Superior & Seattle Railroad Build

[S&S RR]

Well the file doesn't work on my IPAD nice try.

[S&S RR]

Here are a few photographs of the area above the bench work to get this thread started. The current status of the layout is that the plaster mountains have been completed and painted. They still need the detailing which will be completed for each area as I complete the scenery. This will consist of dry brushing the highlights and adding some detail color with chalks. The trees and structures you see in these pictures are sitting on the layout waiting for final placement . I like to play with tree size to maximize the depth of each scene. At least this will give you a feel for what I want to accomplish.

[ak-milw]

Excellent rock work John.

[S&S RR]

Thanks Andy
I will take some good photographs when I get the track work finished.  I just wanted to get a couple pictures posted here to get the thread started.

[S&S RR]

A few more pictures of the work in progress.  The last picture is Tom's AS on the Superior and Seattle.

[Erieman]

John,

I'll second the comment about the rock work!!! Fantastic. Love the photos of the layout. more photo's please.

Frank / Erieman

[S&S RR]

Thanks Frank


More photos on the way.  I found some talus material on my field trip today that I think is going to put the finishing touch on the rock work.

[gnatshop]

Hope you didn't get any rattlesnake rattles mixed in with the talus!!!!   

[S&S RR]

Hope you didn't get any rattlesnake rattles mixed in with the talus!!!!   

David


I'm real careful with snakes - only collect HO scale.

[jbvb]

I looked up the .xps file type - one site says "Microsoft's less-compatible version of a PDF".  .xps on Win7 & Vista is apparently incompatible with .oxps on Win8.

Nice progress on the scenery.

[S&S RR]

I looked up the .xps file type - one site says "Microsoft's less-compatible version of a PDF".  .xps on Win7 & Vista is apparently incompatible with .oxps on Win8.

Nice progress on the scenery.

James


Thanks for researching the file type - I'm going to go back to using the original pictures for rebuilding this thread - little more work but worth it.

[S&S RR]

The following pictures will provide a history of the S&S build over the past 5 years.  This series of pictures provides virtual tour of the layout as it existed about a year ago just after the rock work had been painted with the acrylic paints. I will then post a few pictures of the process that was used to get to this point.

Picture set one: is a structure placement test.  There are four FSM kits off my workbench in these pictures ; kit 180 the Sand House, kit 125 the Tool Shed and Water Tower, kit 160 the Repair Shed, and kit 170 the Saw Mill. The structures are 85% complete with some finish detail work required before they find their permanent placement on the layout.

[S&S RR]

Here are a few pictures of the build process for the mountains.  As stated earlier, I have used 33 - 100 pound bags of plaster so far on the layout. The base shape of the mountains is traditional cardboard mess covered with plaster and paper towels. Rock castings from about  50 different molds are then fitted and attached to the base plaster with a plaster mortar - just like laying bricks. Each of the latex molds were shaped into multiple configurations using drying fixtures so the number of different rock castings is a very big number.

[S&S RR]

A few more pictures of the plaster process in various locations around the layout.

[ak-milw]

Wow, Now that's a lot of plaster, now I can see why they look so good.