The Little Rock Line

[davefoxx]

Bob Ross would be impressed.  Kudos!

DFF

[mu26aeh]

Bob Ross would be impressed.  Kudos!

DFF

Happy Trees ! 

A couple every night 

[Scottl]

I agree, the texture in the foreground hills is very nice.  Well done!

[jpwisc]

That is really appealing to the eye, nice work!

[mark dance]

Nice work Allen...I am a huge fan of painted backdrops and yours strike a very nice balance of realism without distraction.

And congratulations on stepping out of your comfort zone to develop - or uncover? - additional skills! 

md

[Bendtracker1]

I'm normally not a big fan of painted backdrops, I'm more into the photos, but I must admit that these look great! You have applied some "trickery" that makes this really look convincing. I especially like the apparent "texture" of the foregrond hills.

Thanks svedblen.
I think the "trickery" is nothing more than layers of lighter and lighter colored paint.
Actually I think I just got lucky.   

Bob Ross would be impressed.  Kudos!

DFF

Happy Trees ! 

A couple every night 

Thanks Dave and Adam.

I agree, the texture in the foreground hills is very nice.  Well done!

Thanks Scott.

That is really appealing to the eye, nice work!

Thanks Karl, when I'm working on it up close all I can see are brush dabs and jabs, when I step back and look at it from a distance my mind tells me those are trees, not paint.  It's amazing to me how a little color will fool the eye.   

Nice work Allen...I am a huge fan of painted backdrops and yours strike a very nice balance of realism without distraction.

And congratulations on stepping out of your comfort zone to develop - or uncover? - additional skills! 

md

Thanks Mark.
That's what I was and am worried about.  I keep remembering the words I read about how a backdrop should not over power the foreground modeling.  It seems to be a lot like weathering, sometimes less is more.  But like svedblen said, I too like the photo backdrops, but can't help to wonder if some photos overpower the layout?
Of the photo backdrops I've seen here on the TRW and other places, including coldriver's, svedblen's and Brad Meyer's, they don't seem to overpower the scene that much?

It was a big step Mark! 

[Bendtracker1]

While I'm off my feet until my knee heals from surgery, I decided to step away from the layout and sit at my bench and get some projects worked on that's been sitting around for a few years. The first project was to finish some chassis swaps.

This is an N scale Life Like Proto GP18.  I swapped the LL chassis with an Atlas GP7/9 chassis.




Yeah I know, there's no fuel tanks....

Second up, I picked these custom painted Gems up on eBay numerous years ago and they got shoved back on a shelf.  I ran across them when I dug out the GP18's.  I just needed to get them back together, add a few details  and get them dirtied up a bit.  I'm looking forward to adding the new IMRC GP10's to the brood when they arrive.







More on the blog...

[Philip H]

Oh sure, go ramp the  factor up on your loco fleet.  Thanks.   

Seriously nice work, but the Rock locos shouldn't look better then my beloved ICG

[Cajonpassfan]

Wow Allen, you're nailing it, can't wait to see more scenery.
Love the backdrop, sometimes less truly is more...
Otto K.

[Bendtracker1]

Oh sure, go ramp the  factor up on your loco fleet.  Thanks.   

Seriously nice work, but the Rock locos shouldn't look better then my beloved ICG

Well isn't that what you're suppose to do?     Thanks Philip!
Don't worry, when I'm done with the 18's, they'll make the ICG units look a whole lot cleaner.

Wow Allen, you're nailing it, can't wait to see more scenery.
Love the backdrop, sometimes less truly is more...
Otto K.

Thanks for the kind words Otto, neither can I.
Yeah, I was kind of scared to add anything more to it.  I've always been told that the backdrop shouldn't attract too much attention so as to take away from the foreground.  I'm hoping the near hills blend into the 3D trees?

[Bendtracker1]

I got back to work in March and it's been almost 6 months since I stepped away from the layout. Since then I've had several personal agendas that needed my attention and as of today they're almost complete, so with fall approaching I'm getting the itch to get back to the layout.

A week or so ago a buddy and I was looking at some LED shop lights for his new garage and we found some at Menards. I thought they might make an improvement to my layout, so I picked up some as well.  Tonight I got them all installed.

Here's a Before and After pic, the rest can be seen on the blog.





And an overall view.

[GaryHinshaw]

Good to see the update and the renewed interest, Allen.  The lighting looks very crisp, but boy that yard is sure full.  The train crews need to get to work!

[Bendtracker1]

Good to see the update and the renewed interest, Allen.  The lighting looks very crisp, but boy that yard is sure full.  The train crews need to get to work!

Hi Gary
LOL, yeah I need to figure a way to get the crews back to work.

The lights are crisp, it's a real change from the fluorescents.  I've been keeping a silent eye on your progress and enjoying it as well, nice work Gary.

[soo]

The new crisp lighting will make working on the layout easier and no so tiring.
The future is so bright,,,I have to wear shades!!
Y-it

[Bendtracker1]

I don't think there's a chance in hell I could get any sleep under those lights let alone feel tired!