Cathead

I love the idea of having a few cats scattered around, I'll definitely follow up on that long-term!
 
Thanks! I'm excited to blend it into the scene with proper scenery.
 
I finished the roofing today. Here are a couple more in-progress shots of the hay barn roof, showing the complicated angle where it meets the elevator roof, and a peek at the interior bracing.


And here are some shots of the finished building in place against the backdrop:




And a couple paired photos with the originals:
 


 
I'll do a little more weathering and add a few more details. I also need to build the ramp up to the hay barn, or as much of it shows in front of the backdrop. But the main structure is done and I think I'll switch gears to something else for a bit.
 
For a change of pace, I'll start catching you all up on the scenery work that's been done so far, and maybe delve into some of the background planning. Thanks for reading!

OK, enough talk, how about some more model progress!
 
I've been putting a fair amount of time into hidden work, adding braces and stiffeners and the like to keep the whole thing nice and rigid once the paint starts spraying. By today I finally reached a point where I was comfortable firing up the airbrush, so all of the sudden it looks a lot better! I applied a thin coat of primer, then several coats of a dull red, then a light overspray of dark grey. I followed that up with some light pastel weathering.


You'll notice the two loading docks. The one on the elevator's front (south side) is visible in the photos, but nothing shows the other (west) side, so I just decided there would be a loading door and dock there for visual interest. Maybe this is where farmers unload their sacked grain now. It could also be a supply/store shed. The loading docks are built from scratch, including hand-laying the individual planks. I don't mind using scribed siding for building walls but I think platforms look better when hand-laying lets things be a little more uneven. These were brush-painted with washes of various colors to create an effect of raw but weathered wood. 
 
And here are two more closeups, including a wagon for scale and setting:


You can also see the grain loading chute in its withdrawn position (it would be extended for loading boxcars). Here's the original photo for reference:

 
Next I started on the roofs. I'd already been working on these, making flat sheets with bracing underneath to keep them flat. Now I started adding laser-cut shingle strips from Bar Mills. I apply these with a thin brush of wood glue to ensure they stick. One strip at a time, with a hockey game in the background to cut the monotony:

And here's how the roof parts completed so far look. These are just set loosely on the model, not attached, so they don't sit perfectly in place yet:

And here it is with a boxcar in place for context:

And here with the previously built depot in the background, just for a fuller sense of the consistent style of coloration and weathering I'm going for:

I have to say I'm pretty pleased with how this is coming together. It doesn't look too old for a structure that can only be 5-10 years old at most, but weathered enough to not look toy-like. Nice visual interest in the lines and coloration. Fits well with the depot. But enough of my opinions, what are your thoughts? There's still time to make changes or improvements. The loading docks and doors aren't glue on yet, and neither are the roof pieces.
 
Thanks for following along and for all your feedback, ideas, and speculation that make this a richer project! 
 

I had NO idea this mini-project would spark such interest in the esoterica of grain elevators! And it's sparked me to read up more on the subject than I ever thought I would for what's nominally a minor background structure in a much larger project. But this also shows why people get drawn into model railroading; it encompasses such a wide area of intellectual interest that there's something for almost anyone.
 
Yep, that's the Katy Trail all right. Glad to bring back memories!
 
Yep, we hardy pioneer stock have frontier innovations like basements and spare bedrooms! Wait until I share the full track plan, this is about 20% of it.
 
I would guess steam. We had steam-powered mills and other industries by the mid-1800s, so it's easy to imagine even a small-town elevator in 1900 having a simple power plant running a coal-fired boiler or some such. The interesting thing is I don't see direct evidence of it in the photos I have, but it must be there somewhere. Maybe hidden behind the hay barn? (more on that in a minute)
 
My initial impression was that grain was still handled and delivered locally in bulk, but I can't prove it. Obviously grain could be shipped in sacks, as seen in the photos of Peerless loaded down with grain sacks, but it wasn't done this way on railroads in 1900. So I can't say whether the steamboat-borne grain was sacked and farm and brought to the vessel, or brought to a central receiving point and sacked there before being loaded on the vessel. So the same would apply to this elevator; maybe local farms were sacking grain for local transport and the sacks were just getting emptied into a chute at the base of the elevator. Most resources I can find online "start" well after this era, with more modern technology, and I'm having difficulty finding details for earlier periods. As for the ramp, it's possible, but a close look at its geometry suggests that it doesn't reach the full second level until well behind the elevator (look closely at the image without a ramp roof), so it'd be an awkward delivery point to shuttle the grain (sacked or otherwise) from there back to the elevator. And why would they bother, when ground-level (or below) delivery was ubiquitous in most elevators?
 
