Wisconsin Central - Heritage Division

[w neal]

Thanks Rick, but I need to ask "What excellent modeling?!?" 



Not much to show lately. With spring, comes yard work. Followed by a fit of laughter, I told my friend I was out fertilizing the lawn.






I managed to get the nerve to paint the overhead crane's "tracks", for lack of a better term, blue as per prototype. I say nerve as I had to paint it in place. It was difficult to do so having the far "tracks" already cemented against the building. While unfortunately highlighting this structure, it does seem better to have it the correct color. It'll be time to finish up some yard work here; "How 'bout some of that ballast Johnny?"













The only other boring item are these roadside warning signs on a nearby bridge. Maybe I can get something more accomplished later eh?








I've got some other projects lined up for the summer. Soon, I need to begin the locomotive fleet's painting and DCC-ing.

[w neal]

Woodsy backdrop step, what is it now, four? Apply forrest floor "litter", both limbs and branches, and add trees. The forrest almost dominates the scene behind the foundry. One's eyes seem drawn to it. I think thats ok with me, as that is kind of how it looks in the real place a bit. Plus, I am after the "trees everywhere" kind of look in many places along the line. I need to add tons more of this litter and trees, just getting started here...















When they say "don't throw any part of our trees away", they do indeed mean it.

Limbs & branches...














Another important element, to me, is to add some small leftover branches along the bottom edge of the backdrop. I think it adds more depth to the scene. One can indeed simply leave the distant tree line backdrop as is, but I think adding some branches like this helps to further "bridge the gap" or fool one's eye into believing these might be distant trees. Its a bit hard to see in this closeup, but when one looks at the scene as a whole, the effect is more convincing. I dunno, maybe its just me I guess.
















Oh, and thanks to Mr. Skibbe, I was able to finish my simulated potato field. Now, I need to go back and remove my earlier attempt. More work to be done here. Its too clean. I need more weeds along the edge.

















Preparing some vents for my Atlas factory's holes...



















Thanks to intermountain, I was having a little "Retrofun" here. I guess this is another reason I cannot make myself board up those depot windows...

[conrailthomas519]

Awesome! I Love It!! 
w.neal I got an idea that you can have the best of both worlds..... the old and/or the new.. How about a boarded up window (plug)? It can be made so that it is removable. I'm thinking of a little piece of styrene square glued onto the backside of the boards that would be sized to fit in place. By doing so it would just (plug into) the openings in each window that is to be boarded up. Much like a socket pin.

[w neal]

Righto. Good thinking. I was thinking of the same piece of styrene, painted an appropriate color, and just lightly glued onto the window using a very poor glue such as the woodland scenic figure glue stuff or some kind of rubber cement. My only fear is about the paint being pulled off from the wondow. Then again, one could consider the current restored depot and leave it as is. Anyways, good idea!

[mcjaco]

Maroon and Gold!  Yum!

I've been toying with magnets and metal castings for changing scenes around on the Oakwood module.  I want to be able to moderinize for photos, but backdate it for shows (obviously).  I have the idea in my head, and with me zippering part of the trackage at the last show, I think I'll dig into it whilst making repairs. 

Looking good!

[Baronjutter]

Love this layout, always look forward to more progress pics.  That blue crane looks great,  I paint my bridges and "large metal things" a similar blue, think it looks good and see it used a lot on such things.

[w neal]

Not a lot to report. Spring cleaning the house & yard. Had a small operating session with a couple three friends last weekend. It helps to iron out some problems.





I decided to cover the 'oles in my Atlas factory with the blair line grates. I love underated products like these:


























Added some background "trees" to the underpass area. I plan to add some strategic trees later...























Don't forget to add some weathering to your forrest litter...

(Sorry for the fuzzy exposure)

[BOK]

This just keeps looking more and more like central Wisconsin. Thanks, for sharing your work.

Barry

[w neal]

Thanks much BOK.







I wanted to demonstrate a reason not to throw away your Super Tree material. By that, I mean both raw Super Tree material and the Woodland Scenics fine leaf foliage. I wanted to show one use for both the tiny discarded branches, and the large conglomerations that Woodland scenics produces. I'm amazed that some simply trash the bent or otherwise mishapen stems.

I take, as my example, one such conglomeration by Woodland Scenics.







Trash right? Looks nothing like a tree. I agree. However, it does resemble some kind of bush; sumac, or like plant.







Lets break that mess apart a bit:












As it spreads apart a bit, one begins to see the individual branches sorta:












Finally, I'm left with this small batch. I could refine it farther of course, but it will work for my next step. I use bits like this for a variety of purposes. One of which, as mentioned earlier, is to give the illusion of distant trees.















Simply apply clumps like this along your "distant" background.












 No glue really needed. They tend to adhere, mostly.
















They are not so effective close up, but when you look at a larger scene, the effect is not bad. It begins to trick your brain into thinking they are distant trees, yet they might be closer than the background. I dunno, maybe its just me. Anyways, be sure to vary the colors and size as you go.




















This is a very basic effort. Its only a first attempt. For master work, look up a certain HO Iowa Interstate layout...

[w neal]

I also like to add the odd boulder to my woodlots. Its an upper midwest thing. Those galciers left some objects like this in random places around those parts of the country.

[w neal]

Crikey!! Time for some steps eh?

[tappertrainman]

Crikey!! Time for some steps eh?

Just don't let them overhang the sidewalk...

[mcjaco]

Just don't let them overhang the sidewalk...

BAZINGA!

[Chris333]

    What color did you use for the brick walls? 

[w neal]

Light brown