Building a Module; HO Scale Photo Diorama

[Trucklover]

Hi guys, this is the other module that i would like to bring to the new gauge :mrgreen:

Its my HO scale Photo Diorama, you guys may recognize it, but if you dont, or your new to the gauge, here you go, hope you enjoy :mrgreen:

[Trucklover]

View looking right down the Diorama. Single Track is raised in the back.




You can see my granmas dog in the bottom left corner, she likes to help hehe. You can also see how the roads will be layed out, 2 lanes going East and 2 lanes going West, Only one of the lanes going West is blocked off due to construction. There will also be a center divider in between the East and Westbound lanes.




You can see that the road dead ends here. Thats because the Black Gold Asphalt Plant is just to the right. The road goes North and under the train track. Lots of construction will be going on. I just layed stuff out as a general guideline for me and taking the pics so you guys could see how this will be layed out.




Black Gold Asphalt Plant sits at the far right of the Diorama




View from the back of the Asphalt Plant




View from the back of the Highway Underpass




Back of the Construction Site




Here you can get a better sence of how the raods and such will be layed out. 2 Lanes run Eastbound on the bottom of the display, and 2 lanes run Westbound (again one is blocked off due to construction), a Center Divider seperates the East and Westbound lanes, and in the top of the picture you see where the Embankment running from where the traintrack is down to the highway.




Highway lanes are 4" wide (or 2" per lane), Center Divider is 1 1/4, and the Black Gold Asphalt Enterance is marked at the bottom of the pic.

[Trucklover]

Just did up one of the hill sides with some paper wauds and some masking tape, now to put the plaster cloth on er'



Ooppsss, looks like My finger slipped in the pic lol




Looking Left from the Underpass




View from the track

[Trucklover]

Okay, laid the plaster cloth down. I have never used plaster cloth before, it was pretty fun and im looking forward to other embankment on the other side of the bridge

Im using the Woodland Scenics Plaster Cloth stuff and it works really well. I like how the embankment took its shape and I cant wait to paint it and put some bushes and whatnot on it. It says to let dry overnite on the package but it is 95 degrees here so i dont think it will take that long to dry, it has already began to harden. Ill still wait a few hours to do anything to it, I dont want it to mold or anything lol.

Anyways, here are a few pics of the new embankment:









Gonna start the roads now that the plaster cloth is laid. Im using the Woodland Scenics Smooth-It stuff for the roads

[Trucklover]

Got the Woodland Scenics Paving Tape down where the roads will go.

Heres some pics





Looking Left. I had to lay some extra tape so that I could reach all the space with the spreader so thats why there is the triange and the smaller rectangles and such...

[Trucklover]

Well layed the roads down with the Smooth-It Mix, now just letting it dry some to peal back the paving tape and go over the spots that I had to lay down to reach other spots with the "paving board" lol.

Here are some more pics:









I have to remove the excess tape and fill in the tape holes (the triangle and long rectangle) Gonna go do that now since it has been about 25 mins since I layed the Smooth-It down

[Trucklover]

Peeled the Paving tape away and it left nice straight lines





You can get a better idea of what I was talking about with the triangles and rectangeles on my last post. I have to fill these in with more Smooth-It. I also tested that turn coming from the bridge with a Ford Aeromax Cab and a 53' Trailer, the turn is just wide enough for the truck to make the turn, thats prototypical right there, I always see huge rigs like these just barely making there turns, its so exiting to watch

[Trucklover]

Showing the paint I used






This sides all painted up, next is a coat of green grass and then some bushes and trees will be added in

[Trucklover]

I took some pics of the embankment that I covered in ground cover, small bushes and some rocks. I still need to add a few trees. Here are the pics. I had to use the flash cause it was early morning and the sun hadnt reached the backyard yet lol so ill take some better pics later but for now these will do.

















I havnt decided what to do with the bottom part of the embankment yet (the part that is still brown) but that is going to be part of the constrcution zone down there so I might just make it look like that small part had been cut away to make room.

[Trucklover]

Finished the rest of the embankment on the Construction Zone side (left of the bridge). I really like how it turned out. Here are some pics:









So the left side of the bridge is pretty much done as far as the embankment goes, the only thing left to do is add a few trees

[Trucklover]

Member those gaps in the road I was talking about earlyer and posted a pic of? Well I filled them in finally





I mean you could still see where they were but its no big deal, I still have to sand the roads so....

[Trucklover]

Got the other embankment down with the plaster cloth.









Now to let it dry and then paint it

[Trucklover]

Up until this point, i was building this at my grandparents house, and i did not have a camera at the time so i was using my grandpas camera. So to bridge the gap between the last pictures posted and these next pictures, here is what i have done:


Since the last pics I have:

* finished the right embankment (groundcover, bushes and rocks)
* painted the roads
* painted the area for the asphalt plant (still need to lay fravel down)
* touched up the areas below the embankments
* started adding the barriers and cones for the construction site.
* installed in utility poles

[Trucklover]

Here is some pics to show some of the scenes that I could set up on this. I also need to find a better spot to take pics lol. Member, I built this to take pics of my weathered trains, trucks and construction equipment so the pics that I take on this for now on will all me close-ups and look like its more of a layout then a small board

































Ditch for new corrugated piping for drainage








You can see the unfinished part I need to finish off in this pic


















CAT Loader scooping some dirt and gravel

[doctorwayne]

Looks great, Josh, and a good way to get some of your construction equipment into the photos along with the trains.

Wayne