Model Railroading > Don't Trust Thoughts that Come in the Night...

...they may make lots of work for you.  It can result in hours spent playing around with your new idea.

Here's a new addition to a scene on the Onondaga Cutoff where the railroad begins to head downgrade in a westerly direction, back towards the Chicago Line.  On the distant horizon to the northwest is the skyline of Syracuse, NY.  I dreamt this up almost two years ago, and have played with the setup and idea for many months.  Some photography and a few trips to the craft store later and I got started.  Plenty of trial and error, but the results came together last weekend:

1.  The view in the late afternoon.

2.  A gritty iPhone snapshot of the view after sunset.  Pardon the 'noise'!

3.  A closer view of the skyline lit after dark.

This scene appears much deeper now, and with the around-the-clock nature of the operation, it needed to be lit, and that turned out pretty well too.  Now I'm going to have to convince myself this wasn't worth doing around more of the layout.  :-)

~RGDave
Modeling Conrail in Central New York in 1994
http://www.onondagacutoff.blogspot.com/

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Outstanding.
JB

I have seen good looking stuff in my time but, that one takes the cake.  Congratulaions, that is one hell of a scene.  If the rest of your railroad looks like that I'm afraid it would be to much for my old ticker!

Very effective!  How did you create it?

VERY cool, and nicely executed Dave!  Really impressive!

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

Don't know how you did that, but it's impressive.
john

Is that the Superdome in the background?  Just how DID you do the lighted backdrop, it's stunning!

Peter

Many thanks for the compliments!  It's nice to hear that you all like the scene too.  I'm excited about how it fills in the area that used to be 'plain' backdrop.

Since Onondaga Cutoff operations run around the clock, I wanted the skyline to be illuminated at night.  I took the photo earlier this fall and then had a large print made.  I trimmed the sky away and sprayed the remainder of the print with dullcoat.  Using a light table and the print, I used a sharp #11 xacto blade to cut a series of small points through both the print and paper, so that the skyline was able to be carefully cut away on the top and bottom.  This removed the black paper from beneath the buildings, so that the entire city would have a glow to it from ambient light, as cities do to our eyes.  Once I was happy with the look, I used spray adhesive to attach the paper to the back of the print, and mounted that assembly to a 1/8" thick homemade black art-board frame.   I allowed that to dry overnight and then spent several hours with another fresh x-acto blade to cut out the print and paper at many of the windows on the print, allowing tiny through holes so more pointed light would show at the correct spots.

Even then, the original lineup of lights was too spotty and not bright enough.  I eventually found a combination of LEDs and incandescent bulbs that when mounted through the backdrop, behind the print, gave a convincing glow.  I wired that assembly to the toggle at the Yardmaster's Office that controls the yard lights.  That person decides when the yard, and therefore Syracuse, needs light each evening!  

It took a lot of trial-and-error construction, and that was after too much thinking and discussion.  But I'm excited about the results!

There is a bit more writeup on this project here:   http://www.onondagacutoff.blogspot.com
Thanks again, Happy Thanksgiving!

~RGDave
Modeling Conrail in Central New York, in 1994

And, Herronpeter, that is the Carrier Dome, which is the stadium on the campus of Syracuse University.  It's a key feature of the Syracuse skyline from any direction, as it sits up on University Hill and can be seen for many miles!

Thanks again!
~Dave

Stunning. Fine, fine job! Wow. So smartly handled!

~ BZ

I live in Albany but have not been to Syracuse since it was built.  I DO remember being at the Syracuse-Colgate game when the 'Cuse won 71-0.. 1959 it was.  Syracuse stopped playing Colgate in 1961 though they played again in 2010, 'Cuse 42- Colgate  7. 

I passed right over the Onondaga Cutof and Syracuse, NY part of your post........scrolled down to the pics too fast..............Another "Senior Moment" sad to say.  Great work................

Peter



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/15 05:35 by herronpeter.

Just beautiful work....you have quite a gift for this....Given we are both tracking progress on our layouts here on TO, I have a high standard to meet, in your work. 

Bob