October layout update

Not a whole lot to report of late. Between job searching and other pre-holiday activities, there has not been much forward movement.

I did work on the Kiwamura area and got some stone carving in on the foam. I'm digging the detail. The area has been bothering me for a while now.

Cheers!

Water is the driving force of all nature - water tutorial

Water is the driving force of all nature.  Leonardo da Vinci

I recently did revamp number three on my Soyokaze Harbor water section and I'm very pleased with how it turned out. This latest round had me using Mod Podge and I'm super happy with the results.


I've had a few people ask me about my process for this, so I thought a more detailed blog post might be a good way to go.

My first round of water from ages ago. Woodland scenics water product. It was ok.

But, it needed a face lift.

First thing was looking at the real thing - fishing boats in Japan. I found several water shots that I liked and aimed to match the color.

I didn't want to go TOO green and I did want a little more wave action, so I went with a similar green and thought it might be a windy day in Soyokaze, so there would be more whitecaps. Very common in Soyokaze. :)

EVERYTHING  off...I have work to do! :)

What a mess

The painting was rather straight forward once I had my color mixed. I used standard, cheap Michael's Art Supply acrylics.

Now, the old water was created back in 2015 or so and when I did it, small cracks had developed in the Woodland Scenics water material I was using. (Very sad) I thought that i might kill off the cracks if I laid the paint on thick and heavy.





After the paint dried, I used MOD PODGE and followed the method that I picked up from a few YouTube videos. It's rather straight forward. I applied the Mod Podge with a brush, starting on one end and working back to the other end. I made some areas a little thicker than other to get white areas in the water.

When it was a little tacky, I placed my boats and added some Mod Podge behind them to create wakes and engine froth. I was rather happy with it and thought....THOUGHT...I was done.

However....there were two major OOPS moments here.

First, I actually didn't kill my cracks much at all. They were still there.

The second major OOPS came when I checked things out the next day. I had used my MATTE Mod Podge instead of my GLOSS one! hehehehe   Nice...non-reflective water. D'OH!

However, I want to see the GLASS HALF FULL rather than GLASS HALF EMPTY moments with my hobby time. It's supposed to be relaxing, not upsetting. So, I thought that I might be able to use the inevitable ROUND 3 of this process to make things better still.

The cracks. I needed to address the cracks for sure. I also wanted the waves to be more natural.

I needed to fill the cracks in - I saw that as the most simple method rather than sanding stuff and creating more mess. I went with simple and just globbed in Elmer's Glue over the major cracked areas. I let it dry, then did another round of painting to tweak the color and add some more variation.

I laid the paint on thick.

The Elmer's and thicker paint application really helped to kill the cracks. The old cracks are on the left and the stripe of paint through the center is the new paint application on the next image.

MUCH better! 

I did the round of painting, then went in with some white and black paint is spots - blending them in to create some more color variation.

 Once the paint was dry, you could really see the paint variance. This shows difference in depths.

Now, for Mod Podge three.

I needed more chaos in the application. The paint brush was to small and even, so I went with a 1 inch foam brush on this round. This gave me a wider coverage range and added a little texture into the mix as well. When I put it on, I put some upbeat music on and tried to let loose a bit. I thought I might have gone too far the other way with things.

But, once things dried, they were much calmer and gave the effect I wanted. I was super happy with the depth I managed to get with this flat style in lew of a "depth pour" where you melt water or pour it thick into a contained area.

My next steps will be to get all the buildings, water barriers, and boats back on, then go in with yet ANOTHER round of Mod Podge and a smaller brush to add in water hitting the walls and wakes from the boats and their engines. I'll do a separate post with some shots of everything after it dries.

I tried to keep this short, sweet, and to the point, so if you have additional questions, feel free to ask away in the comments section! 

Cheers!

