The Empire

[S&S RR]

John, about five minutes after I posted, I looked again, moved some of the structures around.  Found Saulena's Tavern on the orphan shelf and came up with this.  It eliminates the street looking right onto the bluff.  I'm liking this even more.  I moved "Rosa's Place to the end of the other street as well.  This left a big gap behind the front structures, but I'll just build the back of a building and roof for this. 

Jeff

Jeff


I like that better, too. I like Mark's idea of adding some alleyways. They provide a great opportunity for some mini scenes, too.

[deemery]

Alleys don't take up anywhere near as much (road width) space as regular roads!


dave

[tom.boyd.125]

Jeff,
Know you will find the right layout of all those structures to make this scene look great.
Great to see this section of the empire looking completed.
Tommy

[ACL1504]

Jeff,

Happy to see more work done on the Empire. The addition of the structures sure changes the look of that area. Great stuff Doc!

Tom 

[postalkarl]

Hey Jeff:

I think your daughters are right.

Karl

[Mark Dalrymple]

the front structures from the theater to the hotel have no sides.  Fitting things, there is a small passageway next to the theatre, which could include some details, or LPs "making a deal" out of sight of the street.

Its a bit of a shame you can't split those structures apart, but I like the alleyway next to the theater.  I think, especially when viewing from the building height, the glimpse of the alleyway, street and structure behind will seem very deep and add a lovely cameo shot.

I, too, wonder about using those two same DD kits in the same viewing area.  You could try them side by side - like the same builder built two units using the same set of plans and the residents have painted them differently over the years.

Cheers, Mark.

[Zephyrus52246]

Well, I'm sure you all have wondered about progress on The Empire in the intervening 2.5 years since the last post.  Probably not, but I'll tell you anyway.     Not much.  If you look at this pic that I posted of the structures in place on the FOS structure build thread, you can see the streets are finished.  This was a stopping point for a long time as I couldn't get them to look the way I wanted.  Between paint and Pan Pastels, eventually they looked good enough.  I've added the sidewalks as well.  

Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

I don't know why I left that bare spot on the hill behind the buildings.  I think at the time, I was going to cover it in trees, but later thought it would look better just continuing the same materials.  I finished that last week.  Remembering how I did this years ago was also puzzling, but I had written it down so I could do a similar effect in the future.  Also added some ground goop in the area up to the tracks.  The hole in the rock is so that a building can fit here.

Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

Yes, I've removed the buildings for the umpteenth time.     On the left side, The "creek" area was completed yesterday as was an area on the front of the tracks.  The bridge was another stopping point for a long time.  I couldn't decide how to do the abutments.  After seeing Tom and others make them out of styrene, that's what I did here and they look OK.  The interchange and Rock Island crossing track have also been attached and some drainage ditches around them put in.  The tracks have been painted, which was another point where I tried several different paints to get what I was looking for and eventually found a reasonable look. 
Next up is the white area between the lift out which has the streets on it and the interchange track.  We'll see how long that takes.

Jeff

[jerryrbeach]

Jeff,

That looks like solid progress to me.  I especially like the way you worked the elevation changes surrounding the riverbed into the scene.  I'm also looking forward to seeing some scenery around the Myers feed mill and the coal silos. 

Thanks for taking the time to bring us "up to speed".

[GPdemayo]

Very nice work.....great progress. 

[Zephyrus52246]

Thanks, Jerry.  The area around the feed mill will unfortunately be the last area with scenery.  Everything behind the main line first, and then the front, so I don't have to reach over the rest. 

Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

Thanks for looking in, Greg.  It's progress, but very slow progress.

Jeff

[Mark Dalrymple]

Any progress is good progress, Jeff.

Even 15 minutes a day soon adds up.  Town is looking good.

Cheers, Mark.

[PRR Modeler]

Nice work Jeff.