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akimmons
Fireman
Premium Member
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 Posted - 01/20/2008 : 07:38:08 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by MarkF
Well Arnold, the pressure is now on and the standard has been set by Tom!
No kidding! And check out Tom's next post. He tosses in Lance Mindheim who's a professional layout builder! Is it warm in here or is it just me?
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Arnold Kimmons
General Manager
Royal & Edisto Railroad
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19182 |
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Country: USA
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akimmons
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 01/20/2008 : 07:54:09 AM
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Tom, thanks for the encouraging words in both of your posts. I've printed out the first one and taped it up in the workshop for reference. There's lots of great advice in it. As you suggest I'm building all of my structures for phase one and gathering scenery materials, making trees, etc. I have a general plan for now but once I complete all the parts, I'll compose the scenes and glue 'em down.
In the second post you mention Lance Mindheim. I picked up the Allan Keller DVD of his N scale layout in Springfield two years ago. That led me to his web site where I found the photos of his FL layout. Awesome! I was blown away! I've traded a few emails with him on ground cover, palms and etc. He's a nice guy and willing to share some of his techniques. The feature on his layout in GMRR 08 was excellent. I printed a couple of photos from his web site and I show them to people who think model railroading is just "trains around the Christmas tree."
Thanks again for your interest and willingness to share your knowledge. I really appreciate it!
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Arnold Kimmons
General Manager
Royal & Edisto Railroad
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19182 |
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Country: USA
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INRAIL
Crew Chief
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Posted - 02/08/2008 : 8:18:15 PM
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Arnold. How's it going? Anything new to share? Just wondering.
Tom
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akimmons
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 02/09/2008 : 6:10:07 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by INRAIL
Arnold. How's it going? Anything new to share? Just wondering.
Tom
Hey Tom and Crew,
January was a busy time for me in the real world so I didn't get much done in the HO world. I have two projects I'm trying to finish now: a build of KingMill's Nella Country Store and 200 or so Carolina pines. The walls are braced and painted on the store but that's about it. The pines are nearly done; only a few more hours, thank goodness. Here's a couple of photos.
If you've ever travelled through lower SC or GA you know the pines there are pretty ugly. On the layout, most of them will be in the background and the palms and live oaks will be front and center.
Y'all have a good weekend!
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Arnold Kimmons
General Manager
Royal & Edisto Railroad
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19182 |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 1354 |
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INRAIL
Crew Chief
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Posted - 02/09/2008 : 6:44:01 PM
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Arnold. The trees look great! Trees don't have to be perfect when you are using them to basically fill in the background. I remember my many trips to Florida on spring break and you are right about the pines looking pretty ugly. Do you have a lot of that spanish moss hanging from the pines and oaks like in Florida (I can't remember if I saw any of this in Georgia)? Looking forward to more pictures of your progress.
Tom
Tom
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Country: USA
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Frederic Testard
Engineer
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Posted - 02/09/2008 : 6:45:43 PM
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Nice stand of trees, Arnold. Have you really made 200? Can you tell how you built them?
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Country: France
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jonnyci
Engine Wiper
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Posted - 02/10/2008 : 01:17:29 AM
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Would love to know the materials and the tecnhiques you used.
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RichBeau
Fireman
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Posted - 02/10/2008 : 07:19:06 AM
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Arnold
This is the first time I've gotten to visit this thread and I'm glad I found it. I'm really impressed with your work. I love the fact that with all of that space you didn't turn it into a spaghetti bowl of trackage. The spacing and plans look mighty fine. Looks like I'll have to bookmark this one. 
BTW those little knobies on the laser-cut bracing...generally I remove them as I pull the parts off the sheet. I use a very sharp #11 blade and carve them off. And I use an emery board to clean it up. Takes very little practice and you'll have it down pretty quick.
--Rich B.
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Edited by - RichBeau on 02/10/2008 07:20:07 AM |
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George D
Moderator
Premium Member
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Posted - 02/10/2008 : 08:51:29 AM
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Arnold,
For some reason I've missed this thread. You're making great progress on a well thought out layout. I'm looking forward to watching your progress.