Malco

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Plaster - a messy necessity

Well, after swearing off plaster the last time I used it, I dove back in after thinking it through. I had SO MUCH space to cover that using the bag of plaster and towels seemed like the best way to go.


VIDEO

The cap of the hill over the tunnel comes off to allow track access 

I slathered a bunch of brown base paint down to get rid of the white. It really helped to give me a sense of completion.

After that was locked down and drying, I snagged a module off my back area of the layout and took it outside for a little photo session. The gray skies give a great photo light.

Soyokaze Farm

Loving my little yard area now, too. It provides some fun little puzzles.

Thanks for reading! 

Next up:   Photos of the new, unpacked layout space! YES! I have buildings back on my layout now! WHOO HOO! 

December Revamp Project - Fixer Upper

Funny - I was going to dive in on the layout, but I've been rolling all day on Family and dog items and now I'm just too tired. heheheh  So...those who can't do....blog.

SPACE...the final frustration.

I was starting to get really concerned about space recently. My office/layout space is a mess and I wasn't sure where I was going to store items and display items. It was a nightmare. Then it hit me. "Oh wait....I have all the stuff that came off my layout in boxes and once I get the track done - IT WILL HAPPEN THIS HOLIDAY BREAK! - I'll be able to pull things from boxes and get my under-layout storage back." A wave of calm drifted over me. :)


My own little home improvement style show!

I have a good friend who owns a toy shop. We've known each other for about five years now and we have a great friendship on both customer and friend levels.

He got a bunch of train items in house and was inspired to get a layout going in his front window. He saw what I had done and thought that he'd love having something like it himself. He had a guy work on it and the basic layout got in place, but after looking at it, he could tell it was not hitting the marks that mine was hitting. Quote, "I want it to look...more real. You know?"  And, I did know. When he asked me to help out, I jumped at the chance. I had seen the layout in the state it was in and longed to help out, but I didn't want to overstep my boundaries. But, once he asked, I jumped on the chance to dive in.

My layout is still...being rebuilt. And, the thing I really love is the details. So, it was really a win win. We struck up a great payment plan and I dove in.

Here are the "BEFORE" shots:

So, there are three types of track being used, toys on the layout, and buildings tossed in for good measure. This was a cool process for me to get down because he wanted it looking better before Christmas, wanted it to look more realistic, and I needed to maintain all the usual stuff I do for my Family and work. I love a challenge.

He got me a key which was a big help. I was able to give him a heads up to when I was going to be there, then just go. The place is only something like 15 minutes away, so it's a quick ride.

I got all the toys off, but left MAZINGER (the black, silver and blue guy with the red on his chest)  on the layout. Why? It's a toy shop, for one. For two, I wanted to build a base for him to stand on like he was coming out of the water. SEE: A Sense Of Play! :)

I took all the buildings off, then placed them according to industry.

I painted in some roads. This helped A LOT!

I rebuilt the raised rail section in the front - making it a hill instead of a suspended area. (Pink foam area on the right) I then went over it with plaster gauze and added scenery.

I also got a little yard going so he could display all the cars he had.

I repainted the water and built the MAZINGER base.

I want to keep working on this base adding lights and people and the like. 

I brought in two pink foam sections from my old layout that were not going to work with my new design and popped them into place on George's layout. They provided and amusements area and housing area.

So...not bad for about....eight hours of work or so.

I have more scenic work I want to do and I want to find someone to repair George's engines so he has more to run. They had some accidents while building the layout and a lot of dropped locos. ::::cry::::: So there are many repairs that need to be done that are not in my wheelhouse.

NEXT:
• MAZINGER base work
• more scenics
• building repainting
• MALCO SPECIAL building interiors work
• track paining, weathering, etc
• more cars / trucks
• people added!


I hit my deadline for PHASE ONE and was super happy that I could help George out. Especially around this time of year. He seems really happy with the update!

Happy Holidays, All! I hope 2018 is kind to you all and brings in many Hobby-opportunities for you all! 

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