Construction Update #18 - State Line, Kentucky Part 5 - Westmoreland Part 1

State Line

Work continues around State Line and the Cumberland River Crossing.  The Cattails finally arrived and I added them along with some 7 and 12mm static grass to the marshland.  I still need to add the water and some additional detail, but overall I think it looks pretty good. 

Work has also progressed across and up the east bank of the river.

 Here's a view from beneath the bridge.

 

 

As I go along, I can't resist staging some equipment and taking a picture or two.  Here is the MELOP (Memphis to Louisville Perishables) with SP power on the point.  The #9189 is a recent 1990's era release from Athearn with factory weathering and "see through" radiator section.  Even without SP power, this train is easy to identify with its "Colton Block" of  PFE reefers cut in directly behind the power.  The SP "Tunnel Motor" will be cut off at Preston Miller Yard in Bowling Green, turned, serviced, and sent back to the SP on the LOMEF (Louisville to Memphis Forwarder).

 Westmoreland

 

Westmorland is right around the corner and railroad east of State Line at the end of the peninsula.  Since I can only spend a hour or two at a time standing on my "new" knee, I decided to spend some modeling time, at the bench, building a few structures for this area.  I ended up building eight kits, seven from the Walthers Cornerstone series and one from Atlas.  They all build into reasonably good models.  Most of the parts were painted during assembly to tone down the colors and eliminate the plastic sheen typical of these kits.  Once they were done, I set them out on the layout and tried out different combinations.  I ended up using 4 of the houses and the small market. 

Here is the first acceptable arrangement I came up with.  I took pictures and left the building in place for a couple of days.

 

I really liked the above layout but as can be seen in the following photo, two well kept houses ended up being right next to the CEMEX redi-mix complex.

 

As a result, I swapped things around and came up with the following configuration.  The new configuration leaves some open space to transition from the residential area to the redi-mix plant.  There is a spur off the mainline to the lower left that will lead to a propane dealer.  

Construction Update #17 - State Line Kentcky Part 4 - Static Grass & Marshlands

Static Grass

As I mentioned in my last update, YouTube is a invaluable resource when it comes to creating realistic scenery.  I studied up on applying Static Grass and here is the result of the initial application near State Line.  This initial application consists mostly 2mm or 2.5mm static grass.  I will follow this up with several more levels to include areas of 6-7mm and some 12mm.  One of the things I discovered early on was the need to mix various shades of green and even some yellow.  I also decided to start with lighter shorter colors and layer on longer and darker colors.

 

Marshlands

One of the things I wanted to include in this scene was marshland.  Again, I found a couple of videos on creating "swamps" on YouTube which helped.  The major difference between a swamp and marshland is the lack of trees in the latter.  I started by sketching out the water features on a piece of paper and then transferred them to the layout.  Then I used my Dremel tool to carve out the proposed waterways.

I painted the exposed pink foam with my earth colored base coat and then applied the initial layer of pavers sand ground cover.

 

An overall view of the same area after an application of 2,4 & some 7mm static grass using four different colors.  I used Modge Podge, thinned 1/1 with water for the initial layer of static grass.  I spread this around with a 1" paint brush.  For additional layers, I applied on a 1/4 mixture with a spray bottle and then applied the static grass.  The foliage material along the riverbank is Heki "Wildgrass" covered with Scenic Express Super Leaf material.  I looked up "Kentucky Wildfolowers" on Google to find out what color of flowers bloomed in late summer.  Turned out there were about 8-10, mostly yellow or violet.  I used a little Scenic Express violet flower material for a finishing touch along the riverbank.  I am still waiting for some 12mm static grass, cattail, and lily pads to finish up the marshland; and of course, more trees and shrubs.

Here is where the foreground river meets the backdrop.  So far, so good. 

Overview of progress to date.

CSX #5511 leads a westbound freight between State Line and Bowling Green

Construction Update #16 - State Line, Kentucky Part 3 - Ballasting & Super Trees

Ballasting

 

In this area, I used a mix of  Highball Cinders (2/3) and Dark Gray (1/3)  I spread the ballast with a 2" wide soft bristle brush trying to avoid ballast on the top of the ties or on the side of the rail.  Working on about a foot at a time, I mist on a layer of wet water (alcohol & water) followed by diluted matte medium applied with a pipette.  I finish up by wiping off the top of the rails with a paper towel.

 

 

 

After the ballast sets up, I normally go back and touch up a few places.  At some point, I will come back and paint the rail with Floquil's rail brown darkened up a bit with roof brown followed by a dusting of Bragdon's powdered pigments.  But for now, it looks pretty good

SuperTrees

 

On my Sn3 layout I begged for, bought, and even made well over 500 trees. For this layout I will need a lot more so I spent some time trying to figure out a quick and easy way to cover my hillsides with deciduous trees.  A lot of eastern modelers use "puff ball" style trees for this purpose but I find the best of them awful. Regardless of what I looked at, I kept coming back to SuperTrees by Scenic Express.  Unfortunately you can't knock them out by the hundreds in a day or two, but you can''t argue with the results.  Here is a sample of my first attempt at making SuperTrees.

There are several good SuperTree tutorials on YouTube so I'm not going repeat all that info here.  But, I did try several of the variations described on YouTube so I will tell you what worked and didn't work for me.  First, make sure you paint the stalks.  They come a yellow/tan color which is not at all realistic.  I used rattle cans to paint the trunks gray and the rest of the tree a dark brown.  Note the color of actual tree trunks in the background.

Use 3M Super 77 spray adhesive to hold on the foliage.  It is quick, easy, clear and holds forever.  Apply sparingly and sprinkle on the foliage material form above.  Don't roll the tree around in a bucket of foliage material if you want a lacy looking tree.  Use Scenic Express Super Leaf.  You can also use various shades of course ground foam but the end result can't compare, in my opinion, to the Super Leaf.  Super Leaf comes in a variety of colors.  I used three shades of green.  Use a clear flat lacquer to seal the tree.  Some people use extra hold hair spray because it is cheap.  It works but remains sticky for ever.

 Here's another photo.  The backdrop is about 3" from the track on the left and about 20" from the track on the right. 

Here is a photo of progress to date.  The area beneath the pile trestle is supposed to be marshland.  Not sure how I am going to accomplish that!  I've used about 40 trees to this point.