My New York & Atlantic layout

[tetters]

Disappointed? Heck No! I'm glad running with the dead frogs works out for you.

Good to see some progress. Your manual turn out controls are the cats meow.

[cnw1961]

BiL, Tetters, thank you for your comments. Sorry that not much is happing here, but the job keeps getting in the way of modeling at the moment. So nothing happend until this weekend.

I still have to paint the track, but it is too cold outside to use my airbrush, so this will have to wait. One thing I can do before painting the track is to put down the base for my streets. I’ll use my "sanding paper on cardboard- method" again like on my pevious layouts. I’ll glue down and paint the sanding paper after painting the track.



The concrete panels for the grade crossings are made from .060" styrene.

[Ralph]

Kurt, your street work is so good looking that if I ever build another layout I'm going to emulate your methods!
Ralph

[cnw1961]

When I planned this layout I intended to build the scene on both sides next to the bridge exactly like the prototype. On the right side would be the cinder block backside of a warehouse and in front of that the little (ugly) cinderblock Blissville "tower". Because I had not made any mock-ups for these structures yet and the area right of the bridge looked so empty, a few days ago I put the two structures that I had already built for my Plymouth Street layout there. They looked so good that I spontaneously decided that they will stay there. With a small dead end street with cobbles and cracked asphalt patches it will make a nice scene.



When I planned Plymouth Street I looked around to find the best method to model such a street and though it sounds like a lot of boring, mind numbing work, using plaster and scribing all the details seemed to give the best results. So today I tried my hand at the small 14" x 3" dead end street. I was surprised that carving out all the details took only about 2 1/2 hours and I think the result is worth every minute of it. When I took the pics the plaster was still wet and the street and the sidewalk still have to be painted, but it looks very promising already.







That is how I scribed the cobble stones and the asphalt patches: When the plaster felt hard but was still wet (I added a little black paint when I mixed the plaster – that is why it looks so dark), I drew the outlines of the asphalt patches with a pencil and then sribed along those lines with the tip of a scalpel. Then I started scribing the lines of cobbles (spacing .080") using a ruler.



Next I brushed the area thoroughly whith a toothbrush to remove all chipped off plaster and to round the edges of the stones.



Then I cut out the single stones, each about .160" long.



After using the toothbrush again it looked like this:

[e-paw]

very nice work...

[nachoman]

that street and sidewalk are fantastic!

[ocalicreek]

Outstanding carving! I am debating on whether or not to do a similar effect (brick) for the Pinto station platform when it's time to mount it on the layout. If I see too many more fine examples such as this, I may swing that way, rather than the cinder balast bordered by heavy timbers method I had planned originally.

Nice to see progress on your excellent layout!

Galen

[rthornton]

The cobblestone look is awesome. Job well done.

[P5se Camelback]

WOWIE ZOWIE, Kurt!!!

That looks soooo kool!

And a "photo-toot" to boot!!!

THANKS!!!

[Gary S]

hock:

Woah! All this has been going on in my absence? Very impressive work from Kurt as usual. The turn-out controls are superb. The folks at Big Blue have come up with some grand ideas, no doubt.

And the carved plaster is just awesome. And the buildings too. Hat's off to ya, Kurt. I wish you had an area as big as mine so that you didn't have to tear down your previous work to start anew. A huge layout of your work would be about the best thing ever.

Hmmmm..... so when this one is finished, reckon you'll be tearing it apart and doing something new? Should I leave room on my layout for more buildings?

[P5se Camelback]

[P5se is now snickering up his sleeve!]

[SP1]

Fantastic work on that street!

[Herc Driver]

I've got to get my Thesaurus out and dig up more adjectives that your work so well deserves.

That road looks great. The whole scene is coming together so well and already looks so utterly believable.

Please...do this on an Nscale scene so I know it can be done and get off my duff and try it myself.

[tetters]

That is totally wicked!!! hock:

[Brakie]

Supper nice! Looks like old busted concrete showing a brick street from a by gone era..