Turntable and Trees

First rails across the turntable 

Joel making trees

John and Remy at work

 Last weekend Joel Salmons stopped by on Saturday to help work on the layout.  We started making trees using dowels and super tree tops. Once he got started, I continued work on the turntable.  The next day, Joel painted figures while his son, John,  and daughter in-law, Remy, continued work on trees. By the end of the day they had 45 trees ready for paint and three figures painted. The figures were actually 3d prints of Remy, Janet (Joel's wife) and himself. Joel painted himself as a tugboat captain. The trees will be used along the backdrop above the Mueller's Creek Trestle. 

 I got the turntable pit installed. That required some additional bracing under the layout. I ordered a slip ring from China to use to power the rails in the turntable. That has not arrived yet, so I am proceeding with gluing down ties and track laying. If all goes well, the track should be done before the weekend. 

I am hosting on open house for MARPM in two weeks, so I would like this area to look presentable.

 

 

Test photo

Test shot with trees added in Photoshop

Backdrop trees in progress

I continued work on the scenery and backdrops at Mueller's Creek. I suspect it will need about 30 more trees to capture the effect I want. In the meantime, I took a test shot with a train on the trestle. Then I used PS to add some trees to get a feel for the scene.  This photo angle is the main reason I added about 4 inches to the foreground scenery.

Wet scenery - ground leaves and twigs. Looks like a
mess now but will be OK when dried

This has potential to be a very nice scene. It will greet viewers as the come down the stairs into the layout area.

The top of the hill might be a candidate for an HO or N scale farm house and barn.

 

Southern Yellow Pines - These might be the answer

 

I made three yellow pines tonight using preserved Caspia and static grass.  I used prototype photos for guidance and added more branches than I have in the past.  I gave them heavy coats of static grass secured with matte mod podge. I think these are the best I have made yet.  I will make some more, but I will need a lot of deciduous trees for the forest by Mueller's Creek. 

What happened to the balloon?

Balloon Cut out with a replacement sky

I decided  the model balloon I was building was too big  for the layout. So I  had to make a smaller one. I quickly realized that with a small balloon, I really didn't need an actual model. A cut out against the backdrop would suffice. So I looked for a photo of the balloon that might work. I found a color photo of a replica balloon. I used it to create a small composite image. I printed it on card stock, cut out the sky, and then curved it across the corner of the layout.  This was a lot easier than building the balloon model.

Here is what it looks like without a replacement sky. I plan to add a few more trees in the foreground to help break up the view of the sky in the corner. The tents are not glued down and sceniced yet.

Next, I took a crack at making another lone pine for Falmouth. I was not happy with the first one I made a few weeks ago. I had ordered several batches of preserved caspia from a vendor in Utah. They finally arrived, so I made a new tree using a pine dowel, caspia twigs and static grass. It was much faster to make and looks a lot better. I plan to us this technique for more yellow pine trees in this section.

Finally, I rearranged the furniture in the room. I placed the couch alongside shelves under the bridge scene. This opens up the center of the room. The couch doesn't interfere with operations as there is no need to work the train as it comes out of the tunnel and across the bridge.

Scenery Continues - Marcescent Oak

 I continued with scenery work today.

Marcescent pin ok

I used one of the dead bonsai trees that Samir gave me to create a marcescent oak, in this case a pin oak.  My brother suggested trimming the branches to give it to have a rounder crown. That worked.  I used a combination of Silfor Plane Tree foliage autumn, 933-24, and furnace filter sprinkled with Hudson and Allen forest litter to make the oak leaves on the tree. This tree is broad, so it was tricky finding a spot that worked. The hillside by the balloon camp worked the best.

Then I made a set of background trees from Scenic Express Supertrees and pieces of a witch's broom. The witch's brooms are available for sale this time of year due to Halloween. This year the broom I purchased has a pumpkin spice scent. I hope that wears off as it is a bit much.

Finally I added a split rail fence and some goldenrod weeds from Sifor to embellish the scene.

I am experimenting with trees or bushes in the foreground by the trestle. I added a few pup tents  and a guard too. I don't want the trees to be too big as I don't want to interfere with long photos of trains on the trestle.

Trying some new techniques

New artwork for the backdrop

 I tried some new techniques over the past two days on the backdrop and trees.

The first was to create a new backdrop scene from photos I took at the Pamplin Civil War Museum last year. For example the house in the picture above came from a picture I took. I added some of Brian Kammerer's figures that he provided me a few years back. To make the photo of the house match my existing backdrops, I had to make it look painted. So I used Photoshop to do that using the Oil Paint filter and the then a Poster Edge filter that had been reduced to just the outlines.The photo at the right shows it on the backdrop.

This is the base image

I made a second camp scene from another image I took at the museum. In this one I started with a distant image of the simulated camp at Pamplin now used as a summer camp for kids. Then I composited other images from Pamplin along with more of Brian's figures to create a long  backdrop image. I then printed it in sections and applied it to the wall.

Here is the finished backdrop on the layout behind the tail track at Falmouth

 

Lone pine at Falmouth 

 

 Secondly,  I tried to make a model of the lone pine tree at Falmouth. I used a piece of pine carved to look like a trunk. Then I added plastic armatures from Woodland Scenics. I had to trim and modify them to look more like a  pine tree branches. I painted it with brown and dark gray and then used Superturf from Scenic Express to add the foliage. The tree looks better in person than the photo, but I am not that happy with it. It is disappointing as it took several hours to make it.  It will do for now while I come up with something better. 

Finally I added some simple trees behind the engine terminal at Falmouth.

Bonsai Bernie

 

The repotted tree. 

We are back from Birmingham, AL where we were visiting with my daughter, son in law, and granddaughter.  We are so happy to have everyone healthy and adorable. 

This was probably the first trip to Alabama when we didn't bring a car load of tools for home repair projects.  We managed to play a little golf in between watching Merritt sleep. 

We came home to find spring in the air, though the weather was a tad chilly at times. That means it's time for lawn and garden care. This year I had a new task, repotting a Honeysuckle bonsai tree that I purchased last September in upstate New York.

At the nursery in NY

The photo on the right side is what it looked like at the nursery. It didn't look like much to me, but my brother Rob, who is the bonsai expert, said that this tree is probably close to 100 years old. The price was very reasonable probably because it looked like it was neglected. There were other trees at this nursery that were selling for $12-18K, so this was a "great deal." Rob said he should buy it, but it wouldn't grow in Florida as it needs colder weather. 

So I said I would buy it, keep it in Virginia and he can tell me how to take care of it.  I know honeysuckles grow here as I would smell their flowers as I walked by a large group of them near the Braddock Steet metro station.

As I carried it to the cash register several other bonsai customers admired it and said it was "great deal." I don't know if they were being honest or trying to comfort me on buying what appeared to be to be a dead bush.

In winter storage in my yard

So last winter I placed it against the house with the soil covered with mulch. I watered it a few times, but mostly I didn't do anything to it. It really didn't look like much. 

But this spring it started to bloom again. 

Yesterday Rob sent me a pot from Florida that his friend Bruce sold to us. Rob also sent me some high quality bonsai soil. Today I re-potted the tree while Rob watched me on FaceTime and advised me on what to do. 

Getting ready to repot

Removing the old soil

The old soil was some type of tiny marble gravel. None of the roots were growing in the white gravel. They all were root bound around the perimeter. Rob said to remove all that soil and trim off the roots. 

We would replace the soil with high quality bonsai soil that contains several types of inorganic rock including crushed lava. The new roots would grow into the soil. The micro roots would actually grow in the lava gravel. 

Trimming roots

Once I had the old soil removed, I put a layer of the new soil in the pot and installed the tree. Rob advised me to plant the tree off center according to the golden rule. That required that I trim some more roots.

Then I had to wire the tree into the pot to prevent it from pushing out as the tree grew. Final layer of soil, some Osmocote fertilizer and a light watering. Now to see if it survives.  At some point it will bloom with yellow fragrant flowers. 

Back to trains soon.

Can you see the ant checking out the new planting?

The tree has some incredible burls that can only come from long life. The star pattern in the center is the remains of a dead branch that Rob carved last Fall while he was here. 

Trains, Planes, Automobiles, Trees and More

I just got back from a week long road trip with my brother Rob to Rochester, NY to attend the National Bonsai Exhibition. My brother has exhibited at this show for many years now. He usually drives up with a crew from Florida and they spend a night at my house.  This year, his normal co-drivers could not get tickets due to limitations in advance registrations from COVID. So I volunteered to help with the driving. Turns out I was also able to attend the show.

The Alkem Mobile in front of Gunston Hall

The trip started with a round of golf at Pohick Golf Course where Rob defeated Alicia, Nancy and I in a scramble. Either we stink or he is good.  

Then we stopped by Gunston Hall, the former home of George Mason, to check out the gardens. Unfortunately, the gardens were closed and there were archeologists tearing up the grounds looking for artifacts. However, I did get some pictures of the interior of the kitchen and laundry. I assume civil war era facilities would be very similar. Good detailing ideas there. 

Next we visited the National Museum of the Army at Fort Belvoir. The museum was practically empty and we enjoyed our visit. Alicia was especially impressed with the IED exhibit, maybe because she was involved in an IED attack at a gate in the Green Zone in Baghdad when she was in Iraq.  I like the museum's focus on people. The video about the Newburgh Incident and George Washington was very good. This is probably one of the most significant events in US history, yet very people know about it. It highlights George Washington's brilliance as the founder of the United States.

Kitchen at Gunston Hall

Cobra King Sherman tank on display at the Army Museum

The next day we drove to Rochester stopping at Gettysburg for a half hour to check out the battlefield.  The terrain in upstate New York is quite beautiful as we drove through the Finger Lake region. 

Example of the bonsai exhibit

The Bonsai exhibition was a curated display. The trees on exhibit are selected from applications around the US. My brother had exhibited trees here for many years and he says he has only repeated his display once. He has an extensive bonsai collection.  

There was a photographer doing 3D scans of the exhibit. His results are now viewable on line here. I highly recommend you take a look as the 3D technology allows you to walk around the exhibit as if you were there. The photographer told me that similar tech is available on newer iPhones. I think a view of my layout like this would be very cool. We also managed a round of golf in New York at a course built on an old farm. The club house was a barn, literally. Despite the simple club house, the course was in a park like setting with excellent greens.

Next stop was the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio.  It is an impressive museum as it is huge. There are 4 hangars filled with aircraft, missiles, and other aviation technology. We couldn't think of a significant USAF aircraft that wasn't on display. (OK, maybe 2 the C-5 and the KC-135) This was my brother's first visit and my second. So I focused on watching the videos and reading the plaques on things that I missed the first time through. This diorama of a ICBM silo was of interest to me.

Next day we headed to Rocky Gap State Park in Maryland to play at the Jack Nicholas designed golf course. I had a good game with 3 birdies. It's a nice course in a beautiful setting. Afterwards, we back tracked to Cumberland to get lunch and do some rail fanning.  We watched the hostlers spin a new Wabtec engine on the turntable. A west-bound container train was leaving the yard, but we didn't chase it as we needed to head home. 

We did make stops at the Sideling Hill cut and at Fort Frederick, MD. This was an early fort used to protect settlers during the expansion west.  The fort was once in private hands. Now a state park it is in a beautiful setting near the Potomac River.

Back home I continued work on the model of the slave pen for the Alexandria Museum of Freedom. I am almost done with it.  I hope to wrap that up in a week or so and get working on my backlog of layout and other projects.

We also survived another flash flood that left parts of Alexandria with more flood damage. The storm drains are now an issue for the next election.

On Sunday, I  presented a zoom clinic about my layout to the Louisville Division of the NMRA. It is interesting that Fred Soward, the president of that division, is married to Barbara Walthers, who is a second cousin with my wife.  Barbara is also one of the few women that participates in model railroading as a hobby.  We actually first meet at a NMRA convention.

I can see the forest through the trees

I finished up the forested area by Drye's Curve. The last batch of trees are smaller because they line the edge of the woods.  I also added more static grass and ground texture.


After a quick clean of the tracks, I ran a test train through the scene. This scene is difficult to photograph as the edge of the aisle is close to the tracks.

The Florida Connection

Dead Bonsai Society

Sam Ogranaja, from Ft Meyers, Florida, visited the Aquia Line today. Sam (aka Saimir - his Albanian and much cooler name) is a professional photographer who specializes in architectural and interior photography. He was in Virginia to shoot photos for a hotel. Sam is also a bonsai artist and friends with my brother, Rob. When coordinating the visit beforehand, Sam asked if there was any thing he could bring. I asked for dead bonsai trees. He scoured his local network and brought a nice assortment of dead trees with him that can be used as armatures for trees on my  layout.

Sam was also very interested in learning about how I shoot videos and photos of miniature scenes. Most professional photographers that don't shoot model railroad shots are surprised to learn of the myriad tricks and tips we employ to get realistic images. He also wanted to test out my Rhino slider. So we ran trains, shot video,  and generally had a great time.

  

  The mail also brought my new Civil War era flag. This is a replica of  the Ft Sumpter flag with 34 stars. West Virginia entered the Union in June of 1863 and became the 35th state, so this is the correct flag for my time period.

Accokeek Creek Scenery Part 2

Scenery work on Accokeek continues.  I filled in the woods behind the pines and extend the fence. I also muted the contrast of the pine needles under pine trees and the grass.

Accokeek Creek Scenery

I am wondering what to do between the pines and the trees to the right. I am thinking of connecting the two
areas with more bare trees.

I've been plugging away at the scenery at Accokeek Creek for the past few nights. The static GrassTechII is getting a work out. I am fairly pleased with it as it works great, when you remember to turn it on. In a few nights this area should be done.

Here are some work in progress shots with wet scenery. It is hard to capture the correct color with my iPhone.  The grass is not quite as green as the images show.

I plan to extend the fence at the angle to the backdrop

View toward Accokeek creek and the south end of Brooke siding.