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Now that I've done some last minute touchups, it's time to lay down the Realistic Water. There are always leaks and gaps, and because I have a carpeted office, I need to take a few precautions. The drop cloth got draped under Mud Run and I did my first pour from the backside of the bridge into the Lehigh. I'll let this dry and harden up before deciding where the next pour will be - probably from the uphill portion of the Lehigh tomorrow.
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Looking really good Todd---can't wait to see the finished results.
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(12-04-2022, 07:06 AM)cn nutbar Wrote: Looking really good Todd---can't wait to see the finished results.
Thanks for the kudos, Ed. Being able to share this stuff with you guys is lighting a fire for me.
One of the true rhetorical questions for model railroaders.... "Is a model railroad ever really FINISHED?" My answer? Usually, only at death or dismantlement...
I got a request from Clever models last year about my kitbashed I-80 bridges. They asked me to submit a photo "when the scene is complete". After a bit of laughter and pokes and jabs at myself in the mirror, I had to give them the bad news that it may be a few years - the foreground scenery will not be addressed until I complete the scenery between the track and the backdrops all around my layout. Same deal with track ballasting and other track-specific detailing.
I have decided that after I pour the river that I'll be concentrating my scenic attention on the background areas in the Mud Run area, and (drum roll please....) Mud Run will receive the first foreground scenery ever to exist on "Rainbows in the Gorge".
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Yes, it is possible for a model railroad to be "complete" but not necessarily "finished". (not finished until it's going down the road in a dumpster.) There's always a little bit more that could be added -- are all the washrooms in the buildings fully detailed?
David
Moderato ma non troppo
Perth & Exeter Railway Company
Esquesing & Chinguacousy Radial Railway
In model railroading, there are between six and two hundred ways of performing a given task.
Most modellers can get two of them to work.
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Today was the transition day - from the river to the background scenery on the upper reaches of Mud Run. Got my favorite "puff ball" tree stuff out of my big scenery box - including puff ball trees (polyfil balled up and sprinkled with ground form), lichen, 2 different colors reindeer moss, moss sheets, Woodland Scenics clumps, etc. Put some wood glue on a plastic lid and off we went - just filling in the upper portions of the hills. I got a little bored of that and decided to eventually create some pasture/fields. If I can find an N-scale farm tractor, I think that would look really good (and due to the forced perspective, probably the right size) up on those fields.
Plan for the rest of the week after work is to continue this effort all the way around to the tunnel entrance.
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Looking great! Nice job. Truly improves the view.
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Yeah, the scenery really adds to the realism...very nicely-done. 
Wayne
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Had the spark of an idea last night before laying my head on the pillow. My current lighting of Mud Run is from an overhead light which provides lots of light, but not into the area behind my bridge - everything's in shadow back there. As you can see in the picture below (the real Mud Run bridge), there is substantial light behind the bridge which can highlight some of my scenery that (eventually) will be back there.
I'd bought some incandescent bulbs a few years ago with the intention of having some replacements for loco headlights. Thought I was getting small LEDs (would have helped if I read the description closer) and opened the package to find 25 of these "large" incandescents.
Decided to save them for something - and now I have a something. As a trial, I wired one of these directly to my bus bar from my DCC booster. Way too bright and I have to add some resistance tomorrow to dim the bulb and keep it from burning out too quickly. However, took a couple of shots to see how it looks.
I'll pick up some resistors and a switch (I want to option to turn the light on and off) tomorrow and play around with how much light I want back there.
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I might suggest that you can add a potentiometer in addition to a current limiting resistor to allow you to vary the brightness. You can get one with a switch as well. Although, I have a couple of 5 amp variable supplies (3-12 VDC) with off switch and digital readout that I use for all my interior lighting. Some are incandescent, some LED. Very cheap supply, around $15 at Amazon and amazingly small for a five amp supply.
Power supply
I had a bunch of 12 volt incandescent bulbs that I'm running out of, also have an old LED flashlight with over two dozen white LED's that I removed the LED's and added wires and a current limit resistor to. Got the flashlight for free from Harbor Freight, it's just a bit tricky soldering to those very short leads, but hey, free is good, just need to remember polarity. 
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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Great idea, Don, and I appreciate the link to the power supply. Agree that for the features, that's a great price. Never thought of tearing apart my Harbor Freight flashlights, but that's an interesting way of getting some LED replacement bulbs!
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Continued adding puff ball trees to the upper reaches above Mud Run this evening until I realized I was out of one of my favored colors of moss - I should be able to pick some up tomorrow if I can get to Michaels or JoAnn's. I'm also about out of polyfill ball trees and need to make some more of them. What to do with another hour or so of layout time?
Got my shaker of mixed brown stuff out. It's sawdust, coffee grounds, tea leaves, planer chips, leftover lichen, ground foam, moss, etc. Slapped on some wood glue over the brown-painted areas under my new trees and added the brown stuff to simulate leaf-covered forest understory. Eventually the shrubbery will also be added to these areas and then the detailed, layered trees. Got the ShopVac out to pull up all of the extra brown stuff off of the track, and tomorrow is another day.
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I really like your "brown stuff." It gives the scenery that extra kick.
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Thanks Tom. I use an empty ground foam container and collect the brown stuff over time. I little of this, a little of that, shake it up and it's ready for dispensing. Looks a lot better once I start putting the trees and shrubs in - which may be sometime soon depending on what's going on at my house during the holiday season. My son's coming up from Texas with his two dogs, so I may be otherwise occupied with little time for scenery.
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Todd, I am stepping on your toes here, but I have to thank Don for the link to the power supply. I have a lot of left over wall warts and other transformers but the one he shows is a better option for my lighting.. and another thing, Ebay has great buys on LEDs and since they are made in China to begin with I don't mind cutting out the middle man. 
Charlie
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Not stepping on toes - one man's problem, another's got a solution! I'm just glad I can host good conversation that triggers new thoughts. LEDs have been a really nice technology pattern made for model railroading - you no longer have to worry about burning down the house with interior structure lighting. I have to laugh at some of the instructions that come with those ebay lights - Chinese to English translations are often food for comedy.
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