A Challenge: Designing A new modular layout section

[faraway]

The weathered and ballasted tracks look very realistic. I am still astounded how well "green" works as a base color for track base.

[torikoos]

Thanks Reinhard. I still have some cleaning up of the ballast to do, I want it to look a little better maintained, eventhough the track and ties are looking old. The 'green' I've used is Humbrol Acrylic Olive Drab number 155. It's a 'green' suitable for military models , I think it comes from that range, but works well as a base coat, provided several other washes go over the top of it.
As for the ballast, I generally find the appearance of ballast much to coarse in a model, so I have used Z scale ballast from Busch, on this HO module. To be exact Busch Z 7125 .

To me, this ballast is much closer to 'scale size' in HO than N or HO scale offerings. On top of that this has a nice brown and grey blend, and it's fairly cheap too as ballast goes, I paid less than 2 Euro per bag, or about £1.30 each, probably usd $2.50 or so.

Koos

[torikoos]

Well here we are, my module Wolter Springs is slowly progressing. I have spend some time getting one of the structures done.
I've just finished 'gluing' together a Faller grain silo kit I found, and intend to 'americanise'. I'm not done with it though.
First off, the structure just screams 'Plastic!!!' at me. It is therefore in need of paint and weathering to loose that plastic shine. Also some of the detail parts are quite coarse, so painting them darker will make that less obvious. The worst part is however that the loading tube, that runs from the top of the conveyor tower to above where a hopper would get parked, does not fit properly, and therefore was unable to be attached. Something went wrong in the dimensions at the factory. Also, some other parts didn't quite fit, or had warped a little bit. nevertheless, I think I can rescue this structure, and scratch build a couple of parts to make it look much better and hide the defects.
This structure will be used for the 'Sorum's sand' industry area. This industry is named after Steinjr 's place of residence, in honour of him helping designing the trackplan.

Next to it in this picture are my newly acquired Steward F9 A+B, which also need some work. I bought these second hand, but are in new condition, with some detail parts still in the box.They seem to run quite smooth in DC mode, so I'll now go ahead and identify the parts needed to super detail these, as well as a suitable DCC (sound) decoder. This being a wide body diesel, I should be able to get a bigger size speaker in it (particularly in the dummy B unit), so it should sound quite good.

Koos


BN F9 set at silo Wolter Springs by K2K Koos, on Flickr

[torikoos]

Time for a little update.

I've now painted the silos a basic 'steel' colour, and the rest will be done with a paint brush, painting some of the details a different colour to give it a bit more interest, and then weathering it down to lose the shine and make it look like it had a busy life.

I've also started scratch building a rail served warehouse, as I couldn't find a suitable commercial kit that would fit this space, or had bits to kit bash something for the area.It also has a difficult shape so I had to scratch build. It's starting take shape, but still loads to do.

Koos

The Silos:

Silo repainted by K2K Koos, on Flickr

The Warehouse:


Scratch build warehouse by K2K Koos, on Flickr

[torikoos]

Adding a bit more interest to the open door of the warehouse , was achieved by gluing a picture of a warehouse interior, to a bit of styrene and gluing it down at about half an inch behind the door.
This leaves a little space in front of the picture to add some 3D details and further create the illusion of depth.
Once the roof is on the building, it will get darker inside and it will only be visible through the daylight that enters the building through the loading door, further hiding the fact that this is a picture.

Koos


Interior warehouse by K2K Koos, on Flickr

[faraway]

The all steel silo is great! It looks like all those new silos we saw last year everywhere. They are often combines with an older concrete silo/elevator. There are thousands of combinations of old and new.

[torikoos]

It's been a little while since I've been able to continue on this project, but here's the next stage (the warehouse is not placed in the right spot here btw)

I've applied a 'concrete' foundation by finding a suitable concrete pattern on the internet, scaled it down into strips and printed it out on a colour laser printer at work, and glued these to the structure base using PVA glue. Next I used a black craft paint (same stuff they use at pre-school etc) to paint the roof, and sprinkled on Woodlandscenics B76 cinders ballast while it was still wet. It will be followed by a layer of diluted PVA glue to further fix it in place. After that it is time for detailing the roof etc, but I first need the detail parts (such as AC units, vents etc) which I haven't even ordered yet....

Koos


Warehouse by K2K Koos, on Flickr

[torikoos]

well it has taken some time for me to post an update here, but here goes.

I've started to grow some vegitation, initially using some Heki grass tufts etc. On this picture the first batch is fitted (savannah ), and a second, slightly more green, and shorter will follow, followed by yet another shade. Variety is the key of course, both in texture, size and colour.

Grass tufts by K2K Koos, on Flickr

I've also painted the fascia a silk matt black colour. (I preferred a green, but couldn't find it in small enough quantities).
Here's the Fascia:


Fascia painted by K2K Koos, on Flickr

All wiring has been completed and the turnout operate with underfloor drives.
My 'resident' locomotive has been equiped with an ESU Loksound select decoder, so the boards can now be operated on.

As you can tell from the pictures though, there still is a lot to do, mostly scenery and details, so I'll post an update once I have some more news.

Koos

[torikoos]

A bit more, after the first grasses were glued down earlier this week, I've continued with another colour and length, as well as adding ground foam to represent small bushes in the area.
I've added: T63 ligth green coarse turf, by Woodland Scenics
Heki summer wild grass, number 1842, which comes on sheets with backing paper to peel off.
The first shade and longer length was Heki 1574, which comes in matts to cut or tear, and is much more irregular therefore. On it's own I find it a bit 'too much' , but mixing it now with others it starts to blend in better.

I always knew that blending and mixing gives better results, but after seeing some examples here on Big Blue and elsewhere (for example Jon Grant's Sweet home Alabama), I knew that blending colour and texture is the only way forward for realistic scenery.

I'm not done yet, there's more to add and blend, but I'm starting to like how it is appearing.
Here's a picture:

Wild grass field two by K2K Koos, on Flickr

Koos

[Southern Tuxedo]

Koos,
That last picture looks really good.

Mark

[torikoos]

Thanks Mark, I'm quite pleased myself. I'll be adding a bit more variety still, and then progress to the next area.

Koos

[torikoos]

I must shamefully admit that I never posted any updates here on this project for over 6 months.
A lot has happened, it was finished to an operational state, although there's still some work to do, but it was taken to my local modular group.

Here are a few images of it on it's first outing in september 2013.


Western Union 21 sept 2013 by K2K Koos, on Flickr


Western Union 21 sept 2013 by K2K Koos, on Flickr


Western Union 21 sept 2013 by K2K Koos, on Flickr


Western Union 21 sept 2013 by K2K Koos, on Flickr


Thanks , Koos

[faraway]

I must shamefully admit...

Shame on you That is a beautiful done layout. Your tracks and ground cover is excellent

[torikoos]

Thanks Reinhard, I'm quite happy with how that worked out.

What needs doing is work on the roads, and then smaller details. However I need to find a balance between details and portability, not having too many of these items in danger of breaking off when transported.

Another item are the structures, which really need weathering etc. The white walls on the warehouse are still too white!

Koos

[jonte]

An enlightening as well as touching story, Koos.

Very well done

Funnily enough, when I first saw the latest piccies, I couldn't help thinking that there was an air of 'Allagsh' about it (I only discovered this layout recently and I have to admit I'm very impressed), and having since read through the thread in it's entirety, I now know why!!!

Jonte