Twin Forks Diorama (N Scale Shadowbox)

[Drew]

Gosh!
It’s been a while since I posted anything on here!

I haven’t been doing any modeling to speak of…the HO layout is as usual in a state of “bone-idle”!
We had to get some plumbing work done in the basement, & though it didn’t directly affect the layout, a lot of stuff got shoved into the layout area to get it out of the way…

Anyway, in the process, we discovered this old shelf that used to be used to hold CD’s…



My wife asked me if I wanted it…at first I said no, & I was going to throw it away, but then I got this idea…If I took the shelves out & turned it on its side, it might make a cool shadowbox diorama



I had found the remains of this old N scale bridge in the scrap box, & so I got the idea for an N scale diorama…



I had to do a little work on the shelf to make it work…I had to remove what had been the base of the unit, remove the plastic feet, & cut the piece so it was the same size as the other end piece…then I found a scrap of vinyl flooring, & cut it to use as a backdrop…unfortunately, it wasn’t long enough, & I had to make it in 2 sections with a seam in the middle…I painted on a sky, & some crude hills…



Next, I made a big hill out of foam board to hide the seam in the backdrop…



Started adding some scenery to the foam pieces…

[Trucklover]

Looking good Drew! I like the idea of the hill hiding the seam in the backdrop, and the scenery is looking great!

[nachoman]

Pretty creative!

[Sumpter250]

That, is a slick bit of "recycling"!!!, and hiding the backdrop seam? "aint no mountain high enough" ( yeah there is ! ).
Good to see you back !

[Drew]

Thanks for the nice comments guys!

Pete, great to see you again too my friend!

Did some more scenery, touched up the backdrop a little, & I’ve been test-fitting the girder bridge…built a concrete support & abutments for it…



I decided today that I wanted to build little waterfalls to better blemd the 2 streams into the backdrop…





I’ve started work on a concrete bridge to span the second stream…more on that later…

[Ralph]

That's clever Drew! I like the back ground scenery. Nice to see you again, by the way.
Ralph

[Drew]

Thyanks Ralph!
Good to hear from you!

Started working on this concrete bridge last night…



I’m building it from pieces of an old roundhouse, & evergreen styrene…

[Drew]

Got a little more done on the bridge last night…



I should be able to get it painted today…

[Drew]

I got some paint on the bridge today…



I guess the next step will be to get everything glued down, & kinda blended in to the scenery more…

[Drew]

I’ve been doing some work on the first bridge & stream…trying to get everything blended in…

[Gary S]

This turned out great. I like that the backdrop colors blend so well with the foreground trees. It all seems to fit together well.

[viperman]

That looks great, I should do something like that once I move if I can find a shelf I don't use

[Drew]

Thanks Gary!
I still have some work to do on that concrete bridge & the stream bed...it's not even glued down yet...
I haven't been putting a whole lot of rine into it this week...I've got another big non-RR project going on right now, & so I've been kinda tinkering with this for usually no more than a few minutes a day...this has been really enjoyable though, even for those short periods...it's my "chill pill"...that thing my daughters are always yelling at me to take!

[Gary S]

Drew, in that scene, the only thing that doesn't look quite right to me is the contour of the hill on the right. The lower extremity behind the bridge seems to be too steep, making the hill seem too round. But that's just me.... I would probably see if I could add a bit more to the hill to smooth out the drop a bit.

[Drew]

Drew, in that scene, the only thing that doesn't look quite right to me is the contour of the hill on the right. The lower extremity behind the bridge seems to be too steep, making the hill seem too round. But that's just me.... I would probably see if I could add a bit more to the hill to smooth out the drop a bit.

Hmmm...Well, I added a little bit of scenery along the edge of the stream, but the space is tight...the whole scene is only about 4" deep...so at some point you just have to say, "that's good enough."
I'm pretty much finished with this end of the diorama now...



Now I've been working on the other stream & bridge...







I got a little more done last night...I'll get some more pics asap...