Unstoppable!
quick as lightning!
well, my last thread was about a mountain:
but… … it got about 70 pics now, and…
… i am building about two (scale) miles away from that mountain now - so i think i’ll let that thread rest in peace now, and start a new one, that will show my warp-speed general progress in landscaping.
well, here we go:
below my 12 foot trestle there is some landscape needed. rough, rocky terrain.
as mentioned in the last posts of the mountain thread, i am trying out various ways to achieve that.
thanks to a little, insignificant miscalculation i had to glue wooden bases below each trestle. logically i dont want those to show up, once the part of the layout is done.
so i have to “landfill” about one inch of height and have to make it with a rough surface.
now i tried something new.
glueing down pieces of styrofoam as base, i then cover them with surgical plaster, that comes in ready-made rolls.
i did about three foot length with a roll that did cost nearly three $us.
it is easy to work with, just cut off a length, hold it in hot water and lay it upon the styrofoam.
but, (isn’t there always a “but”?) for stability, i need either to apply a second layer, or to paint it with additional plaster or filler.
that makes me think, it might be cheaper, to put wet cloth of any type, and paint that.
Korm many years ago they gave us the hard shell technique where we dipped lengths of paper towel into hydrocal high density plaster. No reason why you couldn’t dip gauze or a linen like material into your own mix. For our models I like a hard surface when I dust or vacuum the layout.
John
my point in trying different things is, that i am not curious… but i want to know everything.
in the pic below you see the sections with the first layer of (dark) “rock-colour”.
seriously - i seek a method, that does not put more material on me, than on the layout. (and plasterdipping leaves my trousers, as if i had been seated below a swarm of doves)
it seems, that the plastic moskito screen with glue-sawdust-water-mix gives the roughest surface. (in the middle of the pic, between dog and donkey)
err… “dusting and vacuuming” …
you made my day!
i thought, you live in a desert too?
it’s not, that i’m doing nothing.
nearly nothing it is.
why is it, that boring, but simple things take longer to get done, than complicated things?
as i am believing, that loose sand as ballast keeps the noise down, but vibration of trains passing tends to make the sand move, i make “ballast-rims” out of styrofoam.
… when i’m in the mood…
Korm
I use the same “ballast - rim” idea on some area’s on my outdoor layout.
I call it a berm 
yes. the same idea. just that i am using lighter material. i will just smear glue on the foam, then cover it with ballast-sand to brush off the excess later.
Korm Kormsen said:
it’s not, that i’m doing nothing.
nearly nothing it is.
why is it, that boring, but simple things take longer to get done, than complicated things?
Korm, I have noticed that too. I think it has to do with the “challenge factor”. Complicated things challenge me to think and problem solve, so they are more engaging to me. The simple tasks don’t challenge me, so they just get put off, and put off, and put off again. That is why my workbench is now buried under 2 layers of projects…
Kinda like doing track work and maintenance, instead of planning new track and expansion. Has to be done, but not fun. You should try tearing apart an old layout, motivation hardly exists.
Ric Golding said:
… You should try tearing apart an old layout, motivation hardly exists.
oh, did that. in 2005 we sold our house with a “get out in 30 days” clause.
i had a layout, that filled a dedicated trainroom of 7 by 6 yards. got it out in time. but…
… about 20 of the moving boxes are still unopened 11 years later.
Gonna look good as usual. I will try to keep up with the speedy progress (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)
Ric Golding said:
Kinda like doing track work and maintenance, instead of planning new track and expansion. Has to be done, but not fun. You should try tearing apart an old layout, motivation hardly exists.
Ric, one would think so, but re-ballasting and leveling my railroad each spring is almost therapeutic. It removes me and my stressed mind from my job, and my other worries, and lets me relax. As for tearing down my old railroad, that N scale monstrosity had become such a thorn in my side, that breaking it down and making a work table out of it was a soul cleansing experience. Its all in how I frame to task in my mind. One day, I will just plunk my butt down and clear off my workbench. Then I will just have to run all that “new” equipment for a few hours. You know, just to test it.
well, after some more bone-breaking work (notice the tools, injection molded by our local “toothfairy” after originals from wood and plastic by me)
… we finally finished the ballasting of that stretch of track.
so now i am free to try my hand at (partial) “reverse landscaping” as mentioned in another thread.
(those with keen eyesight might detect some rail beneath the junk on the lower level. that will be a future SF - underground station. with a stargate, a tardis and all sorts of commodities for off-world visitors)
Look’s great Korm. What are you using for ballast? I like the appearance.
coarse sand for swimming-pool filters. mixed with black toner for colouring portland cement.
i mix it a little darker, than i do like it, because during the first year it tends to lighten up somewhat. (see the 2nd pic in my last post. in the foreground is ballast from last year) (if you glue it down, it looses less color)
we all got the problem, that there seems to be no ballast, that is “on scale”. cat litter, aquarium stones, whatever else turns out to give scale-fist sized ballast stones or greater. for me that doesn’t look right. so i opted for this ballast, that is “in scale” about one finger-wide, instead of the 1:1 two finger wide.
Looks great Korm. Thanks for the info.
this thread is about progress.
so, is there progress? any progress?
thanks to hard time management, excellent efficiency and a lot of goodwill from the labour force…bla, bla, bla…
… at my usual astonishing speed i got part of the chickenwire base for the planned inverse (downhill from the observer) landscaping laid in place.
as my original building plans were, to finish this part of the layout by midyear*, this might call for a celebration.
(*) midyear 2012 that was…
Korm
You’re making more progress than Devon!(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
do you write that, to brighten my mood up, or to bring me down??
Did you smile? Then it worked!
Korm keep up with the great work!
