Category Archives: Scenery

Bridge 7-C

Jared Harper shared this scene recently on the Proto-Layouts discussion group. Here are his notes on modeling this scene on his HO scale Santa Fe branch line layout.

All my scenery is based on photos of the prototypes in the Flint Hills of Kansas in late May. I used various artist’s media like gloss medium, and a variety of latex paint colors for the water. The backdrop river is a photograph, with the 3D scenery painted to match.

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The Great Weedy

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Extra 316 rounds a curve on the M&StL Story City Branch. All photos by Clark Propst. Smoke effect applied by Tony Koester.

Clark Propst has been busy working on his new layout. He sent an update along for the blog.

The nickname Great Weedy was given to the Chicago Great Western Railroad, commonly known as the Great Western, hence Great Weedy. This moniker could be used to describe about any Granger secondary route mid last century. This is my inspiration for the latest layout work.

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Creating Eucalyptus trees

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And now for something completely different! Peter Hall needed trees to set the distinct scenes on his California layout. Read along to discover his techniques. Click on any image here to review a larger size.

If you model prototype railroading in California, there is a good chance you will need to create good-looking Eucalyptus trees. I model the Southern Pacific Coast Line, and they seem to be everywhere, in groves of many trees or sometimes in lines along the right-of-way or a road.

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