The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[davefoxx]

This week's progress: I moved to the knoll that divides the layout and will be a viewblock.  I don't want a backdrop running down the middle of the layout, and, as on the Seaboard Central 2.0, trees served the purpose well.  So, I built about two dozen more trees this weekend and laid down some basic ground covering and kudzu. To remind you, here's the knoll before any ground covering:



Oh, and I was smart enough to realize that I needed to paint that stretch of track, or I would have a heck of a time getting in there with a spray bomb later.  And, now:



This angle gives a good demonstration of the viewblock.  You can see how the trees will hide not only Aberdeen, but also the A&R staging in the distance.  If I were about six inches shorter, it would hide the poop pipe! 



From the Aberdeen side, this scene is not much to see yet, but the Southern Pines side of the layout is becoming well hidden.  Can't even see the SC staging yard anymore, which is not bad considering the screen made of trees in no more than six inches deep.  Kudzu on the Southern Pines side helps fill in the gaps, and some underbrush on this side once the highway is built will complete the viewblock:



DFF

[davefoxx]

I was showing my wife the video that I recorded earlier, and she wanted to see a train on both levels.  So, I started to set up the photoshoot, and when my back was turned, my daughter, Aly, came in the room.  I caught her railfanning my layout.  Haha!



That's 100 times a better picture than what I was after:



DFF

[davefoxx]

Stepping back and looking over what I had accomplished this weekend, I realized that all this scene needed was a little ballasting on the SC line.  So, here we go.  I'm using some Scenic Express ballast that didn't suffice for the SBD's ballast, but it's fine for use on poorly maintained short line trackage.  To keep the ballast from looking too pristine, I mixed some green blend ground foam into the ballast.  I also found some powdery sand in my stock of scenery materials and threw that in, too, since this portion of track is on a 4% grade.  I didn't try to be as neat with the ballasting, as compared to the way I ballast the SBD's track, and really I like how some of the tie ends ended up exposed where the track is near the edge of the hill.  It's still wet with diluted white glue, but here it is:



DFF

[Vince P]

Very nice looks like the SC even has a company photographer

[p51]

Wow, the ground cover looks perfect. I can smell the kudzu and humidity from here!

[davefoxx]

Yesterday, after a crappy week of work, I just didn't feel like building another batch of trees, so I went looking for another smaller project.  I decided to try to weather a locomotive:  This is the Seaboard System's former Georgia Railroad GP40 No. 751:

BEFORE:



NOT AS MUCH BEFORE, BUT NOT YET AFTER:



Pleased with the results but in need of more weathering products to complete No. 751, I decided to move on to another task and applied a layer of paint and ground foam to the bare areas remaining on the Southern Pines side of the layout, which is the section first visible as you enter the layout room:



There has been an incomplete terraformed section between the Aberdeen and Southern Pines sides of the layout, so I decided to go at that, too.  But that required finally committing to gluing down the large styrene sheet that is the roads and sidewalks in Aberdeen.  That, of course, required me to paint the track where the styrene abuts the rail to form a highway crossing.  Done.  I also did some of the terraforming to "plant" the styrene base. To complete the terraforming, I need to paint and glue down the road that goes up the hill to the furniture factory.



DFF

[davefoxx]

Yeah, yeah.  That unweathered styrene street in Southern Pines was screaming at me, so I hit it with some preliminary weathering.  I didn't bother with the parking lot on the other side of the tracks, because the structure there is going to be replaced  I prefer to have the building in place before weathering the area around it:



That's a little better.

DFF

[davefoxx]

I have this warehouse that's on the Southern Pines side of the layout.  Its problem is that it was originally designed for another spot on the layout, and that causes a couple of problems: (1) the truck's dock is on the back where traffic cannot reach it; and (2) there is no access on the parking lot side of the building.  I had considered just having trucks back up to the end of that dock, but that seemed hokey.  Here's an old photo.  See?



I bought a second kit of this structure several months ago, but I tried to salvage what I could from the original building to save efforts.  Unfortunately, while the dock came off without too much damage, the corners of the building would not come apart cleanly.  That's okay, a previous attempt to revise this structure had already done some damage that could be eliminated by just redoing all of the walls.  I only reused the roof, but that did save a bit of work by not having to fit those roof panels together again.

I eliminated the doors on the backside of the building with some N Scale Architect brick to cover the openings, and, of course, I left the dock off.  I'll cut that excess pavement back at some point.  I also cut a new opening for the dock on the street side of the warehouse and added a freight door for loading trucks.  It's a small building, so one dock is sufficient.  The white strip over the door will be a concrete lintel.





A mock-up of the scene:



Anybody have suggestions on how to paint brick structures?  Mortar?  I'll need to use spray bombs, because I don't have an airbrush.

Thanks,
DFF

[Steveruger45]

While I’m no expert myself, after getting the brick color done all over and that fully dried, I have had good results getting mortar lines on an embossed styrene kit or two with mixing up a mortar color with cheap artist water based acrylic and heavily diluted same to a wash and applying with a brush or foam sponge and dabbing up the excess with a paper towel wrapped around a block of wood (to stop or at least limit the wash absorbed from the mortar lines) before it dried.
Kept at it in several passes until happy.  If not happy just wash it off and start again.
I’ve also tried chalks in a similar “karate kid” application method to some success. And a mix of the two.

[wazzou]

I mainly use light weight spackle for mortar.  Trowel it on and wipe off the faces with a mildly damp tee shirt.
I've also used just plain white flour, sealed with Dullcote.

[davefoxx]

A tree grows in Brooklyn . . . er, Aberdeen.



One of these days, I’ll get around to finishing these buildings and weathering the streets and sidewalks. 

DFF

[Point353]

A tree grows in Brooklyn . . . er, Aberdeen.



One of these days, I’ll get around to finishing these buildings and weathering the streets and sidewalks. 

DFF

No pick-up trucks?
Does the local filling station specialize in import auto repairs?

[davefoxx]

No pick-up trucks?
Does the local filling station specialize in import auto repairs?

Oh, look!  There's one.



Actually, I have two pickups (a Ford and a Jeep), but you have really hit the nail on the head with 1980s automobiles.  They're scarce, unless you want muscle cars or imports.  That's the struggle that I'm having.  I try to pick up any good quality cars and trucks that fit the mid-1980s era, but it's not easy.  Shockingly, I haven't located any of Atlas' Fairmont models in HO yet.  A couple of those, sedan and/or wagon, would be perfect.

DFF

[wm3798]

No pick-up trucks?
Does the local filling station specialize in import auto repairs?

Those cars were stolen from the golf course at Pinehurst.  They're just stopping in Aberdeen to pick up some weed before they head back to the trailer park.

Lee

[davefoxx]

Those cars were stolen from the golf course at Pinehurst.  They're just stopping in Aberdeen to pick up some weed before they head back to the trailer park.

Lee

Hahahahaha!!!

DFF