Sandy Lake & Northern misc builds, etc.

[jbvb]

There's a voltage adjustment thingie (resistor?) on the power supply next to the terminals.  I suppose I should "tune" that to 12v.

Yes, though I'd explore just what the ?knob? does without the LED strips connected. And I'd check the no-load voltage before touching the knob.  One can build a good regulated power supply for small $ these days, but not everyone pays for a designer who knows how.

My power bricks have no adjustment, they just drop voltage in the face of excessive load.  Completely reasonable IMO.

[friscomike]

Howdy Dave, 

The scenery is looking good.  It's bringing to scene to life. 

Have fun,
mike

[deemery]

Some more treeing...

I need to add underbrush, and another line of trees along the front of that ravine. 

The viewing distance for this scene is about 2'-3' away, I leaned in for the photo.   Here it is from the aisle:


dave

[Michael Hohn]

Looking good, Dave!

[Philip]

A very natural looking scene taking shape!

[deemery]

A couple days ago, I painted the Sculptamold with my paint & white glue mixture, and sprinkled on some fine foam as the base layer.  Today is forestation, adding trees, shrubs and plants along the cliff and in front of the forest backdrop:

I'm doing a relatively small area here that's easy to reach, to work out components, glues, techniques, etc. 

I got this cheap battery pencil rotary tool:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GJ6JQKF2  I'm using a couple different size bits to drill holes for the trees and tall shrub trunks.  It turns out that the bright silver Dremel collets fit in this tool (the dark anodized do not), and That's A Good Thing, since those collets hold drill bits better than the collets that came with the tool.   The thin diameter of the rotary tool just fits in front of the backdrop, MUCH better than my battery Dremel or my conventional battery drill. 

The trees are a combination of Woodland Scenic 'forest edge' and the plastic armatures that I got from the internet a while back.  There was no brand name on the bags, unfortunately.  For the latter, I cut them more-or-less flush along the back, to make a half-a-tree.  Then it's polyfiber stretched thin over the armature, with hair spray then coarse foam for leaves.  The idea is the rounder trees represent one species, while the tall skinny WS trees represent a different species. The smaller tall shrubs are JTT products (inexpensive at Hobby Lobby), and I'll add a couple more of those.  Then underneath it's a combination of WS Scenery Clumps, coarse foam and some plastic shrubs I got from Scenic Express. 

To glue the trees, I'm using Aileen's clear tacky glue.  For the clumps, I'm using the thick JTT white Scenic Cement.  For the larger plastic bushes, I'm using clear tacky glue.  There I lay down a small clump/line of tacky glue onto the terrain, then grab a pinch of scenic material and press into position.  I've also tried a scenery layering spray (WW Scenics), but that doesn't have quite as much tack as I'd hope to capture fine foam. 

So, overall, this is coming out as I was hoping.  It looks like some stuff clinging to the steep slope, then a relatively thick but still 'see-through' woodline in front of the forest backdrop.  Once I remove the protective wax paper, that'll be much easier to see.

One other thing I'll do the next time I work on this.  I'll lay some cloth in that valley underneath the cliff, to recover the scenic material that falls down into the valley.   Next time, I'll do a wider area.

dave

[jbvb]

Looks like you're protecting the photo mural backdrop with plastic?  In my experience, New England and NY steep slopes rarely have bare dirt; either it's in the process of washing away, or the ground cover will grow back in weeks or months.  Steep rock often gets moss.

[Philip]

Thanks for the link. I need one.

The scene is really taking shape. The background is amazing!

[deemery]

Looks like you're protecting the photo mural backdrop with plastic?  In my experience, New England and NY steep slopes rarely have bare dirt; either it's in the process of washing away, or the ground cover will grow back in weeks or months.  Steep rock often gets moss.

Good point!  I think if I stipple the brown spots with glue/matte medium, I can add some ground foam.

dave