Hey all,

I am scratchbuilding an HOn30 locomotive onto a Kato 11-109 chassis. I would like to add lights. I have some prewired 9v-12v LEDs that I would like to use. Do I need to add another resistor to these lamps if I jump of the wipers? For that matter, can I just jump off of the wipers? Not my area of expertise to say the least.

TIA,
Matt

Merry Christmas from Patapsco Falls!

Matt

Rich,

I am not sure which concrete space you are referring to, but I can confidently say that it is foam. The carved brick street, the concrete around the manhole and the sidewalk are all insulation foam. I rip 1" foam into 1/8" strips with a bandsaw. For the sidewalks I add curbs, joints and cracks with a hobby knife. I use a ruler to press some of the sidewalk sections down to create unevenness for variety. The texture that you see is from the bandsaw. I paint it with Cocoon chalk paint(no longer available) and then give it a dark gray or black wash. All that is followed by a pass of Bragdon powders.

For the bricks I cut the rows and brick joints and then push in individual bricks with a piece of strip wood. They are painted with a brick red and individual bricks are picked out in other shades. The tar is black acrylic. The manhole cover is an FSM casting from Railroad Kits, painted with that same Vallejo Camo Black Brown. Again everything is weathered with Bragdon powders. The lighter colored powders add some hints of mortar. The darker add dirt and grime, especially near the edges. Black goes down the center of the travel lanes for oil and such.

The stone pavers in the backyard and all the stone foundations are also insulation foam. They are the same 1/8" strips, textured with a ball of aluminum foil and cut into individual stones.



Matt

Thank you, all!

Mark, the brick alley is indeed carved insulation foam, as are all of the sidewalks. I covered unsightly gaps with tar patches and weeds.




Urs, the fire escapes come as kits from Walthers. They are easy to assemble and the counterweighted stairs remain movable, which is cool. I painted them with Vallejo German Camo Black Brown. I then weathered it with Brandon powders.

Matt

Look at that detail!! That's great, Darryl!

Philip,

The exposed wood sheathing on this turret is made from strip styrene.

I primed the entire thing with rattle can primer. I painted the wood with a tan acrylic, in this case AK Interactive Wood Base, but any tan will work. I then did a wash of burnt umber acrylic(watered down Vallejo). Once that was dry, I weathered it with Bragdon powders. First a general application of tan(Dust Bowl Brown),which flattens the sheen and evens everything out, and then light applications(a little goes a long way) of dark brown(Weathered Brown) and black(Soot) at the lower edges to show rot and wet wood.

Hope that helps,
Matt

Quote from: Zephyrus52246 on December 16, 2025, 08:05:42 AM
Jeff

I believe that this wonderful diorama is by Gil Flores. It shared the table with my work at MARPM in the fall.

Matt

Thank you all.

Mark, the stucco is spackling compound. You can work it with a wet brush and remove lots of excess to thin it down. Just smear the spackle on with a putty knife and then wet down a chip brush and pull the excess spackle off of towards the edge. I mask the missing portions, before I start, with torn pieces of painter's tape. The render coat is stippled paint.

Don't quit!  There are plenty of mistakes. Some I hid with weathering or well-placed details. Some I can plainly see when I look at the photos.

Matt

Hi, Dave. These are all HO scale.

Cheers!
Matt

And the third building group is a pair of Federal style rowhouses.



The brick alley is hand cut foam.


And the three arranged as they will on that someday layout.


Matt

Thank you, Terry! It's good to be back!

The next building that I built for this area was a warehouse that had several industries through it's time. I chose to model it as a poulterers.

Here is an historic photo taken late in its history. It no longer stands.


Here is my version, with a lit storefront and a customer picking out the perfect roaster.


I recently revisited this one and added some roof details, a billboard and a rooftop structure.


I particularly like the multicolored glass.


Matt

Here is an old photo of the Null House back in the day.

And a more recent photo, restored some time ago, but falling in disrepair again.


Matt

Hey, all.

I have been absent for a bit, due to some life events(all good), but the modeling has continued.

Here is a small Baltimore City block featuring a corner store and the Null House, a historic house that still stands. I hope that this will be part of a future, larger, dare I say, layout inspired by the Western Maryland Hillen Station complex. Enjoy. More to come. 




Matt

I will put in a plug for the Around The Layout podcast. Good guests and good topics.

Matt

Dan,

That is so good!

Matt