Rainbows in the Lehigh Valley Gorge

[TMo]

Loaded up on Christmas taskings today, but I did get a few segments of time to do something railroad related...

Restocked my supply of puffball trees.  Had some previously pulled (originally white) polyfill painted black.  Stretched some of that out and spray painted green (four different hues) this morning and let it dry.  Pulled that apart tonight into little balls, dunked each in some matte medium, squeezed out the extra and shook each in a ziplock bag full of mixed ground foam. Should be ready for application above Mud Run if I get some opportunities between honey-do's.  Already have my nephew here and my son, his wife and his two dogs arrive late tomorrow evening.  The fun begins.


   

[TMo]

Had a few hours to work on Mud Run over the past few days.  More distant trees and more "brown stuff" - getting pretty close to the tunnel entrance.  I was getting a little low and a little on the "light brown" side in my bowl of brown stuff so I added about 8 ounces of fresh coffee.  Smells good in here!  

   

[Charlie B]

Todd, that is really coming along. You are very talented. 
Charlie

[TMo]

Thanks for the compliment Charlie, but I don't know about the talent part. I try a lot of things and try to repeat the things that work and discard what doesn't. To me, that's not really talent. I'm also trying to replicate (or a better word for that is mimic) something that already exists. In my mind, I guess I like to show what can be done by a guy who doesn't consider himself to be "artistic". I'm simply playing around with a bunch of different materials and trying to combine them in different ways to achieve an end goal. Most of the techniques I've hijacked from others - I'd be at a complete loss without Dave Frary's "Model Railroad Scenery" for instance. If anything, I just hope my success spurs others to experiment. I almost wrote "Be brave!", but it's more like "Don't be afraid to try something." I think that's what makes our hobby great.

[Schraddel]

Had a few hours to work on Mud Run over the past few days.  More distant trees and more "brown stuff" - getting pretty close to the tunnel entrance.  I was getting a little low and a little on the "light brown" side in my bowl of brown stuff so I added about 8 ounces of fresh coffee.  Smells good in here!  

Hello,

i am very curious how your "Little Horseshoe Curve" will look alike when it is finished. What is already visible is marvelous.


Lutz

[TMo]

Thanks Lutz. Hoping it (eventually) looks a bit like the prototype. The nice thing about this section of the old Lehigh Valley mainline is that there are a lot of sharp turns and grade changes, so my tight curves and 2% grades aren’t out of place for once. I will continue to show updated pix as I move forward at slow speed.

[TMo]

Today is another transition day.  After some paint additions (and subtractions) on the area between the track and the backdrop, I got my tree-building materials out for what will be a relatively long slog around the turn of Mud Run.  I'm going to place some small to medium "detail" trees in the areas I "pre-seeded" with "brown stuff" just above the rock wall and above the tracks.  The brown stuff would be the leaf bed of the forest, and (you may have guessed it), my detail trees will be the forest proper.  My detail trees start their lives as dried pyramidal hydrangeas (minus the flower petals which I carefully remove).  The little see pods are great for the adhesive to sit on and leaves to adhere to, and you can snap portions off for smaller trees.  If you want a conifer, just use the top section.  A spreading deciduous tree?  Lop off the top...

   

I spray them with a bit of spray adhesive I picked up at Ollie's Good Stuff Cheap.  The stuff I bought is OSI Adhesive primer, but I'm betting most spray adhesives will work.  I then dip the sprayed hydrangea segment in one of three different color combinations of ground foam/SuperLeaf Scale leaves in plastic serving trays and shake the extra off, 


       

dip the end in some wood glue, poke an appropriate sized hole in my scenery base and mount the tree.  Rinse and repeat until the forest is a forest.  I'll also periodically install some ground cover under the trees to simulate undergrowth.  I started at the northwest corner of Mud Run curve, working from the areas closest to the puffball trees with the taller trees planted closest to the tracks (once again to give the illusion of more depth of field than there really is.  The scene below has 6 of these detail trees.  Another 150 or so to go!

   

[TMo]

Actually got to work on detail trees all afternoon and was able to deplete all of the spray adhesive I had on hand - got to the section near the farm fields before hanging it up for the evening.  The obvious need right now is to get more adhesive before I can get back to tree construction.  That's probably not going to be tomorrow - the Christmas decorations are coming down and getting packed up tomorrow.  

   

[cn nutbar]

Great start to the new year Todd---looks like it's going to be a very good one.

[UP SD40-2]

I agree with Ed, Todd, the work you have done IS a GREAT start off to the new Year!

[TMo]

Thanks for the motivation Ed and Deano, and I think 2023 is going to be one of my best years for model railroading - because I will be able to share my progress with my Big Blue brethren. 

Today was a pretty significant day in the history of the Mud Run project - I put some time into the very cramped area behind the bridge (Mud Run proper) - a small stream that makes a hard left turn upstream from the bridge (just like the prototype).  I wanted to add some detail trees back there, embellish a few of the rocks and add some brush back there, and generally, make it look something like the prototype picture in entry #53 of this thread.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out, and then connected this area with the farm fields and detail trees I added earlier this past week.  The really cool thing about the area beyond the bridge is that there's between 9 and 10 inches from the track to the backdrop here. 

Here's the view up Mud Run.

   

And an overall shot of the area from the bridge north.

   

[Kitty]

Hi there Todd,

Watched your first video and expected a start-of-build video.
Yours looks awesome though, with lush scenery and it just gives off a vibe.
It is exactly what I imagine when I think American rural railroad.

Thanks for the cardboard strip idea, I might try to use that myself.
Only planning to go up to an inch, but working with plaster only still didn't appeal much.

Having a question about the light behind the bridge, what is the story there?
Loving the looks of it, and it makes it easier possible to see the details.
It does look a little on the orange side for natural light, what's the source?

Awesome layout, your progress is really inspiring
Kitty

[TMo]

Thanks for the great feedback, Kitty.  I plan on updating the run-through video as I complete major sections of the layout.

If you're only elevating terrain by an inch I'd suggest putting down some Styrofoam at that elevation and then laying plaster cloth and Sculptamold over top of that.

The light behind the bridge is just a simple incandescent bulb (see page 4 of this thread) hard-wired to my track bus with a resistor in line poking through the scenery behind the bridge.  It does look a bit too orange when I have too much light in the rest of the area, but it's OK for the time being.  

More tree creation and planting this weekend unless I get diverted.

[TMo]

Trees... trees..... trees....  Made 'em and planted them this afternoon and evening, completing the upper level areas above the track level and above the rock wall that abuts the track in the Mud Run curve.  I've now exhausted my supply of Adhesive primer, and I'm now using Gorilla Glue spray adhesive.  It's not as tacky as the other stuff but it is more liquidy rather than webby, so the results are better I think.  I was also hoping to get my paintbrushes out to do some more rock wall detailing, but that didn't happen.  This week will probably be devoted to that and prepping the areas near the track for ballast.  For those of you keeping score at home, as a reminder I'm working my way from the backdrop scenery toward the edge of the river in stages. Here's the current state of affairs in Mud Run.

       

[Charlie B]

You are progressing very nicely Todd. You have a good eye and can make your hands do what you have seen. That is a talent I wish I possessed. You have done this in a remarkably short time too. 
Charlie