More work on the river banks and Abutments

After getting the banks carved, I painted them with a multi green filter before adding vegetation. This will help hide the earth color.

One thing I didn't do when I made the abutments and piers, I forgot to add a lip around the three walls of the abutments.  I was reminded of doing this by a friend who said they looked odd being solid concrete and the rails laying on top of the concrete.  I had always planned to add sleeper ties under the rails but forgot about the lips.

So I found some strip styrene that looked about right and glued it on the three edges of each abutment.  This will give the illusion that the three walls were poured independently and not a solid mass of concrete.

Once dry I took a hobby knife and carved the tops to match any crumbling edges that I had carved into the MDF abutments previously.  Then painted and weathered them to match.

 Next I glued the sleeper ties in place and added ballast.

The ballast looks awfully bright, but I'll take care of that with Pan Pastels later.

  

 

River banks carved and curved

So I've been steadily working on the river banks over the last couple of weeks.

I got the first set of foam blocks installed and got most of them carved out.  Things were looking good.  But then I had an idea, what if I could enhance the depth of the river, make it look as if it continues around the bend?  So I grabbed a small mirror and started playing around with it.

After a few tries it looked as if this could work?  I've never made use of a mirror, although I've always wanted to.  Hmmmm?

After placing the mirror in what I thought was a good place, I stepped back and took a look at it.  Not bad, but I was going to have to change the angle of it as well as redo the foam blocks along the backdrop.

So the trouble was, at this angle it made the river bend to the right and not to the left.  So I ripped out the rear two blocks of foam and started playing around again with a pencil line, trying to line up the mirror so the bank turned to the left.  I had to angle the mirror quite a bit to make the curved pencil line line up properly.  But this would work.

I ordered a new larger mirror and sat it in place, then I got the two new foam blocks installed and carved them to fit.  Using the line I drew as a guide I shaped the last foam block and got them glued in placed.

The next thing to do was to get the blocks shaped and painted.

   

Floral foam river banks

After a little head scratching and some test fitting, I got the ceiling tile and beadboard foam removed and replaced it with the floral foam bricks.  I glued the bricks in with white glue on the bottoms and where they touch the remaining ceiling tile.

Once dry I'll start the carving process.  I extended the foam out past the abutments just a bit so that I have enough to work with as I slowly carve it back. Most of the bank will be beveled back without much detail as the biggest share of it I envision being covered completely by vegetation.

I also used lightweight spackling to fill in a seam and any irregularities on the plywood then got it sanded smooth. 

Target: The Ouachita River Bridges

I ran a couple of more sessions the last couple of weekends and I feel like things are running smooth enough with JMRI and trackwork that I think it's time to switch gears and start adding some more eye candy to the layout.  I'd like to get this done by this October for the OS Omaha weekend.

In December of 2016 I started reworking the straight track between Calion and El Dorado.  I'd always planned to have a river in this location.  The first thing I did was to reposition the main line to give it a nice little curve and then made plans for a bridge, well two bridges.

Today this is where it stands, and has been standing here since January 2, 2017.  It's been in this state of construction for 8 years now, I think it's stood the test of time.

The other day while staring at it, trying to figure out how to blend the river into the backdrop, the light bulb started to glow.  Instead of blending into the backdrop, why not put a bend in the river and make the shoreline sit against the backdrop?  Then I could hide the river with lots of trees.

After a bit I realized that I had seen this done before recently on a layout that I enjoy following.  The only thing different, that guy hid the bend in the river not only by trees, but with a large building, which I might be able to do as well?  If it does not hide the river completely, at least it'll serve as a distraction for the eyes. 

I'll cut out more foam and ceiling tile behind the truss bridge so the river bends to the right.  I can then go back and add more base along the backdrop.  The base is easy enough to cut out and reshape, but I think I'll use more of the dry floral foam blocks?  It's easy to cut and shape and unlike plaster or lightweight spackling, the foam makes it easy to insert trees into it. 

The river itself should be just about as easy to do, though I'm not sure if I'll pour a thin layer like the bog or if I'll just paint it and apply couple of layers of Gloss Mod Podge?  Here's what I'm shooting for the overall look.

A slow moving, muddy river.  The river banks will be easy, just cover them with heavy foliage and lots of trees...... right down to the banks.