Creating A Backdrop – Part One

With the groundcover in place it was obvious that before I could precede any further I would need to install the backdrop – as I couldn’t add scrub brush and trees without it. I had every intention of painting the backdrop, but as I was surfing the web for reference images it dawned on me that I might be able to print a suitable backdrop – which would save me a great deal of time and effort…

I found a very nice image of rolling farm fields with a smattering of autumn trees that looked like a good fit for Pete’s Pumpkins; however the image was far too small to create a decent print. Rather then search for a higher resolution image, I elected to apply a few Photoshop filers to the image to give it a more ‘painterly’ look. The end result wasn’t sharp, but suggested the scene very suitably. After trimming the printout and eyeing the results, I decided that while the backdrop helped the model immensely –the colour wasn’t right. I discarded the print, resolving to correct the colours to more closely match the foreground scenery.

Modelling Scale Pumpkins

While I’ve been working on the layout I’ve been trying to decide how to justify the existence of a narrow gauge railway on a pumpkin farm. I decided that the only reason a pumpkin farmer would need a railway would be because either he has a high volume of goods to transport, or the goods are quite heavy. It seemed unlikely that a farmer would use a railway to transport pumpkins when a tractor and wagon would suffice – however – it seemed reasonable to presume that if the pumpkins were large, too large to load onto a wagon, that a farmer might use a railway. Hence, I’ve decided that Pete of Pete’s Pumpkins specializes in growing competition-grade monster pumpkins.

With the industry of the model railway finally decided upon, I set to work in creating a flatcar and some pumpkins for Pete. I shortened the underside of an old N scale boxcar, and glued on a new deck I built using some bits of styrene. I gave the flatcar a quick coat of flat-black spray paint, as well as some red oxide and dark brown.

I next modeled some ‘monster’ pumpkins. Using the leftover Sculpy I managed to model four very large pumpkins. Monster pumpkins aren’t the typical pumpkin shape – they look like they’ve collapsed under their own weight and have a pancake-like look. The models I created represent competition-grade pumpkins with an approximate weight of 350-500lbs each – which now makes having a railway much more plausible!

Groundcover and Ballast

A busy week has kept me from making any progress on the layout – so when I did manage to steal away a few hours, I decided to maximize the time. I wanted to start scenicing the layout, so I decided to add the groundcover and ballast the track together to save time. I applied a coat of full-strength white glue to the hills, banks and roadbed sides before sifting on combinations of dirt, blended leaves, ground foam, twigs, rocks and ballast. When I was satisfied with the results, I misted the entire layout with water and applied diluted white glue. Hopefully everything will be dry by tomorrow!