stuff over it for variation but I really enjoy the sheen and it looks very wet in person.

Thanks for looking.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I like it.

Do you know about his DVDs?
http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/7633

They're a "how to".

[Philip H]

So . . . Your rocks are too big, too many, and too close if you really want to copy that picture. I'd reduce the big ones by half and spread them out more and then add some medium sized ones. Overall you at least one third too many and they are sticking up too close to your bridge.

On the other hand your backdrop is da bomb, and you are well in the way to slick icy patches.

[nuno81291]

Thanks for the critique Philip. Here is another shot of the scene..I think what I was going for would look better with the layer of envirotex to raise the height of the water substantially as well as adding the gloss medium to simulate the ripples. I am more after the feel or atmosphere of that snow shot than a stone for stone replica. My original intent was to have the majority of that waterway buried in the 2 part epoxy mix so it would be more a few of the tops coming through and a lot of it with ice buildup per that first snow shot. I may consider pulling a couple of the larger stoneshttp://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=549440&nseq=22

[nuno81291]

perhaps this looks a bit better?

[nuno81291]

any advice on the latest incarnation of the river bed?



also working on the road/overpass scene...not quite there yet but i am enjoying the effect of the snow but need more weathering to dirty up the road and represent a winters worth of salting/melt/freeze cycles





a lot of work ahead!

[Philip H]

River looks much improved. Well done.

What's the clearance between the road and the bridge?

[nuno81291]

The clearance is a mere 10'6" with the bridge shoes. I was planning to model a stuck truck ala an infamous bridge in Westford ma where trucks seem to get stuck every year.

[nuno81291]

Back at it with some slow but steady progress. Decided to work on weathering/painting some track and gave the bridge track a go..have guard rails drying a bit before I put them in place.

Played around in photoshop and am thinking of going toward a composite photo backdrop... will be interesting to get to blend but I think I can pull it off.

Up next is going to be getting all the track in so I can make a damn train move for the first time in over a year. After that I am going to paint the track, ballast and weather the track. Then back to another envirotex pour under the other bridge. Will be busy with the structures and general rough scenery for awhile but time will tell.

Not shown is a valence/shelf I built above for the lighting and storage of various good/book shelf etc.

Any comments welcome... I need to add some powders to the weathering on the bridge as well as fine tune it but I am pretty happy with how the larger river scene is shaping up!

Mike

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I like that!

Also... tell me about your forest floor. That looks really good.

[Philip H]

by itself the bridge looks great - but you are correct the track needs attention to match the weathering on the bridge.

The river looks nicely done - it needs a fisherman or two or a kid skipping rocks, but otherwise its come along nicely.

[sirenwerks]

by itself the bridge looks great - but you are correct the track needs attention to match the weathering on the bridge.

The river looks nicely done - it needs a fisherman or two or a kid skipping rocks, but otherwise its come along nicely.

In the winter?  Fisherman maybe.  Kid's skipping rocks?  They're out playing hockey on the pond.  Considering it looks like a relatively slow moving river,  I recommend some ice sheet along the river edge.  Not like broken ice flow, but the thin type that forms along the shore at places like downstream behind large rocks and overhangs over the water itself.  Maybe using thin clear styrene with some white acrylic highlights?