Sandy Lake & Northern misc builds, etc.

[deemery]

I'll put the scenery photos here, since they cover more than just the farm area.  

So first I covered the plaster cloth with Sculptamold thinned by paint, so it's not stark white.  They I glued the Noch grass mat over the farm pasture area, but not over that sliver of land between the tracks.  I thinned out the grass mat, spraying with water to soften the glue, then scraping away the grass in spots, as well as along the road at the side of the barn.  Then I applied static grass, a mixture of green and beige colors and lengths.  I glued in some tufts, too.  

On the hill, I applied static grass over the painted Sculptamold, then added tufts and shrubberies.  I'll probably add a few trees here, but right now I'm not quite happy with this.  I think it needs some more vertical shrubs (think small trees).  

But the farm bridge over the tracks looks good.

dave

[Rick]

Dave, that looks very good.

[deemery]

What I noticed when driving to VT looking at roadside cuts, is right at the top of the cliff there's a lot of tall skinny weeds/shrubs.  And those tend to be more brown than green.  I'm not sure anyone makes a particularly good product for that.  There were also a fair number of short (4'-6') pine trees interspersed with the tall weeds.  So that's what I'm thinking about today.

dave

[friscomike]

Howdy Dave, looking good!  Have fun, mike

[Michael Hohn]

Dave,

Your scenery is coming along well. 

Mike

[ACL1504]

Dave,

The added scenery really looks good. The scene is coming together nicely.

Tom

[deemery]

Well, sometimes things don't work out....  Today's plan was to make trees.  Yesterday I spray-painted the armatures (not apertures ).  Today I dug out polyfiber, sticky glue, and Scenic Express Superleafs.  I coated the tips of the armatures with the solvent glue (Beacon 3 in 1.  My several year old open bottle was no good, so I opened a new bottle.)  Then I stretched the polyfoam over the armatures, and that looked good. 

So I went to the garage, dug out my Loctite Spray Adhesive Professional 300.  I warmed that up in a yoghurt container of hot water, shook well (at least I thought I shook it enough), and sprayed an armature.  What came out was not a nice thin spray of adhesive, but rather something that looked like "Instant Spider Web" from Halloween.  I did sprinkle the SuperLeaf over that (I was committed at that point), but the result looks lousy. 


Since I also need that spray glue for the DACS pine tree approach, I'm stuck.  I'll order different glue (3M 77), arriving Tuesday, and try again...

In the meantime, I have a couple extra cans of Loctite 300, if anyone wants them...

dave

[jbvb]

I used a new can of 3M Super 77 for laminating paper, styrene etc. to acrylic when building my Hytron Warehouse structure. I remember the spray as fairly broad and the solvent flashing off quite quickly. By the time I put the can down the sprayed area's texture was kind of like I'd brushed on thinned Goo.

[deemery]

Another failure to report.  I have the Scenic Express EXP531 "Easy Tree Kit" (3"-6" tall)  The armatures have much more complex and nicer branch structure than the equivalent Woodland Scenics product (TR1122).  BUT when I tried to bend mine to shape the tree (in particular, moving the branches from a vertical to a horizontal orientation), the darn things snapped off.  There is a note I read that heating will help.  So I tried a heat gun, with very little effect.  The branches never got soft, until the point when they actually melted (I was using a single temperature heat gun.)  I also tried holding the armature in boiling water (I had to dig out my big stock pot to get enough depth of water to cover the branches.)  It helped a little bit, one armature bent OK, but the other just snapped off. 

I've reported this to Scenic Express, I'll report back if I hear.  I said "It would be best for a plastic that is pliable at no more than boiling water temperature."

update   I heard back from Scenic Express:  "We discontinued those kits 7 years ago."  I guess I wasn't the only person with problems.  Too bad, I do like the shape of those armatures when I can shape them...

dave

[deemery]

I had a big problem where the Scenic Express cement would ball up as I spread it over the terrain.  But those balls aren't all that visible, thankfully, this just looks like rough terrain.  (The stuff in the foreground.)


And the difference between the foreground rough terrain and the background (grass mat) farmland is not too noticeable.  As I add stuff to the farmland side (fencing, cows   ), that should make things look appropriate.  The foreground area is where the apple orchard goes.  But first, I'll continue the static grass application along to the left off the picture.  This area is relatively well framed by the land forms, so I want the entire area to be consistent.

dave

[KentuckySouthern]

Dave, working out well. I really like the bridge.

[deemery]

I got 2 of the Woodland Scenics 'barbed wire fence' kits.  https://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/item/A2980

They take a bit of a process to install, particularly over static grass.  After some experimentation, here's how I do it.  First, lay out the fence and figure out where the corners will go and of course the start and end. 

To plant a post, first I poke a hole into the hard shell using a push point.  I leave the push point into position while I add some glue to the post.  (I'm using Beacon 3-in-1  https://beaconadhesives.com/products/3-in-1 )  Then I plant the first post, and let the glue dry overnight. 

What you'd want is to get the barbed wire stretched tight, but that's probably too hard to accomplish.  So I'm ok with loose barbed wire, particularly when I'm laying the fence over slopes (where the length of the top wire would be slightly longer or shorter than the bottom wire.) 

Continue with the posts up to the corner.  "Drill" the corner location with the push point, use the separate corner post from the kit, and glue that into place, being sure the small notches for the barbed wire are properly aligned.  Let that cure before continuing. 


Then I ran the rest of the fence along the road, and at the bottom right, I used the post already attached as the corner post.  The challenge is keeping the posts upright/plumb to add a bit of tension on the fence.

When this is dry, I'll go back and use the corner post angle supports from the kit.  Stay tuned for photos of that tomorrow.  The posts are on soft steel(?) pins so once the glue has set, I can lightly bend the posts to get them more plumb.

add  Here's the first corner done:

I need to let the glue dry on the other corner (to the right on the middle photo) before adding the corner supports.

dave

[Jerry]

Looks good Dave.  But I've never seen a plumb BW fence post yet in my lifetime!!  Well maybe when there first put in!!
So i wouldn't worry to much about them being plumb!

Jerry

[deemery]

The important question is, "do the cows like it?"

(I'll need to do the layout lighting to get this scene to photograph better...)

dave

[Rick]

That's a very good looking fence.
The slightly angled posts look good to me.