Dominic show’s us what what happend when you scratch build a HO scale trestle bridge. What a layout!
“I started this project 4 1/2 years ago when I relocated to Michigan and bought a home with a basement and much more room than I originally had.
So I had a 12×24 HO scale area in the basement to do something with, as long as I didn’t take away from my wife’s storage area. A much larger area than my original 4×6 layout.
So with some planning, but with no particular track plans in mind, and wanting a little bit of everything, it was a plan as you go project in the making.
And this is what I’ve come up with so far.
It was suppose to be my winter project, but with the winters being so long in Michigan, it turned out to be my project 8 months out of the year.
The trestle bridges were all scratch built which was a challenge but the mission was accomplished.
Dominic”
And when it comes to posts on a how to scratch build a HO scale trestle bridge:
HO scale wooden trestle bridge
HO scale curved trestle bridge
And now on to Paul:
“Hi Al thought I would send you some photos of how I increased the size of my waterfont scene using toilet paper and PVA glue.
The included photos show the plywood extension and the initial steps in applying the TP & PVA.
The TP is applied about 4-5 layers thick with the PVA gluing the layers together.
You see me “pushing” the still wet TP with the paint brush to form waves which are heading toward the shore and bulkhead.
In these photos I angled the light such that it highlighted the waves that were formed by pushing the wet TP with the paint brush. You can see the 3D effect of the visable waves.
At this point you have to let the work dry which takes a few days because of the thickness of the TP.
Once dried my wife stepped in because I failed at an attempt to match the color of the existing water scene. Naturally if you were doing this all at once there wouldn’t be any need to color match and you wouldn’t have to hire an artist.
In these photos you can see the fan brush we used to highlight the tops of the waves with white paint.
You must remove most of the paint from the brush by passing the bristles over some waste material. What you are then doing is called a “dry brush” effect on the wave tops.
The next photo shows the jetty I built to protect the pilings that hold up the dock by the fishing shack.
This photo also shows the blending of the colors where the old and new water meet.
Lastly is a photo of the overall scene. The credit for this method of producing the water effect goes to Marklin of Sweden and his videos. The best part of this method is the 3D effect of the waves.
Paul”
A huge big thanks to Dom and Paul for sharing.
Please do leave a comment below and share your thoughts – would love to know what you think about today’s post.
That’s all for today folks.
Keep ’em coming. It’s still jolly quiet this end.
And if today is the day you stop dreaming and start doing, the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
PPS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.
