The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[davefoxx]

APRIL 18, 2020 at 3:56 P.M.:

Kudzu!  Save yourself!



DFF

[garethashenden]

Great updates Dave! Love to see the progress.

[davefoxx]

APRIL 18, 2020 at 5:47 P.M.:

Oh, and I found a better green in my stock of scenery materials:



The drainage works on the layout, because all of the glue is pouring into the ditches and the lake. 

DFF

[davefoxx]

APRIL 19, 2020 at 12:16 P.M.:

Thanks, guys!  As I should have known, they say kudzu can grow up to a foot per day.  Well, I came down this morning, and, son of a b****, it grew one 1:1 square foot overnight.  You've got to keep an eye on this stuff! 



DFF

[davefoxx]

APRIL 25, 2020 at 11:56 A.M.:

DKS's method is what I used on the Seaboard Central 2.0, and I think it worked well.  I need to work on my wave texture better this go around, because I think it was Philip H. that pointed out that the wave action didn't all go in one direction from the wind.  I recall stupidly changing the direction of the water movement as tidal action, but that's the problem: this lake isn't tidal.    Surprisingly, the Gloss Gel Medium is also very durable, as it stood up to dust, cleanings, and even a lot of scenic cement flowing downhill onto it.

I found some Woodland Scenics' water product in my pile of scenery materials this morning, and I was considering trying it.  It's one of those products that you pour.  But, if my bottle of Gloss Gel Medium is still good, I may go back and do that method again.  If it's no good, I'll probably try the Woodland Scenics' product, because our local craft store closed down permanently before the pandemic.

In the meantime, I am continuing to work on the scenery around the lake, so that I can finish the lake.  First, I have an order from MBK out there since Tuesday that doesn't appear to have shipped yet and includes the Polyfiber I need to continue on with the kudzu-ing.  I also installed more cattails to my marshy end of the lake.

But, here's the Number One reason why I get so frustrated when I try scenery, painting, or even weathering.  It comes out wrong, and I have no idea.  I mixed my sand color with a little brown to get a muddy color to flow through the cattails.  Unfortunately, I was lazy and grabbed the bottle of 70% isopropyl alcohol to thin it.  Unbeknownst to me, but my eight-year-old daughter pointed out the next morning, it turned purple (probably because of the alcohol):



So, last night, I just went at it with a thinned mixture of the brown-colored craft paint, which did not cover the purple once the paint dried.  This morning, I applied a second coat of thinned brown paint, and this is where I am now while I wait for the paint to dry:



Ignore the overflow of paint, as I still need to paint the lake bottom, which, hopefully, will occur this weekend.

DFF

[davefoxx]

APRIL 26, 2020 at 12:00 NOON:

I'm really liking how my marshy end of the future lake is coming together, even better than the lake back on the Seaboard Central 2.0.  Of course, I still have time to screw it up, because the lake bed is not yet painted, and the "water" has not been applied:



Just over the track, I tried something different, because that large hill needed something.  Yes, it will get trees, but I wanted to add some sort of feature.  So, let me introduce you to Bracey Cut in Virginia.  This was the SAL's line just north of the Virginia-North Carolina border:



I like that sandy (sandstone?) look in the cut.  It is inline with the Sandhills region of North Carolina that I'm modeling, so a brainstorm yesterday led me to slap some sanded grout on the hillside and to carve in the obvious erosion.  A little bit of ground foam to blend it in, and . . .



I'm okay with it.  I may add some washes over it, to give it a little more color and definition, and I'll plant more greenery on and around it, to capture the effect as in the proto photo above.

So, here's the whole scene at present (a long way to go, but I'm pleased, so far):



DFF

[davefoxx]

APRIL 30, 2020 at 7:42 A.M.:

Well, as expected, I'm not ecstatic with the paint job that I gave to the lake bottom.  I had hoped for more transition from a lighter brown into the black color in the middle, but the color mixed together more than I had hoped.  Since this was my second futile attempt, I might live with it, because, my saving grace is that a lake near the real Aberdeen, North Carolina also does not have obvious shallow areas near the bank.  I also hope that applying the wave action of Gloss Gel Medium will add a little variation that might be lacking.