This leads to a broader point. My impression is that the elevator was built first, then the hay barn tacked on shortly thereafter. My main argument for this is how the two parts of the structure have very different siding; they LOOK like two different buildings, rather than one unified structure. The elevator has very smooth siding, like plain boards, while the hay barn has what looks like a coarser board-and-batten pattern. That's certainly what I did on the model, to recreate the effect of the two looking different. But I can't prove their relationship. The relevance here is that if the elevator was built first, it may have had to rejigger its receiving area (which would likely be on the back side of the structure based on normal American practice), where the hay barn ended up. But no inspection of either photos has turned up anything I can clearly identify as the steam plant (e.g. a smokestack) or a clear delivery point for wagons. 
 
Basically all this is a shrug, as interesting as it is, because I can recreate the physical appearance of the trackside part of the building pretty accurately based on the two photos, and the rest is fun esoterica but doesn't affect the actual model. What matters most is that it looks right in the background and acts as a place for local freights to spot boxcar traffic.
 

More progress on the elevator hay barn, which is now a unified structure:

I scored a pattern of plank ends into the elevator's siding; the goal is for them to show up faintly after painting, just enough to suggest this wasn't built with 50' planks. In writing this I realized I need to do this on the hay barn's front wall, too.
 
This doesn't look all that different from the last photo, but there's a lot of work you can't see, like internal bracing (especially within the elevator), and getting all the constituent parts lined up into a nice whole.
 
Next will be attaching about 1" of depth to the hay barn and setting up whatever roof framing I want. At that point it's ready for airbrushing, followed by roofing. If you're wondering, this structure would have been fairly new in 1900, so the goal is for it to look well-kept with just enough weathering to not look toylike. Somewhat different from the usual rough neglect we modelers often like our working models to have. So no missing planks or shingles, no peeling paint, no repair patches, etc.
 
By the way, that brief preceding conversation about what the upper doors are for...that's exactly why I decided to go ahead with a build log. There's just such a richer experience to building models when you can benefit from others' insights and questions. That exchange didn't even change the model, but it makes the model richer to understand more about the prototype. Thank you!

Paul, that occurred to me after seeing Keith's photo, and my first thought was why doors and not just large windows? But then it occurred to me that doors are easier to open when needed and seal when not, without the added expense and fuss of glass if the light isn't needed.
 
I still remember my high school physics teacher showing us how to make a cannon out of nothing but a cardboard tube, sifted flour, and a match. Good stuff. So I bet you're right.

There's so many different paths I could take in starting to catch you all up on the context for this project that it's a bit overwhelming. Do I focus on the model-railroad-oriented process of track planning, how we design the track layout to allow realistic operations? Do I focus on more historical details of the railroad in general and Rocheport in particular? Do I focus on building the benchwork and early scenery forms? 
 
All of that takes time to write up, and you all are here for the modeling, so let's start with a simpler narrative, the current building I'm working on. This is a really interesting-looking structure seen behind the depot in only two photographs that I've found, shown below with zoomed-on crops.




The front part of this building is clearly an early grain elevator, with a loading spout set to extend down to the door of a boxcar on that spur. This is the era when grain was shipped in boxcars with planks nailed over their open doors. But what's going on with that huge building attached behind the elevator, with its massive interior, and even weirder, a wide ramp leading up to a second-story "porch"? In the first photo (1898), the ramp and porch are uncovered, while by the second photo, I think in the 19-teens, there's a roof over that whole thing.
 
I finally got the answer from a very helpful contact at the Katy Railroad Historical Society. While the front part is indeed a grain elevator, the back part is a massive hay barn. The Katy did a serious business in shipping Texas cattle north, and built a series of huge barns to store the hay needed to feed these cattle on their journey to processors in Kansas City, St. Louis, and Chicago. So that's a hay barn, and the ramp allows loaded hay wagons to drive up to the second floor and deliver hay into the barn, probably through the doors you see in the first (uncovered photos). Very cool! You'll see Rocheport's small stock yard in the lower right of the wider-view photo, just down the street from the hay barn. This also shows the local economic impact a railroad could have; even a small town like Rocheport would benefit from this major source of local farm revenue coming from the railroad.
 
