nachoman Wrote:you really have a knack for creating cool scenes. I really like that ranch.

Thanks Kevin , I just model what I have seen out here. To me it is not talent but rather memories.
Thanks , Mike

Mike...That's coming along very nicely. Like you say...Nothing spectacular", but the "detailing" is what makes a layout spectacular...And you're getting there...!!

I don't recall seeing how you made that background...Did you just apply your backgrounds directly over the walls or did you use some sort of panels and placed those in place..?? Also...What are you using for paint on that background..?? I'm getting to the point of having to do some background work before I place anything permanently in the foreground, because once this is done, I won't be able to safely reach the background....

Keep those updates coming.....I got a lot of stuff to copy from you....

Thanks Gus, on my backdrops I just cut out the buildings and scenery on the Instant Horizons and apply them directly to my own painted sky. On the one small little dark mountain I did behind the unobtainium mine I just found a picture on Google and printed out on card stock and cut it out and just applied it to the backdrop. I did the same thing with the pieces I cut out of the Walthers catalog. To attach my paper backdrops to use a dollhouse wallpaper paste by a company called mini graphics and is sold at hobby lobby. It is kind of like snot and you can slide the peace around and get it in place before it dries.
All of the paint I use are the acrylic craft paints that come in the small bottles that you can also buy at hobby lobby for under a dollar apiece. I just keep many earth colors on hand and when I get ready to match the backdrop I just pick some that are similar in color and squirt a little bit of each one on a butter dish lid and more or less make the colors as I go. I also always keep a container of water nearby to clean the brush if the mixed color doesn't look quite right or to wash down the area if I don't like the color. It is a lot easier than it sounds.
Thanks again Gus , Mike

I have been working on the layout but during periods of drying glue mix I started on the baseball diamond. I am scratch building it on styrene from Little league plans from the net.






Mike

Here is the Period Miniatures shed in place as well as some completed ballasting around the engine house and turntable and the instalation of the oil depot from the old layout(with some modifications).







Thanks , Mike

lookin good Mike! I cant' wait to see the diamond.

Wiredup Wrote:I cant' wait to see the diamond.

Me too , I am kinda pumped up about getting it done.
Thanks , Mike

Here are the pictures of the finished baseball field. Now I just need to fill in around it and have yet to decide with what.The main street will be at the front edge of the field.









Mike

:hey: Play Ball

Good job Mike

Joe

thumsup Wrote::hey: Play Ball

Good job Mike

Joe

Yep , Thanks Joe !!!!!!

Did you scratchbuild that backstop?

Gary S Wrote:Did you scratchbuild that backstop?

I did , not too big of a deal. Brass rod and the Pro-Tech fencing we sell.
Thanks , Mike

another great scene! The placement of the LPBs around the bleachers and outfield fence really makes it work.

Thanks Kevin , I have been told I need a scoreboard.
Mike

I'm told by the adults involved in Little League that I had gone to speak to about volunteering to umpire, as I had done in the late nineties for Girls' Fast-Pitch Little League Softball when I lived in Naples, FL, that here in Lehigh Acres, at least for the younger boys, they don't keep score so as not to cause any of the poor impressionable little boys from having their feeling hurt. But an acquaintance with a nine year old told me that the boys are keeping score even if the adults aren't! It's just more "Koom-By-Yah Feel Good" ridiculousness.

Give the boys and girls a score board!