The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[muktown128]

Looks good Dave. Nice job on your track work.  It looks very smooth based on the lack of bumping and jostling of the camera.

Scott

[davefoxx]

Thanks, Scott!  The smoothness is at least partially due to the gimbal of the Pocket 2 camera, though.

DFF

[davefoxx]

Killed some time this evening counting down to New Year’s Day, so I took some chalk and washes to my bridge:



DFF

[wazzou]

Very nice Dave.

[CRL]

Bending the road down past the bridge is looking good already... even from the side view.

[narrowminded]

That looks good, Dave.  It also shows the similar to 2.0, but different track plan utilizing additional space, even in scale.  I can see it will be much more functional for ops.   Very nice!

[davefoxx]

Mark,

Yeah, I made the design changes to resolve certain issues with the original Seaboard Central’s track plan.  The wye, the larger yard, and better access to the yard make this version much more enjoyable to run, not to mention that it includes two additional roads providing active interchange.

My plan is a blend of two MR track plans.  It’s mostly the Bedford Valley, which was designed by Gordon Odegard, with the Seaboard Central’s branch thrown in.  I should probably call it the Bedford Valley 1.0, but “Seaboard” fits the bill.

DFF

[davefoxx]

Test.  Test.  This is only a test.

I printed out a photo of my trees on copy paper and jammed it down in the gap over the road.  I like it!  The color is a little lighter, perhaps the print on cheap paper, but it makes it look like the sun shining through and not a wall of trees that cars will run into.  Keep in mind that there are trees on each side of the road (especially on the right side- the T-pins mark tree locations) that will be replaced, further disguising the backdrop.



What kind of paper should I print the final version on?

DFF

[davefoxx]

Attempt #2, to get more consistent lighting as compared to the foreground trees.  Thanks for the help, @Dave V!  I had to lean way in over the layout to be able to see it.  Under normal viewing, the foreground trees hide the road’s intersection with the backdrop.  The white border shows where the print stops.  The same blue background will make trimming the photo more forgiving.



From the far end of the layout at 10X zoom, which is really the only angle you can see this unobstructed.  However, now a blue break in the tree line will be gone.



Just have to buy some matte photo paper to print the final picture.

DFF

[Bendtracker1]

Dave, can you take a sharp hobby knife and trim around the trees and get rid of the paper sky?

[C855B]

To help with the illusion, maybe a curve ahead warning sign?

[davefoxx]

Dave, can you take a sharp hobby knife and trim around the trees and get rid of the paper sky?

I will on the final print.  I have to get some matte photo paper.  With the same color blue on the backdrop and in the photo, it will make the trimming easier.

DFF

[davefoxx]

To help with the illusion, maybe a curve ahead warning sign?

Oh, man.  Great idea!  I need to buy some other road signs, too, e.g. speed limit, cross bucks, etc.

DFF

[CRL]

To help with the illusion, maybe a curve ahead warning sign?

Since the photo backdrop already makes it appear the road is curving to the right, this sign should finalize the illusion. Great idea!

[Steveruger45]

Maybe these would help the illusion
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Could even add some bullet holes too.