The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[davefoxx]

To hide those inappropriate automobiles and the unfinished buildings , I laid down some grass and planted several dogwood and cherry trees.  This past weekend, I had built up a small berm between the street and the tracks out of lightweight spackling, which raised the trees somewhat for clearance by traffic and trains.  Springtime looks good on the layout, especially when winter is coming outside.





A close up of a dogwood tree.  These trees were all purchased from Scenic Express.



DFF

[jargonlet]

Anybody have suggestions on how to paint brick structures?  Mortar?  I'll need to use spray bombs, because I don't have an airbrush.

I’ve been pretty happy with model master fs30140 light earth or tamiya ts1 red brown for rattle can painting of structures. As for the mortar lines, I’ve never been happy with spackle or joint compound. My typical method is to use woodland scenics concrete c1217 liquid pigment. I go pretty liberally over the sides of the structure and let it dry. I then use damp q-tips to remove it from the brick facings.

[LIRR]

nice job on the trees!

[Steveruger45]

Great job on the trees Dave.   While dogwoods don’t work well down here in Texas you have given me an idea to do something very similar that does work for my modeling area such as a Crepe Myrtle tree.

[Dave V]

Really looking like Spring in NC!  In fact, I think my eyes are itching and I have to sneeze...

That said, you and @Philip H both need a source or technique for loblolly pines.  Considering their extent from the mid-Atlantic all the way to Texas and the entire Southeast, I'm surprised no one manufactures them.  Virtually every commercial model evergreen tree is conical in shape, which works great for a guy like me needing Englemann spruce, lodgepole pine, and Colorado blue spruce, but not so helpful for anyone modeling Southern pine territory.

[Philip H]

That said, you and @Philip H both need a source or technique for loblolly pines.

yes, yes we do.

Although JTT does make a "pine" tree that can sort of stand in:

http://www.hobbylinc.com/jtt-pro-elite-series-scots-pine-tree-ho-scale-model-railroad-tree-92312

[davefoxx]

Great job on the trees Dave.   While dogwoods don’t work well down here in Texas you have given me an idea to do something very similar that does work for my modeling area such as a Crepe Myrtle tree.

Crepe myrtles are a favorite of my wife and me.  There's probably half-a-dozen of different color blooms on crepe myrtles around here.  But, they bloom in the summertime, so I had to forego those on the layout.

DFF

[davefoxx]

Really looking like Spring in NC!  In fact, I think my eyes are itching and I have to sneeze...

That said, you and @Philip H both need a source or technique for loblolly pines.  Considering their extent from the mid-Atlantic all the way to Texas and the entire Southeast, I'm surprised no one manufactures them.  Virtually every commercial model evergreen tree is conical in shape, which works great for a guy like me needing Englemann spruce, lodgepole pine, and Colorado blue spruce, but not so helpful for anyone modeling Southern pine territory.

Haha! Sorry about triggering any allergies, but thanks for the compliment.

I've blown off the idea of pines for now, because building SuperTrees takes long enough, and neither @Philip H nor I have come up with a good way to mass produce pines.  That JTT pine, with some pruning, would make a great stand-in.  But, it would cost into the thousands of dollar to populate my layout with them.  It's one thing to buy a couple of dogwoods, cherry, birch, or weeping willow trees as specimen trees, but quite another to forest the layout with pine trees of that cost.   

DFF

[CRL]

I knew a very good (but incredibly crotchety) old N-scale modeler years ago who used crepe myrtle twigs as the trunks for his excellent N-scale trees. Unfortunately, none of his modules or modeling survived that I’m aware of because he would intentionally destroy his models when he was done displaying them. He was absolutely adamant that nobody would ever take credit for any of his work.

[Dave V]

yes, yes we do.

Although JTT does make a "pine" tree that can sort of stand in:

http://www.hobbylinc.com/jtt-pro-elite-series-scots-pine-tree-ho-scale-model-railroad-tree-92312

Ouch!  That's pricey for a tree that's really too short for HO anyway!  Might be right for N scale though.

[Philip H]

Ouch!  That's pricey for a tree that's really too short for HO anyway!  Might be right for N scale though.

Like @davefoxx said - you need a small fortune to do those in any scale.  Still I have thought that a few scattered here and there might be enough to suggest a level of detail . . . .

[eja]

I laid down some grass and planted several dogwood and cherry trees.  T


DFF

You nailed those dogwood trees.  Almost make me want to spend the two weeks of spring in Carolina.

Nah, just kidding.

[davefoxx]

I applied some striping to create parking spaces and did some preliminary weathering to the street in Aberdeen.  You might notice that the parking spaces are at a forty-five degree angle on the right and I'm guessing at a thirty degree angle on the left.  This comes close to matching the prototype:



DFF

[Vince P]

Looks great Dave

[davefoxx]

Thanks, Vince!

I realized that I never posted an update to the work that I did around the south end of the lake last weekend.  I've been wanting to get the foliage around the edge of the lake finished.  I also plopped down two weeping willows back near the warehouse.  I haven't decided if I just want to put trees in where the bare ground foam is or hit that area with static grass.  Trees might help separate the scenes.  I dunno.



DFF