a few photos from my layout


Khonda714

Khonda714

Union Pacific All The Way
I got bored so I decided to take a few photos of my layout.

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K, very nice night scenes. Those are hard to get right. The double track in the mountains looks good too. If you don't mind what I think is constructive criticism, you have some great looking pine trees, but the scene is made less realistic because the trees are all at different angles. Unless trees are on a landslide, they tend grow mostly straight up, regardless of the slope. If you would take the time to fix all those trees so they are growing straight up in relation to one another, you'd improve the scene immensely.
 
Hey Jim, Thanks! I am going to fix those trees. The one thing that I have trouble with is getting them to stay straight I have tried tooth picks, glue but I can't get them to stay up right. Is there anything that I can use to keep them rooted straight?
 
I use a dab of white glue full strength on the base of the trunk, prop them up straight for about 12 hours, and you should be good to go.
 
Are the trees in foam or plaster? If they are in foam, I drill an undersized hole for the trunk, put a dab of Aleen's Tacky Glue on the trunk and jam it down in the hole. The combination of the foam and Tacky Glue will usually hold the tree in the right position. I like Aleen's because it's more aggressive than white glue and sets up faster, so the tree doen't have as much time to fall over. If you get one that won't stay up straight, use a tooth pick as a prop until the glue is dry.

If it's plaster, drill a hole that's about the same size as the tree trunk. I then slather the bottom of the trunk with Elmer's Carpenter's glue, which is much stonger than white glue in plaster. Put the tree in the hole, hold it for a minute, and see if it's still straight. If not, use two or three toothpicks in the hole to adjust the position. Put them as deep as they will go and add a little more glue. After the glue has dried, cut off the toothpicks at ground level with some nippers. Sprinkle a little ground foam at the base and no one will be the wiser.
 
Jim the aleen's is the one in the brown/copper bottle right....If so that's the one I used, that's good glue. I used it for doing all my scenery work!
 
Chris, that's the stuff. Much better than white glue and doesn't cost much more. It also dries with less sheen than white glue.
 
Hey all thanks for your tips! I took a small drill bit and drilled out a small hole on the bottom of the tree then placed a small wire in it. I put a little bit of liquid nails for projects on the wire then stuck it in the foam/plaster cloth.

Heres another picture of the same area with UP SD70M and 2 AC4400 pulling a nice load.
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Ah, much better, and the solution you came up with is both novel and effective. Excellent thinking outside the box and great results.
 
I realllllllly like that GE AC4400 demonstrator you got...looks sweeeet :)

Nice job with the trees too!

-Nate
 
Thanks everyone!

The GE Demo AC4400 shell was at first an UP AC4400 I stripped the paint from the shell and custom painted the demo colors. Everything under the shell is the RTR unit from Athearn with DDC Ready plugs.

For the GE Logos I went to a custom sticker place and had them make me the decals I then transfered them to the shell after I finished doing the primer and the final paint coat. It took me 2 months all together to complete the job. I also had to repaint the rails that was the easy part I just placed them in front of a sheet and sprayed them the colors. I then went back with white paint for the detail parts of the rails, I used a tooth pick to paint them. I have a few close up photos of the GE 4400 Demo Unit I will be posting.
 
Here are some close up shots of the GE AC4400 Demo Unit.

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Here it is again on part of the industrial section. I am currently in the process of working on it. I am playing with N scale and Z scale structures to show depth. I need to fine tune it but its a work in progress. If you have any tips it would be greatly appreciated!!! :D

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