Sunday Scenic Showcase 10-21-12

A picture of one of our Mid America 3-Railer member's layout...."sswmickey" here on the forum.  It is O-scale 2-rail....

Alan

My scenery this week centered around this road "leaving" the layout. I had a lot of good suggestions from forum members. Thank you, Malcolm

This photo is the final attempt with some "homemade" ground cover on the right side of the road. This is sifted debris from under the trees in the backyard. I got this idea from the forum and I THINK it was ChristopherN&W that I borrowed it from.

Jim

Another great scence with a wonderfully done waterfall

It must be Sunday!!

First off - Jim Policastro - Is there a web site that shows photos of your entire layout?

My humble addition - below is an entrance to either an intermodal yard or truck terminal truck. There is a check in canopy with security booths and an office building.

Jim, you are my O-gauge Hi-rail scenery HERO.

Amen to that!

Jim

Want to share or tell where you got that water wheel for your Mill?  I was thinking of doing something similar too my MTH grain building and turning it into a grist mill.

Thank you for the kind words, guys. Scenery has definitely become one of my favorite parts of layout building lately. I've worked on a variety of layouts this past year, and practice is definitely the key to coming up with something believable.

Joe, I have a website (link is at the bottom of this post) but I haven't been very good at keeping it up-to-date. Part of the problem is that it was put together so long ago I've forgotten how I did it! I'm not really a computer person. There are also the magazine articles and a variety of posts on the forum.

The water wheel was built using thin modeler's plywood. The basic shape was cut on a scroll saw. Bracing was added with stripwood; the axle is a section of 2-56 threaded rod. I hope to motorize it someday.

Jim

Here's some pics of my layout town which is called Beawslaiw.  It's a rural town located somewhere between San Francisco and Los Angeles on the Southern Pacific main line.  The town has a train depot which services both the Southern Pacific and the Brisbane and Bushong Railroads.  The time is circa 1950.

Guys,

Great work this week, Jim, just love that look, and just read the story on the MVRR store layout you and Don worked on, very nice.

Not much to share this week,

Here are two photos of a wood roof top water tank I built, and then turned in to a new Korber kit.

Awesome photo's everyone as always.

Rich the water tower is beautiful, I'm happy I purchased three of them from you at York, and I can't wait to complete them.

Alex

I feel like a boy who plays Little League baseball and sees his first professional league game. The scenery details and the creative processes going into these photos never ceases to amaze and inspire me.

By the way boin106, in your third photo where did you find the old 1930's red car. I plan to model steam in the late 1930's.

PaPaT

Thanks, Matt.

My boys here can move just about anything anywhere if they are properly rewarded at the end of the day!

Jim

Jim

How did you get those gray rock faces looking so great?

What are they made from? In short how do you do that?

That is just what I am trying to make.

Steve,

They are a combination of rock castings and chunks of Styrofoam covered with a layer of Structolite plaster. There will be a how-to article on this technique for rock formations in the January 2013 issue (Run 261) of O Gauge Railroading magazine.

Jim

Jim

I am in track layout right now,(today),and could not figure this out so this is  

unbelievably timely, so as not to delay the often delayed Westfield Railroad any longer,

Can I lay against 5-inch high pink board, to about 2- 3 inch thick on about 70 degree angle? And Thank-You very much.

Those Homies Jim has can heft ten times their weight in building materials.

Steve,

I'm not quite sure what you are asking.

Jim

Allan,

They are strong, but they try to look even stronger for the ladies by hoisting those realistic looking, but light-weight Styrofoam rocks found all over the layout!

Jim

.....and I just discovered that the line icon thing just to the right of the horseshoe makes neat lines in a post to separate things!!!

Jim

Jim

I was just trying to figure out sizes and spacing I had to work with, Im guessing your scenery is adaptable in terms of thickness,(depth),incline and heights. On my layout it will be attached to an existing 5 inch "wall" of pink board between top and bottom levels. It will run about 16 feet long. Your scenery is exactly the look I want to have. Which is really exciting, cause I had not figured out how to proceed .

Great looking rock work Jim. Those mountains look massive!

I love small town America, circa 1950s.  Still trying to get it Norman Rockwell perfect!

Steve,

You're right that the thickness can be adapted to the situation and space available. The cliffs in the far background on the first photos posted above are carved from 2" foam board standing on end.

The photo below is part of the portable scenery I built for our club's sectional layout. The cliffs are 1" thick at the back drop and 2" thick for the row of rocks with the tunnel in front of that. Then there are some additional separate sections just behind the station. No plaster coating was used on these, just thick latex paint, to keep weight down for portability.

So you can adjust thicknesses to fit the space available.

Jim

A lot of great fotos

 Hope to see more

    Keep up the great work.

Jim;

I have liked that building for a while now.

You just made it better. I LOVE water wheels and they are so prototypical for the area I'm modeling.

Thanks for the inspiration and I hope you don't mind if I Copy Blatantly !

Russell,

No problem- that's the origin of many of my scenes! 

Jim

Jim;

Tell us about the mill? Kit, Paper or Scratch? Looks beautiful in it's setting.

Trainchief

Trainchief,

It's the MTH Granary building (comes assembled) with new paint and weathering and a scratchbuilt water wheel.

Jim