George
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akimmons
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 02/10/2008 : 11:53:02 AM
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Tom, Frederick and jonnyci,
Thanks for the comments and interest in my pines. Tom, you're right, you have seen them in FL. They are prevalent in sandy soils along the coast, and inland you find them in that famous Georgia red clay. I don't know their true name but every year during the Masters one of the announcers will refer to them as "loblolly" pines. Anyway, here's an up-close shot of some near Savannah.
I think my technique is fairly standard stuff. I use the dried flowers of a weed that grows in open fields called horseweed or marestail. I've found it from NJ to SC. It looks like this in summer:
I harvest it around Thanksgiving when the stalks have turned brown or black and the leaves have dried. This is a winter photo after the leaves have fallen off. I don't wait that long as the flower is too brittle and has already lost some of its "branches."
I gather a big bucket or two
What's nice about this weed is that it already has the basic shape I'm looking for. I do a little pruning and then cut the bottom at a sharp angle so they will stick into the styrofoam.
Then I dunk them in dilute matte medium and stick them in large blocks of styrofoam to dry. They can stay this way a few weeks, so don't feel like you have to jump to the next step right away.
When I'm ready to dress them I set up an assembly line with a container of dilute matte medium and another of coarse ground foam. When I finish a session I just cover the containers and they are ready to go for the next time. (Hint: add a capful of Lysol or similar product to the matte medium to keep it from growing some additional "ground cover.")
After a dunk and a roll in the foam, I spray them with maximum strength hairspray and sprinkle on fine foam and flock. I like White Rain hairspray. The pump bottle puts out a very fine mist. I use Scenic Express Flock and Foam mixtures, especially Forest Floor for darker, background trees and Summer Pasture for lighter foreground ones. Another spritz of hairspray and a final dusting with various colors of fine foam, static grass, flock, etc. I try to mix it up so there's some variety.
Two bits of advice: wear gloves or your fingers will be green for a week and spread out plastic, newspapers, cardboard, etc. to catch the overspray from the hairspray. If not, you'll have a real mess on the floor.
Good luck with your efforts!
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Arnold Kimmons
General Manager
Royal & Edisto Railroad
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19182 |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 1354 |
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akimmons
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 02/10/2008 : 12:01:49 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Frederic Testard
Nice stand of trees, Arnold. Have you really made 200? Can you tell how you built them?
Hi Frederic,
Those blocks of styrofoam hold 35-45 stalks each depending on the size and I have 5 of them to finish this winter. Thankfully I only have one more to go. It's pretty  work.
I appreciate your interest!
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Arnold Kimmons
General Manager
Royal & Edisto Railroad
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19182 |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 1354 |
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akimmons
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 02/10/2008 : 12:08:16 PM
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Hi Rich and George,
I'm glad you checked in on this thread.
Rich, thanks for the encouraging comments, especially about the trackplan. I love spagetti, just not on a layout. BTW: your photos are great. I always make sure to look for your posts.
George, it was great meeting you in Timonium. Your department store turned out great. The flag looks real and real good.
Thanks again,
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Arnold Kimmons
General Manager
Royal & Edisto Railroad
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19182 |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 1354 |
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Frederic Testard
Engineer
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Posted - 02/10/2008 : 1:21:38 PM
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Arnold, thank you for the nice tutorial on your tree making.
Your trees compare quite positively to these Savannah area pines.
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Country: France
| Posts: 16455 |
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INRAIL
Crew Chief
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Posted - 02/10/2008 : 3:45:14 PM
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Arnold. Excellent tutorial on making trees. Wow!!!
Tom
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Country: USA
| Posts: 666 |
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MarkF
Engineer
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Posted - 02/11/2008 : 12:27:39 AM
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Arnold, excellent tutorial. I used the Scenic express trees and had an assembly line approach similar to yours. Yours look fantastic!
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Mark
See my homepage at http://home.comcast.net/~prrndiv/
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Country: USA
| Posts: 9272 |
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