Newport & Rock Falls: Another Retro Micro-Layout

[CRL]

That sky with clouds material looks a lot like a shower curtain my wife had once. Looks good in the photo.

Hmmm...

PS - since I can’t seem to keep cat hair off the screen of my iPad, I didn’t notice the car hair on your backdrop.

[DKS]

Neat backdrop solution.  Where'd you get it?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08M9JRB76/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00

[Lemosteam]

Found this too with a vinyl backing for $7+  maybe completely avoid the wrinkles whilst laminating...

https://www.buy-backdrop.com/outdoor-vinyl-sky-cloud-photography-background-studio-photo-props-backdrop-p-10015.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwxuuCBhATEiwAIIIz0fnexNHw9jQ67uc5qnHqaGjpljPaleJFL7sut3NpKBFCmoZRjJOf-xoCBKQQAvD_BwE

Not sure if the cloud pattern repeats on the larger versions or if the same image is just propotionally enlarged.  there is a 3'x5' version for $7.50

[DKS]

24 March 2021. As if I was avoiding the to-do list, today I worked on yet another item not on the list. After living with it a couple of weeks, I grew dissatisfied with the appearance of the quarry swamp: the laser-cut paper plants just looked too ragged and ill-defined. Plus, there simply weren't enough cattails—I wanted enough of them for twenty acres of wetland. And so, on 24 March 2021, I tore out all of the Noch vegetation and replaced it with fine etched brass plants from Scale Link (SN-F032), which I've had sitting around unused for two or three decades. As a bonus, I got some lovely fern and a bunch of lupines (or something akin to them).



These etchings are really something—the leaves have veins and textures, which regrettably will go unnoticed without the help of magnification. Cutting, bending and shaping the plants was the definition of tedium; I spent the better part of a day on the make-over. But I also went from a measly 32 cattails (looking like all of six) to somewhere around 200.



Compare the before (above) and after (below) images.



And I added a bystander, someone through whom I could vicariously enjoy the view.

[Lemosteam]

David, could you provide a brief primer on how you painted and installed these. I have a huge area to do myself, and who better than the master to learn from!

[DKS]

David, could you provide a brief primer on how you pained and installed thes. I have a huge area to do myself, and who better than the master to learn from!

First, I gave the etchings a brief vinegar bath. I spray-bombed them with two shades of satin finish green to produce some subtle variations in color. Then I baked the etchings at 250 degrees for a half-hour to harden the paint. After tinting the cattails with a brown Sharpie, I cut them out of the frets with a sharp knife, bent them to shape as needed, and glued them in place using Tacky glue. The last step was to touch the cut ends of brass, which glint brightly, with the brown Sharpie.

Edit: Forgot to mention the lupines received some lavender acrylic paint. And the lilies are tiny silver beads painted bright yellow.

[nickelplate759]

The cattails look amazing.  Can you add a red-winged blackbird or two?   The red shoulder patches on the black male (females are camouflaged) should be enough to make them noticeable.

[peteski]

That swamp looks very realistic - I love it!

[CRL]

So, I guess modern children’s birthday parties need photo backdrops.

When I was a kid, we had to go OUTSIDE... 😱 where our mothers had everyone face the bright sun for the picture, plus one extra in case the birthday kid blinked.

Oh, the horror!

Did you ever wonder why all the kids are squinting their eyes in the photos of that era?

[nickelplate759]

So, I guess modern children’s birthday parties need photo backdrops.

When I was a kid, we had to go OUTSIDE... 😱 where our mothers had everyone face the bright sun for the picture, plus one extra in case the birthday kid blinked.

Oh, the horror!

Did you ever wonder why all the kids are squinting their eyes in the photos of that era?

What's old is new.  I have a number of photographs of my grandparents and their siblings in their youth (early 20th century), and almost all of them have backdrops - often elaborately painted ones.  Of course, those were formal portraits.

Plus, you had to go outside for those party pictures because the film (remember film?) of those days didn't work so well in indoor light - you would have needed flood lights or a good flash (no, not an Instamatic with a flash cube), neither of which were inexpensive.

[Lemosteam]

Thank you David. I assume the greens you mention are in the olive ranges. I can only hope mine come out as nice.

[DKS]

Thank you David. I assume the greens you mention are in the olive ranges. I can only hope mine come out as nice.

Nope, one is a Kelly green, and the other is a bright yellow-green. The olives seemed too drab.

[DKS]

26 March 2021. The past couple of days have been spent, once again, on items not on the to-do list. What's occupied my time are lighting projects. The Mountain Vista Railroad was dominated by animation; the Newport & Rock Falls is becoming a hotbed of lighting effects. I'm working on several projects, including a "beautification program" for the Newport passenger station, which involves lighting the edge of the roofline—one of those "always wanted to" items. The first step was to install 0.040" square styrene strip stock near the edges of the three front-facing sides of the roof.



After marking the strip stock for the LED locations, I drilled 60 #72 holes for the 60 pre-wired 0402 LEDs, then installed them.



Finally, I wrestled 120 wires into eight bundled pairs, and soldered them to a PC board terminal plate. And then I painted all of the exposed strip stock.



The finished effect is quite striking. Interestingly, when the LEDs are off, they look like architectural details. Since the wires preculded any kind of bonding, the roof is held in place with miniature super-magnets.



Next up is a sort-of-always-wanted-to project. I'd done it before for the White River & Northern IV: police cars with ski racks. Except that, back when I first did them (mid-1990s), micro-LEDs weren't available; all we had were 1.5 volt microbulbs, which of course were prone to burning out, not to mention enormous. I've been wanting to redo the project with LEDs ever since I was planning the aborted Black River & Western. Right now it's a work-in-progress:





All of the above (along with some more items) required five new controls, so I redesigned the artwork for the right half of the control panel to fit in the new switches. I replaced the old panel label with new artwork, and installed the new switches (roughly center, below).

[Lemosteam]

Nope, one is a Kelly green, and the other is a bright yellow-green. The olives seemed too drab.

I see what you did there. 

[Chris333]

Geez man the layout must be half the weight without the wires