Pace Chemical - Part 4

Basic Ground Cover

 

Basic ground cover consists of a layer of exterior house paint (gray/brown} and an initial layer of paving sand.  I run the sand through three screenings, using the fine grit for roads and parking lots, the medium grit for basic ground cover, and the coarsest for ballast and some other uses.  The paving sand is spread around by hand, misted with a water/alcohol mix and soaked the diluted matte medium using a pipette.  I finish off the initial ground cover with a little bit of Woodland Scenics fine blended turf to add a little color and contrast. 

 

 

I use an old floor fan to speed up the drying time.  Running on "low" the fan can usually dry things out in about five or six hours..

 

Once the basic layer is done, I ballast.  I've covered weathering and ballasting track in a previous post so I won't repeat it here.  Ballasting was followed by shrubs, trees, signs, vehicles and other details,  The scene still requires some static grass, figures, and other details but it is more than presentable. 

The fascia and car card boxes have also been painted.  The car card boxes were built from styrene.

A couple of photos were taken on the existing backdrop behind Preston Miller Yard, reduced, and printed on photo paper.  The sky was cut out of the photos and the prints were taped to the wall. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pace Chemical & Southern Kentucky Transfer platt with car spots.

 

The General Motors Plant & L&N Servicing Facility

Work also progressed around the corner to the GM plant and the L&N service tracks.  I still need to touch up the ballast and add more detail.  The L&N portion of the layout includes a couple of staging tracks, the Southern Kentucky Transfer/Pace Chemical, the GM plant and a small yard off to the right and around the corner from this view.  Bowling Green is located along the ex L&N mainline between Memphis and Louisville.

 

Lighting

 

The layout currently has a valance with strip LED lighting on the center peninsula; it makes a huge difference.  As a result, I decided to add a valence to the rest of the lower level.  Here is my progress to date (2/3/22). 

As always, your comments are welcome

sdepolo@outlook.com