Seaboard Central 2.0

[eric220]

Dave, looks awesome! If you wanted to try Kudzu Jesus's arms again, what about using a thin piece of wire, perhaps like what comes with a tortoise motor for the length of the arms? That way you could sculpt them to whatever arc you want.

[mu26aeh]

Dave, looks awesome! If you wanted to try Kudzu Jesus's arms again, what about using a thin piece of wire, perhaps like what comes with a tortoise motor for the length of the arms? That way you could sculpt them to whatever arc you want.

I was thinking along same lines, maybe using piano wire or similar.

[davefoxx]

Dave, looks awesome! If you wanted to try Kudzu Jesus's arms again, what about using a thin piece of wire, perhaps like what comes with a tortoise motor for the length of the arms? That way you could sculpt them to whatever arc you want.

A good idea, but I'm not going to try.  First, I would have to figure out how to support and secure the wire, but the real problem for me is that every time I touch the kudzu or lines, everything gets knocked out of whack.  Of course, allowing the adhesive to dry overnight will make the kudzu more sturdy, but too much pressure on the lines causes a line pole to spin in its hole in the foam substrate and the wires' sags get messed up.  Secondly, my fingers are just too big or klutzy for this type of finesse work.  I'm calling it done, except . . .

I may try to use a few drops of CA and just leaves on the wires to see if I can give the impression of the vines growing out on the lines.  It will be lacking the draped effect of the vines on the wires, but I'm okay with that.

Thanks,
DFF

[chuck geiger]

AT&T approved

[OldEastRR]

As for thin red striping on the drip edge, why not use some red decal stripes? You should be able to find a set that matches your needs, and then there are the UP red stripe sets MicroScale sells.

[davefoxx]

As for thin red striping on the drip edge, why not use some red decal stripes? You should be able to find a set that matches your needs, and then there are the UP red stripe sets MicroScale sells.

We're on the same page.  But for the UP red wouldn't match the red that I used for the windows and doors, that's a really good idea.  My thought, when I get back to the station project, is to spray some blank decal film with my red paint.  Cut narrow strips and voila!

Thanks,
DFF

[davefoxx]

I added a little kudzu to the wires- leaves only, no vines, which kept the lines from being pulled down non-prototypically.  I spread CA on the wires with a microbrush and then sprinkled the leaves over it.  We'll see how much sticks after it dries. 



DFF

[Bendtracker1]

Looks good Dave!

[wm3798]

Praise the Kudzu King!

[Lemosteam]

Can you take one itty bitty macro shot of that roof for me @davefoxx ??

[davefoxx]

Can you take one itty bitty macro shot of that roof for me @davefoxx ??

@Lemosteam,

I can try.  Do you want straight-on shot to get just the pattern without distortion for perspective or just a close-in shot of the entire roof?

DFF

[Dave V]

Dave,

I keep showing Patricia (from southern Virginia) your kudzu pictures and she's extremely impressed...probably more than she is with any of my scenery attempts, anyway!

Now...the elephant in the room.  Southern pines.  Longleaf and loblolly.  The next giant leap.  Any ideas?

EDIT:  Found this, not sure if it "scales" well to N:

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/15501

[davefoxx]

Dave,

I keep showing Patricia (from southern Virginia) your kudzu pictures and she's extremely impressed...probably more than she is with any of my scenery attempts, anyway!

Now...the elephant in the room.  Southern pines.  Longleaf and loblolly.  The next giant leap.  Any ideas?

EDIT:  Found this, not sure if it "scales" well to N:

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/15501

@Dave Vollmer,

Oh, boy, you've hit the nail on the head.  Pine trees native to the Sandhills of the Carolinas really should be the next modeling project that I undertake.  Once I do discover a method that is effective in N scale, it would be a big breakthrough for me, because, as you know, there are no commercially available model trees of Southern, Loblolly, or Longleaf Pines.  So, the best way to do it will be to build the trees individually by hand, not unlike that as seen in the link in your post.  But, holy moly, it's going to take forever to populate the layout.  That's why I just used SuperTrees to fill the layout for now.

Honestly, I haven't decided whether that effort is worth it on this layout (although it would correct that pesky spring/fall thing that's happening on the layout).

Thank you (and Patricia)!
DFF

[Dave V]

A ran into this issue when I was trying to model Apex, NC with my oldest son (the layout that got recycled into the Colorado Midland).  Since it was meant as a father-son project with a minimal amount of difficult scratchbuilding, I went with the Woodland Scenics "pine trees."  The more I look at those the more I realize they don't really look like any species of tree I've ever seen, Eastern, Western, European, or otherwise.  I recommend staying away from those.

I think what you may have to do is say, two or three "clumps" of these trees of less than 10 trees apiece just to give the feel.  'Cause honestly it's just not North Carolina sandhills country without 'em.  My house in Apex backed against a huge longleaf pine forest.  That damn pine straw is everywhere also...I'm guessing a rusty orange electrostatic grass (if you can find one) scattered horizontally would do the trick for longleaf pine straw.

If I come up with any bright ideas, I'll let you know.

[davefoxx]

A ran into this issue when I was trying to model Apex, NC with my oldest son (the layout that got recycled into the Colorado Midland).  Since it was meant as a father-son project with a minimal amount of difficult scratchbuilding, I went with the Woodland Scenics "pine trees."  The more I look at those the more I realize they don't really look like any species of tree I've ever seen, Eastern, Western, European, or otherwise.  I recommend staying away from those.

I think what you may have to do is say, two or three "clumps" of these trees of less than 10 trees apiece just to give the feel.  'Cause honestly it's just not North Carolina sandhills country without 'em.  My house in Apex backed against a huge longleaf pine forest.  That damn pine straw is everywhere also...I'm guessing a rusty orange electrostatic grass (if you can find one) scattered horizontally would do the trick for longleaf pine straw.

If I come up with any bright ideas, I'll let you know.

That's a great idea to do a few clumps of pines for effect.  That hadn't occurred to me.  I was just picturing an entire pine forest.  But, now, this would make it much less of a monumental task to populate the layout.  Well, I figured out kudzu after much hemming and hawing, I'm sure that I can figure out how to build an effective pine tree, too.  But, keep me posted, if you come up with anything.

Ha!  I used to live in and around Winston-Salem in the early 1990s.  I once owned a house in Lewisville, NC on a 3/4-acre plot of land.  Since we were in a wooded area, the front yard was all pine straw, so I'm familiar with that!

DFF