I wish I had room to model this building in its entirety, but then the scene would extend way too far back. As it is, I can only fit a narrow part against the backdrop. So I did some estimated measurements, using the usefully placed boxcar in one photo for scale, and came up with a representative design that fit my space. I then built a cardstock mockup to see how it looked visually behind the depot (that project is a different topic).



 
This told me that my original elevator tower looked a little too squat, so I redrew my plans to make it a bit narrower and slightly taller. I also removed the loading dock I'd somewhat speculatively placed there, as I don't like the look and it doesn't fit the curve of the siding.
 
Once I'd redrawn my plans, I started building. This is really straightforward after years of complicated shipbuilding curves; lots of nice straight walls and square corners. I'm using pre-scribed siding and styrene castings for doors. Here are two quick photos of the progress so far.
 


That's all I've got for now. I'll keep following up as I work on this. One fun question is what those two doors way up on the elevator's face are for? They're clearly visible in the photo, so I included them, but danged if I can figure them out.
 
 
 
 

While I'm most known on MSW for my scratch-built Missouri River steamboats (see signature links), my interest in transportation along the Missouri River extends to that great rival of river traffic, railroads. So I'm taking a break from steamboat modeling to build at least one module of a possibly larger model railroad depicting the route of the Missouri, Kansas, & Texas railroad along the Missouri River valley in central Missouri, ca. 1900, complete with at least one river scene featuring a contemporary steamboat.
 
MK&T passenger train along the Missouri River, ca. 1900 (State Historical Society of Missouri):

This will be a typical build for me in that it'll be laced with details of local history and geography that set a context for the models. As a former model railroader who transitioned to shipbuilding for a while, I'm finding that I miss the ability to set models in their full context. Most ship models end up sitting passively on a shelf, while a model railroad allows one to actually operate the model realistically through an entire landscape. As a geologist and naturalist who's lived in this area for almost 20 years, I have a strong connection to the Missouri River valley, having extensive experience hiking among its hills, birding within its floodplain, biking along its corridor, and paddling beneath its bluffs.
 
Mrs. Cathead on a shared river trip; these are the same bluffs shown in the next photo below:

 
The Missouri River's route through central Missouri is far more scenic than outsiders with a "flatland" view of the Midwest might suspect. The river follows a 1-2 mile wide gorge lined by limestone and dolomite bluffs towering up to 300 feet over the floodplain. Rail lines built along this corridor were forced to hug the valley walls by the huge river's constant meandering, making their routes often look like overdone model railroads with straight bluffs absolutely dwarfing the trains below. The Missouri Pacific built up the valley's south side in the mid-19th century, while the MK&T (more commonly called the Katy) built down the north side in the 1890s.
 
MK&T main line squeezed between tall limestone bluffs and the Missouri River, ca. 1912, same bluffs as above (State Historical Society of Missouri):

This project has been in the planning stage for several years, and directly influenced my last steamboat build, the Peerless, a small steamboat that operated on the lower Missouri River between St. Louis and the small central Missouri town of Rocheport. I built that model at the common model railroading scale of 1:87 (HO) to allow for its possible future inclusion on a diorama or layout depicting this region.
 
Historic photo of Peerless (State Historical Society of Missouri) and model version for comparison:


The immediate focus of this build is the scenic river town of Rocheport, framed to west and east by some of the most dramatic bluffs anywhere along the lower Missouri, and home of the only tunnel anywhere on the Katy system. This was a major river port in the pre-Civil-War era, and was the upriver home port for Peerless during its 1893-1903 operations on the river. The Katy built through Rocheport in the mid-1890s, meaning the two co-existed for nearly a decade, the perfect hook for a steamboat-and-railroad enthusiast.
 
Rocheport in the early 1900s, as seen from bluff tops to east and west (State Historical Society of Missouri):


Today, Rocheport is a popular tourist town, known for its B&Bs and nearby vineyards, and brought to prominence by its central location along the 240-mile Katy Trail. This is Missouri's cross-state rail trail that follows the old MK&T line (abandoned in the 1980s), and is the longest continuous rail trail in the country. I've cycled the entire length, but like many people, am always drawn back to Rocheport's incomparable scenic setting. The trail also makes modeling the MK&T in this area particularly attractive, since the right-of-way is unusually accessible!
 
