Model Railroading > After six years, I finally accepted the challenge…..

It was a relatively small project, but very difficult to reach and extremely annoying.  This scene went unfinished for years as it is over five feet from the front of the layout and almost impossible to reach.  The height of the upper track is a little over five feet high.  The only possible access is over the top of the upper deck reached from the "canyon" isle in the back.  That meant doing scenery from a step ladder, bending over the top about two feet in to the layout and working upside-down!  I just kept putting it off as "too difficult and time consuming". I finally accepted the challenge and actually completed the scene in a timed 53 minutes!  (not counting time for the glue and ballast to dry).  Just one more thing to scratch of the "this is probably never gonna get done" list.   Cheers!   Mark  <><

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Very nicely done!

Looks very good.

I, too, have run into the "paint yourself in a corner" more than once.
The Rainbow Canyon was an example.  The part marked with an X is where it occurred.  I had to use a small step ladder and work over the top of the previous work.  I used a mirror to watch progress.

With the coal mine it happened again.  The mine was going to be on an upper level about where you see the finished colored rocks.  I did not like the idea of the mine sticking above the scenery view block.  I worked from the outside in and again used a mirror to watch progress.
It was a good thing that I was familiar with telescopes and the way they reverse  things.

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Ah, trying to melt the heart of geologists out there?  Hah hah.  I learned about the ceiling tiles being broken up and layered for the shale look back when I was a grad student in Indiana (working on my Master of Science in Geology).  Where I lived there was mostly limestone quarries - Bloomington IN.

What I'll be going for is sandstone of Ruby Canyon when I finally get caught up on the water damage repairs in the basement.  Tends to put the kibosh on layout work.

Cheers, Jim Fitch

I think it was well worth your time------your scenery is great!!

Hey, Dan.   Wow!   I took a mirror and after some amount of frustration trying to get the hands in the mirror to respond correctly to my poor pea brain, I finally got the hang of it.  This whole experience has really taught me one thing though....planning is REALLY important!  ...and nothing is easy.  You really gotta want it!   Now for the important question. What is the composition of the ceiling tile on your layout?  I'm sure it is not asbestos, but what is it?  Really looks great!   Mark  <><

Mark, it was from my school.  It was asbestos free. It has some kind of fiber (my best guess-paper) and some of them had  little hard things in it. But, you need to use the kind with the little holes in the top.  The textured kind does not work well because the surfaces do not seat well.  Also, put the white side DOWN.  The white surface does not take water colors or glue well.
I use el cheapo water based craft paint for the color.  I use the same paint for the rocks to color kitty litter.  I put the paint in a can and put the litter in an old pair of hose and dip it in the can.  I put the litter on some old screen and let it dry.  Once dry I break it apart.  This way the broken rock at the bottom of the strata matches the rocks above.
markloos Wrote:
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> Hey, Dan.   Wow!   I took a mirror and after
> some amount of frustration trying to get the hands
> in the mirror to respond correctly to my poor pea
> brain, I finally got the hang of it.  This whole
> experience has really taught me one thing
> though....planning is REALLY important!  ...and
> nothing is easy.  You really gotta want it!  
> Now for the important question. What is the
> composition of the ceiling tile on your layout? 
> I'm sure it is not asbestos, but what is it? 
> Really looks great!   Mark  <><

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