Sunshine, Palm Trees and a Food Industry...

Thank you kindly Gormo and Phil.

As this is only 5-6" from the front edge of the layout, I felt it needed some attention to the texture. I guess this is why I went the extra mile with the detail to the vertical wall and surface.
I have fixed it to the layout already, although it is weighed down. I had to scrape back the previously applied sand/grout finish so I would get a decent bond between the baseboard surface and the foundation forms. The sand grout that was scraped away was brushed back up towards the base of the wall where some of the PVA was pressured out due the additional weight holding it in place. Hopefully tonight I'll add some grass and weeds around the base of the platform/foundation.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Oh yes, a couple more stickers have arrived from the US and from Queensland ! The 'sticker trading' is in full swing now. I'm surprised how many I have swapped with modellers from Australia, the US and the UK. Soon they will be all going in a frame, although I do know a few more are on the way to Oz !

Cheers, Gary.

 

After allowing the platform to cure for about 6 hours, I went about and planted some weeds and grasses back along the base of the wall.

So, this is how it looks now this morning after allowing the scenery glue to dry...

I'm pretty happy with the results. Now, onto the next job....

Cheers, Gary.

 

I like to add details to my layout, the more details, the more believable the layout is.
Tonight I'm working on point levers or switch stands, depending on what part of the world you come from.
Recently I took delivery of a small package all the way from the Czech Republic. This little brown box had three small satchel bags inside, each containing five individual switch stands.
These switch stands are 3D printed in HO scale, and boy, they are delicate !
As with most 3D printed items, you do end up with some flash or tabs from the support prongs and of course these are on the very fine throw over lever !

There is a little more flash underneath the stands as well, which is far easier to remove !

Running a file underneath was easy, whereas I ended up using a razor blade to remove the prongs from the throw lever.
This is how they look after a clean up...

Now I did mention that these are small and to give you an idea of the size, here are five switch stands around a five cent coin, which is approximately 3/4" in diameter !

Any how, I'm going yo carry on and get these prepared for a primer coat.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Well you know how it goes, you start on one project and more detail items arrive in the post !

Today I received a small box from Miniprints containing more small detail items. This includes 100 x tie plates, 8 x CCTV camers and 24 milk crates ! All these little details will chew up my weekend as they all require primer then paint followed by adding them to the layout !

HO scale 3D printed tie plates...

HO scale CCTV cameras...

HO scale milk crates, these are awesome !

and lastly Bernard threw in a Miniprints badge !

I will post up progress pics as I move along with all of these details !

Cheers, Gary.

 

Today I have been working on the switch stands, milk crates and tie plates. The CCTV cameras I may work on tomorrow.

So, I'll continue on where I left off with the switch stands...

All fifteen switch stands have had the fine flash/supports removed from the handle and also filing the base flat of them flat...

All of these were primed in white...

Allowing the white to dry, I applied a coat of SMS Chassis Black followed by airbrushing the handles with SMS Trainer Yellow...

Of course a little over spray was on the cards...

But this was taken care of with some light weathering, mixing black and orange rust together and applying as a paint solution with the addition of isopropyl alcohol...

These were then given a clear coat to seal the colour in. They will be dusted in again once placed on the layout.

The milk crates came next... Firstly I wanted to know what colour milk crates are in Miami so I done a search and found a few photos.

As with the switch stands, I gave the crates a dusting of white primer to start with and then followed up with a coat of SMS PN Blue, which is a pretty good match for the prototype...

The crates will be removed off the base when I'm ready to add them to the layout.

Lastly, the tie plates. Once again, these were sprayed with a dusting of white primer. This was then followed up with a coat of SMS Chassis Black...

After this had dried, I spray of Microlux Railroad Tie Brown (#29003) was applied, not that you can really tell in this photo...

This being water based didn't take long to dry before I applied weathering powders with isopropyl alcohol...

So, all up, that is 15 x switch stands, 24 x milk crates and 100 x tie plates completed and ready for planting onto the layout...

Cheers, Gary.

 

Three hours later, I have painstakingly set all the tie plates down onto the sleepers (ties) I put down on the 4th June (see post #457).

Yep, these were put down one by one. I did loose two of them and I snapped a couple when removing them from the fret. The broken ones I used under (besides) the pile of sleepers at the end of the ripped up track.

Of course this hobby wouldn't be fun without danger... I sliced my thumb about seven times whilst removing the tie plates from the fret !

Nothing a squirt of super glue can't fix....

Now, onto the milk crates....

Cheers, Gary.

 

Miniprints have a great selection of items and oddities. From the selection of various vehicles to the IBC tanks and bbqs, there is something there any layout would make use of !

