Two cities layout.

[Random]

I've been doing a bit of scenery work in and around some finish work on the express warehouse.  Here is a brief update.

I ballasted this section of track (after adding feeders) using a modification of George's formula.  According to an interview video I found he used lamp black and a rust color thinned with spirits.  I've tried to replicate the look using water based paints.  I used oxide black between the rails and iron oxide along the outside of the rails, both thinned to make a wash.  I'm not sure if the black might need to be a bit darker but I stopped when ballast started to come loose.  The loading dock is the trackside dock for the express building.




I've also added fences, vines, signs, and shrubberies along the sidewalk and walls.  There is a bit more I want to do here before I add streetlights.




I hunted for quite some time before I found the exact circus clown sign and "Shell" sign that George used on the original.  Some of the other signs follow the original and others are different. 




Next I need to plant the express building and work on the scenery surrounding it.

Cheers.

[GPdemayo]

Good save Roger.....the road looks great. 

[Keep It Rusty]

Looks great roger. Make sure you use those pastel chalks to tie it all together and give it some use!

Where did you source your retaining walls and sidewalks?

[postalkarl]

Hey Roger:

The layout looks just beautiful. Keep the pics flowing.

Karl

[Random]

Thanks.   

The sidewalks came from Magnuson kits.  The retaining walls and tunnel are cast from my own hand made masters. 

[Random]

Air dry clay, a bit of strip wood for forming, a knife for trimming and a little finesse and we have a set of concrete steps leading to a cliff.   Once the clay dries it will be painted to match the other concrete in the area.




I also need some large shrubberies to mask an ugly bit of wiring next to the raised platform.   Theses are lichen dipped in thinned white glue and covered in a fine grass blend.




More later,

Cheers

[Random]

I've got a question about soil color in the Boston area.  Specifically, what color does it tend to be?

I used Polyblend Sanded Grout in "haystack" as a soil covering over the play sand I used to rough in this area (as seen in the photo above).  This color is very close to the color of my weathered concrete.   Should I go a shade lighter or darker or does the Boston area soil tend to a totally different shade?   I don't have access to real dirt as around here the soil is black/gray "gumbo" clay covered by whatever soil came with the grass mats when they sodded the yards.

That pale strip behind the car stop is the unweathered steps with a base coat of concrete.  It really washed out in the photo.



Thanks for the dirt tips,

Cheers

[postalkarl]

Hey Roger:

Looking good. Keep the pic flowing.

Karl

[GPdemayo]

Hi Roger.....we lived in Newton for a year and the soil in our yard and and the park across the street was kinda brownish black.

[deemery]

Soil color depends on where in New England and the underlying geology      Here in NH, where the soils are mostly weathered granite deposited by glacier action, I find the color is a medium beige (with a small amount of pink to it.)  Of course, organic matter turns the soils darker towards browns.  But it's definitely not the red clay I remember from Virginia.


dave

[Keep It Rusty]

Thanks.   

The sidewalks came from Magnuson kits.  The retaining walls and tunnel are cast from my own hand made masters.

Missed this! Thanks. And well done on your new additions.

[Random]

I decided to paint the soil area.  I used a tan and two darker brown craft paints.  I thinned the paints into a wash and covered with the light color then dapped in areas of the darker colors, working back and forth with a single brush and allowed them to blend.   The results look more like soil with a history rather than a newly graded back yard. 




The car stop is from Tichy. I gave it a coat of red then came back with some rust.  I also rusted the rails with the same paint.  Once the paint has had time to set I'll give it wash of ink.  I noticed that one spot in the front looked like a protruding rock so I dry brushed it with some gray to make it look weathered and sun faded.




Foliage is next.  I did a bit more work along the sidewalk and street while the dirt paint dried.  Some weeds were used to dress the uneven sidewalk joints as well as some gaps between the sidewalk and street material.




I used a darker brown paint to make the corner against the wall look like washed out soil and added weeds to it.  I also added a thin wash of darker brown to the cracks in the driveway, particularly where it is more broken up to simulate dirt accumulating. 




Cheers

[Mark Dalrymple]

Looking great, Rodger.

Those cobblestone streets sure look like they would make your teeth chatter!

Cheers, Mark.

[Random]

Mark, I have a love-hate relationship with that cobblestone material.  It was marketed for military modelers.  It is flexible and I originally bought it for a scene that was going to be very hilly.  It looks good from some angles and not from others.    That street might be paved over in the future.  Who knows. 


I pulled out the shrubberies and planted them with a little path down the middle.  The purpose of the bushes was to mask the edge of the platform and cover those ugly wires that you might have spotted in prior photos.  There is a bit of debris in there too. 






Cheers.

[jbvb]

The scene is looking nice. But one warning about Tichy's HO Hayes-style bumpers: I built a couple and they do look nice, but then an operator lost control of their engine and ran it into the bumper, breaking it into 3 or 4 pieces.  I switched to Walthers at that point; the castings aren't as nice but they do the 'bumper' job better.