Hey All! Its been a bit since my last layout update and I wanted to share some scenery updates.
In addition to planning out the small residential town, urban center, and the industrial area, I've been weathering some of my buildings. I didn't want them to just be shiny plastic, so I bought a can of Roberts Brick Mortar Mix and went to town! The tall Dreyfus building was my first attempt, and I will say I got a lot better after that. lol It still needs some finishing touches, like painting the parapet. But I'm pleased how my Lionelville Jim's 5&10 and MTH Camden Tool and Die building turned out. Next up is going to be my MTH Station. I may get a little fancy with it since it will be dead center in front of the layout and change the window color, paint the brick work at the peaks, add window treatments, weather the roof, add window treatments, and relight it. I've learned through this process that I really enjoy adding my touches to the buildings. If anyone has any recommendations on how to paint the parapets or windows, I'm all ears!
Here are some before, during and after pics!
The next big area I've been working on is the industrial area. I started building out my first foam mountain. I'm call the mountain area "The Cut." The inspiration of this is from Route 837 in PA, going from Dravosburg towards Duquesne. I wanted a taller cut hillside, with exposed rocks, trees, etc. I finally got it fully built up and trimmed so trains will clear. Next up will be glowing the foam together, then covering it with some plaster and Sculptamold, paint, and scenery.
On the acquisition front, I ended up snagging a few things over the last few weeks. If you didn't catch it in the above pics, I got another P&LE engine off of my "holy grail" list. I got the U28b #2080 used from someone local to me. There are a few issues with it, one being that the window covers broken off, but the other is that I can't the horn and bell to work when I give it commands on my Z4000. If anyone has advice on how to fix it, let me know. I don't have DCS yet as I'm still waiting on the WTIU from MTH. I really hope it comes in soon.
Other than that, its a great runner, and a great smoker! I also picked up an Atlas O flat car with pipe load at the Great Model Train Show in Timonium, MD.
Have a great Sunday, y'all!