Rocheport tunnel and river bluffs (same bluffs as other photos) along the modern Katy Trail:

There's a lot more background information to share, and construction has already started, so this log will work to catch up on past progress while continuing to explain the design, purpose, and context of the project. It's going to be wordy for a while but there's also lots of neat imagery to share. I didn't initially intend to track this with a build log, looking forward to being freed from the tyranny of photography, writing, and reporting. But I'm finding that I miss the community that develops around a build, and I think there's a really neat historical story to tell. And writing about one's work can sometimes help clarify or altering thinking about a project in ways that being too lone-wolf can miss. So welcome aboard!
 
One more historic photo, and three shots of the layout underway.
 

 


 

Got a little more scenery work done this weekend. It was time to start adding texture to the riverbanks and ground surface, so everything doesn't look like smooth plaster. As I've said before, one of the reasons I'm setting this project in late fall / early winter is that it lets me produce a lot of scenery material from natural sources rather than buying lots of plastic/fake stuff. It's hard to maintain a natural green color, especially one that looks real, but natural brown tones are a lot easier to come by.
 
I started with a bin of dried leaves I'd set aside, running these through an old blender in batches to pulverize them. Some bits never shred all the way, so I used a sieve to select for the smaller sizes.



In my head, I call this blend "fish food" because it looks an awful lot like the flakes used to feed aquarium fish.
 
Similarly, I collected a batch of fine sand from the creek on my property, which has the same geologic setting as the headwaters of the creek depicted here. A similar sifting process gave me a blend of scale "gravel". In both cases, using natural materials gives a spectrum of subtle natural color variations that I find a lot more visually complex and realistic than purchased scenic materials with a limited range of tones.

 
To apply this on the landscape, I brushed full-strength glue over the painted plaster, then sifted/sprinkled material onto it. I ran a band of nearly pure "gravel" along the creek, then slowly reduced its quantity as I worked up the bank, increasing the proportion of leafy material. By the upper floodplain surface, it's almost all leaf material. To my eye, this gives a really natural looking transition out of the creek and up into an area that will have a lot more trees and vegetation. 

All of this material is coarser than true scale, but I find that it helps the eye "see" the right texture. In my opinion, true scale material would be so fine it would "look" too smooth. A strong modeling belief I hold is that it's just as important that a scene "look" or "feel" right than that it "be" right. And to my eye, this creates a feel that the eye connects to real landscape textures even if it's technically out of scale. The random chaos of the particle shapes, in both the leaves and the sifted sand, also helps create a more natural-looking texture than purchased material that tends to be more uniform. At least that's my opinion. And philosphically, I just love that these scenic textures are all-natural and sourced from a landscape near the actual real-life scene.
 
Here are a couple broader shots showing the finished effect on this bank. I also added some coarser rock material along the base of the bluff to blend the transition from vertical to horizontal, and to produce the effect of fallen rocks that's very much there in real life. I'm finding that the finished textures looks different in these photos than it does in person, though, and my phone isn't handling the depth of scene here well.


But that gives the idea. I haven't run this by my in-house landscape expert, though, so we'll see what she thinks. It can be adjusted if needs be. Once we're happy with it, I can start working on trees and other vegetation that will further tie the scene together.
 
Thanks so much for following, liking, commenting, and being a part of this slow-moving project!
 

Got a little more scenery work done this weekend. It was time to start adding texture to the riverbanks and ground surface, so everything doesn't look like smooth plaster. As I've said before, one of the reasons I'm setting this project in late fall / early winter is that it lets me produce a lot of scenery material from natural sources rather than buying lots of plastic/fake stuff. It's hard to maintain a natural green color, especially one that looks real, but natural brown tones are a lot easier to come by.
 
I started with a bin of dried leaves I'd set aside, running these through an old blender in batches to pulverize them. Some bits never shred all the way, so I used a sieve to select for the smaller sizes.



In my head, I call this blend "fish food" because it looks an awful lot like the flakes used to feed aquarium fish.
 
