Here is my submission for the small photo diorama challenge. This is a simple Tehachapi scene set on a very small 12"x18" footprint. The base construction is pretty straightforward, using carved EPS foam covered with plaster cloth and a layer of Sculptamold. My main goal for the scenery was to try to achieve a finer level of "granularity" than what I built for my Tehachapi Loop layout, which used a lot of standard, OTS/commercial elements, such as flextrack, ground foam, plaster rocks, and plastic accessories. Here are some of the things I did differently:
- Code 40 rail on top of
@narrowminded 's excellent concrete tie strips.
- Finely sifted dirt and ballast materials (starting from S+S Limestone ballast, #60 screened).
- 1mm and 2mm static grass (applied in layers)
- Line poles turned from wood dowels, with
@rodsup9000 's outstanding 3D-printed crossarms
- Silk Fly-tying thread (18/0, 30D) for the power lines
- Natural materials (stones, sagebrush) in various places.
Some things I would change for 'next time':
- The grasses and trees are a too dark/green for springtime Tehachapi.
- Pandrol clips need to be better painted... as-done, these here nearly disappear
- Tire ruts in the dirt/gravel areas are not as apparent as I hoped
- Track is not weathered quite as darkly as the proto sometimes is.
- More definition to the rock embankment
- The sage/shrubs look too blah.
- Grass on the foreground slope is overdone and not standing up very well.
- Maybe add some kind of ranch fence with a gate.
- Detail and weather the pickup truck.
Since this ostensibly is a photo diorama, I didn't pay much attention to the layout of the scenic elements - my thought is that the dio should be sort of understated, and not distract fro the primary subject, ie the rail cars placed on the track to be photographed. I only have indoor pics, since I am too busy lately to drag everything outdoors for a photo shoot in the sunlight (and the weather has been spotty anyways). I didn't pay much mind to how it plays with the photo backdrop, and I did not have time to add a fascia (so sorry about the barenaked blue foam in the pics <sheepish>).
Another thing I have to do is learn photo stacking, but that's a project for another day.
words aside, here are the pics:
