The Barrel

The barrel, last mentioned here, has now been airbrushed with 2 layers of Tamiya XF-12 JN Grey, 2 thin layers of Tamiya X-19 Smoke and then drybrushed with Tamiya Gun Metal X-10. Here it's seen next to the Viessmann animated figure. Grass and weeds still need to appear on this side of the track, and later some of the tips of the grass blades will have to be painted either brown or white. The barrel itself will have to be better integrated in the scene - maybe some weathering powders or some earth formula will do the trick. Click for a close-up.

Building a Scene

The corner on (D) segment that's currently under work has been covered with earth now. The layers, 3 or maximum 4 in some spots have settled properly, with a nice texture everywhere. The boulders were further treated with some zip texturing in order to blend them in with the terrain. Several pieces of tree trunks and twigs were also glued to place. A miniNatur bush has been also temporarily fixed next to the track. Since this photo was taken yesterday however, more than half the space was filled with grass and some scattered rocks, and ballasting was done on almost the whole curve.
The Viessmann figure (5127 Farmer with pickaxe) has been reconverted to a railroad worker, since the blue outfit including the cap didn't suggest much farm work, at least to me. Around this fellow that's supposed to dig a bit around the ballast, a couple of elements will have to be placed. Pictured below we have - (1) a railroad piece of track, already airbrushed with 2 coats of the standard railroad tie formula (2ml Tamiya XF-10/0,6ml Tamiya XF-1/3ml Tamiya X-20A) that will sit across the tracks to the small figure, (2) a crate, taken from a Preiser military ammunition kits, sprayed with 2 coats of 0,3ml XF-64 Tamiya Red Brown/0,2ml Tamiya German Grey/0,25 Tamiya thinner) which will probably be placed next to the worker, (3) a metal barrel that I intend to spay with some Grey/Gun Metal combination and (4) one shovel that will have some Red Brown for the handle and a Grey/Gun Metal for the metal part. These last two, as seen in the photo, are not yet done; their origin is from the accessories given with the Faller 110096 railway station - itself a very interesting assortment, including big bags, ladders, various shovels - their only downside is the rather crude finishing - quite a few burrs that take time to treat.

Plaster Questions

There were always issues after sifting the first "earth" layer - most of it would simply not stick to the dried latex paint - and I suspected that the formula might contain too much dry pigment, making the plaster to pigment ratio too small, and perhaps this was making everything crumble. So after I applied the first layer on the corner of the D segment and found out the same problems as before, I decided to see if this was the cause of the problems. The brown washed out area is actually what's left of the first (and very thin) layer of earth after it was brushed and vacuumed up. On the center is a new layer of dirt applied, on the right there's just plain plaster over the same type of area and on the left there's just plaster sifted over a wet area of previously dried latex paint (2 coats). Even though the plaster was lightly sprayed with water after applying it, only the right patch actually partially glued itself to place, while the left one could just be brushed easily. 

So from now on I'm thinking applying the first layer using only plaster, clean this us after it's dried, and then use the real earth formula. The following days will decide what is best.

The 2 small rocks have already been colored, using a mix of Woodland Scenics yellow ochre, burnt umber and black. I'll have to finish this using some earth formula as well, both to blend them in the soil, and to give them that weathered look.

Building the D(isplay) segment corner

Despite the corner pictured here being a perfect place for placing tools and various construc- tion materials, this place also has to be modeled. So using the same procedure used to build the hill next to PT, foam walls were cut to size and given a certain shape on their top side, then masking tape was used in order to create a web strong enough to support the first layer of plaster cloth (Woodland Scenics C1203). After soaking and applying 2 coats of plaster cloth 2 small rocks were glued to the terrain using hydrocal (Woodland Scenics C1201) - this was chosen because of convenience - getting to the classic but more heavy plaster was just a few meters farther away. Foam walls are not used on every possible side, since I still need access to various wires and access holes. Enlarging the second photo, you'll spot a paper cylinder protecting the thing inside from the latex paint that's about to be applied. What's there ? A Viessmann animated figure; more details will be unveiled as the corner comes closer to completion. 

D Segment Track in Place

The track on the D segment has now been glued, along with the bridge than goes over the PT segment (visible in the photo in the bottom left). The 2 girders supporting the bridge are not yet fixed.

Line Fixed on C(ross) segment

Finally the track on the C segment has been fixed in place. Also the Lenz LK200 module was also put to the test and found to be in good working order.This device is necessary since the C(ross) segment actually formes a reverse loop, which raises some problems. The manual actually describes all these best. The track is isolated with Tillig insulating connectors and the wires feeding this segment are only soldered in a single pair of points.

The photo shows the track right after being glued, with locos heavy enough to hold it in place. The bogie visible in the bottom left, belonging to an old PIKO double decker car currently under works, was used to check the radius doesn't drop under the minimum radius value (360 mm).