Similarly, I collected a batch of fine sand from the creek on my property, which has the same geologic setting as the headwaters of the creek depicted here. A similar sifting process gave me a blend of scale "gravel". In both cases, using natural materials gives a spectrum of subtle natural color variations that I find a lot more visually complex and realistic than purchased scenic materials with a limited range of tones.

 
To apply this on the landscape, I brushed full-strength glue over the painted plaster, then sifted/sprinkled material onto it. I ran a band of nearly pure "gravel" along the creek, then slowly reduced its quantity as I worked up the bank, increasing the proportion of leafy material. By the upper floodplain surface, it's almost all leaf material. To my eye, this gives a really natural looking transition out of the creek and up into an area that will have a lot more trees and vegetation. 

All of this material is coarser than true scale, but I find that it helps the eye "see" the right texture. In my opinion, true scale material would be so fine it would "look" too smooth. A strong modeling belief I hold is that it's just as important that a scene "look" or "feel" right than that it "be" right. And to my eye, this creates a feel that the eye connects to real landscape textures even if it's technically out of scale. The random chaos of the particle shapes, in both the leaves and the sifted sand, also helps create a more natural-looking texture than purchased material that tends to be more uniform. At least that's my opinion. And philosphically, I just love that these scenic textures are all-natural and sourced from a landscape near the actual real-life scene.
 
Here are a couple broader shots showing the finished effect on this bank. I also added some coarser rock material along the base of the bluff to blend the transition from vertical to horizontal, and to produce the effect of fallen rocks that's very much there in real life. I'm finding that the finished textures looks different in these photos than it does in person, though, and my phone isn't handling the depth of scene here well.


But that gives the idea. I haven't run this by my in-house landscape expert, though, so we'll see what she thinks. It can be adjusted if needs be. Once we're happy with it, I can start working on trees and other vegetation that will further tie the scene together.
 
Thanks so much for following, liking, commenting, and being a part of this slow-moving project!
 

Got a little more scenery work done this weekend. It was time to start adding texture to the riverbanks and ground surface, so everything doesn't look like smooth plaster. As I've said before, one of the reasons I'm setting this project in late fall / early winter is that it lets me produce a lot of scenery material from natural sources rather than buying lots of plastic/fake stuff. It's hard to maintain a natural green color, especially one that looks real, but natural brown tones are a lot easier to come by.
 
I started with a bin of dried leaves I'd set aside, running these through an old blender in batches to pulverize them. Some bits never shred all the way, so I used a sieve to select for the smaller sizes.



In my head, I call this blend "fish food" because it looks an awful lot like the flakes used to feed aquarium fish.
 
Similarly, I collected a batch of fine sand from the creek on my property, which has the same geologic setting as the headwaters of the creek depicted here. A similar sifting process gave me a blend of scale "gravel". In both cases, using natural materials gives a spectrum of subtle natural color variations that I find a lot more visually complex and realistic than purchased scenic materials with a limited range of tones.

 
To apply this on the landscape, I brushed full-strength glue over the painted plaster, then sifted/sprinkled material onto it. I ran a band of nearly pure "gravel" along the creek, then slowly reduced its quantity as I worked up the bank, increasing the proportion of leafy material. By the upper floodplain surface, it's almost all leaf material. To my eye, this gives a really natural looking transition out of the creek and up into an area that will have a lot more trees and vegetation. 

All of this material is coarser than true scale, but I find that it helps the eye "see" the right texture. In my opinion, true scale material would be so fine it would "look" too smooth. A strong modeling belief I hold is that it's just as important that a scene "look" or "feel" right than that it "be" right. And to my eye, this creates a feel that the eye connects to real landscape textures even if it's technically out of scale. The random chaos of the particle shapes, in both the leaves and the sifted sand, also helps create a more natural-looking texture than purchased material that tends to be more uniform. At least that's my opinion. And philosphically, I just love that these scenic textures are all-natural and sourced from a landscape near the actual real-life scene.
 
Here are a couple broader shots showing the finished effect on this bank. I also added some coarser rock material along the base of the bluff to blend the transition from vertical to horizontal, and to produce the effect of fallen rocks that's very much there in real life. I'm finding that the finished textures looks different in these photos than it does in person, though, and my phone isn't handling the depth of scene here well.


