Cypress Creek Railroad

[SteveCuster]

Since the forum as reopened, I thought I'd update everyone on the progress of the layout. I've changed my strategy a little bit and focused more on adding structures, detailing the scenes later. The details and little scenes were really bogging me down, so I'll add them later in a large burst of painting and weathering. I'll try to pick up where I left off.


If you look at my previous post, this area was only partially completed. As you can see the vegetation and detailing is minimal, that will change of course. Also, the pile driver doesn't belong there of course.


Moving around the layout, this is the front left area in that photo. Some of you may recognize the salvage yard diorama from the expo in Altoona. The light gray building is half of SierraWest Railroad Camp, the other half is on the other side of the layout. I still have tons of detailing to do to this area. I have a few hundred castings painted and ready to go for here, I just haven't gotten around to working the scene.


The building on the left is something I scratchbuilt using windows, doors, and some other castings I had around. I'd say it's a little inspired by FSM Jefferies Point, mainly in the flow of the rooflines.

Another shot of that same building.


The area to the left with the green foam is home to The Shipyard by SierraWest. I removed it some I can put a new roof on it, I'm about halfway but adding individual shingles onto a structure that's already finished and mounted is pretty irritating and I'm lacking motivation to work on it more than 30-40 minutes at a time.

EJ Whiley by Sierrawest

Moving out a little from that area to give a better overall view. The locomotive doesn't belong in the road and that boxcar is just one I use to check my track.

This area is all new but pretty sparse with details. It's right up front so I want to get the detailing perfect, I just kinda roughed it in for now. This is part of the Sand and Coaling Station from Fine Scale Miniatures.

This area is a little to the left of the sandhouse. The gray and stucco building is based off of FSM Bailey's Produce. I built the kit years ago and I sold it. I still had all the templates, so I used them to build a knockoff. I'm trying to use up all the little odds and ends I have around, for this building I used some BEST asbestos siding shingles instead of the Campbells that FSM used.

FSM Freight House - Not the first one but the second one. Still a ridiculous amount of detailing to do in this area. I've shown the station area before, but they are all FSM kits. The water tank was also at the Expo in Altoona. I built a signal tower that I haven't planted yet, it'll go in front of the station across the tracks.

It all ties into Cartwrights Machine, one of the first kits I built for the layout.

Moving to the left of Cartwrights. I added a river and some waterfalls but the water isn't done yet. I still need to add ripples and all that. For some reason the surface got some wierd fogginess but it won't matter when I add gloss medium to it.

Moving further to the left...You can see how the water flows. You can also see the rest of the SW Railroad Camp on the left.


Closeup of the Railroad Camp scene, still quite a bit of detailing to do but this area is a little more finished than the other foreground parts of the layout.

More from the same area.

As I update and detail the different areas, I'll add some more detailed closeups. For the most part the structures are all done minus maybe 2 small ones I'm thinking of adding. Once I get this roof on The Shipyard done, I'll plant that on the layout then really start to tie it all together.

I'm glad the forum is back up and running, thanks for following the thread and providing your feedback everyone.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Great progress, Steve!

Its really coming together.  Looking forward to close ups and angles of the various scenes as you add the details.

Cheers, Mark.

[Keep It Rusty]

Was keeping my fingers crossed you'd come back and update us, Steve. Always loved your layout. And what progress you've made! Just brilliant.

[darrylhuffman]

Doing the details does take a lot of time.

But it is worth it.

When I built my first FSM kit in 1975, I was fascinated bu all the details and really enjoyed painting them.

Fast forward 50 years and I now find painting all those details laborious.

I've developed a preference for FOS SCALE kits with quick building structures and few details.

Thanks for sharing your photos.

It is looking great.

[ACL1504]

Steve,

I agree with Craig, I'm very happy to see this layout build continue.

Tom 

[GPdemayo]

So glad to see you resuming your thread Steve.....the level of detailing is astounding, well done. 

[nycjeff]

Hello Steve, it's great to see your layout again and the progress is very impressive. Can't wait to see more.

[Janbouli]

Thanks for the update Steve, looking good , real good .

[PaulS]

Thanks Steve, one of the many highlights of this forum were your updates and progress on your beautiful layout.
All looks wonderful as usual,
Keep up the great modeling and thanks again for sharing it with us here,
Cheers,
--Paul

[S&S RR]

Steve

You have made a lot of progress and your layout looks great. I find myself adding just a few details to a structure build while it is on the workbench and then adding the details once the structures are planted on the layout. The new 3D printed details that are now available are really adding another dimension to our models. I'm of the "It's all about the details" modeling camp.

[Zephyrus52246]

Great layout.  Wonderful structures.  Thanks for the update.

Jeff

[PRR Modeler]

This is some excellent modeling.

[Jerry]

Steve great to see you back.  WOW!  You've come a long way!  Just beautiful work.  And still one of my favorite RR.

Looking forward to seeing more from you!

Jerry

[SteveCuster]

Thanks everyone! I should have an update soon. Once I'm done redoing this one structure, I can add it to the railroad and start to make some progress again.

[Rail and Tie]

Wow! that is nice.

Question for you Steve, What are the dimensions of the layout in this picture. I am trying to tie this to my own layout design for a realistic look. Particularly, the dimensions in this picture below.

Please keep sharing. Very encouraging work!