This is probably not the best sample photo to show the dark water, but, hopefully, you get the idea.



Oh, and I have a package of lily pads to put down in the water once applied, which will go near the cattails.

DFF

[davefoxx]

MAY 1, 2020 at 9:06 A.M.:

I applied a coat of Gel Gloss Medium to the lake surface last night.  My jar seemed to be okay, despite it being several years old.  I stippled the hell out of it to keep the peaks down, because I'm only modeling a small, non-tidal lake.  The nice thing is that this stuff dries quickly.  Within thirty or forty-five minutes, I was able to get an idea of how it came out.

Because I stippled it so much, I think there could be more gloss, which is probably caused by such a thin coat in spots.  So, tonight, I hope to apply a second coat.  My concern is that I have no idea on how to create realistic ripples, and my experiments on a piece of black styrene didn't bring any groundbreaking techniques.  I'll just stipple it again, trying to keep the wave action down, but also aiming for better coverage to get some higher gloss.

Stay tuned,
DFF

[Dave V]

Now, if I could only find that shrink-ray gun and put it in reverse; here's the N scale version of the former SAL station that I get to build again in HO:

DFF

https://comb.io/WYRPWr

[davefoxx]

MAY 2, 2020 at 10:18 A.M.:

Heh, I stumbled upon [DKS's] method this morning.   I was trying all sorts of different techniques to get wave patterns or ripples, when I noticed that I really liked how the water looked at the edge near the cattails.  That's because I had to use [his] technique to get in there under the cattails, and, "Lo and behold!," I think I found the texture I'm looking for.  Now, I just need to go back with more coats to hide the "unfortunate textures" underneath.  Getting there!  See?  (Keep in mind that the last Gel Gloss Medium coat I applied is not fully cured and still has a slight milky appearance in the pictures below.)





Thank you [,DKS]!  Seriously.
DFF

[davefoxx]

https://comb.io/WYRPWr

Ah, the Rebigulator.  Yes!  That's it! 

DFF

[davefoxx]

MAY 2, 2020 at 1:48 P.M.:

Yet another coat of Gel Gloss Medium, and I think I'm satisfied.  It's not fully dry, but I think I got rid of most of the texture in the layers below that I was not happy with.  Now, I can go to work on bringing the rest of the foliage down to the shoreline.



Oh, and I received two bags of poly fiber from MBK today, so I can go back to kudzuing, too.  The next serious project really needs to be finishing the trestle, but I'll probably find something else to do.

DFF

[davefoxx]

MAY 6, 2020 at 6:35 P.M.:

This afternoon, I removed two bridges, masked off the area on the Seaboard System track underneath the Aberdeen & Briar Patch Ry. trestle bridge, and painted the track with Scalecoat II Flat Railroad Tie Brown.



The result: no obvious overspray, and the lake seemed to come out from under the masking unscathed.  I have reinstalled the plate girder bridge on the SBD line (with a little weathering attempt), and, hopefully, that's the last time that I need to pull this bridge.  Ballast will be next, and, once that happens, the SBD bridge will be permanently installed at that point.  I need to make sure I have no further need to remove this bridge.  With the "water" in the lake, though, I think I'm good to set the bridge.



DFF

[davefoxx]

MAY 7, 2020 at 11:27 P.M.:

Working at my usual glacial pace, I ballasted about a foot of track this evening.  Eh, it's a start.  This weekend, I'll continue across the bridge and around the lake.  It should go faster once I get past the turnout.  And, hey, I get to stay up late tonight, making sure I didn't glue that turnout into one position.  I do look forward to seeing the track ballasted in my lake scene.  That will just make the scene look that much closer to completeness.



DFF

[davefoxx]

MAY 10, 2020 at 1:27 P.M.:

Another hour or more and, "Voila!," another 24" of ballasted track (the change in color is the new wet ballast):



Once I get another 12" or so of ballast installed, I will be clear of where the trestle crosses the SBD main line.  But, I'm keeping the trestle out until I get it painted, weathered, and detailed.  The reward is that this scene is the first thing you see when you enter the train room.  That's inspiring to keep progressing.

DFF