But that gives the idea. I haven't run this by my in-house landscape expert, though, so we'll see what she thinks. It can be adjusted if needs be. Once we're happy with it, I can start working on trees and other vegetation that will further tie the scene together.
 
Thanks so much for following, liking, commenting, and being a part of this slow-moving project!
 

I would have written much the same as Glen had he not  beaten me to it. It's startling how good a completed model looks when presented as a whole, regardless of whatever smaller issues exist. 

Got a little more scenery work done this weekend. It was time to start adding texture to the riverbanks and ground surface, so everything doesn't look like smooth plaster. As I've said before, one of the reasons I'm setting this project in late fall / early winter is that it lets me produce a lot of scenery material from natural sources rather than buying lots of plastic/fake stuff. It's hard to maintain a natural green color, especially one that looks real, but natural brown tones are a lot easier to come by.
 
I started with a bin of dried leaves I'd set aside, running these through an old blender in batches to pulverize them. Some bits never shred all the way, so I used a sieve to select for the smaller sizes.



In my head, I call this blend "fish food" because it looks an awful lot like the flakes used to feed aquarium fish.
 
Similarly, I collected a batch of fine sand from the creek on my property, which has the same geologic setting as the headwaters of the creek depicted here. A similar sifting process gave me a blend of scale "gravel". In both cases, using natural materials gives a spectrum of subtle natural color variations that I find a lot more visually complex and realistic than purchased scenic materials with a limited range of tones.

 
To apply this on the landscape, I brushed full-strength glue over the painted plaster, then sifted/sprinkled material onto it. I ran a band of nearly pure "gravel" along the creek, then slowly reduced its quantity as I worked up the bank, increasing the proportion of leafy material. By the upper floodplain surface, it's almost all leaf material. To my eye, this gives a really natural looking transition out of the creek and up into an area that will have a lot more trees and vegetation. 

All of this material is coarser than true scale, but I find that it helps the eye "see" the right texture. In my opinion, true scale material would be so fine it would "look" too smooth. A strong modeling belief I hold is that it's just as important that a scene "look" or "feel" right than that it "be" right. And to my eye, this creates a feel that the eye connects to real landscape textures even if it's technically out of scale. The random chaos of the particle shapes, in both the leaves and the sifted sand, also helps create a more natural-looking texture than purchased material that tends to be more uniform. At least that's my opinion. And philosphically, I just love that these scenic textures are all-natural and sourced from a landscape near the actual real-life scene.
 
Here are a couple broader shots showing the finished effect on this bank. I also added some coarser rock material along the base of the bluff to blend the transition from vertical to horizontal, and to produce the effect of fallen rocks that's very much there in real life. I'm finding that the finished textures looks different in these photos than it does in person, though, and my phone isn't handling the depth of scene here well.


But that gives the idea. I haven't run this by my in-house landscape expert, though, so we'll see what she thinks. It can be adjusted if needs be. Once we're happy with it, I can start working on trees and other vegetation that will further tie the scene together.
 
Thanks so much for following, liking, commenting, and being a part of this slow-moving project!
 

Got a little more scenery work done this weekend. It was time to start adding texture to the riverbanks and ground surface, so everything doesn't look like smooth plaster. As I've said before, one of the reasons I'm setting this project in late fall / early winter is that it lets me produce a lot of scenery material from natural sources rather than buying lots of plastic/fake stuff. It's hard to maintain a natural green color, especially one that looks real, but natural brown tones are a lot easier to come by.
 
I started with a bin of dried leaves I'd set aside, running these through an old blender in batches to pulverize them. Some bits never shred all the way, so I used a sieve to select for the smaller sizes.



In my head, I call this blend "fish food" because it looks an awful lot like the flakes used to feed aquarium fish.
 
Similarly, I collected a batch of fine sand from the creek on my property, which has the same geologic setting as the headwaters of the creek depicted here. A similar sifting process gave me a blend of scale "gravel". In both cases, using natural materials gives a spectrum of subtle natural color variations that I find a lot more visually complex and realistic than purchased scenic materials with a limited range of tones.

 
To apply this on the landscape, I brushed full-strength glue over the painted plaster, then sifted/sprinkled material onto it. I ran a band of nearly pure "gravel" along the creek, then slowly reduced its quantity as I worked up the bank, increasing the proportion of leafy material. By the upper floodplain surface, it's almost all leaf material. To my eye, this gives a really natural looking transition out of the creek and up into an area that will have a lot more trees and vegetation. 

All of this material is coarser than true scale, but I find that it helps the eye "see" the right texture. In my opinion, true scale material would be so fine it would "look" too smooth. A strong modeling belief I hold is that it's just as important that a scene "look" or "feel" right than that it "be" right. And to my eye, this creates a feel that the eye connects to real landscape textures even if it's technically out of scale. The random chaos of the particle shapes, in both the leaves and the sifted sand, also helps create a more natural-looking texture than purchased material that tends to be more uniform. At least that's my opinion. And philosphically, I just love that these scenic textures are all-natural and sourced from a landscape near the actual real-life scene.
 
Here are a couple broader shots showing the finished effect on this bank. I also added some coarser rock material along the base of the bluff to blend the transition from vertical to horizontal, and to produce the effect of fallen rocks that's very much there in real life. I'm finding that the finished textures looks different in these photos than it does in person, though, and my phone isn't handling the depth of scene here well.


But that gives the idea. I haven't run this by my in-house landscape expert, though, so we'll see what she thinks. It can be adjusted if needs be. Once we're happy with it, I can start working on trees and other vegetation that will further tie the scene together.
 
Thanks so much for following, liking, commenting, and being a part of this slow-moving project!
 

I would have written much the same as Glen had he not  beaten me to it. It's startling how good a completed model looks when presented as a whole, regardless of whatever smaller issues exist. 

I would have written much the same as Glen had he not  beaten me to it. It's startling how good a completed model looks when presented as a whole, regardless of whatever smaller issues exist. 

I would have written much the same as Glen had he not  beaten me to it. It's startling how good a completed model looks when presented as a whole, regardless of whatever smaller issues exist. 

That is good to hear, Lynn.   Onward thru the fog!!

Hey Lynn.  Reading through your posts here. it seems like you have a lot of doubt about whether or not you have the skills to finish this build.  From what I've seen going thru this log and your Pram and Dory logs, you absolutely can do this!  The first skill you need for this or any other ship model is tenacity.  My sense is that you've got plenty of that.  All the other skills come with practice and it's obvious that you are getting better with each step of each build.

One thing I found early on (I've been doing this stuff for 4 years now so I'm still a relative newbie compared to the real pros out here), when you are working on a particular detail of a ship, you get so focused on that detail that every single flaw, even the tiniest one, jumps out at you.  You think it looks horrible and everyone that looks at your work will think the same thing.  But in reality, when you're finished with the build, all those flaws that you thought were so egregious at the time just melt away when you're looking at the completed ship.  Trust me, our ships looks a whole lot better than we builders think they do while we are working on them!    
 
I also get the feeling that some parts of this build make you feel like they are pushing you to your limits.  But you never know what you are capable of until you try something you've never done before.  So I sincerely hope that you will continue to push yourself and continue to work on this project.  You really have done a nice job so far, Lynn.  I am 100% sure that you can finish it!  
 
  

I worked a bit more on the Traveler, trying to make it look a little better and straightening the legs (staples!), and painting it black.  It needs another coat, but this is ok for now.  This has not been glued in, I just wanted to see it in position.  Disregard the pencil marks, and all the other blemishes!
I'm seriously considering going back to the 3rd ship in the Shipwright series (I had only done numbers 1 and 2).  The 3rd ship is at a 1:24 scale, which might help me become more experienced, before trying to finish up the Phantom.

This morning I was sent the renders for the alternative figurehead for Surprise (and I suspect the one that most will use). Both versions will be included in the kit.
 

Still have a lot of time to spend on this development...

Back to the Niagara. (I spent the past 3 months on a break, started build of the Harriet Lane - a ME kit which shows the transition from sail to steam in the 1850's). It's listed as intermediate, but I would call it advanced beginner as almost all parts including planking and masts are precut.
 
I took the break after getting very frustrated with construction (actually, shaping) the fore and main masts - from the dowels in the kit. I made two really poor quality sets, and decided I needed a break.
So, I decided to buy a Preac DB250 mini-lathe, a 4 sided chuck, and a 1/4 inch turning gough....  I could shape masts from square stock but get clean facets at base and peak. I bought some 3/8 cherry lengths online, and after a bit of practise, I got the hang of it. My process was as follows: starting with the 3/8 stock I marked out the shape and taper. Then, using my disk sander, I reduced the peak of the masts to the 1/4 inch tapered flats called for on the plans. I chucked these through the 4 point chuck and used the gough to quickly reduce the rest of the square stock to roughly a round shape with the proper taper. I followed this with a bastard file for initial smoothing, and finally used sandpaper on the lathe for a smooth finish. I left the base at 3/8, and added octagonal shape. I'm very pleased with the accuracy and ease of doing it this way (although I'm out $200 for the lathe). I plan to stain the natural wood section of each mast, with black at the top per plans. I will use the lathe to shape the remaining mast sections and the yards, which I expect will go quickly with a cautious use of various grit sandpaper. 
So, I'm back at it.

Thanks, Gary!
 
The current appearance of this scene, and particularly this angle, has been nagging at me, reminding of some famous railroad scene or photograph.

I finally figured out what it was: this view of Weber Canyon on the original Union Pacific transcontinental route (photo from Library of Congress). 

Sheer rock wall, truss bridge over river, leading directly into tunnel. The similarity will start to fade once my scene starts taking on more vegetation, but the comparison amused me.

Thanks, Gary!
 
The current appearance of this scene, and particularly this angle, has been nagging at me, reminding of some famous railroad scene or photograph.

I finally figured out what it was: this view of Weber Canyon on the original Union Pacific transcontinental route (photo from Library of Congress). 

Sheer rock wall, truss bridge over river, leading directly into tunnel. The similarity will start to fade once my scene starts taking on more vegetation, but the comparison amused me.

I spent some time this morning adding color & texture to the rocks using artist's pastels. I use these all the time for weathering models, and they're really effective at finishing scenic settings as well. They don't drip, and can be rubbed in with fingers or brushes (old toothbrushes work really well). Their powdered texture adds a "softness" to rock faces that paints don't, which helps them feel more realistic. I also touched up the backdrop with these, which again softens the painted took and allows more subtle textures than paints do.
 
Here's a broad view:

Here's a closeup of the rock face. The pastels let me add mineral staining as well as streaks of white that simulate the various layers of white-grey chert laced within the limestone beds. I also added smoke stains above the tunnel.

And for further comparison, I made these three sets of photos with similar perspectives. First, modern portal and model equivalent. This shows one thing I didn't get right; it's becoming clear to me that my tunnel shape is a little too squat; it should be taller for its width. Can't change it now and it'll still clear trains fine.

Second, historic photo directly down the tracks and model equivalent:

Third, historic photo from side and model equivalent. I've mentioned this before, but I know the bridge doesn't quite match. For now I'm using a simple kit; someday I'd be happy to build a  closer-matching bridge from scratch but it's not my priority.

I think I'm happy with the coloration, so the next step is to move on to things like adding ground-surface texture, water, and eventually trees (so it stops looking like Wyoming).
 
Thanks for following along!
 
 

Made some progress on base-layer scenery painting this week, taking a few minutes over multiple nights to slowly build up layers of color. Right now, without any vegetation, it looks like somewhere in Utah or Wyoming. But that'll change.
 
I also took a first stab at some basic backdrop painting, just trying to add a hint of hills/river extending into the background. This isn't meant to be photo-realistic, just enough to let the eye realize that it's not all backdrop sky back there. 
 
Also, the creek has been painted but I haven't added the model "water" yet, so it's just a dry surface. There will be multiple layers of "water" resin added, building up a sense of depth and a smooth surface. I also plan to tint the "water" some, as the real creek here tends to be pretty muddy, and this also helps fade the water into the painted "depth".
 
Most of the ground surface will be covered in various scenic materials to add texture, so the painting there doesn't need to stand on its own, but just provide an underlying foundation.
 
I'm not done with either the backdrop or the main bluff. Final touches on the bluff will include some more dark washes to bring out texture and cracks, and some vertical washes to simulate mineral streaking. The backdrop needs more texture, and the outer edges will be sharped up once I paint the sky (which I haven't done yet at all; that's just white primer).
 
But I thought I'd share progress and get feedback. You can at least get a sense of where I'm going with this.



Oh, and here are a few more winter context shots. I'm going for late fall, so no snow or ice, but otherwise the color palette is similar.