Nittany and Lock Haven: An HCD Layout in N Scale

[primavw]

Thanks for the advice. I think I will try to secure a thick black cloth to the back of the Masonite fascia once I get to that step. Hopefully that is enough to keep most of the light from entering the underside of the mountain which will most likely cause the cave to "glow" internally. No bueno.

I don't have any pictures quite yet, but I did some major renovating to the right side of the Clymer portion of the layout. I decided the roadway area was too tall and far too vertical. I chopped it all out and added a more gentle slope. I also moved the roadbed further in.

Last night I mixed up some tinted sculptamold and slathered it on the plaster cloth. I then topped it with grout. It was still wet when I went to work, but so far it looks great! I will share pics ASAP.

[primavw]

I decided the hill that will be home to the town of Clymer needed a bit of editing.

I took my jigsaw to the "cake-like" riser which would have a road atop it. I then used thin foam to make a flat and level pad for road and buildings for the town.


I then mixed up some tinted scultamold and slathered it down. While it was wet, I sprinkled two shades of unsanded grout on top for texture. Then I just couldn't contain myself and added some ground foam and static grass.


This portion of the hillside will have forest, and the tunnel portal will be completely obscured by treetops. I have to do some work around there still. I sprinkled some super old "sawdust" for fallen dead leaves.


And the static grass along the main. This is where I always get writers block when it comes to scenicking. Its almost TOO perfect. Once the grass dries and I have more time to work on things, I will add some weeds and other vegetation.


Glamor shot with my latest finished loco

[primavw]

I finally had some time to work on the layout this week! I finished scratchbuilding these concrete uprights for a rix modern overpass bridge kit.



I still need to trim the bridge from both ends. The bridge will be lower than what is mocked up. I'm also waiting on some streetlights to arrive before I can paint and weather.

[primavw]

Progress is coming along, slowly as usual. I completed staining and weathering my "matchstick" retaining wall, and literally spooned in coal material into every gap. Next, I tackled the coal pile. I also had some time to sift some unsanded grout on the mountainside.
Before:

After:


Over the last few days, I had a chance to experiment with puffball trees. Since this layout is centered in Pennsylvania, its hard to find a single mountain or hillside that ISN'T totally engulfed in forest. Since I'd like to finish this layout sometime this century, I decided against composing the forests in nothing but armatures. I must say, I'm very pleased with the process of making trees this way. About an hour of work produced about 150 trees.  Not only that, but I only went through one full bag of WS Poly Fiber (16 gram) and about a bottle of white school glue.

The fruits of my labor:




Before I started plunking down my forest canopy, I sculpted some more shale rock faces. Rock faces freshly stained, and getting ready to lay the first layer of mod podge to Dixon Run creek:





Comments and criticism strongly encouraged. I'm unsure if next time I should lay the next batch of puffballs to bare sanded grout or put a bit of ground foam down first. I will need to figure out if I'd rather do Supertrees for foreground trees or make custom armatures with wire.

[conrailthomas519]

Glad to see you back. I'm thinking the scene looks good. One could always experiment with your idea on the next section of scenery.