Waterfall

This week I managed to squueze in some time to work on the layout. I started a section that was begun almost a year ago. For months I just stared at this section, as if that would make it happen. The only thing that made it happen was actually doing it. It's like sketching and drawing, sometimes the blank page is intimidating...it's only when you realize that it's no big deal if it gets screwed up. The worst thing that could happen is that I would have ripped out pennies worth of plaster and paint; so what? With that attitude I finally began throwing down some plaster blobs and began carving rock, and once I'm past that part it gets easier. The work is satisfying, so that progress becomes addictive...I've been posting this progress on the MR Forum (http://kitforums.com/) and it's helped with each step, getting feedback from other modelers, instead of working in a vaccum wondering how this or that looks. Within just a few posts, modelers chimed in with thier knowledge of certain aspects of the project; from the type of rock in the region I'm modeling, to the fact that the rock behind the waterfall would be a little darker than the rest...all helpful and encouraging. And a great reminder - if I'm in a jam, the forum is there for assistance, like calling tech support, except that you get information you can actually understand and use! 

In other news, our second DVD will be available the first week of June - Waterfront Scenery for Your Model Railroad. It covers some rock making/carving techniques for modeling a rocky coast, weathering seawalls at low tide, riprap walls, pilings and more, it also includes video reference of real world waterfront scenes ...we'll be posting a DVD preview soon.

We have started shipping Hooper's; if you haven't got yours yet, another batch is going out Monday, May 18th, and it'll arrive by weeks end.

Modeling Minute By Minute

As I mentioned a few blogs back, I've started a small shelf layout/diorama to satisfy my need to model '50's New England. It's a narrow strip; a hollow core door six feet long by twelve inches deep. Something I can surely finish within a few months, though that's not the goal. I'm trying and re-trying some techniques, mainly rock making(carving) and waves and water. Since I live not to far from the shore and do as much boating in the summer as I can, I'm able to gather reference photos of some interesting coastal scenes. As is much of New England, the rocky coast can be found everywhere you turn. Sometimes with near fiberglass- damaging results if you're not paying attention.

Having kept a boat here in Connecticut and previously in Mamaroneck, NY, the Long Island Sound makes for some interesting tidal ranges. In Mamaroneck the tide can reveal up to nine feet of hidden rock and muck; here two to three feet. Whichever place, through tide changes, sunlight, cloud cover, storm damage - the same piece of geography rarely looks the same from day to day, sometimes hour to hour - even minute by minute. Last boating season, a perfectly sunny day in all directions turned to complete dense, fog in a matter of minutes - best to bust out the snacks, drop anchor and wait it out...anyway, this never ending change in scenery is a good thing in terms of modeling - you don't have to stick with a strict pallete throughout your scenery.

Color, texture - even wave action can be different from one area to the next. For me, this keeps things interesting and challenging, and I don't have to a be a slave to my pallete and materials. I can try new coloring for rock, add some crashing waves as in the pic above of the shelf layout - in other words, it's all pretty forgiving. That I like.

Modeler Gary Hoover's now dismantled Missouri, Quincy & Kansas model railroad featured desert scenery, the snow top Rockies, corn fields in the Mid West and the California coast- while this is not entirely the same idea, I was always taken by that concept, that you don't have to stick with modeling one type of scenery.

Since my modeling interests change very often, this appeals to me. And if you're in a rut, stuck on one type of scenery, you'll find with a little research, the same scenery can stand a little variety within itself.