September 11, 2010

I studied whatever prototype photos I could find of Canonsburg, PA, and realized that its "backdrop" seemed to be just a "wall" of tree- and bush-covered mountains. To the right of the passenger station, a very tall mountain is visible in the background, so I wanted to make sure to capture that. I first marked off with a pencil line where the tops of the mountains were to be. Next, I painted three different shades of blue for the sky. These were the same paints I used for the Shingiss area of the layout which already had the backdrop painted. I made sure the that the left hand side of the Canonsburg area of the layout's backdrop lined up with the Shingiss area, so that there is a smooth transition between the backdrops. This time I used plain white paint to paint some clouds. They are harder to see, but their subtlety makes them very effective, I think. I then painted the entire mountain range with acrylic "burnt umber", followed by "raw sienna". This made the mountain look fiery red; not what I wanted. I let it sit overnight and then the next morning realized that a light wash of gray might tone it down a bit. I did some experimenting, but that's what I settled on in the end. Some of those colors will come through, some will be completely painted over later. Next I used acrylic "hooker's green deep hue permanent" by Liquitex for the forests of the mountains. My intent was to use various shades of green, but in the end I only used this one color. I used the stippling technique using a 1/2" stiff, round bristle brush to create the trees in the bottom 4/5 of the mountains. I took a photo at that point.

I then used the same technique using the smaller 1/4" brush to fill in the remaining top. The gray, and some of the burnt umber and raw sienna is visible through the trees. It gives the mountain a layered effect. The smaller stipples at the top of the mountain give the illusion that the mountain curves over the top. Each time I dipped the brush in paint, I stippled in a random pattern until the paint was mostly gone from the brush. The first 5 or 6 stipples are very dark, but they become lighter as there is less and less paint on the brush. With less paint on the brush, more of the background colors come through. That changes the color somewhat and causes the eye to believe that the mountain isn't entirely flat. The very top of the forest line needs to be just a little above the top of the mountain line, so that the sky color comes through the branches of the top row of trees. But those need to be very small to give the illusion of distance. The next photo shows the final result.

March 2, 2011

I wanted to leave the layout "exposed" for about a year so that I could test the track, make any final adjustments to the Tortoises if need be, and have full access to the layout's wiring. Everything is working fine now, so I decided to cover the layout. The idea is that it may take quite some time, maybe years, before I get around to filling some open areas with structures. The thought of having to look at an "unfinished" layout that whole time wasn't appealing to me. I decided it was time to "develop some undeveloped land". I covered the exposed areas with strips of cardboard. Nothing fancy, just a mostly flat area, making sure to not interfere with the movement of the Tortoises and turnout throwbars.

I then covered the entire area with one layer of Woodland Scenics' plaster cloth. This is my standard way of building a scenery base. Again, I made sure to stay clear of the mechanical movements of the turnouts.

The next day I applied a layer of "ground goop". I was able to get a lot closer to the turnout's throwbars with the ground goop. While the goop was still wet, I covered it with a variety of fine ground foam by Woodland Scenics and some dirt (unknown manufacturer). This low-angle view shows what the undeveloped land looks like. Down the road as I get an itch to do some scenery work, I may glue down some bushes, and maybe some trees. The plan is to completely remove a section of scenery whenever I am working on a structure that is supposed to go in a particular area. If I need access to the wiring or a Tortoise, I'll just remove the scenery; it is relatively cheap and only takes a few hours to replace. However, in the meantime I have a somewhat finished-looking layout.