Progress Report 01.19.13 - Rolling Weed

My good friend Marcus came over today to roll some weed with me.  Scandinavian's finest weed (aka Scenic Express' Super Trees).  What an awesome product.  I took my box of weed yesterday and spray painted them all primer gray.  Don't go out in the garage, you'll be overcome by the fumes!

PSA: Now kids, smoking weed is bad for you.....M'kay!  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCDnR6Px-co)

Today, Marcus came over.  We watched a short video by a local model railroader Scott Teague on modeling fall color.  We laid out three trays (I need to get more colors) of green, yellow and orange foliage   Two of the colors were Woodland Scenics shaker bottle size which went on great.  The orange Foliage and Flock by Scenic Express didn't go on that well.  I'll have to unload the rest of that on eBay and get some more of the Woodland Scenics stuff.

We worked at it for about 40 minutes or so and made a little over 30 trees I would say.  We typically rolled the weeds in the brighter colors and then sprinkled on the green.  It gave a good affect dulling down the bright foliage.

We then moved to planting trees.  I planted one big yellow tree (my favorite) by the new Rock Island Fuel facility.  Man, that really looks great.

Marcus started planting trees over by Franklin Farms.  I worked more up toward the plowed field and small pond.  The scene came together really quick and looked spectacular!  I was busting Jerry!  Busting!  But, wait there's more!  We discussed the transition between the farm field and track.  We added a tree line along the tracks as well as some overgrowth and brush.  Wow!  It turned out fabulous!  But, wait there's more!  Marcus took note of the indentation I had from the farm road up to the pasture and barn.  I told him I planned on putting a dirt access road up to the barn.  Well, Marcus started into creating it.  I then mentioned that we needed to add some brush around the barn as it wasn't perfectly flat on top of the hill.  We added some ground cover (hay, sawdust) inside the barn, dirt road up to the barn and brush and ground cover around it.  Holy cow!  Did it ever look great!

WOW!!!!!!  I'm so excited how this scene came together!!!  Adding the trees did wonders to the layout.  I'm all jazzed up now ready to make some more super trees!

We ran a test train up through the area.  The company photographer had the train spotted for various photo opportunities.  I forgot to take a pic of before, but found one in the archives.

Thank you so much Marcus for coming over today to provide lessons and help with the ROCK forestation project!  The results were outstanding!

I failed to mention before Marcus came over this morning, I painted all the rail from the country road crossing at Franklin Farms to the bridge just east of Rock Island, IL.

This evening, I ballasted that section (not glued yet).  I need to go back and glue a lot of this stuff, but that shouldn't take long.  In Rock Island, the main was ballasted, but not the siding.  Marcus decided to add some cinders to the sides of the roadbed coming up the grade by Franklin Farms.  He stated back in the day, those steam engines were workin' hard pulling upgrade from the Rock River basin.  When I applied the ballast and spread it out, some of those cinders worked there way into the ballast.  The results were outstanding!  Great idea Marcus!  Marcus had his creative juices flowing today!

So, without further ado, here are photos of today's progress.

The scene before.

And now, after...

My absolute favorite!

I scratchbuilt (first ever) this barn last year.  It's my pride and joy!

Tonight's progress after the ballast was laid through the area.

Progress Report 01.18.13 - MOW West Kelly Yard to Rock River Bridge

Today, I had half the day off, but worked on more things non-railroad related.  I did manage to get some work done.

I completed ballasting from the west switch of the Rock Island TOFC terminal (in West Kelly Yard) to the end of the layout.  I also ballasted the mainline up to the east turnout at the throat of the yard plus the siding through East Moline.

I spray painted the super trees primer gray.

I painted all the rails in the East Moline Industrial Park as well as the mainline down to the Rock River bridge.

I painted and added the gravel lot for Consumers Ice and Fuel company in East Moline.

Pictures of today's progress:

Progress Report 01.17.13 - MOW West Kelly Yard to East Moline Station

Today is my early day, so no progress to report before work.  This evening, I placed the Heartland Coop structure back in place.  I can't scenic completely around it as I need to paint the west set of silos first.

MOW requested for the ballast train to work between West Kelly Yard and the station at East Moline.  I managed to ballast the main in this section minus a few small areas around slide switches and such.  I have to be careful not to glue a switch shut.  That would be bad.  It's looking good.  I'll post more pictures tomorrow after the glue dries.

Pics from today:

Progress Report 01.16.13 - Scenery Addiction

I have become addicted to working on scenery.  Once you start, you can't stop!  It's time consuming, but very enjoyable to see the scene come to life.

Late last night, I went back and worked on the layout again.  I painted and applied the dirt/grass around Rock Island Fuel and Heartland Coop.  I also painted the biohazard pond by Franklin Farms.  I've mentioned it before, but I'm color blind.  I had tried various colors for the pond with the last being cobalt blue.  It looked like a nuclear waste dump.  Tonight, I painted it brown and applied some fine dirt around the banks.

This morning, even though I overslept, I still managed to get moving and work on the layout before leaving for work.

Vacuumed up the excess grass and dirt from last night's application around the two industries.

I completed installing the fence around Rock Island Fuel.  The only thing left with that is the gate pieces.  I'm stoked about this fence!  It looks great!!

I poured Mod Podge into the pond by Franklin Farms.  Hopefully, we'll have a fisherman out there before long catching some dinner.

I painted and applied the gravel that will reside under the LP Tanks at Rock Island Fuel.

I wanted to do more, but my daily alarm to remind me it was time for work had already went off ten minutes ago.

This evening, I vacuumed up the excess gravel at the fuel facility.  Touched up some bare spots.  Installed the gate for the fence.

Removed the decoder from the Kato Union Pacific SD40 and dropped in the newly received Rock Island custom paint SD40-2.  Tested.  The Union Pacific SD40 will be going up for auction on eBay.  Now, I have two solid RI SD40-2 power sets.

Pictures of today's progress: