Hills

In-progress work on the hill right next to the pre-tunnel segment. Click for full-view.

Retaining Wall - Take 3

The technique discussed last time was varied a little, and so the final black wash was no longer applied to the whole area, but instead just a few zones, as well as the drybrushing, slightly more powerful in some parts, medium in others and none sometimes. The idea was to brake the "monotony" of the bricks, that was still there even after color randomization, black wash and concrete drybrush.
The photo is taken under natural light, the "land" is actually the first test board, while the Noch retaining wall was placed in the back (right now, even it's not visible in the photo, it's already curved, in preparation to setting it up on its final spot on the big board). A small patch of miniNatur summer ivy was used (936-22S), while the dining car is an ancient PIKO WR ge, built in the 80s.

For that detailed close-up look, just click.

Retaining Wall - Take 2

A new section of Noch retaining wall was weathered, as follows:

- 3 washes with the same ratio of colour to water (3:2) were used: Woodland Scenics raw umber, stone gray and slate gray

- random stones were picked up using the washes

- a black wash (1:16 black to water) was used over the whole area to "blend" the colours together

- drybrushing with Woodland Scenics concrete was applied

The last 2 steps were only applied to the right half of the wall, as to be able to see the various intermediate steps. The photos were taken using an ordinary lamp pointing towards the subject (PIKO sleeping car DR WL AB 4 ge), then stacked together in Helicon Focus to produce the resulting image (a small "halo" is visible, but for now it'll just have to do). Click for full-sized photo.

Closeup of Weathered Brawa Signal Phone

Viewed from the back. The process for weathering this little item were already discussed in detail here. The novelty is the use of a 105mm Nikkor lens with the Nikon D3100 to take the succesive shots, using variable focus, that were ultimately "blended" together in Helicon Focus. The 105mm lens however is an old acquaintance, that already made some very special photos possible. Click for full-sized photo.

Finished Rock Test Board

One first batch of photos showing the completed rock test board. The reason for the delay was that the last element on the board was just recently completed. Aside from the stacking of variable-focus images in Helicon Focus, no other retouching has been applied. Click for full size.

Weathering the Brawa Telephone Signal - part 2

A wash of burnt umber (40:1 water to color) was lightly used with a no 1 brush and then another gun metal drybrushing was done as before, using the same no 8 brush. No image post-processing was done, not even the usual stacking of multiple images using variable-sized focus. Click for a bigger photo.

Weathering the Brawa Telephone Signal - part 1

Did a bit of drybrushing with Tamiya Gun Metal (X-10), after the 3 coats already sprayed a while ago. Perhaps another small session of drybrushing would be in order. Also i'm thinking of a rust color wash. The small bit of masking tape will eventually have to come off, since that big F will also need treatment. Click for a larger photo.