John Colombo's NKP Layout

[jdcolombo]

The mill structures are all HO versions; when the layout was built there were no N scale ones, which are smaller.

That's correct.  But in fact, the HO versions are actually closer to the right size for N scale.  Steel mill buildings are huge; in a real mill, they dwarf trains, trucks and everything else!

John C.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

It all feels very NKP! I dig it man.

[Specter3]

I thought that could be the answer but  I was not sure. Great looking!

[soo]

It's nice to put the puzzle together..after pics and vids. Very very nice.

See ya,
Y-It

[JSL]

Very impressive! I like to use HO grain bins on layout as they are more representative of the size of bins today. Thanks for sharing.

[jdcolombo]

Been working on the Viaduct scene . . .

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

John C.

[seusscaboose]

needs more red swift boxcars

[nscaler711]

Looks great!
I see you also adjusted your lighting as well!

+1

[jdcolombo]

Looks great!
I see you also adjusted your lighting as well!

+1

Yes.  Biggest problem now is that I can't get the backdrop lit with the same intensity as the actual riverbed, so it looks darker in photos (in fact, it is the same color).

The backdrop is a continuing experiment.  Since I'm such a terrible artist, I decided to try something different.  I took a photo of the foreground (river and vegetation), and then used Photoshop and the handy Clone Stamp tool to "paint" a background photo using the photo of the vegetation and riverbed in the foreground.  Then I scaled this new photo to the width I needed, printed it out on some 13" wide roll paper, and attached the backdrop photo to the masonite backdrop with thin double-sided tape.  The background photo is about 10" tall and 30" wide.

I think that if I could get the lighting better, it would look nearly indistinguishable from the foreground.   Will have to work on that, but I think the basic technique worked in this case.

John C.

[Carolina Northern]

It looks very effective to my eye.
Got to put that idea into my bag of tricks.

[nscaler711]

Yes.  Biggest problem now is that I can't get the backdrop lit with the same intensity as the actual riverbed, so it looks darker in photos (in fact, it is the same color).

The backdrop is a continuing experiment.  Since I'm such a terrible artist, I decided to try something different.  I took a photo of the foreground (river and vegetation), and then used Photoshop and the handy Clone Stamp tool to "paint" a background photo using the photo of the vegetation and riverbed in the foreground.  Then I scaled this new photo to the width I needed, printed it out on some 13" wide roll paper, and attached the backdrop photo to the masonite backdrop with thin double-sided tape.  The background photo is about 10" tall and 30" wide.

I think that if I could get the lighting better, it would look nearly indistinguishable from the foreground.   Will have to work on that, but I think the basic technique worked in this case.

John C.

That's ok, your sound installs are simply amazing.

Have you thought about LED light strips?
You can place them just about anywhere, and they generally generate more even lighting than just about anything else.
But again that scene looks great.

[Chris333]

There is an empty pier in the middle, what did the original bridge look like?
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4825169,-81.8314508,233a,20y,45t/data=!3m1!1e3

[jdcolombo]

There is an empty pier in the middle, what did the original bridge look like?
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4825169,-81.8314508,233a,20y,45t/data=!3m1!1e3

I don't have a photo of the original bridge, which was built by the Rocky River RR in the 1880's (?).  The NKP absorbed this line as part of its original mainline construction, and rebuilt the bridge into its current configuration in 1907.

I didn't model the abandoned pier, although I might add it at some point.  There's room to do so.

John C.

[jdcolombo]

That's ok, your sound installs are simply amazing.

Have you thought about LED light strips?
You can place them just about anywhere, and they generally generate more even lighting than just about anything else.
But again that scene looks great.

Hmmm.  Hadn't thought about LED strips.  I'll have to try that, at least for photographs of this scene.

John C.

[Chris333]

Found it:
http://web.ulib.csuohio.edu/speccoll/bccc/bccc30b.jpg

I was just curious. The arch bridge just to the south of it has history as well:
http://www.historic-structures.com/oh/rocky_river/rocky_river_bridge3.php
http://www.lakeshorerailmaps.com/rockyriver.html
http://www.lakeshorerailmaps.com/lse/rocky%20river/images/1950%20aerial%20labels.jpg