Superior & Seattle Railroad Build (Volume 4) Started 8/14/21

[S&S RR]

John, what are you using as the glue for static grass?


dave

Dave


Here is a picture of the container for the glue that I'm using.  It comes concentrated and you mix it 4:1 with water. It seems to be working very well.  This is a new product for me that was recommended by Jim at Scenic Express.

[S&S RR]

Well,  I completed enough layers of scenery around the Stone Roundhouse and Locomotive works areas that I decided to take a few markup photographs.  This is the point where I step back and study some photographs of the scene and decide where I want to go from here.  I will post photographs of some of the steps I went through to get to this point once I have the scene completed.

[S&S RR]

Notes:


You will notice that I'm in the process of swapping out the plastic roof vents on the roundhouse with metal castings that Bob supplied with the original kit. I like these castings a lot better.


I need to add more randomly placed bushes and weeds - it still has that evenly spaced "landscaper look" - mother nature does a much better job of planting bushes.


My workbench is full of castings for the junk piles that will be added to make the scene look more like a running railroad.




I have been spending a lot of time studying the photographs from my field trips to get the colors right.  Getting the grass the color I liked has been the hardest task so far in this process. As part of the progress steps I will post a few prototype photographs.

[Janbouli]

Looking great John , might I say one thing though , to me the grass looks a bit uniform colored , but that could be the lighting of the photo's.

And maybe I'm totally wrong , but the blocks they are building with seem much to heavy to just climb up a ladder, wouldn't they have used some kind of lifting or pulling gear to get them up on that scaffold.

[S&S RR]

Looking great John , might I say one thing though , to me the grass looks a bit uniform colored , but that could be the lighting of the photo's.

Jan


My thoughts exactly,  I'm working on that.  I'm going to post some prototype photographs in a few minutes that are my starting point.  One of the issues is the photographs where taken with my iPhone that tends to brighten the lighter colors. I plan to get the SLR out and take some pictures before making any big moves.

[S&S RR]

Here are a few photographs of the grass in the area I'm modeling.

[Bernd]

John,

Great looking scenery. Love the close ups of the roundhouse and engine shop. I saved the pictures for reference when I get to building my scratch build roundhouse. Thanks for posting those close ups.

Bernd

[deemery]

Several modelers (Don Ball, the late Harold Minkwitz) have done 'golden west' grass fields.  To my eastern eye, those always look funny, but I understand that's how the prototype looks.  From your prototype photos, seems there are some small patches of lower, more green plants mixed in with the golden grasses. 

dave

[Janbouli]

Several modelers (Don Ball, the late Harold Minkwitz) have done 'golden west' grass fields.  To my eastern eye, those always look funny, but I understand that's how the prototype looks.  From your prototype photos, seems there are some small patches of lower, more green plants mixed in with the golden grasses. 

dave

Yes , some of the prototype photo's makes me rethink my post , they are as uniform as John modeled it , I do think the photo's with more green in it look nicer.

[PRR Modeler]

Excellent John. I really like all the grass.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Looking really great, John.

Cheers, Mark.

[S&S RR]

Update: So, when I posted the pictures I knew I didn't like the way it looked.  Yes, I added more browns and golden colors to the grass, and it helped, but that didn't completely do it for me. After reviewing the issue with Wayne Olson we figured it out.  I was complete violating the "George Sellios" pallet to use Cuse's term. I pulled out a lot of off color bushes and will have pictures later tonight. All is well, in S&S RR country.  Yes, the grass is different in the West.  Weeds and bushes grow in clumps, not evenly spaced, it makes a huge difference.  All of the green bushes will be used around buildings where the landscapers put them.

[S&S RR]

John,

Great looking scenery. Love the close ups of the roundhouse and engine shop. I saved the pictures for reference when I get to building my scratch build roundhouse. Thanks for posting those close ups.

Bernd

Bernd


Thank you, I think you will like the pictures I post tonight even better.

[S&S RR]

Excellent John. I really like all the grass.

Curt


Thank you for encouraging comments. I did a little tweak to the grass color, added more browns and golden brown fibers.  See what you think with the new pictures.

[S&S RR]

Looking really great, John.

Cheers, Mark.

Mark


Thank you, I think I have it going in the right direction, and now with a few minor but important, changes, it will look even better. IMO