One problem I run into with confining myself to working on one section of the layout at a time is my interest in working on said area tends to peter out. Gallitzin has been no exception. Also, I rather annoyingly ran out of needed materials to finish that area. So with that in mind, I decided to tackle a project I've been wanting to sink my teeth into for a while, the Conemaugh River.
Most of the river was actually dug out almost a year ago and the bridge carrying the Southfork Branch has been in place since. It consists of a pair of Atlas warren truss bridges sitting on a Chooch Enterpirses pier.
The main line crossed the river on a stone viaduct. For this, I used a single Monroe Models stone bridge kit. Normally, this kit is meant for a single track, but I took both sides of the bridge kit and glued them end to end. The underside of the bridge is mealy a pair of PVC pipe couplings cu in half and painted black. The backside of the bridge isn't visible to layout viewers so there's really no point in finishing it.
The river bed was also a bit of a departure for me. Normally I paint the bed in a series of darker colors to simulate depth. This time, I covered the river bed with various grades of Woodland Scenics Talus to simulate a rocky river. Next I lined both sides of the river with tufts of Woodland Scenics Field Grass to simulate reeds and bulrushes. I placed a few pieces of WS Dead Fall to simulate falen trees and suncken logs.
For the water itself, I've been following the advice of expert scenery maker Dave Frarry and used Mod Podge Gloss Medium for the water. It works just as well as Woodland Scenics' Realistic Water but costs about half as much. And it's readily available at Wal Mart.
The scene is still very much a work in progress, but I like how it's coming together.
No comments:
Post a Comment