"Shoo-Fly" Free-moN Module (2'x6')

[John]

would a real life person throw a railroad tie over his shoulder?  Otherwise = hawt

[DKS]

would a real life person throw a railroad tie over his shoulder?  Otherwise = hawt

See: The General with Buster Keaton.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

would a real life person throw a railroad tie over his shoulder?  Otherwise = hawt

Well, he's also got to be strong enough to stop a runaway train from plummetting over the edge, so a measly little railroad tie is a matchstick to this manly man 

[lashedup]

Nice work MC!  I'll post up some static grass tips when I'm not sitting on an airplane. Looks great so far. I need to get some progress reports going on Franksville again...

- Jamie

[wm3798]

I've handled a couple of 6x6x8's in my time, and that's about as much as I'd care to sling up on my shoulder.  A cross tie is what, 8x8 or 10x10 or something?  Add another workman and have him help the other fellow, and you'll be a tad more plausible, and have a couple of more steel toed boots on the ground for those time the engineer misses the signal from the brakeman!

Lee

[GaryHinshaw]

Looking great MC.  I especially like the fence - is that done with EZ line?

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Yep: just scrap stained stripwood I had cluttering my workbench (probably 1/32" x 3/64": same as the replacement ties) and E-Z Line:
 


I poked holes with a T-pin at 8-scale-foot intervals & CA'ed the posts in.
 
Then I used a micro-brush to attach the E-Z Line with thin CA to one far post.  When that set I just wrapped the line around each post (don't pull too tight) and then CA'ed the line again at the last post.
 
After using tweezers to adjust the position of the wire on each post, I put a drop of CA on each.
 
Then repeated for the upper wire.
 
A three-wire fence would look better, IMHO, and I should paint the wire brown or rust, but I was impatient
 
The E-Z Line is super thin, elastic, as very easy to work with, once I got the hang of it.
 I'll probably have wire fences popping up all over all of my layouts now, as well as telephone wires for the mid-40s "Alameda-Belt-in-a-Box" layout and telegraph wires for the earlier ones. 

Lee: I'll see if there are any volunteers on my workbench to help the dude out with the railroad tie 

[lashedup]

Alright, back on the ground between flights....

That last picture you posted looks like you've got the hang of it (and it looks great too). I have an old Trainboard post here:

http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?77673-Noch-Grass-Master-Static-Grass-Applicator-Review

That I show some different types of static grass. For the midwest scenery I've been working on lately I've been using Silflor late summer static grass as a base (2mm most of the time with some 4mm mixed in). However I usually add a little spring of summer Silflor static grass colors to vary the look. If I want it a bit drier looking I'll use Woodland Scenics static grass (or mix it in) as their colors tend to be more muted. You can layer up the static grass to get different lengths, colors, highlights and textures. A comparison photo I took a long time ago...



I usually start with earth colored base paint over the foam with some fine ground foam sprinkled on top before the paint dries. You can vary the fine ground foam in density and colors to give the "ground" underneath a bit of variation. After that for the first base layer of static grass, I use full strength white glue painted on the areas where I want static grass. For subsequent top layers I use a 50/50 mix of hot water and white glue in a misting pump bottle (bought a few of them at Hobby Lobby). I spray the areas where I want the additional taller grass (or a highlight layer of a more burnt/brown top layer) and then reapply the static grass. After I apply each layer of grass I use a shop vac with a paper towel over the end to gather up any extra grass that didn't stick. You can also use the vacuum (carefully!) to make the grass stand up more or lean in one direction.

If I want more texture I will sprinkle fine ground foams into the grass and brush them in. I also take fine sifted dirt and sprinkle that in (again rubbing it into the grass) to create more worn looking areas. In the beginning I had more issues with it looking to manicured, but our more recent efforts have a lot more detailing and texture to mix it up. I'm going to do a video soon about the whole process along with a step by step article as I still get a lot of email from people asking.

Silflor also makes an N/Z scale specific bush material they don't sell here that would be perfect for your wine vines. I had to order some from Germany direct and can take a photo to show you what it looks like when I'm back in town. I'll try stretching it out and see if it looks like grape vines.

Having fun watching your progress!

-jamie

[Chris333]

I think from now on I'll build the base and lay the track, then send them to MC for scenery!

[M.C. Fujiwara]

I think from now on I'll build the base and lay the track, then send them to MC for scenery!

As long as you cover shipping to & from, I'm down.
(Was itching to try some Dr. Seuss-esque purplish moonscapes anyway  )

Well, the pinkfoam prairie is no more.
 Now it's a brownish blob.
 
