Free-moN Staging Yard - 16"x10'

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Much unglamorous but necessary work today:
 --slipped in a kabillion replacement ties
 --painted track (grimy black)
 --painted/stained rock castings (watered-down Big Jug O' Stain with some slate, stone & concrete added)
 --fine-sifted dirt
 --painted landforms ($3 mistint latex)
 --sprinkled dirt on wet paint
 
The photographic evidence reveals a dirty mess:
 






All the dirt won't stick to the paint, so I'm hoping a whirlwind doesn't rip through the garage before tomorrow, when I can lay down other shades of dirt, talus, some ground foam, maybe even some static grass.
I'm still debating between spring & summer (anyone know how to make manzanita?)
Also gotta start making some oaks! (at about an hour a tree...)
 
Anyway, I know it looks pretty blah right now, but patience, young grasshoppers...
 
Thanks for looking.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

And another marathon build weekend, in which I:
 
--laid down basic ground cover (dirt, ground foams, fine-sifted gravel, etc.) and talus
 --added cinders around the edges of tracks (will stick out a little when I ballast)
 --installed three grade crossings out of spare ties
 --applied static grasses
 --added bushes and tufts
 --made & installed over 20 dedicuous trees
 --made & installed over 20 pine trees
 --made & installed 4 oak trees
 --scratch built a farmhouse, a warehouse, a stucco & spanish tile depot / freighthouse, and three false storefronts
 --touched up painting the turnouts and staining the replacement ties under the points
 --ballasted 3-out-of-5 sections of the module
 
Would have finished ballasting but the module had been standing in the garage all weekend, and my wife had the silly notion of wanting to park her car in there tonight!
 So except for the ballasting and a few more trees to hide some partial buildings, I think this one is pretty much good to go!
 (Well, until the Bullfrogs show up, and then I can install those)
 
On with the pictures!
 (There's quite a few, so bare with me).
 
Basic ground cover & cinders:
 




Those were the deciduous, and here's the pines:
 


And let's twist again, like we did last summer...
 


Not sure if making 4 oaks at a time speeds anything up except the carpal tunnel...
 
[cont.]

[M.C. Fujiwara]

The three little grade crossings:
 


used Aileen's clear gel tacky glue this time & liked the working time and tackiness.
 Seems to hold alright.
 
Wanted to try a cement road, so just laid some coffee stirrers down, tacking the ends with white glue (and sometimes a spot of CA):
 


For my roads I tried the same trick on the "Alameda-Belt-in-a-Box" layout that Lee clued me into: watered down & tinted lightweight spackle.
 
Man, you think it's too thin, but as soon as it hits the ground, it starts hardening and foaming a bit (or seems like it).
 Had to water it some more and pour some gap fillers.
 The trick is NOT TO TOUCH IT until it's TOTALLY DRY (like a day or so).
 
But when it is dry, you can sand it smooth and rub some dirt into it to weather:
 


My other nifty discovery of the weekend was NEOLUBE.
 Yup, but not for steamers.
 For staining stripwood replacement ties directly under the points!
 


Why didn't I think of this earlier?
 Not only does it darken the rails and ties, but ensures smooth throwing action!
 D'oh!
 
[cont.]

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Added mucho trees:
 


Tried to vary the locale as you go around.
 This side is more pine-y & mountain-y (greens, pines, etc.), while the other side is more brown like the foothills (weeds, manzanita).
 I also, while doing the static grass on the workbench, briefly joined the sections one at a time to try to blend the sections together and hide the gaps.
 (can't keep the seciton together or the diluted glue will seep down & make one big module!)
 Not sure if I was totally successfull, but there are distict scenes.
 
Had a bunch of buildings to build, and so I drew out some simple dimensions for all the buildings at once:
 


Makes cutting & marking a lot easier when you can just hold the styrene or wood next to the section and tick it off.
 
For example, here are all the pieces for the depot cut & ready to get stucco'd:
 


I'm basing the design loosely on the Tidewater Southern depot in Turlock, just because 1) it has a depot and a freight section & 2) I wanted to try stucco & spanish tile roof.
 For the stucco, I followed Dave Schneider's technique he shared over in the scratchbuilding threads:
 


Basically Liquitex "Ceramic Stucco" stippled on, dried, then sanded down to N-scale stucco.
 I painted my primer grey first, and then the white, which I think turned out okie dokie.
 