For anyone else reading this, here is the link to the Miniprints shop : https://www.miniprints.com/

Tip : if you are purchasing from Australia, choose to pay in Canadian dollars, it works out that little bit cheaper !

Cheers, Gary.

 

My June update video..., enjoy.



Cheers, Gary.

 

Had a few deliveries this week, several Modelu figures and two batches of stickers from the USA !

These North American Modelu figures in HO scale are superb and just what I need for the layout.

All up, I purchased six different packs and they are as follow...

Crew with clipboard, #23101-087

Switchman, #23004-087, both left and right standing position...

Brakeman leaning, #23110-087L & #23110-087R (right and left)

and lastly, Modern era crew bundle #9030-087

A nice selection of Second Section Podcast stickers...

and stickers, layout timetable, calendar (fridge magnet) and small credit card sized card from facebook friend Steve Goaring...

Hopefully I can get some paint onto the figures this weekend and over Monday. Lots of cleaning up, priming and painting to be done, very carefully !

Cheers, Gary.

 

I got around to hand painting the Modelu figures this weekend... Even with my magnifying visor, these are still rather small to paint, but I got there in the end.

They may not meet a professional finish, but it was the best I could do with the gear that I have.

You can see I have doubles of figures here in the photo above and below, both a left and a right figure. This is so I can pose the figures hanging from either side of a freight car or throwing a switch from either side of the track or looking at the train approaching from opposing directions.

I have to remove the base/frets from the figures, all but two where the base snapped off during separation of the vertical supports. I may have to give them another wash of dark grey or black to create more shadow in the folds in their clothes, but that can wait until tomorrow.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Thank you kindly. These figures from Modelu are pretty amazing, great detail in them.

Cheers Gary.

 

Discussing the next move.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Lately I have been working on adding more scenery details. This includes adding the 3D printed switch stands, making quite a few small bushes and improving the look of the cheap palms I use on the layout.

The small switch stands need to be mounted on extended sleepers (ties) as per the American way. This was achieved by gluing some stained balsa strip to a styrene base. The rules for the distance away from the rail for the switch stands is 8' from the track centre line.

The existing scenery was carved out with a scalpel and the tie bases glued in position. I will add that I glued a sprinkle of sand/grout mix on the styrene between the ties. Whist this was curing, I heaped up some ballast and sand/grout mix around the tie before gluing the switch stands in place.

One job I will do is fill those Peco Point motor slots in with a little putty, then paint/weather. This will vastly improve the look of the points/switches.

Taking a note from the 'Book of Gormo', I knocked up a bunch of sisal bushes from 6mm diameter sisal rope and some smaller rope trimmings for the little lateral branches.

Here is a pic of the teased out sisal rope.

I gave the sisal armature a squirt of glue (rattle can) and sprinkled on the smaller fibers...

From the top I airbrushed them brown...

From underneath or turned over, I airbrushed them black for that shadow effect...

After the paint had dried, I used Woodland Scenics fine turf for foliage. This was simply sprinkled on after I gave the armature a blast of glue (rattle can again...).

A close up of one of the bushes...

Next I turned my attention to the cheap Chinese/Amazon palms I bought a while back. I first went about removing the flash from the trunks with a scalpel.

After this, I airbrushed them with SMS Ocean Grey. The foliage was airbrushed with SMS Forest Green. After this had cured, I mixed a little SMS Trainer yellow with the Forest Green and highlighted the tips.

The last thing I done to improve the look of the palm was to add sisal strands to the top of the trunk, below the foliage. I used CA to secure these strands and when this had cures and trimmed up in places, I dry brushed the strands with a mix of My Hobby Dark sea Grey and Brown.

The palms are looking 100% better now. I will have to go back to the palms I added over 12 months ago and make improvements to them !

So now it was time for planting...

Most of the bushes are used on the rear of one of the industrial buildings and also in another area where I had very little, or next to no scenery. The palms were also planted behind the building too. A lot of 12mm static grass was stabbed into PVA to give the scene that unkempt look, which is common along the down town spur on the prototype.

I followed the grass around the corner of one of the other buildings, back towards the fiddle yard. In this photo you can see where I added a couple of the bushes along the layout edge.

For the keen eyed, you can see the switch man in the pic above. This is one of the Modelu figures I purchased last month. Here is a better pic of him aligning the switch...

That's it so far this week, plenty more to go on with. I do have more 3D printed scenery details coming from Canada that I have just ordered. This will keep me busy for some time, but before they arrive, there are about another 8-10 jobs I need to tackle....

Cheers, Gary.

 

Thank you Brian. The palms I planted early on in this thread were not transformed as much as these. I'm guessing I'll have to go back and revisit those palms and bring them up to scratch !

Cheers, Gary.