This morning, after eroding the hill down into more of a rolling Sonoma shape and sanding the whole thing with a foam sanding block, I used some lightweight spackle to cover over the seam lines, smooth the riverbed, cow pond and some future dirt roads, and fill in some chunks:
 


[I'll ream out the holes for the temp tubes later, when I get them]
 
Then I took the latex interior paint I found in the mistint bin at the local hardware store ($3), and covered the whole shebang:
 




I occasionally dipped the brush in water to allow the paint to flow into all the pink places.
 
It's the same paint I used on the detachable extension, so I think it'll work out okie dokie.
 
Then I went to go wash the brush before it dried and got all stuck together...
 
STUCK TOGETHER???
 
D'oh!
 
So I ran back and undid the bolts and separated the two sections before I had just one:
 


Phew!
Now I just hope everything stays in alignment when I put it back together!
 
Thought about blending in the darker creek-bed bottom paint, but I'm going to have to touch up the bed anyway after I put the temp tubes in, so I'll do it then.
 
I also painted the two rock castings I'll be using: Sonoma really doesn't have that many large bare rock faces.
 A weird change from the Mt. Coffin & Columbia River layout, which seems to have more rock face than foam.
 
Tomorrow I can rejoin the sections, lay the real mainline track, paint the tracks, and start dusting some dirt.
 It will be interesting to see in what shape the scenery is next Sunday at the Pacific Coast Division meet!
 
Thanks for looking.

Jamie: cheers for taking the time to share that (while on the run, as well!).
Will definitely be studying up before I lay down more grass later this week!

[Philip H]

The only thing I can add to Jamie's excellent tutorial is this - you should mix and match grasses based on prototype photos to get  what you want.  I generally do a mix of 2 shades of 2mm grass, including Silflor and WS, and then for fields that are really overgrown I add about 15% more 4mm to my mix.  No standard formula - but done over ground foam sprinkled liberally over paint it looks really good.  Keep it up.

[Pomperaugrr]

The modules are coming along great.  I am inspired by the constant progress. 

Eric

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Busy day yesterday.
 Realized I needed to get the fascia cut & installed, so did a bit of tracing & jigsawing:
 




If I had more time I might just glue & clamp, and for some reason yesterday I wasn't thinking about glue until after I'd screwed it all in (D'oh!).
 That's ok: I think the screw heads give it a solid, industrial appearance (yes, I countersunk them, but not all the way as it's waaaaay too easy to punch through the 1/8" masonite. Next time I'll try the 1/4").
 
I filled the spaces between foam & fascia with lightweight spackle:
 
Not a valid youtube URL
I made it around the module with the spackle I had left: literally used up the last drop (chunk?) so that saved a trip to the hardware store.
 
Later I cut some 1/2" split cable tubing from Radio Shack to use as the temp tubes:
 


I've looked at tubing in a lot of places, and that gets as close as it can.
 The tubing is spiraled, but by sliding the sections along the split you can make it concentricly corrigated.
 You can also see my custom tunneling tool: sandpaper wrapped around a marker.
 Worked great.
 
[cont.]

[M.C. Fujiwara]

After the spackle had dried, another coat of the brownish tan (or tannish brown) mistint-bin latex, and then I mixed in some muddy & black paints to color the creek bottom and cow pond:
 


My daughter said sadly, "It looks so lonely!"
 So we fixed that:
 


[though a single cow might make the place even lonelier]
 
Installed the "true" mainline (the one being worked on):
 


It'll all look better when painted!
 
Almost forgot to make sure the track lined up towards each other on both sides of the future bridge!
 But here's how I left everything last night to dry:
 


Today I'll prime the fascia sides and then start laying down dirt.
 Going to need a lot of dirt!
 
Thanks for looking.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Well, lots done, just nothing very photogenic.
 Masked off the fascia, primed it & then painted it flat black:





 Then, after almost forgetting to slip in some replacement ties under the turnout (D'oh!), I masked off the track and spray painted it Grimy Black:





 [The weights are holding the temp tubes in place as the caulk dries]

 You can see I laid down some dirt (mostly tan, with some slightly browner stuff scattered here&there).
 I didn't do the left side because I ran out of dirt (D'oh!), so had to run back across the street from the LHS to get some, then bake it, then lay down the rest.

 The siding has a messier paint job because I had to hand paint that section with Poly Scale Grimy Black, as that section is down directly on the foam and Floquil on Foam is a good way to watch you foam melt into a moonscape (yes, I should have painted the latex under the track before laying it down: I'll try to remember for the next layout).

 Kinda looks like Mars right now.

 [cont.]