[cont.]

[M.C. Fujiwara]

So here you can see the finished stucco texture, as well as the depot mid-build:
 


I probably could have sanded it a wee bit more, but true N-scale stucco would be very very tiny.
 
Here it is installed:
 


Not too thrilled with the size of the "Devil Mountain" sign (the "Turlock" was stenciled right onto the building), so might redo that one.
 (BTW, Mt. Diablo towers over the East Bay, so it was either Devil Mt. or Devil's Camp)
 (Briefly considered the town name of "Britches"... hmmm... still considering...)
 
Here's the whole town of Devil Mountain:
 


Not bad for 9" of space & three tracks!
 Still need to put in some trees behind the depot & over the storefronts.
 And stuff.
 Lots of stuff.
 
The other buildings are, left to right, Pappy's Whiskey & Dynamite Co., the Tombstone shoppe, Lucy Furr's Pleasure Parlor, and Bub's Saloon:
 


Will look moocho better when I'm done with it.
 
[cont.]

[M.C. Fujiwara]

For the farmhouse I used some scribed clapboard siding I had lying around, sprayed it grey, then misted it with white:
 


Love those Legos!
 
0.02" styrene subroof, with RLW random cedar shingles stuck on.
 The shingles have some sticky, but I find spraying the subroof styrene with adhesive helps keeping the peel down.
 


It's only three sides (why model what no one will see?), and I actually had to cut off part of the roof in the back to fit up against the hill.
 
So here's the scene:
 


Pond on the left, road up into the trees, then house.
 To me it seemed a little bare.
 Needed a big massive tree, but I didn't want to make any more oaks (those suckers take time!).
 But I did find a WS armature that I bent, painted & "oakified" it:



 So now:
 


Needs lots of junk around, included a rusted 1920s pickup truck.
 But a fun scene to pass by.
 
[cont.]

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Alrighty, last one! (for now!)
 
So after ballasting, I took some sections outside for a little last sunlight.
 Here's the oaks in the keystone section:
 




Should be a nice scene to watch trains roll through, one way or the other.
 
Trackside shot of the depot burning in the sun:
 


And the farmhouse enjoying the rays:
 


So I need to finish ballasting the main (raised inner track), and I'm debating whether to ballast all three tracks, or keep the lowered two passing tracks in cinders.
 Hmm....
 
So tomorrow: more trees, more bushes, more ballast, more....
 
Thanks for looking.
 All & any comments & suggestions appreciated.

[Chris333]

You really are making the rest of us look like a bunch of lazy a$$es. Myself included. 

[M.C. Fujiwara]

You really are making the rest of us look like a bunch of lazy a$$es. Myself included. 

Well, the wife & kids were away for a good chunk of Sat. & Sun.
And it's amazing what you can get done with a steady stream of IPA.

"Better modeling through beer pressure"

(or maybe not better, but more  )

[DKS]

And it's amazing what you can get done with a steady stream of IPA.

There is, however, a point of diminishing returns, no?

[mcjaco]

Well, the wife & kids were away for a good chunk of Sat. & Sun.
And it's amazing what you can get done with a steady stream of IPA.

"Better modeling through beer pressure"

(or maybe not better, but more  )

After a steady stream of IPA, I'm usually ready for bed. 

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Well, I should say "sometime sipping" rather than "steady stream".
It's not like I was wearing the beer hat http://www.ok-homeware.com/ProductShow.asp?ID=2035
or hooked up to the Duff tanker like Barney


Also you time it for powertool and the Chopper at the beginning and replacement ties & ballasting at the end 

But a lovely weekend of trains, warm weather and cold beverage

[svedblen]

A truly impressive pace, as always...and a likewise impressive result.

/Lennart

[Scottl]

As always, remarkable scenes and even more impressive productivity!

[eric220]

When it comes time to scenic on the PRR, I might have to draft you.